Flash Forward

Today we travel to a future where there is no future, because today we’re considering how the universe ends. Plus: how to cope with feeling freaked …

Today we travel to a future where you can sell your personal data directly to a company, to get a better deal on a car or a house or a latte. What …

Today’s episode takes on a listener question: why not just move the polar bears to Antarctica? The idea might seem silly, but it’s actually got a …

If we really want to combat climate change, why not institute a serious cap on human population? It's a common question, and on today's episode we …

INTRODUCING: the newest show in the Flash Forward family — Advice For And From The Future.

What happens when your partner wants to flee this planet, and you want to stay? Is wanting to go to Mars basically saying you …

Today we travel to a future where you can plop your head onto a brand new body. 

Guests:

• Dr. Sergio Canavero — neurosurgeon & aspiring human head …

Today we travel to a future where celebrities construct their own cities for you and I to live in. 

Guests:

• Jon Karas — President and Co-Founder at …

Today we celebrate the FIVE YEAR anniversary of the podcast. Whoa. To celebrate, I reached out to every single person who you’ve ever heard on the podcast — every expert, every voice actor, and even a few patrons — and …

Today we travel to a future where darkness is a thing of the past. No more night, no more stars, no more deep inky black sky. What happens when we …

Today we travel to a future where software engineers didn’t actually fix any of the Y2K bugs. What would have happened if we had ignored the problem? …

Hi again! I’m back with one more of these update episodes. Today we cover the growing “flight shame” movement, some interesting developments in the genetic genealogy space, and what’s going on with the 2020 Census. 

New …

Today is a very special ~~surprise~~ episode! I’ve been thinking about how to revisit old episodes, and give you folks updates on things that have …

Today we travel to a future where a coalition of concerned mothers convinces the United States to shut off the Internet. 

Guests:

• Philip Elmer‑DeWitt…

Today’s episode is about a future in which China supplants the US as the dominant world superpower. Is it imminent? What does a China-led world look …

Today’s episode is about nuclear fusion, a technology that might save us all or might be a complete waste of time and money. 

Guests:

• Charles Seife, …

It’s the 100th episode!!!!!! To mix things up, today we’re traveling to the 1919 to see how three different events shaped the last 100 years, and …

Today we travel to a future where we can travel through time. Is it possible? Would you kill Hitler? Would it matter? 

Guests:

• Annalee Newitz, …

On today’s episode we take everything we’ve learned so far about the future of crime, and take it to space. 

Guests:Loren Grush — senior space …

Today’s episode is about the future of forensics: what happens when just a few skin cells can make you suspect number one? 

Guests:Raychelle Burks — …

Today we travel to a future where algorithms can be put on trial. 

Guests:Rumman Chowdhury -- Global Lead for Responsible AI at Accenture Applied …

Today we travel to a future where satellites can catch criminals.

Guests:Sarah Parcak, professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama at …

Today we travel to a future where your face can be held against you.

Guests:Brandeis Marshall -- data scientist & professor at Spelman College…

Today we travel to a future where dying isn’t the end. What if you could live on as a simulation? A bot that knows everything you’ve ever said, and …

Today we travel to a future where we can swap bodies with one another. Would you trade places with someone? Do you own your body? 

Guests:

Calvin …

Today we travel to a future where all animal testing is banned. What are the alternatives? What can we do without using animals, and what can’t we do? 

→ → → Further reading on today’s episode can be found here ← ← ←

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Today we travel to a future where we can tattoo sensors right onto our skin. What happens when you can get a live readout of everything from glucose to hormones to hydration levels built into a tattoo? What kind of …

Today we travel to a future where humans can see at night. What happens when we expand our vision out into the darkness? How does that impact everything from work, to architecture, to poaching to horror movies? And is …

Today we travel to a future where fisheries collapse world wide, and we turn the ocean into a giant farm. 

Guests:Amanda Nickson: director of …

Today we travel to a future where we try to break up with cement. Can it be done? How did cement because so ubiquitous? And what’s so bad about cement in the first place? Guests:Grady Hillhouse: civil engineer and host …

Today, we travel to the deserts. Or, actually, the deserts travel to us. What happens if dust swallows up over 30% of the planet?

→ → → Background …

Today we travel to a future where the Earth’s magnetic poles reverse.

