Flash Forward
Flash Forward is a show about possible (and not so possible) future scenarios. What would the warranty on a sex robot look like? How would diplomacy work if we couldn’t lie? Could there ever be a fecal transplant black market? (Complicated, it wouldn’t, and yes, respectively, in case you’re curious.) Hosted and produced by award winning science journalist Rose Eveleth, each episode combines audio drama and journalism to go deep on potential tomorrows, and uncovers what those futures might really be like. The future is going to be weird, so let's get ready for it together.
151
MiniPod Time Travel
Today’s episode is a minipod, a smattering of time travel, future travel, and news about the show. - In this episode we hear a bunch of messages from listeners: what folks think about past futures we’ve been to,
18 min
152
Unpawful
Today we travel to a future without pets. What would it take for us to give up our fuzzy, slithery, fishy friends? Should our pets get more rights? And if we didn’t have dogs or cats, would we domesticate something else to take their place? -
24 min
153
My Everything Pal
Today we travel to a future full of spreadsheet approved lives. A future where everything we do is tracked and quantified: calories, air quality, sleep, heart rate, microbes, brain waves, finances, happiness, sadness, menstrual cycles, poops,
34 min
154
Micro But Mighty
Today we travel to a future where your microbiome becomes a key part of your identity. From health to your child’s kindergarten, here are all the ways knowing about your microbiome might impact your life. -
26 min
155
The Ultimate Swatting
Today we travel to a future where humans have decided to eradicate the most dangerous animal on the planet: mosquitos. How would we do it? Is it even possible? And what are the consequences? - Mosquitos have worked hard to earn the nickname “dead...
23 min
156
Don’t Lie To Me
Today we travel to a future without lies. What would it be like if we all wore accurate lie detectors around all the time? - In this episode we talk about when children learn to lie, the different social functions of lying,
20 min
157
Love At First Bot
Right now there’s a whole lot of buzz about sex robots. Some people are really excited about them, and think we’ll be marrying robots by 2050. Other people are really worried about them, and are organizing whole campaigns against sex robots.
22 min
158
Face Off
Welcome to season two of Flash Forward! We kicked off this season with a pretty unlikely future: the entire world goes face blind. Listen here: - In the episode we discuss what causes face blindness — also known as prosopagnosia — and the tricks t...
18 min
159
Reputationville
What would it be like if we lived in a world where everything you do is subject to a rating dolled out by a combination of machines and other people?
16 min
160
Crossing
Every country has their own idiosyncratic rules and regulations for border crossings. But what if the whole process were standardized and run by a single organization?
14 min
161
Bye Bye Binary
What if we lived in a world where gender was more like hair color — something you could change at will, and that had little bearing on what other people thought of you?
14 min
162
The Carbon Gene
When it comes to climate change, there are a lot of researchers already thinking about how to equip crops and food animals with genes to help them withstand heat and parched conditions. But what about genetically engineering humans to try to slow our c...
17 min
163
Unseen
In 2006, scientists described the world's first invisibility cloak. But there was a catch. It only worked in two dimensions, and on microwaves. But to what if scientists and engineers could created a true invisibility cloak?
15 min
164
Greetings
Humans spend a lot of time and energy wondering if there’s anybody else out there. But what if we got unequivocal evidence that there was? In this week’s future, a probe that is extremely similar to the Voyager probes that we sent out in the 1970’s sho...
17 min
165
The Empathy Machine
When you were a kid and stole your friends’ toys, your parent probably asked you this angry hypothetical: “How do you think that made them feel?” But what if you actually could feel what another person is feeling? This week,
16 min
166
Caged
What would happen if we rounded up all the critically endangered animals and plants and put them in armored zoos?
17 min
167
A Drone of One’s Own
What does the world look like when everybody with a smart phone also has a drone?
17 min
168
Eternal Life in Prison
What if “life in prison” could mean 100 or 200 or 400 years? Does that change the way that sentences are dolled out? What happens when a person gets out of prison?
14 min
169
Sunward Bound
If the Earth, somehow, stopped rotating around the sun, it would have exactly 64 1/2 days before it crashed into the fireball at the center of our solar system. Here's what would happen during those last 64 1/2 days.
16 min
170
Facetime
Your face is one of your most valuable possessions. But what happens when facial recognition is so good that any company can grab an image of your face while you’re walking down the street, and link it to everything from your social media profiles,
16 min
171
Winded
What would happen if a company put up so many wind turbines that they actually changed the climate on Earth? I know this sounds totally crazy, but I swear to you this is something that scientists have actually looked into. So naturally,
11 min
172
Grounded
Need to get from New York to Paris? Or San Diego? Chances are you’re not taking a car or a bus or a boat to go there. Instead, you’d hop on a plane. But aside from hurting your wallet, commercial flights also hurt the planet,
11 min
173
The Bodybuilders
We all want to be our best selves. But what if you could add almost anything to your body and mind? A camera here, an exoskeleton there. This is the world that some biohackers imagine—one in which humans can extend their abilities beyond the limits bio...
12 min
174
The Supernova Next Door
We often think of stars as twinkling, harmless little points of light that fill our night sky with majesty. But stars can be dangerous too. When they come to the end of their lifespan, some stars explode fantastically as supernovae.
15 min
175
The Day the Internet Broke
If you’re reading this, you have access to the Internet. But what would happen if the Internet suddenly went away? And what would it take to make that happen?
17 min