Shows
Good Game with Sarah SpainBest of 2024: Sports Are Binary, Human Beings Are Not with Rose EvelethWe’ve spent the week revisiting our favorite interviews of 2024, and last but not least is Sarah’s conversation with Rose Eveleth, host of the Tested podcast. They joined her back in August to talk gender verification testing, the binary categorization of humans, and the “dangers” that inexact sciences seek to protect women athletes from. Subscribe and listen to Rose Eveleth’s podcast series, Tested here (scroll down to find it)! Learn about the history of sex testing, the language Rose & Sarah use, and find additional reading here Read the Scientific American Story that Sarah...
2025-01-0336 min
Diaspora United"Sports are binary, human bodies are not." (w/ Rose Eveleth)Courtney & André chat with the host of Tested, Rose Eveleth. Tested is a six-episode podcast series that digs into the history, and unfortunate present, of sex testing in women's sports. It also chronicles athletes subjected to these tests and how it impacts their lives and careers.
Rose discusses the depth of journalism that went into the near-decade long project, and her journey pitching the series. We delve into current examples of harmful policing of women's bodies, including the gross social media firestorm that wrongly surrounded Algerian boxer Imane Khelif during the Olympics.
We also chat w...
2024-08-2056 min
Gender RevealRose EvelethTuck and Ozzy chat with Rose Eveleth (they/them), creator of Tested. Topics include: Details and stories cut from Tested that Gender Reveal listeners would appreciate! Why individual trans and/or intersex athletes have conflicting ideas of what “fair” competition looks like How the Paralympics can help us imagine new ways of categorizing elite sports What well-intentioned people often get wrong about sex testing in sports Plus: A breaking news name reveal(!?!), a Pokémon gender, and a review of Dune Messiah? This Week in Gender: LGBTQ Olympians and Paralympians. Find Tested at tested-podcast.com, and fin...
2024-08-2054 minGood Game with Sarah SpainSports Are Binary, Human Beings Are Not with Rose EvelethRose Eveleth, host of the Tested podcast, joins Sarah to gender verification testing in track and field, how efforts to achieve fairness exclude some women from competing, the boxing controversy in these Olympics and how sports are wrestling with human sex not being binary. Plus, a reminder to turn in your homework and a USWNT moment that has the show reimagining international soccer’s Golden Boot award. Subscribe and listen to Rose Eveleth’s podcast series, Tested Here! Read the Scientific American Story that Sarah mentions Here! A few Olympic events to watch today...
2024-08-0745 min
Tech Won't Save UsWhy Tech Billionaires Want to Shape Our Future w/ Rose EvelethParis Marx is joined by Rose Eveleth to discuss the end of her long-running podcast, why thinking about the future is important, and how tech billionaires try to shape our idea of the future to serve their ends.Rose Eveleth is the creator and host of the Flash Forward podcast and the author of Flash Forward: An Illustrated Guide to Possible (And Not So Possible) Tomorrows. You can follow them on Twitter at @roseveleth.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring pe...
2023-01-051h 03
Flash ForwardROBOTS: Would You Date A Robot?Today we travel to a future where we can take a robot home for a good time, or a long time, depending on what you’re into.Content note: today’s episode discusses sex and includes explicit language. This one is more “mature” than most episodes, so proceed accordingly. ✨ REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR THE WRAP PARTY HERE! ✨Guests:
Tina Horn: author of SFSX (Volume 2 out now) and host of Why Are People Into That?
Danielle Blunt: dominatrix and community organizer with Hacking//Hustling
Samantha Floreani: Program Lead at Digital Rights...
2021-12-141h 07
Flash ForwardROBOTS: Should A Robot Be Allowed To Kill?Today we travel to a future where militaries employ killer robots. Should a robot be allowed to take a human life? Is the speed of war increasing too quickly? What does a tech worker do when they find out their work is being used for war?Guests:
Kelsey Atherton, a reporter who covers military technology.
Ryan Calo, a professor of law at the University of Washington.
Dr. Ryan Jenkins, an associate professor of philosophy at California Polytechnic State University.
Liz O’Sullivan, the CEO of Parity.
Dr. Lucy Suchman, a professor emerita of sociology at Lancaster Un...
2021-11-241h 11
Flash ForwardROBOTS: Will Robots Ever Defeat Human Athletes?Today’s episode is part one in our FOUR PART MINI SEASON SERIES AND SHOW FINALE [airhorn noises]. We’re going out with a robotic bang: four episodes about four different ways that robots might impact your life in the future, starting with sports. Also, you'll hear a special announcement about the future of the show.For more about that go here.Guests:
Joe Choong, gold medalist in the Tokyo Olympic games in modern pentathlon.
Dr. Peter Stone, a professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, and president of the Inter...
2021-11-101h 03
3 ClipsFlash Forward: Ethically Mixing Fact and Fiction (ft. Rose Eveleth)In 2021, we’re blessed to live in a podcast landscape ripe with richly reported nonfiction shows that challenge your way of thinking and expand your world: Reply All, Invisibilia, Far Flung, the list goes on. There is also an expanding slate of fictional podcasts to get lost in. But what if you could have both in one show?
With Flash Forward, a show about the future, our guest Rose Eveleth inspires imaginations and pushes listeners to think about the world we live in now, and how it could be different. Like other science shows, Rose calls on scientists and other exp...
2021-09-1300 min
3 Clips Podcast by CastosFlash Forward: Ethically Mixing Fact and Fiction (ft. Rose Eveleth)
In 2021, we’re blessed to live in a podcast landscape ripe with richly reported nonfiction shows that challenge your way of thinking and expand your world: Reply All, Invisibilia, Far Flung, the list goes on. There is also an expanding slate of fictional podcasts to get lost in. But what if you could have both in one show?
With Flash Forward, a show about the future, our guest Rose Eveleth inspires imaginations and pushes listeners to think about the world we live in now, and how it could be different. Like other science shows, Rose calls on sci...