→ → → Further reading available here ← ← ←

Guests:Eftyhia Zesta -- Chief of the …

We're back! Did you miss me? Don't answer that please. Today's episode kicks off Season FIVE of Flash Forward. This year, I'm doing things a little bit differently. Instead of doing a new episode every other week, …

In case you think I've been sitting on my butt doing nothing, here's a trailer to let you know that I have been sitting on my butt doing lots of things! Flash Forward returns to your feeds NEXT WEEK, but to get you …

At long last, we’re doing genetic editing. What’s the deal with the recent news about CRISPR babies? What does a future full of human genetic editing …

What happens when the Rio Grande dries up? The river is often overshadowed, at least in the US, by the Colorado River. But the Rio Grande creates the …

Getting from one place to another is hard. What if we could just teleport? From the physics of how this would work (it wouldn’t) to the ripple …

If humans want to really have a go at leaving Earth and living in space or on other planets, we’re going to have to figure out a lot of things: spaceships, food supplies, fuel, how to keep everybody from killing one …

On today’s episode we tackle a future that was once a staple of science fiction: food pills. Instead of shopping and cooking and sitting down to eat meals together, we all simply pop our nutritional pills and move along …

Computers are getting smaller and smaller. But what if we had sensors the size of dust, that could float through the air undetected, talk to one …

What if we just gave everybody money? It sounds simple, but universal basic income is a trendy idea right now and a lot of you have asked for an episode about a future where everybody gets money from the government no …

How much of what you do is actually your choice? What if you were secretly being controlled by a parasite that had infected your brain? What if that …

On today’s episode we travel to the near-future of advertising. Welcome to a future in which you can sign up to be a brand ambassador, and get paid for every time you mention a product in conversation. Simply download …

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Today we tackle the age-old question: what if animals could talk? Or, more precisely, what if we could actually …

In the 1960's, the United States spent millions of dollars exploring two different realms: outer space, and the deep oceans. But today, only one of …

In today’s episode I welcome you to the Museum of Non-Human Art, a brand new gallery full of art made entirely by machines, computers, algorithms, …

In 1918, the Spanish flu killed four to five percent of the entire global population. Infectious disease experts all agree that another pandemic is …

This episode we take on a future where space junk has gotten so bad, that active spacecraft are constantly having to maneuver around it, which wastes fuel and cuts down on operation time. And humans decide to finally do …

With the rise in consumer DNA tests and online genealogy, people might soon have a pretty good idea where their families came from for generations. But are we putting too much faith in DNA? Can our genetic ancestry …

Guests:

Susan Quinn, author of Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands  Made High Art out of Desperate Times and other books.

Monet …

This episode we talk exoskeletons: what are they being used for now? What might they be used for in the future? And what happens when they’re everywhere?

Guests:

Tim Pote, PhD student at Virginia Tech

Greg Pote, Tim’s …

Some people love going to the gym. Some people hate it. But what if there was a pill that could replace exercise? Today’s future might actually be …

In this episode, a huge submarine volcano erupts, breaks the surface of the ocean, and forms a new island. What happens next?

Guests:

Tracy Gregg, …

We’re back! After a bit of a break, your regularly scheduled Flash Forward episodes will resume starting today. Every other Tuesday you’ll get a …

In our last episode of the season, we take one one of the most requested futures: telepathy! What would it be like to be able to link minds, and …

This episode we travel to a future where the 2020 census goes haywire. What happens if we don’t get an accurate count of Americans? Who cares? Apparently the constitution does! 

 The 2020 census is currently in the …

This episode is all about a world without plastic. What would that look like? Is it even possible? 

 Today, plastic is seen as one of our great …

In this episode, we travel to a future where a tech mogul feeds a machine learning system all the religious texts he can find, and asks it to …

This episode we travel to a future where you can choose to turn off your ability to deceive yourself. Are you now a perfectly clear eyed genius? Or a perpetually depressed misanthrope? Maybe both? 

 This episode was …

This episode we take on a future full of bioprinted replacement organs. You asked for more hopeful futures, this is about as hopeful as they get! 

…

In this episode we travel to a world without bees. And not just honey bees, all bees. 

 You’ve probably heard a lot of doom and gloom predictions about what might happen if honey bees went extinct. Mass famine! The end …

This episode we go to a future with pirates! There always has to be at least one pirate episode per season. This time it’s pharmaceutical pirates. 

 This episode was inspired by a new book by Annalee Newitz called …

This month’s episode is about what it would take to sterilize the Earth, and why you might want to figure that out in the first place. 

