The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions. These advances are merging the physical, digital and biological worlds in ways that create both huge promise and potential peril. The speed, breadth and depth of this revolution is forcing us to rethink how countries develop, how organisations create value and even what it means to be human. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is about more than just technology-driven change; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policy-makers and people from all income groups and nations, to harness converging technologies in order to create an inclusive, human-centred future. The real opportunity is to look beyond technology, and find ways to give the greatest number of people the ability to positively impact their families, organisations and communities.
People have ideas every minute of every hour of every day. But how do you take an idea from the back of a napkin to the first beta product? And then to something that’s used the world over?
When we think about conservation, we often think of species which are as photogenic as they are fragile. That needs to changes, says Mei Lin. Part of our XxXX series of interviews profili...
He Jianzhong tours the world's most polluted sites to find waste-eating bacteria that can break down harmful chemicals. Part of our XxXX series profiling 10 women in science.
Shirley Ann Jackson, the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate from MIT, on how education needs to break down the walls between disciplines
Pharmacists and drug dealers alike might fear for their livelihoods thanks to recent advances like 3D printed medicine and the synthesis of opiates from yeast. What if patients (or hacker...
Pharmacology, genetic engineering and robotics promise powerful treatments that go "beyond therapy". What if human enhancements become essential to compete for top grades and top jobs?
What if schools, workplaces and daily social interactions are primarily virtual?
A wave of technological innovation has started to fundamentally alter how we make stuff. And it signals an era of huge change, writes Lisa De Propris.
Scientists have detected a mineral called tridymite that, until now, they thought could only be created in extremely hot temperatures.
From who can access HIV drugs to how we plan our cities, health challenges frequently overlap with policy. But all too often, we don’t have the right evidence to make informed decisions, ...
How can we generate energy from plants without hurting food production?
For our XxXX interview series, which profiles ten inspiring women in science and technology, Nina Tandon, CEO of EpiBone talked to us about the body's power to heal itself.