IFTF's Future Now draws on research and forecasting at the Institute for the Future, a Palo Alto, CA think tank specializing in the future of technology, health, and organizational change. It began in September 2003.
“The social sciences deal with humanity’s most pressing problems, but there are barriers between practitioners and the public. We must restructure these disciplines from the ground up. In times of economic and political distress, the social sciences must become more relevant and useful by...
The field of network science continues to find new data sets for exploring technology, economics, biological systems, and social relationships. Two recent articles use recipe ingredients and foods from different cuisines to demonstrate how the lens of network science can create...
We're spending a lot of time this year in the Institute for the Future's Technology Horizons research group thinking about how we will experience the Internet in 2020.
A lot has been said recently about the decline of the web as the Internet becomes a more mobile, social, and app-based...
On the heels of our exploration of the ways that games can improve health earlier this week, I thought I'd pass along this great signal from researchers at UCLA, who developed a game that enables...
For most of its history, using the Internet has involved conforming and contorting to the logic, architecture, and input/output mechanisms of machine networks. Humans have genuflected before immobile computer screens, tethered our limbs to mice and keyboards, and craned our necks to use the...
Via Springwise comes word of a couple of intriguing ideas about how to enable people to shame themselves toward better health. The first, a refrigerator magnet from...
About a decade ago now, the British Medical Journal ran one of my favorite academic parodies - a review article that attempted to conduct a meta-analysis of whether or not wearing a parachute when jumping from a plane could help prevent...
My latest Fast Coexist piece is up here. It takes a look at how pay for success bonds could help fund a health system that focuses on social and environmental prevention.
California’s innovation engine has the potential to shift the economy to a cleaner and more resilient future. Next 10, a nonpartisan nonprofit just released the 2012 California Green Innovation Index. In its...
In his talk to close out TedMed earlier this month, Dr. Mark Hyman gave a great talk highlighting a provocative but important idea: Many of the most important improvements in health and well-being won't just come from technology, but will emerge from social...
Thank you for your interest in the summer internship program. We are no longer accepting applications for 2012. Please check back in early spring of 2013 for details about next summer's internships program!
A great article in the New York Times highlights a new project from the Slow Money organization that combines microfinancing and an alternative way to account for value to enable consumers to invest...
