Forecasts

Long

Divided we stand

Short fiction from Tim Maughan

Short

Why upgrading your brain could make you less human

Comment: Like it or not, in the future we may be expected to make synthetic upgrades to ourselves. We need to make serious choices about the blurring of person and product, says Michael Bess

Long

The end of the web

With the global order fragmenting, cyber-security threats on the rise, and the deluge of information becoming overwhelming, countries are going to break away from the internet in its current form. Get ready for the splinternet

Short

From building your perfect country to preparing for doomsday

Favourited: Our roundup of the best stories of innovation from around the web

Short

Vegetarian food gets bloodthirsty

Future trends: Hyper-realistic mock meat will start to grace our dinner tables in 2017

Long

Futures not of our making

The titans of tech control the story of progress and automation, as they always have. It's time to challenge them

Short

Murder in virtual reality should be illegal

The possibility of building virtual worlds is exciting for filmmakers, but we must study the psychological impacts and consider the moral and legal implications, says Angela Buckingham

Short

How radical life extension will transform how we think about punishment

From time-slowing medicine to prison in a pill, a philosopher's thought experiments in future technology force us to rethink the very purpose of punishment

Short

Xavier Duportet: 'We want to inspire scientists to take risks'

The French geneticist discussed the antibiotic resistance crisis, generating big ideas at the Hello Tomorrow summit, and why the private sector will lead the next wave of scientific invention