2021-09-1339 min
Postcards from a Dying WorldEpisode 55: Interview with Rose Eveleth Creator and Host of the Flash Forward PodcastEpisode 55 is an interview with the host and creator of the popular podcast Flash Forward - Rose Eveleth. A former producer of content at ESPN's 30 for 30 and NPR's Radiolab before going independent Rose created one of the most critically acclaimed science podcasts. Flash Forward was named one of the Best Podcasts by iTunes, Wired Magazine, New York Magazine, New Statesman, Business Insider, The Globe and Mail, Indiewire, Popular Science, and The New York Times.
Using audio drama and hardcore science reporting Flash Forward explores possible (and not so possible fantastical) futures. Asteroid mining? A future without meat? L...
2021-08-241h 05
The Avid Reader ShowRose Eveleth - Flash Forward: An Illustrated Guide to Possible (and Not So Possible) TomorrowsFlash Forward: An Illustrated Guide to Possible (And Not So Possible) Tomorrows takes readers on a journey from speculative fiction to speculative “fact.” Producer and host of the podcast Flash Forward, Rose Eveleth poses provocative questions about our future, which are brought to life by 12 of the most imaginative comics and graphic artists at work, including Matt Lubchanksy, Sophie Goldstein, Ben Passmore, and Box Brown. Each artist chooses a subject close to their heart—Ignatz Award nominee Julia Gfrörer, for instance, will imagine a future in which robots make art—and presents their chosen future in their own style. Dr...
2021-07-0150 min
Super Powered FancastSPFC Episode 62: Futurism with Flash Forward Podcast Host and Author Rose EvelethIn this episode of the podcast, I speak with Podcast Host and Author Rose Eveleth about her podcast Flash Forward and how it explores different scenarios about where we could be going in the future as well as her book "Flash Forward: An Illustrated Guide to Possible (and Not So Possible) Tomorrows". Check out her podcast on all platforms as well as her website http://www.roseveleth.com/ . You can also check out the official Flash Forward podcast site at https://www.flashforwardpod.com/ . Leave a comment below letting me know what you...
2021-06-1831 min
LongformEpisode 442: Rose EvelethRose Eveleth is the host of Flash Forward and the author of Flash Forward: An Illustrated Guide to Possible (and Not So Possible) Tomorrows.“If I didn’t have that pretty bizarrely insatiable drive to do this stuff and understand things, I don’t know if I’d still be doing this. The curiosity index has to be high in order to make the rest of it worth it. Because otherwise, what’s the point?”
Thanks to Mailchimp for sponsoring this week's episode.
Show notes:
@roseveleth
@flashforwardpod
@ffwdpresents
Flash Forward Podcast
00:30 Flash Forward (Rose Eveleth • Harry N. Abrams • 2021)
21:00 Eveleth's Sample Freelancer Spreadsheet
2...
2021-06-0254 min
Follow FridayRose Eveleth (Flash Forward): Underwater aliens, COVID journalism, the language of science(A full transcript of this episode is available at FollowFridayPodcast.com)For more than six years, Rose Eveleth has hosted one of the best science podcasts around, Flash Forward. In every episode, she takes listeners on a trip to the future to explore "possible (and not so possible)" scenarios, such as: What if we killed all the mosquitoes? What if every volcano on Earth erupted at the same time? What if we never fixed any of the Y2K bugs?The podcast has also spawned an illustrated companion book, featuring comics based on Flash Forward...
2021-05-2830 min
Curiosity WeeklyWhy Futurists Don’t Need to Know the Future (w/ “Flash Forward” Host Rose Eveleth)Rose Eveleth — writer, producer, and “Flash Forward” podcast host — explains why futurists don’t need to know the future. Then, you’ll learn about the oldest examples of money ever discovered.
Additional resources from Rose Eveleth:
Rose's website: http://roseveleth.com/
Flash Forward podcast: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/
Flash Forward Presents: https://www.ffwdpresents.com/
Follow Rose on Twitter: https://twitter.com/roseveleth
Money may have been invented as long as 5,000 years ago by Grant Currin
Wells, S. (2021, January 20). When was money invented? Bronze Age study has the answer. Inverse; Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/science/origins-of-money
Kuijpers, M. H. G., & Popa, C. N. (20...
2021-03-1713 min
Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & FolkloreFrankenstein w/ Rose EvelethOctober might be over, but when you’re Mary Shelley, every day is a great day to talk about death. That’s why we were so excited to have guest Rose Eveleth, who walked us through the scientific origins behind Frankenstein and his monster, and the life and times of Mary Shelley. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions sex, misogyny, miscarriage, child death, Covid-19, scientific experimentation, hanging/execution, racism, murder, loss & grief, brain tumor, drowning, and suicide. GuestRose Eveleth is a writer and producer who explores how hum...
2020-11-0459 min
Flash ForwardShock And AweToday we travel to a future where super-bandages can heal wounds really fast. Sound like science fiction? Well it might be closer than you think! Guests:
Dr. Daniel Cohen — Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University
Dr. Keisha Ray — Assistant Professor, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston
Sylvan* — street medic in Portland (*pseudonym)
Voice Actors:
Emma Bracy: Website
Shara Kirby: Twitter
Tamara Krinsky: Website
→ → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Flash Forward is hosted by, Rose Eveleth and produced by Julia Llinas Goodman. The in...
2020-09-0153 min
Flash ForwardGame of BonesToday we travel to a future where archaeology accidentally runs out of bones. Guests:
Dr. Keolu Fox — assistant professor at UC San Diego, Indigenous Futures Lab
Dr. Benjamin Vernot — postdoctoral scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Dr. Naomi Martisius — postdoctoral scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
→ → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Voice Actors:
Dr. Pastrana — Ashley Kellem: Instagram, Website
Graudate Student — — Henry Alexander Kelly: Website, podcast La Lisa: A Latinx Podcast
Flash Forward is hosted by Rose Eveleth and produced by Julia Llinas Goodman. The i...
