Future Tense

It's a "wicked" problem, says social technologist Suw Charman-Anderson. That is, the lack of civility online when people leave comments.

Censors are everywhere these days and in rural Tasmania they’re spreading across the farm. A project called Sense T has been collecting data on twenty farms around the island. They're looking for ways to improve productivity and ultimately crop yield. It’s all part of a growing move toward data-driven farming.

There's a growing public disenchantment with the modern political process. But, here's a solution: Citizens’ Juries - ordinary people who are given the information and training to make decisions on civic issues.

Breaking up the NSA. Going mobile in Bhutan.

Most of us know more about other planets than the depths of the ocean. Despite covering nearly three quarters of the Earth, only around 5 per cent of the global ocean floor has been mapped in detail. And yet, with volcanoes, deep valleys, mountain peaks and vast plains, the topography of the ocean floor is as varied and magnificent as it is on land -- or on the surface of some celestial bodies. Jennifer Leake explores the challenges involved in mapping the underwater world and how developing a better understanding about what lies beneath the waves could help teach us about planet Earth.

What if humans could mimic the process that plants use to make energy, turning sunlight, water and carbon-dioxide into fuel? Around the world researchers are hard at work perfecting the science of Artificial Photosynthesis. The big challenge now is taking the work out of the lab and scaling it up.

It sounds warm, fluffy and ethical - the ‘sharing economy’ - an alternative to turbo-driven commerce.

To understand the future direction of psychiatry you need to take a copy of the psychiatrists’ bible, the DSM – the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – and throw it away!

Geo-engineering: the quick tech fix for climate change.

Spectrum crunch and peak data. The Century Camera Project. Separating the wheat from the rice.