Surprising Science — December 9, 2014

Futurists on the Future

Michio Kaku: Can We Download Our Brains?

One day we might be able to download our consciousness into a computer chip, preserving our personalities forever—but first we will have to better understand brain architecture.

Ray Kurzweil: Your Robot Assistant Will Be Able to Do What No Human Can Do

Your computer will be an assistant that helps you through the day, will answer your questions before you ask them or even before you realize you have a question

Richard Branson Imagines the Future

The British entrepreneur’s plan to populate outer space.

Elon Musk: Why I’m Betting on Solar

Elon Musk tends to be interested in industries that “a lot of people think are impossible or think you can’t succeed at – that’s usually where there’s opportunity.”

Peter Thiel: Today, Silicon Valley; Tomorrow, the Atlantic

California is still the best place for tech companies to do business. But colonies on offshore platforms might one day become our centers of innovation.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Culture & Religion

Why a Shorter Work Week May Not Improve Your Office-Life Satisfaction

It’s tough to hear, but a shorter work week may not improve your job-life satisfaction. A recent study shows that there needs to be more than just a government reform to change office culture–corporations need to toe the line.