WSJ’s The Future of Everything

By The Wall Street Journal

Technology

What's WSJ’s The Future of Everything about?

Discover what comes next with this in-depth look at how science and technology are revolutionizing the way we live, work and play. Join host Jennifer Strong every Wednesday as she crisscrosses the country to interview the leaders and luminaries reshaping our world.

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Paying for College and Curb...

08.28.2021

Student loan debt is now around $1.6 trillion. Some economists fear that debt is irreparably harming the U.S. economy. But over the past 50 years, the availability of federal student loans has changed higher education. It's led to higher attendance ...

WSJ’s The Future of Everything episodes:

08.28.2021 Paying for College and Curbing Student Debt Student loan debt is now around $1.6 trillion. Some economists fear that debt is irreparably harming the U.S. economy. But over the past 50 years, the availability of federal student loans has changed higher education. It's led to higher attendance ...
07.30.2021 Outhacking the Hackers: The Future of Cybersecurity A recent surge in high-profile cyber attacks has companies playing defense. Some are turning to ethical hackers to find software bugs before the bad guys do. But as Ava Sasani reports, researchers are also developing new hardware - to try ...
07.02.2021 No More Noise 2: Metamaterials Can Make the World a Quieter Place Materials scientists are getting creative in the quest to quiet our increasingly noisy world. Using metamaterials - man made materials with special properties not found in nature - researchers could soon reduce or eliminate unwanted industrial sounds.
06.11.2021 No More Noise: Turning Down The Volume on Cities - Part 1 The battle against noise has been waged, rather quietly, for decades. And yet, urban noise pollution is getting worse. A growing body of evidence indicates that it is more than a nuisance- persistent exposure to noise can cause chronic health ...
05.14.2021 Grammy Award Winner Jacob Collier on Evolving in Place Singer-songwriter and producer Jacob Collier grew up producing music in his bedroom. After years of touring the world, the pandemic allowed him to return to that space - to continue developing his genre-bending music. In this episode, the five-time Grammy ...
05.07.2021 Grammy-Award Nominated Music Producer Oak Felder Shares His Vision The pandemic forced artists and musicians to learn how to collaborate remotely. Some of these newfound methods were so successful, they'll likely influence the future of music creation and performance in the post-pandemic world. In this episode we talk with ...
04.16.2021 How NFTs Could Disrupt the Art Market After years of being a museum novelty, digital art is starting to sell like hotcakes--and in some cases for millions of dollars--because of a crypto asset called nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. And it isn't just art--sales of digital collectibles of ...
03.26.2021 What We Can Learn From 'Long Covid' Millions of people worldwide who survived an initial Covid-19 infection continue to struggle with debilitating symptoms months later. Physicians are unable to explain their illness. But there's now a name for it: Long Covid. The medical community is hoping that ...
03.05.2021 How Psychedelic Drugs Are Making a Comeback to Treat Depression The hallucinogenic compound psilocybin is undergoing a renaissance-not as a recreational drug but as a potential treatment for mental health conditions. We follow the journey of one participant of a scientific study into the psychedelic drug's effect on depression.
02.12.2021 Metals That Work Like Magic Trains that run from New York to California in a few hours, laptops that never overheat, and rockets that fly to Jupiter: These are some of the possibilities of superconductivity. After decades of failed experiments, a new discovery may have ...
01.15.2021 How the Pandemic Fueled Scientific Discovery and Collaboration When Chinese researchers published the draft genome of the virus that causes Covid-19 early last January, it altered the course of the pandemic--and possibly changed science forever. Will this spirit of information-sharing and collaboration persist beyond the current crisis?
12.18.2020 E-Ternal: New Technology and the Quest to 'Live' Forever In this episode, we feature a short documentary by Wall Street Journal senior personal technology columnist Joanna Stern that explores how we can use technology to tell our stories long after we die.
12.04.2020 Making a Home on the Moon For the vast majority of humans, earth is our home. But that could soon change. Global efforts are underway to build sustainable habitats on the moon within the next decade or two. But beyond covering the necessities in an otherwise ...
11.06.2020 Teacher's New Assistant: Artificial Intelligence Schools around the world are slowly adopting artificial intelligence to better tailor teaching to individual kids. One program maps a student's mastery of math; another assesses literacy and screens for dyslexia. Critics are skeptical that this technology is as effective ...