2020-08-1847 min
Flash ForwardIt's The End Of The World As We Know ItToday 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 out by the end of the world, and what the last party ever should be like. Guests:
Dr. Katie Mack — astrophysicist and author of The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) (also very good on Twitter!)
Dr. Jana Sadler — clinical psychologist based in Southern California
Jessie Char — conference organizer & party planner
→ → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro m...
2020-08-0452 min
Flash ForwardDollars For DataToday 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 could go wrong?Guests:
Richie Etwaru — CEO & Cofounder of Hu-manity.co
Sarah Jeong — journalist & lawyer
Abigail Echo-Hawk — Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute
Voice Actors:
Commercial voice: Brian Downs (Patron!)
Monica Pugh; Shara Kirby
Cop: Keith Houston, check out “This Eternal Afternoon” every Sunday at 4:30 PST on twitch.tv/rogerniner.
→ → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Flash Forw...
2020-07-2155 min
Can I Pet Your Dog?CIPYD 245: Rose Eveleth and Cryopreserved DogsHAPPY MAX FUN DRIVE TO YOU AND YOURS! This week in Crumboat: Tug is rolling in sap while Crumb gets a new tiny neighbor. We've got a great My Mutt Minute from Laura and Maeby, and Rose Eveleth is back and delighting us with details about her dog-themed episode on her new podcast Advice For and From The Future! And of course, our favorite amplify segment! We will never be able to properly express how much you listeners mean to us- partially because neither Renee nor Alexis is good at crying in front of people and partially b...
2020-07-1453 min
Flash ForwardShould We Put Polar Bears In Antarctica?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 name — assisted migrations — and the debates around what we should do to help conserve species as the climate warms is a really complicated and fascinating one. Guests:
Jason McLachlan — associate professor of ecology at the University of Notre Dame
Cuauhtémoc Sáenz-Romero — forest geneticist at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo
Emma Marris — environmental writer, author of Rambunctious Garden
Tero Mustonen — biologist with the Snowchange Cooperative & head of...
2020-07-0753 min
Flash ForwardOne Child to Rule Them AllIf 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 talk about a future in which there is a global one-child policy put in place, and why that might not actually be a very good, or just, idea.Guests:
Dr. Jade Sasser — Associate professor of gender and sexuality studies at UC Riverside, author of On Infertile Ground, Population Control and Women’s Rights in the Era of Climate Change.
Dr. Leslie Wang — Assistant professor of sociology at UMass Boston and author...
2020-06-2355 min
Flash ForwardIntroducing: Advice For And From The Future ▹▹ Should I follow my partner to Mars?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 want to break up? Can you have a long, long, long distance relationship? Is a five-year date a terrible idea?To answer this interplanetary conundrum, Rose calls up Andrea Silenzi, host and creator of the dating podcast Why Oh Why. Plus, an original song by the Song Salad team!Advice For And From The Fu...
2020-06-1628 min
Flash ForwardHeads Will RollToday we travel to a future where you can plop your head onto a brand new body. Guests:
Dr. Sergio Canavero — neurosurgeon & aspiring human head transplanter
Dr. Zaev Suskin — doctor & bioethicist
Dr. Paul Root Wolpe — director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University
→ → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← How to get involved in the movement against police brutality.Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky...
2020-06-0953 min
Flash ForwardWelcome to CelebrityvilleToday 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 Akoin
Dr. Katherine P. Antonova — Associate Professor of Russian history at Queens College
Brittany Spanos — senior writer at Rolling Stone Magazine
→ → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. The Lovechild tour guide was played by Gina Delvac. Episode sugges...
2020-05-2644 min
Flash ForwardFIVE YEARS OF FLASH FORWARD!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 asked them one question: what would you say to someone living 50 years from now? Here’s what they said.Guests: Alice Wong, Amy Slaton, Angeli Fitch, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Ashley Shew, Avery Trufelman, Calvin Gimpelevich, Carl Evers, Chris Dancy, Damien Patrick Williams, David Agranoff. Ernesto D. Morales, Gina Tam, Janelle Shane, Janet Stemwedel, Jared Dyer, Jon Christensen, Kathy Randall Bryant...
2020-05-1240 min
Emerging FormEpisode 16 bonus: An extended interview with Rose EvelethWelcome to our extended conversation with Rose Eveleth, the founder and host of Flash Forward, a podcast about the future. In this bonus episode, we talk with Rose about clarity: how she uses it to guide a project through growing pains. We’ll talk about her process for making monthly goals (so much more useful than a single New Year’s resolution!), how she organizes her goals, about her new book, pros and cons of inviting collaborators in, how ego and fear can sabotage a project, how she loves her lawyer, and about the stages of small business growth. ...
2020-04-3025 min
Flash ForwardGoodnight NightToday 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 light everything up?Guests:
Dr. John Barentine — director of public policy at the International Dark Sky Association
Rebecca Boyle — science journalist
Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz — astronomer at the Adler Planetarium
Dr. Sarah Pritchard — historian at Cornell University
→ → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia...
2020-04-2846 min
Emerging FormEpisode 16: Growing Pains (with Rose Eveleth)At some point, most creatives experience growing pains--when your project is going well and now you have decisions to make about whether to grow it, to bring in collaborators, or to expand your reach. We’ll also talk about avalanches of opportunity and money grubbing poets. Our guest this episode is the inimitable Rose Eveleth. She is the producer and host of Flash Forward, a podcast about the future. We’ll ask her two questions: 1) When do you know your project has grown beyond something you can do alone and you need to bring in collaborators? and 2) When the crea...
2020-04-2329 min
Flash ForwardDoomsday 2000/2038/2100Today 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? What lessons does Y2K have for us, and why are people worried about 2038 and 2100? Guests:
Peter de Jager — author of “Doomsday 2000” and Y2K town crier.
