Future Tense

People like entrepreneur Richard Branson love to talk up the potential of super fast flight: London to Sydney in just two hours. But there’s a lot of work still to be done on engine design if such ambitions are ever to be realised. Hypersonics is an increasingly competitive field of aeronautics with numerous research institutes across the world also chasing the promise of super-fast flight.

This week on Future Tense we meet the time-travelling software developer using immersive technology to recreate Australia prior to 1788; we hear about an innovative program to get young girls interested in science and tech by bringing out their inner superhero; and we explore the relationship we have with mobile devices.

Virtual Reality is not a new technology, it’s been around in various forms for decades, but enthusiasts believe it’s now on the cusp of a golden age.

As oxymoronic as this may sound, would the world be a better place if we all spent more time and energy designing our systems and workplaces to facilitate the possibility of serendipitous findings?

Curtin University’s Peter Newman has some good news on the environmental front – car usage across the world has peaked and is now on the decline. But, says Newman, unless we start changing the way we design our cities we may end up squandering time and resources.

Identity and citizenship have always been malleable social and political constructs. In the 21st century it seems they’re changing again - and in interesting ways.

Preparing for the Apocalypse might sound extreme, but should we all be better prepared for impending disaster?

These days many of us dice and slice the population according to age cohort. If you were born between a certain set of dates you’re a Baby Boomer, or a member of Generations X or Y.

They’re constructs, naturally enough, but are they useful and if so, for whom?

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute there are currently around 16,000 nuclear weapons in the world, with approximately 1800 of them kept in a state of ‘high operational alert’. How serious is the risk of a future nuclear conflict? And, given international tensions, is any hope of disarmament completely off the table?

According to some, writing by hand no longer has a place in an age where people type and thumb their way using smart phones and computers. But others believe cursive writing still has an important role to play in cognitive development, particularly when it comes to memory.