Feb 07 Watch 6:33 This Philadelphia art exhibit pushes the envelope with designs for the future By Jeffrey Brown What will the future look like? That’s the big question posed by a new exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Eighty designers from around the world have put their imaginations to work, leveraging both anxiety and excitement over the… Continue watching
Dec 18 Watch 9:25 Advancements in spinal cord research give the severely injured hope By William Brangham, Jaywon Choe Continue watching
Feb 22 Watch 8:24 If you’re worried about the world, here’s reason to be hopeful — and keep worrying By PBS News Hour The welfare of humankind has never been better, according to psychologist Steven Pinker, but whether it continues to get better depends on making collective wellbeing our goal and using science and reason to achieve it. Pinker, who pushes his case… Continue watching
Oct 06 Column: This innovation could lead to the next financial crisis By Arthur D. Clarke In 1987 it was portfolio insurance; for the Great Recession in 2008 it was securitization. The obvious candidate for the next crisis is Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. Continue reading
Dec 01 Treatment with hallucinogenic mushroom drug shows promise for patients with deep anxiety By Caleb Hellerman, Global Health Reporting Center It was mid-morning when Carol Vincent, the owner of a small marketing firm in Victoria, British Columbia, sat down and swallowed a capsule full of pure, synthesized psilocybin. Many people are familiar with the “natural” version, found in so-called magic… Continue reading
Oct 28 Column: How intellectual property rules help the rich and hurt the poor By Dean Baker It is not the technology that determines who gets the benefits of major innovations; it is laws that govern technology, which in turn are made by politicians. Specifically, the laws on patents and intellectual property more generally will determine whether… Continue reading
Sep 07 Column: Like it or not, these billionaires are shaping the direction of discovery By Vikram Mansharamani Today’s billionaires regularly channel their wealth into traditional areas of philanthropy like education and public health. But the richest of the rich are also devoting significant resources to futuristic moonshots. Continue reading
Aug 31 Watch 6:53 Helping student inventors turn big ideas into the next big thing By PBS News Hour It’s back-to-school season, but these students have taken their brainstorming outside the classroom to solve pressing, real-life problems. Visit a competition where teams of student inventors pitch their entrepreneurial ideas to guests posing as investors, who vote on the best… Continue watching
May 31 This innovative, wound-filling sponge just saved its first soldier By News Desk XSTAT, a device designed to staunch bleeding from combat wounds -- when traditional methods are too slow or insufficient -- was successful in its first documented use in the field. Continue reading
Apr 13 Watch 6:36 A ‘jumper cable’ for the brain helps a paralyzed man regain hand movement By PBS News Hour Five years ago, Ian Burkhart broke his neck at the beach, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. Now he has regained some movement in his hands and fingers thanks to technology that communicates his thoughts directly to his muscles. Continue watching