Dr. Andy Michael — geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Science Center
John Feminella — software engineer at ThoughtWorks
Dr. Sara K. McBride — emergency management specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey
→ → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ←
2020-04-1446 min
Flash ForwardFlash Back to the Future: Flight Shame, Genetic Genealogy, 2020 CensusHi 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 official, legit, Flash Forward episodes begin again on April 14th! Sources:
Susanna Elfors: founder, Tagsemester
Peter Aldhous: reporter, BuzzFeed News
Hansi Lo Wang: reporter, NPR
Covid-19 Resources
World Health Organization
Paywall free articles from The Atlantic
Flattening the coronavirus curve
The Covid Tracking Project
Take the 2020 Census HERE
2020-03-2039 min
Flash ForwardFlash Back to the Future: Mosquitoes, UBI, CoronavirusToday 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 happened since we covered certain futures. Sometimes things warrant more than a social media post, but not quite a whole new episode. So here’s a little experiment! On this episode, we revisit three futures and you get some juicy, fresh updates. We talk about a mosquito experiment gone wrong, a UBI experiment gone right, and what the heck is going on with coronavirus. If you like this, let me know? There...
2020-02-1139 min
Ologies with Alie WardFuturology (THE FUTURE) with Rose Eveleth"The future's not ours to see..." OR IS IT? Professional futurologist Rose Eveleth -- host of the podcast Flash Forward -- endures all kinds of breathless questions from Alie about shiny metal and implanted microchips and biohacking and population density curves and flying cars and equality and utopias and the Jetsons and technology and nuclear fusion and whether or not our phones are spying on us and if we should have kids or dogs. Also: how long do we, as a species, have on Earth? Despite some grim conditions, find out why Rose remains an optimist and get fired...
2020-01-071h 28
Flash ForwardPOWER: Mothers Against Digital DangerToday we travel to a future where a coalition of concerned mothers convinces the United States to shut off the Internet. Guests:
Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, journalist
Chipo Dendere, assistant orofessor of Africana Studies, Wellesley College
Tim Maughan, author of Infinite Detail
Actors:Billy’s mother -- Tamara Krinsky
→ → → Further reading on today’s episode can be found here ← ← ←Content Notes[2:20-6:00] [21:00-23:00] Suicide, onling bullying & mass shooting[11:20-17:00] Pornography[23:00-25:00] Drunk driving fatalityFlas...
2019-12-1048 min
Flash ForwardPOWER: The Sleeping LionToday’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 like? And why are so many people worried about it?Guests:
Meredith Oyen, professor of history and director of Asian studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Gina Tam, professor of history at Trinity University
Linda Yueh, economist and author of The Great Economists
Lina Getachew Ayenew, author of The Complete Beginner’s Guide to China-Africa Relations
Michael Wahid Hanna, senior fellow at The Century Foundation
A...
2019-12-0341 min
Flash ForwardPOWER: Weird Flux But OKToday’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, professor at NYU and author of Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking
Sabina Griffith, communications officer at ITER
Nicholas Evans, professor of ethics at UMass Lowell
Michael Wahid Hanna, senior fellow at The Century Foundation
Actors:
Radio Host -- Brett Humphries (a Patron!)
Moses Blackman -- Eden Rohatensky
Dr. Amelia Brand -- Solei...
2019-11-2645 min
Flash ForwardPOWER: 1919 (Episode 100!)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 will continue to shape the future. 🚨🚨🚨 New merch!!! 🚨🚨🚨Guests:
Cathleen D. Cahill, professor of history at Penn State University
Adam Green, professor of history at the University of Chicago
Virginia Scharff, professor of history at the University of New Mexico
→ → → Further reading on today’s episode can be found here ← ← ←Actors:
Monica Byrne (motor convoy)
Tamara Krinsky (suffrage)
James T. G...
2019-11-1952 min
Flash ForwardPOWER: Time After TimeToday we travel to a future where we can travel through time. Is it possible? Would you kill Hitler? Would it matter? Guests:
Annalee Newitz, science journalist and author of The Future of Another Timeline
Bryan Méndez, astronomer at UC Berkeley
Donna Rose Addis, psychologist at the University of Toronto
Actors:
Tamara Krinsky as Dr. Catherine Moore (watch her show Tomorrow's World Today!)
Molly Woodstock as Dr. Brownlow (listen to Molly's podcast Gender Reveal!)
Jim Westrich as Dr. West
→ → → Further reading on today’s episode can be found her...
2019-11-1235 min
Flash ForwardCRIME: Moon CourtOn 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 reporter at The VergeMichelle Hanlon — associate director of the National Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi and co-founder of For All Moonkind.Erika Nesvold — astrophysicist and developer for Universe SandboxLucianne Walkowicz — astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and co-founder of The JustSpace Alliance. Bianca I Laureano — educator, curriculum writer, and sexologistActors:Evan Johnson as Mr. MortonDavid Romero as DavidAsh Greenberg as AshSantos Flores...
2019-09-1042 minFlash ForwardCRIME: CSI++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 — professor of chemistry at St. Edward’s UniversityKelley Kulick — deputy public defender at the Santa Clara Public Defender’s OfficeMitra Sharafi — professor of law at University of Wisconsin-Madison Law SchoolMary Graw Leary — professor of law at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of LawActors:Evan Johnson as Mr. MortonBrent Rose as Dr. KarpouHelen Rosner as Dr. Duncan DougalTamara Krinsky as Dr. Susan Simmons→ → → Further reading on today’s episode can be found...
2019-09-0357 minFlash ForwardCRIME: Can You Sue An Algorithm?Today we travel to a future where algorithms can be put on trial. Guests:Rumman Chowdhury -- Global Lead for Responsible AI at Accenture Applied IntelligenceKevin De Liban -- attorney at Legal Aid or Arkansas Nicholson Price -- assistant professor of law at University of MichiganShobita Parthasarathy -- professor of public policy and women’s studies at University of Michigan Actors:Evan Johnson as Mr. MortonDavid Romero as DavidAsh Greenberg as AshSantos Flores as SantosCharlie Chalmers as CharlieGrace Nelligan as GraceAva Ausman as AvaSidney Perry-Thistle as SidneyArthur Benjamin as Arthur→ → → Further reading on today’s episode can b...