10.03.2020 Mobile Voting's Future As the U.S. gets ready for an election during a pandemic, we report on in-person voting options and review the security threats inherent in mobile or blockchain assisted voting. In a previous version of this podcast released on Oct. 2, ...
09.04.2020 The Blood of the Future Could be Made in a Lab The coronavirus pandemic led to blood-donation shortages across the world, outlining the fragility of the pipeline. That has brought fresh urgency to research that has been decades in the making but is only now starting to become a reality: The ...
08.28.2020 How to Talk to Animals (and Know What They're Saying Back) What if we could alert whales to stay away from oil spills? Or hear from dolphins directly when they want treats? Seamless conversation between animals and humans is still a far-off goal. But scientists think that machine-learning tools could open ...
08.14.2020 Google AI Tries to Save the Whales In the Pacific Northwest, an increase in shipping traffic is further threatening the orca population, which has already seen its numbers drop in the face of food shortages and climate change. One of the biggest threats from the boats is ...
07.17.2020 Traveling With Tech Made for the World's Fastest Sailboats The America's Cup, the world's oldest sailing competition, has a reputation for fostering innovation. In 2013, contestants began to use hydrofoils-underwater wings on the hull-to lift their boats out of the water during the race, allowing them to reach highway ...
07.03.2020 Technology Helps Train Police Officers In recent weeks, protests have erupted in response to police violence against citizens - specifically communities of color - forcing departments to reconsider how officers do their jobs. Police forces have been using tech - like Tasers and body cameras ...
06.05.2020 The Super Powers of Bats and the Fight to Stop Deadly Viruses The tiny, flying creatures carry all sorts of viruses but don't get sick. How do they do that? We meet the researchers who are mapping bat genomes and studying the animal's ability to fend off inflammation. What they find could ...
05.22.2020 How Polio Research is Helping in the Hunt for a Vaccine Research on a vaccine for the new coronavirus is progressing swiftly because of the legacy of scientists working on past diseases. Some of society's most devastating viruses ended up improving the way we study illness and search for cures. We ...
05.08.2020 Dead or Alive, Viruses are Everywhere, and Here to Stay Viruses are ubiquitous, found in every crevice on earth. Some, like SARS CoV 2, can end up killing their hosts. But researchers credit ancient viruses with helping us form long term memories. As parts of the world reopen for business, ...
04.17.2020 Covid-19 and AI: Tracking a Virus, Finding a Treatment Artificial Intelligence can speed up research and improve accuracy. Those qualities are also key to suppressing the spread of Covid-19. With the globe clamoring for solutions to the pandemic, institutions, governments, universities and startups are turning to AI to shave ...
01.29.2020 China is Ready for CBD. But Regulators Might Not Be. The market for hemp-based CBD products is exploding. And China wants in on the potential profits. But CBD is highly regulated in China, and THC is illegal. Will China make room for this lucrative product?
01.15.2020 AI Hiring, Never Retiring: Working in the 21st Century The nature of work is evolving. Technology is already an integral part of most jobs, but new developments are changing the way we navigate the workplace. From hiring managers using artificial intelligence and virtual reality, to apps that help workers ...
12.18.2019 Family Secrets: DNA Tests and the Future of Family The clues to heredity hidden in our DNA have long been the purview of scientists. But in recent years, commercial DNA tests have made unlocking those secrets cheaper and easily accessible for millions of people. While most just find out ...
12.04.2019 On The Alert: The Next Generation Of Earthquake Early Warning Systems For the past few decades, governments in earthquake-prone regions have built up early warning systems. Now, private tech companies are getting into the earthquake business. (Reporters Daniela Hernandez and Robbie Whelan)
11.20.2019 WSJ Tech Live: The State of Play The global videogame industry is worth an estimated $150 billion-and it's rapidly growing and evolving. As part of the WSJ Tech Live conference, columnist Jason Gay spoke with Andrew Wilson, chief executive of Electronic Arts, the maker of 'Apex Legends,' ...
11.06.2019 WSJ Tech Live: Where AI Is Headed Next Artificial intelligence has been compared to electricity, meaning that it will soon be integral to the world as we know it. There's an arms race for global dominance in AI, especially between the U.S. and China. But what do experts ...
10.23.2019 WSJ Tech Live: The Next Big Thing What will keep the engine of tech innovation running in an era of skeptical users and wary regulators? From driverless cars to outer-space colonies, two moonshot thinkers talk about their cutting-edge work and how calculated risks may spark the next ...
10.09.2019 Custom Parts: The Future of Transplanted Organs Demand for donated organs far outstrips supply. But researchers are working to remedy the crisis using everything from gene-edited pigs to 3D-printed tissue.
