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With climate change warming the oceans, coral reefs remain some of the most vulnerable ecosystems. Keeping an eye on them can be time-consuming and expensive, since it requires divers to do spot-checks to see if the reefs are bustling, lively environments or if they are degrading into abandoned neighborhoods. But some researchers are increasingly tuning in to how reefs sound to monitor the corals’ health and maybe even make them more resilient. In this episode of The Future of Everything, WSJ’s Danny Lewis explores how listening to reefs may be the next frontier in trying to save them.

Further reading:

Financing a Healthy Future for Coral Reefs 

Listen: Scientists Are Recording Ocean Sounds to Spot New Species 

Divers Discover Coral Reef in Pristine Condition 

Google AI Tries to Save the Whales 

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Three controversial paintings by Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt were lost to a fire in WWII. All that remained were black and white photos - and art historians have discussed what the paintings’ motifs and colors actually looked like for decades. Recently, the Google Arts and Culture Lab gave it a try ... by tapping into artificial intelligence. In this episode of the Future of Everything, WSJ's Ariana Aspuru explores how researchers are using AI to better understand art, artists and the creative process.

Further reading:

The Klimt Color Enigma — Google Arts & Culture 

‘Klimt vs. Klimt: The Man of Contradictions’ Review: Exploring an Art-Nouveau Master Online - WSJ  

Using AI to recreate how artists painted their masterpieces | MIT CSAIL 

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In the decade since CRISPR gene-editing technology was first developed, it has been used to address a host of issues, such as developing new cancer treatments, designing faster rapid COVID-19 tests and to make biofuel-producing algae. Proponents say CRISPR could also help solve some of the world’s biggest food-related problems: salad greens could be more nutritious, fruits could taste better, and crops of all kinds could be altered to grow using fewer resources. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently gave the go-ahead to bring gene-edited beef to market, and CRISPR-modified purple tomatoes could be coming later this year. But agricultural technology companies still have to figure out how to overcome consumer skepticism. In this session from the WSJ Global Food Forum, leaders from two firms working to scale-up gene-edited foods discuss what it takes to get the new technology out of the lab and into supermarkets.

Further reading:

Get Ready for Gene-Edited Food 

GMO Tomatoes Could Be Returning After 25 Years. Will People Eat Them? 

Crispr’s Next Frontier: Treating Common Conditions 

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Neri Oxman spends her time thinking about the future of materials science and how it should influence architecture and design. In this session from the Future of Everything Festival, the architect and former tenured professor at MIT’s Media Lab speaks with WSJ Health and Science coverage chief Stefanie Ilgenfritz about her vision of a future where science, technology and organic design work together to create products and buildings that may counteract climate change in urban areas. 

Further reading:

A Science of Buildings That Can Grow—and Melt Away | WSJ 

JPMorgan’s New Manhattan Headquarters to Be All Electric Powered | WSJ 

Biophilic Design Is Helping Big-City Apartment Towers Get Back to Nature | WSJ 

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Welcoming a child into your family can be life changing, but for those struggling to get pregnant the process can be emotionally taxing and expensive. Reproductive science is quickly changing, as is society’s approach to the issues around fertility. In this episode, we bring you a conversation from the WSJ Future of Everything Festival, where a handful of medical practitioners and reproductive entrepreneurs discussed the future of fertility with WSJ’s Amy Dockser Marcus. Guests include: sociologist Rene Almeling, Stephen Krawetz, the Associate Director of the CS Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, Daisy Robinton, the CEO of Oviva Therapeutics and Angela Stepancic, the founder of Reproductive Village Cryobank. This conversation was recorded before the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Useful Links:

See more videos from The WSJ Future of Everything Festival  

GUYnecology: The Missing Science of Men’s Reproductive Health 

Krawetz Lab at the C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development

Oviva Therapeutics 

Reproductive Village Cryobank 

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Also: GM shares rise 1.4% after automaker says profits won’t be affected by computer-chip supply shortages. Kohl’s shares fall 19.6% after calling off its sale to Franchise Group. J.R. Whalen reports.

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For decades, a virtual reality version of the internet has been a staple of science fiction. The metaverse is the latest iteration and it has the potential to become something more than a new gaming platform. But years before Facebook changed its name to Meta and launched huge investments into the space, Philip Rosedale was experiment ing with many of these same ideas in the virtual world he helped create: Second Life. In a conversation with Wall Street Journal reporter Christopher Mims during the WSJ Future of Everything Festival, Rosedale shared his vision for a metaverse where data privacy is more important than advertising, and our online and offline lives intersect in a healthier way.

Further reading:

From the Wall Street Journal:

Meta-morphosis or More Pain? Possible Futures for Facebook’s Parent Company | Christopher Mims

Second Life Founder Returns to Take On the Metaverse | Meghan Bobrowsky

The Facebook Files | WSJ Investigations

How TikTok's Algorithm Figures Out Your Deepest Desires | WSJ Investigations

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Every year, even as millions struggle with food insecurity, about a third of all the food produced for humans in the world is thrown away, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. That not only means wasting water and energy resources. The food, rotting in landfills, also emits methane gas linked to climate change. Attorney Emily Broad Leib, the director and founder of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, has dedicated her career to researching ways to end food waste. In this episode, she explains why food waste is such an issue around the world, how laws and regulations inadvertently lead to more food being wasted, and the simple changes to food labeling she says will make for a less wasteful future.

Further Reading: 

The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic 

Recent WSJ Food Coverage: 

Sustainable Chocolate Made Without Cacao | Mary Holland 

How to Read a Food Label: A Healthy Skeptic’s Guide to the Buzzwords | Elizabeth G. Dunn 

Emily Broad Leib’s recommended reading: 

Waste Free Kitchen Handbook: A Guide to Eating Well and Saving Money By Wasting Less Food | Dana Gunders 

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The pandemic has changed the way we work and where we work. Now, as companies try to coax their employees back to the office, they are encountering new demands and shifting expectations. In this episode, we bring you a conversation from WSJ’s CEO Council Summit between world-renowned designer Thomas Heatherwick, who has spearheaded huge office complexes including Google’s new Charleston East headquarters in California, and London Business School professor Lynda Gratton, who studies how people and organizations interact. They detail why office spaces must be flexible, but also encourage “serendipity” to facilitate vibrant and productive work.
2022 WSJ CEO Council

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One person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Sometimes it’s even true in science. Nearly 20 years ago, researchers said they had completed a groundbreaking project, sequencing the human genome. But they were missing about 8%. Some researchers at the time called the missing pieces “junk.” Still, a team of about 100 researchers kept going and has now finished a truly complete sequence. It’s a genomic “Rosetta Stone,” a reference guide capable of revealing what makes humans, human. One of the lead authors, Dr. Evan Eichler, tells us how filling in the gaps will improve the way we understand disease and advance personalized medicine.

Full research article from the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium: The complete sequence of a human genome

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