2019-08-2752 minFlash ForwardCRIME: I Can See My House From Here!Today we travel to a future where satellites can catch criminals.Guests:Sarah Parcak, professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and author of Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes our PastJamon Van Den Hoek, professor of geography at Oregon State UniversityWenyao Xu, professor of computer science at the State University of New York (SUNY) at BuffaloActors:Evan Johnson as Mr. MortonCharlie Chalmers as CharlieGrace Nelligan as GraceDavid Romero as DavidAsh Greenberg as AshSantos Flores as SantosAva Ausman as AvaSidney Perry-Thistle as SidneyArthur Benjamin as Arthur→ → → Further reading on tod...
2019-08-2053 minFlash ForwardCRIME: Jaw & OrderToday we travel to a future where your face can be held against you.Guests:Brandeis Marshall -- data scientist & professor at Spelman CollegeMatt Cagle -- attorney, ACLU Northern California Keith Kaplan -- councilman, Teaneck, NJAnkita Shukla -- PhD candidate, IIIT DelhiActors:Evan Johnson as Mr. MortonDavid Romero as DavidAsh Greenberg as AshSantos Flores as SantosCharlie Chalmers as CharlieGrace Nelligan as GraceAva Ausman as AvaSidney Perry-Thistle as SidneyArthur Benjamin Allison as Arthur→ → → Further reading on today’s episode can be found here ← ← ←Season One episode about facial recognitionFlash Forward is produced by...
2019-08-1355 minFlash ForwardBODIES: GhostbotToday 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 can pretend to be you?🚨 BECOME A PATRON BEFORE JUNE 30TH AND GET A SPECIAL REWARD! 🚨Guests:James Vlahos — journalist & author of Talk to Me: How Voice Computing Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Think Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad — research scientist at KenSci, Inc, professor of computer science at University of WashingtonAnita Hannig — professor of anthropology at Brandeis Univ...
2019-06-1154 minFlash ForwardBODIES: SwitcherooToday 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 Gimpelevich — writer, author of “Rent, Don’t Sell”Sav Schlauderaff — PhD student, University of Arizona, co-founder Queer Futures CollectiveKrizia Puig — PhD student, UC Santa Cruz, co-founder Queer Futures CollectiveSusan Gelman — professor of psychology, University of MichiganActors:Maria -- Cara Rose de Fabio Gaby -- Eler de GreyNew Marquis -- Xandra Ibarra John -- Keith Houston (also check out his karaoke n...
2019-06-0445 minFlash ForwardBODIES: This Is Not A TestToday 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 ← ← ←Guests:Janet D. Stemwedel -- professor of philosophy at San Jose State UniversityLawrence Carter Long -- communications director at the Disability Rights Education & Defense FundKristie Sullivan -- vice president of research policy at the Physicians Committee for Responsible MedicineDeepak Kaushal -- director of the Southwest National Primate...
2019-05-2852 minFlash ForwardBODIES: InkRxToday 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 privacy can you expect when your medical data is literally written on your skin? And what does any of this have to do with Inspector Gadget and René Descartes? → → → Further reading on today’s episode can be found here ← ← ←🚨🚨🚨 Become a patron before June 30th and get a special prize in the mail! 🚨🚨🚨Guests:Ali K. Yetisen—...
2019-05-2152 minFlash ForwardBODIES: Enter NightToday 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 it even possible?→ → → Further reading on today’s episode can be found here ← ← ←🚨 BECOME A PATRON BEFORE JUNE 30TH AND GET A SPECIAL REWARD! 🚨 Guests:Gang Han -- researcher at UMass Medical SchoolGabriel Licina -- researcher and “sometimes biohacker”Lynne MacTavish -- operations manager at Mankwe Wildlife ReserveA. Roger E...
2019-05-1455 minFlash ForwardEARTH: The Ocean FarmToday we travel to a future where fisheries collapse world wide, and we turn the ocean into a giant farm. Guests:Amanda Nickson: director of international fisheries at The Pew Charitable TrustsDaniel Pauly: professor University of British Columbia, principal investigator at Sea Around Us, author of Vanishing Fish: Shifting Baselines and the Future of Global FisheriesBernard Friedman: founder of Santa Barbara MaricultureTyler Sclodnick: senior scientist, InnovaSea Systems Inc. Patricia Majluf: vice president, Peru of OceanaActors:The Snowglobe Narrator: Brent RoseLenny Haywood: Evan JohnsonFarah Mousterian: Zahra Noorbakhsh, host of Good Muslim, Bad MuslimJohn Jacob Siwa: Jo...
2019-04-0255 minFlash ForwardEARTH: The Cement BanToday 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 of Practical EngineeringRobbie Andrew: senior researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate ResearchAmy Slaton: historian at Drexel University and author of Reinforced Concrete and the Modernization of American BuildingDavid Stone: inventor of Ferrock→ → → Further reading & full transcript ← ← ← Actors:The Snowglobe Narrator: Brent RoseLenny Haywood: Evan JohnsonFarah Mousterian: Zahra Noorbakhsh, host of Good Muslim, Bad MuslimJohn Jacob Siwa: Jo...
2019-03-2649 min
Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa MariaFlash Forward w/ Rose EvelethIn this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by producer, writer, and designer Rose Eveleth. They discuss the futuristic scenarios explored on Rose’s popular podcast, Flash Forward. They also spend an inordinate amount of time talking about archival footage and the importance of learning history, because, well, you know…
2019-03-261h 34Flash ForwardEARTH: The Desert CreepToday, we travel to the deserts. Or, actually, the deserts travel to us. What happens if dust swallows up over 30% of the planet?→ → → Background reading, source material and other links here ← ← ← As air pollution gets worse, a dystopian accessory is born ← My piece on face masks mentioned in the episode! Guests:Sumant Nigam: climate researcher at University of MarylandMorgan Gorris: PhD candidate at UC IrvineChristina Xu: freelance technology researcherLindsay C. Stringer: researcher on land use and sustainability at the University of LeedsMatthew Bowker: soil ecologist at Northern Arizona UniversityActors:The Snowglobe Narra...
