Flash Forward
Rose Eveleth
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 1, 2015 • 17min
Caged
What would happen if we rounded up all the critically endangered animals and plants and put them in armored zoos?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 25, 2015 • 17min
A Drone of One’s Own
What does the world look like when everybody with a smart phone also has a drone?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 11, 2015 • 14min
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?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 4, 2015 • 16min
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.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 28, 2015 • 16min
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, to your credit score, to your workplace?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 21, 2015 • 12min
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, I talked to one of those scientists.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 14, 2015 • 12min
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, contributing to the continuous input of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that is in turn contributing to climate change. So what if we stopped flights? What would happen?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 7, 2015 • 13min
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 biology has set for us. But what does that world look like?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 30, 2015 • 16min
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. So what would happen if one of those giant explosions happened nearby?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 23, 2015 • 17min
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?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