 First we …

This episode is a little different than other episodes. As many of you know, Flash Forward is my second job. My first job is at ESPN, where I recently helped launch an audio documentary series called 30 for 30 Podcasts. …

This episode, we travel to a future where your romantic partners aren’t chosen by questions or swipes, but rather by your brainwaves.

 This future is based on an idea from Shelly Ronan and Ernesto D. Morales and their …

This episode, we go on another vacation! Can you tell I need a vacation? Anyway, back to the episode. What would it be like if you could hop on a …

Long time listeners of Flash Forward might feel like this future is kind of… familiar. And it is. It’s actually the first future we ever traveled to on this show. A future where humans have invented artificial wombs. …

In this future there are no more human police officers. Is that even possible?

 The future of policing is a really really complicated topic. And it’s …

This month on Flash Forward, we go to a future where anybody can make a video of you doing anything they want. And that technology is cheap and easy …

California has one of the largest economies in the world. So what would happen if it broke away from the United States? Could California ever go …

Every year, over 20 million people get on a cruise ship and set sail for a seafaring vacation. Most of those cruises take their vacationers to warm, sunny climates. But thanks to climate change, a new hoard of ships …

Today’s episode is about a future where nobody works on farms anymore, all farming is done by robots. It might be closer than you think.

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This week we travel to a future where there is so much fake news that nobody can tell what is real anymore. Are we already there? What happens next?

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What happens when everybody has 100% control over when they do or don’t have babies? We got to a world with perfect and accessible birth control. You …

Today we do something weird, in honor of the end of the second season! Instead of coming up with a future and then finding experts to talk about it, I asked an AI to write a future for us. And the AI apparently wants us …

Today we go to a future where animal products are banned. It’s one that lots of listeners have asked for so here you go. We talk about what happens to the land, the animals and the humans in this equation.

 In this …

Today we try to figure out what happens when our future presidential candidates have thousands of Tweets and Tumblr posts and Instagrams in their online record. 

 What happens, when today’s teens start running for …

Today we travel to a future where all drugs are legal. Just roll up to the store, and get yourself some cocaine!

 We start with some history: for …

Today a future without schools. Instead of gathering students into a room and teaching them, everybody learns on their own time, on tablets and …

Today week we take on a doomsday future! We haven’t done one of those this season. So, what would happen if all the active volcanoes in the world …

Today we go to a future where all pop stars use avatars, clones, robots or cartoons instead of their real bodies and faces. What does that do to …

Today we travel to a future where it’s possible to know exactly when you will die. Do you chose to find out?

 Now, this is, impossible. Totally impossible. And I’m not even going to try and come up with some strange …

Today we travel to a world with universal translation devices. Where the babelfish from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes true (although …

Today we travel to a future where America has converted to a direct democracy. Everybody votes on everything! 

 Hey, did you know it was an election year in the United States? I know, you've probably not really heard …

Okay, you asked for it, and I finally did it. Today’s episode is about conscious artificial intelligence. Which is a HUGE topic! So we only took a …

Today we travel to a fully digital world, a world where paper is a thing of the past. 

 On this show we’ve tackled a huge range of futures — we’ve …

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 …

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? …

Today we travel to a future full of spreadsheet approved lives. A future where everything we do is tracked and quantified: calories, air quality, …

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. 

 Let’s start …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Welcome to season two of Flash Forward! We kicked off this season with a pretty unlikely future: the entire world goes face blind. 

 In the episode we discuss what causes face blindness — also known as prosopagnosia — …

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?

Every country has their own idiosyncratic rules and regulations for border crossings. But what if the whole process were standardized and run by a …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 would happen if we rounded up all the critically endangered animals and plants and put them in armored zoos?

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What does the world look like when everybody with a smart phone also has a drone?

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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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

If there was a drug that meant you never had to sleep again, would you take it? Would those who didn’t need to sleep have special advantages over …

Over the past 85 years, antibiotics have been miracle drugs. They’ve kept infections at bay and opened up a world of medical possibilities: organ transplants, heart surgery, chemotherapy. But they’re not going to work …

This week on Meanwhile in the Future we step onto the field and talk about contact sports. What would it take to create a future in which the most …

This week’s future is a social experiment. What if Earth had a robotic overlord who decided to ban all weapons? All fights would have to be hand to …

What would happen if the Earth suddenly had a second moon? This week, we work through the impact an additional satellite would have on our planet, …

What happens when women no longer have to physically bear children? Who wins? Who loses? Who takes artificial wombs to a far away planet to create a …