2019-03-1951 minFlash ForwardEARTH: The Polar FlipToday we travel to a future where the Earth’s magnetic poles reverse.→ → → Further reading available here ← ← ← Guests:Eftyhia Zesta -- Chief of the Geospace Physics Laboratory in the Heliophysics Division at NASAMichael Purucker -- Planetary Magnetosphere Lab chief at NASAAlanna Mitchell -- author of The Spinning Magnet Rory Cottrell -- archaeomagnetism researcher at The University of Rochester Thorsten Ritz -- biophysics researcher at UC Irvine Actors:The Snowglobe Narrator: Brent RoseLenny Haywood: Evan JohnsonFarah Mousterian: Zahra Noorbakhsh, host of Good Muslim, Bad MuslimJohn Jacob Siwa: Joseph JonesJuana Aguilar: Tamara Krinsky, host of Tomorrow’s World TodayRoberta...
2019-03-1255 min
Song SaladEp. 151 - Spray The Hots Away (with Rose Eveleth!)Special guest Rose Eveleth (@roseveleth) of the Flash Forward podcast (@flashforwardpod) joins us this week to talk about the future and give us our topic! Can we swing it...?
Check out more Flash Forward at https://www.flashforwardpod.com/.
Writing partners Shannon & Scott tempt the salad spinner of fate as they write a short song about a random topic in a random style of music. Follow us on Twitter @songsaladcast, check out our website, songsaladpodcast.com, and visit our Patreon page, patreon.com/songsalad
Streaming on StrangeLabel.com every Wednesday at 4pm EST.
Art by Kayla Wasil (@kaylamwasil)
2019-03-1154 minFlash ForwardEARTH: The SunshadeWe'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, you're getting little mini-seasons. Each little block of five episodes will come out weekly, and center around a theme. This week we're starting our EARTH series. Five episodes, five different future Earths. Buckle up, I hope you're ready for some fun. And some terror. This is Flash Forward after all.Today we travel to a future where humanity decides to...
2019-03-0552 min
TED-Ed: Lessons Worth SharingThe science of spiciness | Rose EvelethWhen you take a bite of a hot pepper, your body reacts as if your mouth is on fire -- because that's essentially what you've told your brain! Rose Eveleth details the science and history behind spicy foods, giving insights into why some people continue to pay the painful price for a little spice. [Directed by Flaming Medusa Studios Inc., narrated by Rose Eveleth].
2019-02-1503 min
FAVES"Fake or Fortune" with Rose EvelethRose Eveleth is a science lover and creator of the podcast Flash Forward. Fake or Fortune is a BBC One television series which examines the provenance and attribution of notable artworks.
In this episode we talk about not having art provenance, the show itself being meta fake, the skill of the hosts, the importance of a paper trail in the art world, making money forging painting, archiving famous paintings, the Wildenstein Institute, the future of record-keeping, refusing to learn how to read, Tom Swift books, stressful running, knowing when a PHD isn't for you, and more.
2019-02-0400 minFlash ForwardSnip Snip SnipAt 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 look like? And how might CRISPR change the food we eat? Guests:Sarah Zhang, reporter at The AtlanticGreta Johnsen, weekend anchor at WBEZ, co-host of NerdetteAlice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility ProjectAlison Van Eenennaam, researcher at UC Davis→→→ Further reading and sources HERE ←←←Paper mentioned in the Policygenius ad: “National culture and life insurance consumption”Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asu...
2018-12-181h 01Flash ForwardWater Would Be NiceWhat 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 border between US and Mexico, and the water that flows through it is at the center of a looming geopolitical crisis. So what happens when towns, farms and cities on both sides of the border start to run out of water?Guests:Naveena Sadasivam: staff writer at the Texas Observer covering the environment, energy and climate and co-author on the series Shallow WatersZoë Schlanger: s...
2018-12-0441 min
Podcast Brunch ClubRose Eveleth, creator of Flash Forward podcast [Episode 35]Get involved in the podcast discussion! Find out how Podcast Brunch Club works.
Adela interviews Rose Eveleth, the producer and host of the Flash Forward podcast. PBC members worldwide listened to a podcast playlist on Artificial Intelligence. The Flash Forward episode called “Bot for Teacher” was included. Check out the other podcasts in this Artificial Intelligence playlist mini-series, including the Roundup episode and the forthcoming interview with the producer of the Guardian Science Weekly podcast, which we also featured on the listening list.
Some links to the fun stuff Rose talked about during the interview:
AI Weir...
2018-11-3046 min
Podcast Brunch ClubRose Eveleth, creator of Flash Forward podcast [Episode 35]Get involved in the podcast discussion! Find out how Podcast Brunch Club works.
Adela interviews Rose Eveleth, the producer and host of the Flash Forward podcast. PBC members worldwide listened to a podcast playlist on Artificial Intelligence. The Flash Forward episode called “Bot for Teacher” was included. Check out the other podcasts in this Artificial Intelligence playlist mini-series, including the Roundup episode and the forthcoming interview with the producer of the Guardian Science Weekly podcast, which we also featured on the listening list.
Some links to the fun stuff Rose talked about during the interview:
...
2018-11-3046 minFlash ForwardThe Commute From HellGetting 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 effects it might have on politics, urban development, and tourism, this episode is all about what would happen if we could zip instantly from one place to another.GuestsMatt Lubchansky, comic artist and associate editor at The NibZeeya Merali, physicist at the Foundational Questions Institute, author of A Big Bang in a Little Room, cohost of the FQXi PodcastPeter Norton, hi...
