This week’s Futures story marks the welcome reappearance of Jeff Hecht with his story when last I saw the stars. Jeff is no stranger to Futures — his first story for us, Directed energy, appeared in 2006. His next story, Operation, appeared in the first Futures anthology and he has since also tackled topics as diverse as quantum physics, and smart living. His story horizon appeared in last year’s Futures 2 anthology. “When I last saw the stars” a sci-fi short by Jeff Hecht where he reveals what happens when light pollution goes too far. When I […]

Neal Town Stephenson is an award-winning American writer and game designer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been variously categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and “postcyberpunk“. Other labels, such as “baroque“, have been used. The hero of Zodiac, an early work, is an environmental activist taking on a huge chemical corporation – perhaps trite today, but on point in 1988, when it was published. The The Baroque Cycle is a series of novels by American writer Neal Stephenson. It was published in three volumes containing 8 books in 2003 and 2004. The story […]

Per Teodor Cleve (10 February 1840 – 18 June 1905) was a Swedish chemist, biologist, mineralogist, oceanographer, and professor. He discovered the chemical elements holmium and thulium and helped isolate helium from the uranium ore cleveite. Cleve was born in Stockholm and became an assistant professor at the Uppsala University in 1860. He died several months after contracting pleurisy in 1904. In 1874 Swedish chemist Per Theodor Cleve showed that didymium, then considered an element, was actually comprised of two elements, neodymium and praseodymium. In 1879 he discovered two previously unknown elements, which he named holmium (from the Latin for his home […]

What motivates scientists to devote their lives to the pursuit of scientific discovery? It must be, at least partly, the hope of finding true beauty. After all, what can be more beautiful than opening up a new window on the world or uncovering a hidden layer of complexity in the laws of nature? On 20 December 2013, the UN General Assembly 68th Session proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015). The IYL 2015 Resolution in all official languages of the UN. In proclaiming an […]

  I slipped into a chair at the “Reserved for Latecomers” table, and poured a coffee. I was at a talk by Stanford business school alum Amy Wilkinson on her book “The Creator’s Code”– describing six traits that make entrepreneurs successful. When I was a kid, the majority of adults in my life were business owners. Both of my parents, my grandfathers, uncles and even close friends of the family were entrepreneurs. To me that seemed normal. It was what people did when they grew up. Why do women only earn […]