Futurism

Researchers at China's Southeast University of Nanjing have moved closer to cloaking technology by being able to alter an object's appearance on radar scopes.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have built the world's smallest computer: a one cubic millimeter machine that is designed to monitor the eye pressure of glaucoma patients.

Robert Krulwich can't believe Kevin Kelly is correct about technologies never disappearing. But even if it's true, are past results a guarantee of future progress?

A sleek, design-fictional robot railway inspector promises to make costly train derailments a thing of the past. It's a harbinger of the ambient, automated infrastructure to come—and a reminder that the future lies in the inevitable and necessary failure of beautiful ideas. Video after the jump.

Remember how we used to say that when the machines start reproducing, we'll know we're in trouble"? Well maybe it's time for a gut-check on that one. Video after the jump.

In an age of ever-more fantastic gadgets, it's becoming received wisdom that we're all cyborgs now. But as implant hacker Lepht Anonym reminds us, the original vision of the term was dangerous and feral. Videos after the jump.

The bicycle rider always wants a car, Kevin Kelly reminds us in What Technology Wants. But the car won't make him happier—and if what technology wants is autonomy, it may be advised against the pursuit of happiness.

Reviewing Reality is Broken, Jane McGonigal's manifesto of gaming for a better world, Ian Bogost realizes that he likes the messy, repellent, stunning reality we've got.

French-Canadian kids doing anthropology in the midst of our broken future, contending with the vague stirrings of paleotechnology. Video after the jump.

A justly celebrated viral video celebrates Carl Sagan's hopes for the future of humankind—a good bet, but by no means a sure one. Video after the jump.