2018-11-2046 minFlash ForwardWhat To Expect When You're Expecting In SpaceIf 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 another. But one thing seems to be frequently left out of the picture, when it comes to distant space travel research: reproduction. It turns out we know very, very little about what pregnancy in space might look like, or whether it’s even possible at all.GuestsMaggie Koerth-Baker: senior science writer at Five...
2018-11-0647 minFlash ForwardFarm To TabletOn 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 with our lives. How feasible is this, really? Where did the idea come from? And what does the rise and fall in the popularity of the idea say about our changing relationships to food, culture and politics?Guests:Annalee Newitz, science journalist and science fiction author, co-host of Our Opinions Are CorrectCharlie Ja...
2018-10-2347 minFlash ForwardEyes In The SkiesComputers 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 another, gather information, and transmit that information back down to a central place? This is the concept behind smart dust, and it's more plausible than you might think.Guests:Amy Webb, quantitative futurist and founder of the Future Today InstituteFaine Greenwood, journalist and drone expertStacey Higginbotham, journalist, co-host of the Internet of Things podcast→ → More information band background reading at flashforwardpod.com...
2018-10-0944 minFlash ForwardMoney For NothingWhat 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 matter what. And it turns out that while it sounds simple, just giving everybody money is way more complicated than you might thing.Guests:Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, Senior editor at The Nation, author of The CosmopolitesShaksam Khosla, graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, author of India’s Basic Income: Bedeviled by the Details Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of...
2018-09-2551 min
Flash ForwardFungus Among UsHow 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 infection was spreading? Guests:David Walton, author of The Genius PlagueTade Thompson, author or RosewaterCharissa de Bekker, researcher at the University of Central FloridaSandeep Ravindran, science journalistFor additional reading and resources on this episode, visit flashforwardpod.com. Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the ou...
2018-09-1141 minFlash ForwardUnder The SeaIn 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 those programs is still around. Why do space colonies seem more likely than underwater cities? And what does it take to build a settlement on the sea floor?Guests:Ben Hellwarth, journalist and author of SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean FloorJim Fourqurean, professor of Marine Science at Florida International University and the director of the Center for Coastal Oceans Research
2018-07-3156 minFlash ForwardPortrait Of The Artist As An AlgorithmIn 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, robots and other non-human entities. I hope your enjoy your visit!To see pictures of any of the artworks we talked about on this show head to the website! Guests:Elizabeth Stephens, Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of QueenslandMichael Noll, computer artist, professor emeritus at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at...
2018-07-1749 min
Flash ForwardThe Very Big SickIn 1918, the Spanish flu killed four to five percent of the entire global population. Infectious disease experts all agree that another pandemic is coming. It's when, not if. But are we ready for it? Today's episode explores what happens when a pandemic strikes, what the most likely candidates are, and whether or not the world is ready.Guests:Ed Yong, science writer at The AtlanticNahid Bhadelia, assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine and the Medical Director of Special Pathogens Unit (SPU) at Boston Medical CenterLaura Spinney, science...
2018-07-0353 minFlash ForwardThe Space RoombaThis 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 something about it. But what?Guests:Loren Grush, science reporter at The VergeLisa Ruth Rand, historian of science technology and the environment.Tiago Soares, systems engineer for ESA’s Clean Space programAndrew Wolahan, systems engineer for ESA’s e.deorbit programAlice Gorman, space archaeologist at Flin...
2018-06-1950 minFlash ForwardFederal Project TwoGuests: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 Noelle Marshall, playwright, consultant, artist, director, founder of JOCOAA.Monica Byrne, novelist, playwright, futurist, activist.Further Reading:Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times by Susan QuinnThe New Deal Art Projects, An Anthology of Memoirs by Francis V. O’ConnorEngendering Culture: Manhood and Womanhood In New Deal Publ...
2018-05-2252 minFlash ForwardEnter the ExosThis 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 TechGreg Pote, Tim’s brotherDr. Bill Marras, professor at The Ohio State University & Director of the Spine Research InstituteLarry Jasinksi, CEO, RewalkAshley Shew, assistant professor at Virginia Tech in technology & disability, and author of Animal Constructions and Technological KnoweldgeKim Sauder, graduate student in Disability Studies, auth...
2018-05-0850 minFlash ForwardFire From the DeepIn this episode, a huge submarine volcano erupts, breaks the surface of the ocean, and forms a new island. What happens next?Guests:Tracy Gregg, associate professor of geology at the University at BuffaloRebecca Carey, senior lecturer at the University of TasmaniaParaskevi V. Nomiku, assistant professor of geological oceanography at the University of AthensGianpierro Orbasano, Tongan photojournalist and explorerMichael Bates, Prince of SealandJames Grimmelmann, professor of law at Cornell TechFurther reading:The largest deep-ocean silicic...
2018-04-1043 minFlash ForwardThe Grey DawnWe’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 future delivered straight to your listening device. I hope you enjoy!On this episode, we’re talking about the future of senior care. Namely: what happens when we outsource care for our aging loved ones to robots, apps and devices?Let’s start by defining the challenge that the technology in today’s episode is trying to solve: in the United States, there are six million people over the age of 85...
2018-03-2748 min
Flash ForwardYou’ve Got BrainmailIn 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 communicate brain to brain? And how likely is it that we’ll ever get this kind of technology? We start the episode by talking to Roger Luckhurst, a Professor in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck, University of London, who explains where the word telepathy comes from, and how it totally obsessed men of science in the early 1800’s. Then, futurist and science fiction author Ramez Naam wa...
2018-01-0949 min
Flash ForwardCountlessThis 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 crosshairs — census watchers say that it’s not getting enough funding, and community organizations and local governments are already worrying about what an inaccurate census might mean for their people. To walk us through the current perils facing the census I talked to Hansi Lo Wang, a national correspondent for NPR who has been covering the census...
