Today

BUILDING BLADE RUNNER 2049

Building a vision of future LA that pays homage to a seminal movie is a near impossible task; we hear how VFX studio Double Negative built a futuristic version of LA for Blade Runner 2049

Designing new antibiotics

The last new antibiotics were created in the 70s. With resistance rising, we hear from Oxford Drug Design, a company using computational chemistry to design new potential antibiotics

How blockchain and cryptocurrencies could change the music industry

The music industry has seen new technologies change the way music is consumed, without changing who holds onto the money. But will a new blockchain-enabled streaming service, Choon, give more power to the people who matter: the artists? 


We hear from Choon's cofounder, DJ Gareth Emery, on his plans to fix the broken music industry

Challenging Conventions

During his tenure as mayor of Bogotá, Antanas Mockus took to wearing a super citizen suit. Here's how irregular approaches can, and have, challenged traditional politics

Mistaken Predictions

The predictions game is never an easy one and it can go rather hilariously awry. Here are five predictions for the year 2018 that weren’t quite on the money

Oculus' Plan to Make VIRTUAL REALITY A MOVIE MEDIUM

Once upon a time VR was a platform only for gaming, but Oculus has ambitions to turn virtual reality into a space where original filmmaking can flourish.


We hear how Oculus is helping filmmakers immerse audiences in films like never before

HOW THE INTERNET HAS FALLEN SHORT OF THE DREAM

Just over a decade ago, Mozilla wrote a manifesto for the web to ensure that it would remain open and innovative to all.


Ten years later, however, Mitchell Baker, Mozilla chairman and author of the Mozilla Manifesto, accepts that the online world has not fully lived up to the aspirations

Automating Burger Flipping

Flippy, the burger-flipping robot, is now working in the kitchen of Caliburger in LA, so any humans currently doing that job should probably be worried

headphones fit for 2018

Stuck with you tired old heaphones? In need of a change? Here’s Factor’s guide to the most innovative headphones available today

Tomorrow

ARE SUPER ROBOTIC BEES THE FUTURE OF FARMING?

Around 70% of crops need pollination; however the number of insect pollinators has fallen dramatically over the past 50 years.


We explore what’s causing the decline, and whether robotic bees, or even genetically-modified bees, could provide a solution

TALKING TO OUR CLOTHES 

With clothing company Ministry of Supply launching a Kickstarter for a voice-activated, intelligently heated jacket, we have to ask, is the future of clothing voice activated? 

Making Asimov’s psychohistory 

We explore Google developer expert Kalev Leetaru's attempt to make psychohistory, first introduced by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov, a reality 

Elon Musk’s superfun pyro and apocalypse show

Elon Musk managed to sell 20,000 flamethrowers in less than a week.


He then took to Twitter to joke about creating a zombie apocalypse in order to generate further demand for his flamethrowers. We ask: what if he wasn’t joking?


Life of a Future Traveller

Autonomous vehicles,  Hyperloop technology and the possibility of a return to supersonic flight: we explore what the future of travel will look like

Augmenting Reality

William Sargent, CEO of the visual effects company Framestore, sees augmented reality playing a huge role in our lives. Here he tells us what to expect

THE SALT-SIZED COMPUTER

Until now ubiquitous computing, where devices sit unseen inside objects around you, seemed impossible, but a new tiny computer made by IBM may make this a reality

ARTIFICIAL SPIDER SILK

Man has for centuries tried to farm spider silk, to no avail. Now one company has found a way to produce it artificially, and it’s set to become the material of the future

Making cities smarter with big data infrastructure

A collaboration between stamen design and the V&A, Big Glass Microphone uses vibrations in a 5km-long underground fibre optic cable to visualise and map the micro-vibrations caused by vehicles and machinery on the surface. 


We explore how repurposing infrastructure to provide data could transform city design

forensic possibilities and ethical dilemmas presented by DNA portraits

With a 3D portrait of Chelsea Manning created using only DNA from cheek swabs and hair clippings soon to be displayed at the V&A, we examine the potential wider uses of the technology in a forensic context.


Should we should be concerned about its broader usage?


big tech takes on crime

Governments are increasingly pushing for tech companies to combat the bad actors. We explore a future where tech companies take up the mantle alone