09.25.2019 Customized Kids: Are Designer Babies on the Way? Advances in gene editing and DNA analysis are allowing parents unprecedented control over the traits their children will inherit. We explore the science-and ethics-behind the movement.
09.11.2019 Get Ready for Gene-Edited Food Vegetables engineered with the gene-editing technology Crispr are moving closer to supermarket shelves. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided these genetically altered foods won't require a special label. But will they curry favor with consumers?
08.28.2019 Can Gene-Edited Mice Solve the Lyme Crisis? Lyme disease is rampant on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. MIT scientists believe that releasing genetically altered mice on the islands could curb-and even wipe out-the disease. A close look at an unprecedented environmental intervention.
08.14.2019 The De-Extinction Movement Comes to Life In labs around the world, scientists are using gene-editing technology to revive species that disappeared from the face of the Earth long, long ago. In this episode, we talk to the researchers working on a project straight out of science ...
07.31.2019 How Robots Will Feed Our On-Demand Culture For decades, we've dreamt of an all-purpose robot that can cater to our every need. Silicon Valley is trying to catch up with that vision. One company is starting with a task already consuming our economy: home delivery.
07.17.2019 Moonshot: How Apollo Launched the Digital Revolution The Apollo program to go to the moon marks the only time humans have left our home planet to set foot on another world. The biggest effect of this voyage was transforming the civilization it left behind.
07.03.2019 Adapting Medicine for Outer Space What happens when an injury occurs on a commercial space flight or manned mission to Mars? Meet the scientists and astronauts studying how to keep us safe where routine care is impossible-and the closest hospital is a million miles away.
06.20.2019 How to Build an Island Self-assembly could be a boon for manufacturing in extreme and resource poor environments. Meet the scientist experimenting with the tech to develop adaptive materials and land masses.
06.05.2019 The Future of Everything Festival: What's Next for Alexa? The duo behind Alexa and Amazon's in-home devices explain what's coming in the next wave of voice technology and machine learning that will power connected homes, search and shopping.
05.22.2019 The Future of Everything Festival: Building an Artificial Human As tech giants embrace voice-enabled AI assistants to power purchases, play songs and deliver the weather report, hear the latest on Mica, Magic Leap's AI-powered virtual human, who wants to help you do more.
05.08.2019 Frozen Frontiers: The Alien, Iron-Breathing Microbes of Blood Falls Scientists are looking to Earth's most extreme environments for clues about what alien lifeforms might look like. The data they gather could help future space explorers to understand the origins of life in the universe.
04.24.2019 Frozen Frontiers: Meet the Robot Explorers Hunting for Alien Life In Antarctica, robots are helping scientists explore how life evolves in extreme environments. Such missions are dress-rehearsals for future space exploration to the ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn, where alien life could be thriving.
04.10.2019 Instant Message: How Amazon Changed Delivery This week, it's all about how we buy stuff and how that stuff gets to us. David, Joanna and Christopher bring on WSJ reporter Katie Bindley to talk about how to make sure you're getting the best deals on Amazon-and ...
03.27.2019 The Next Battlefield: Connected, Augmented and Urban Encore edition: The wars of the future will be fought in megacities around the world by soldiers connected - and possibly even augmented - by neural implants and AI. In this episode, we examine how military leaders are preparing for ...
03.13.2019 How AI is Augmenting Therapy Encore edition: Millions of people suffering from mental health issues are left untreated and undiagnosed. In this episode, we meet the psychologists and scientists studying how artificial intelligence can help.
02.27.2019 IBM CEO Ginni Rometty on Reskilling Workers in the Age of AI Artificial intelligence will change all of our jobs, according to IBM's Chief Executive. But will the technology augment workers or replace them? Ms. Rometty spoke with WSJ Editor in Chief Matt Murray at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
02.13.2019 Machine Love: Dating in the Digital Age Algorithms are the new matchmakers. Apps have turned dating into a game. And unlimited options have confounded digitally savvy singles. We spoke to the technologists and social scientists reshaping romantic connection.
12.19.2018 The Price of Climate: The Northern Farming Frontier Shifting weather patterns and rising temperatures are altering what crops farmers can plant. In the last of a three-part series on climate, we examine how advancements in AI and genetics could help farms battle drought and crop disease.

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