2017-12-2645 min
Why Are People Into That?!Rose Eveleth: Sex Robots“Theres a tendency for men in tech to trust machines more than they trust women.” For the first time ever, Tina tackles a speculative YAPIT: or as guest Rose Eveleth calls it: why WOULD people BE into that? Rose is the host and producer of Flash Forward, a spectacular podcast about the future. She’s also written extensively about sex robots technology with feminist humor and scientific skepticism. In this episode, Tina and Rose muse on everything from the consent politics of machines, to how sex workers and sex robots might work together, to where the hell you would store a...
2017-12-131h 25
Flash ForwardThere’s No Great Future in PlasticsThis 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 environmental enemies. But it actually wasn’t always that way. Bradford Harris, a historian of science and the host of a podcast called How It Began: A History of the Modern World, and Susan Freinkel, a journalist and the author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, walk us through how plastic started out as a solution to unsustainable practices. Then we talk to Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for t...
2017-12-1234 min
Flash ForwardDeceptible MeThis 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 suggested by my mom. It begins with two tales of self deception, one from Jacquelyn Gill, an assistant professor of paleo-ecology at the University of Maine and the host of a podcast about climate change called Warm Regards, and the other from Beth Duckles, a writer, researcher, ethnographer and social scientist. Then we talk to Zoë Chance, an assi...
2017-11-1438 min
Flash ForwardEasy Bake OrgansThis 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! We start by hearing a bit about what the current organ donation market is like from Christine Gentry, who donated a kidney to a stranger. Then we talk to Dr. Anthony Atala, the Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and of the world’s leading regenerative medicine specialists. Dr. Atala has implanted organs grown from the cells of patients themselves in clinical trials. Then Kelly and Zach W...
2017-10-3132 min
Flash ForwardBuzz OffIn 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 of coffee! World economic collapse! But is that all true? (Probably not.) And how likely is a honeybee extinction anyway? (Extremely unlikely.) Plus, what about all the other bees in the world? We ponder these questions and more in this episode. To walk us through what might happen to agriculture if bees...
2017-10-1725 min
Flash ForwardPiraceuticalsThis 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 Autonomous. It’s very good and you should read it. I am not being paid to say that, I just really like the book. Autonomous tells the story of two main characters: Jack the pharmaceutical pirate, and Palladin the bot that is trying to hunt her down. A few cool links related to Autonom...
2017-10-0327 min
Flash ForwardAfter LifeThis 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 talk to the authors of a paper that tries to figure out this exact question. David Sloan and Rafael Alves Batista are the authors of a paper called “The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events” (along with Avi Loeb). No, they’re not evil scientists, just interested in what it might take to find life on other planets. They explain their calculations, and how we mos...
2017-09-0724 min
Can I Pet Your Dog?CIPYD 109: Rose Eveleth and The Scottish TerrierHappy day after Labor Day! We’re talking to Rose Eveleth, host of the podcast Flash Forward, about her awesome dog Moro, who has two different colored eyes and a winning personality. Plus, some happy news about an escaped dog, and of course some awesome dogs we met this week. Grab a tiny terrier and tune in!
2017-09-0551 min
Flash ForwardDown For Everyone Not Just YouThis 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. Please go check that out, even if you don’t like sports I promise there’s something for you. My episodes are numbers three and four in the series, and they’re both out, and if you like the weird stuff I do on this show I think you’ll probably enjoy them. Trying to make two highly pro...
2017-08-0837 min
Flash ForwardLove On The BrainThis 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 project Object Solutions. If you liked what you heard about Object Solutions you should check out their other work, and their Patreon page. I also talked to Suzanne Dikker, who has used EEG headsets to study everything from education, to Marina Abramovic’s art, to compatability. And to get a true e...
2017-07-0531 min
Flash ForwardMons VoyageThis 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 space cruise ship, and take a trip to Mars? This is a special episode because our little future intro is actually two real people playing real parts. Olivia Koski and Jana Grcevich are the authors of a new book called Vacation Guide to the Solar System. The book is a spinoff of their long-running project the Intergalactic Travel Bureau, a project of Guerilla Science and a...
2017-06-0630 min
Flash ForwardBack to the Future: A Womb Away From HomeLong 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. And this is a special bonus episode of Flash Forward where we’re going to go back and revisit that future, because a new piece of research recently came out about artificial wombs. I’m calling this, a BACK TO THE FUTURE episode. Related reading: Fluid-filled ‘biobag’ allows premature lambs to develop outside the womb...
2017-05-1821 min
Flash ForwardRobocopIn 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 also, and this might be the understatement of the year, a controversial one. On this episode we’re not going to try and give you a full picture of what the future of policing might be. That would take hours. Instead, we’re going to focus on two really specific pieces of this topic. First we talk to Madeline Ashby, futurist and science fiction writer, ab...
2017-05-0232 min
Flash ForwardUnreelThis 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 to access. What happens? This episode we start by talking about the technology as it exists now. Hamed Pirsiavash the show to explain his research into generating videos using algorithms. So that’s where the technology stands now. But once it gets better, there are all kinds of applications. Hal Hodson, a tech reporter at The Economist, tells us about how it could b...
2017-04-0441 min
Flash ForwardCalifornia DreamingCalifornia 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 independent? And if it did, what would that look like? This is a future that’s been on my list for a while, but since the election here in the United States it’s taken a bit of a different tone. California voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, 66 percent of the state cast their votes for her. And as most of you probably know, she did not wi...
2017-03-0738 min
Flash ForwardGreetings From ParadiceEvery 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 might start sailing North rather than South. This episode of Flash Forward explores a future where the Arctic becomes a tourist destination just like the Bahamas or the Great Barrier Reef. Researchers at UCLA have projected that the Northwest Passage might be totally ice-free by 2050. And that’s something that big commercial cargo ships have been eyeing for...
2017-02-0734 min
Flash ForwardWhere’s the Beef?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 episode we discuss the arguments in favor and against banning meat. How does that impact culture? Why should we do it? Does it help or hurt the environment? Can you really grow meat in a lab? And is that meat vegan? First we talked to folks in the “ban the m...
2016-08-1037 min