Energy

Three workers in orange vests and hard hats climb a ladder on the side of a massive concrete cooling tower of a nuclear power plant, against a clear blue sky.

America’s plan to resurrect nuclear power

To increase its supply of clean nuclear power, the US government is cutting licensing fees, rewarding reactor innovation, and more.

Kristin Houser

In a bustling data center, a person works with a laptop on a cart, surrounded by racks of illuminated servers and cables.

Clean Energy

The future of data centers — on land, at sea, and in space

As our digital world grows, demand for data centers is also increasing. To meet that demand sustainably, developers are getting creative.

Kristin Houser

A collage of agricultural elements including a satellite, crop fields, tomatoes, and growth charts illustrating data, boosted breeding techniques, chemical formulas, and a seedling highlights efforts to combat hunger.

Agriculture

Boosted Breeding and beyond: 3 tech trends that could end world hunger

A world without hunger is possible, and the development and deployment of new farming technologies could be one key to manifesting it.

Kristin Houser

Series| Future of Cities

Futuristic Copenhagen architecture builds on water

5:05

The innovators of Copenhagen architecture are pioneering new solutions to urban living challenges, from floating parks to man-made islands.

Copenhagen's innovative approach to waste management turns trash into ski slopes

Series| Future of Cities

Copenhagen turns trash into ski slopes

6:09

Humans throw away 3.5 million tons of waste every day. Copenhagen is taking waste management to new heights (literally) to deal with trash from residents, making it the sustainable city of the future.

Series| Future of Cities

The sustainable city of the future: Copenhagen, Denmark

5:49

By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas (up from 50% now). With the climate crisis worsening, how can we support this urban trend in a sustainable way?

Sustainability

Paving the way with recycled roads

The world is facing a massive build up of waste. But this solution of recycled roads may pave the way for a cleaner future.

B. David Zarley

Sustainability

The world's first floating dairy farm

In the search for more sustainable methods of global food production, one couple in the Netherlands is taking an unconventional approach: they have become the operators of the world's first and only floating dairy farm.

Series| Future of Food

It’s time to embrace the frankenfish

7:06

Would you eat fish that was genetically designed in a lab? What if it was your only option? Like it or not, GMO salmon and other futuristic foods are revolutionizing the global food system right in front of our eyes.

Sustainability

These pioneers are building the sustainable food systems of tomorrow

In a new Freethink original series, Michael O'Shea goes around the world to introduce us to the scientists who are working hard to ensure that we can feed our future world.

Music

This musician transforms scientific data into elaborate melodies

When we convert complex data into sound and listen to it, quite often what emerges is something we can understand through sound, even though we could never understand it visually.

Teresa Carey

Series| Future of Food

A look inside farms of the future

6:20

With a growing population, changing consumption behavior and a climate crisis, how will we feed our future world?...

Disaster Response

A community at the frontlines of the war on wildfire

5:11

When facing literal hellfire, this community effort may be the only way to protect homes and lives from devastating wildfires.

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