Emerging Topic Videos

The quantum revolution and advanced AI will touch all aspects of our lives. AI is rapidly progressing and has made smart machines excel in certain areas. Autonomous cars have driven millions of miles on public roads. Computers powered by AI can beat us at complex games like chess and virtual assistants are on-hand to answer our questions and carry out our commands.

The quantum revolution and advanced AI will touch all aspects of our lives. Quantum technologies could make many impossible things possible. Thanks to the physical laws that rule the subatomic realm Quantum computers could revolutionise chemistry and materials science cracking calculations that would take thousands of years on a supercomputer.

The quantum revolution and advanced AI will touch all aspects of our lives. Brain-inspired computing could power smart robots and accelerate neuroscience. The human brain is the most powerful “computer” in existence, but it works very differently from electronics. Hardware and software that mimic the brain are helping us learn how it functions. Understanding the brain more deeply could let us emulate its remarkable speed, flexibility and efficiency.

People's digital experiences have become a central part of their daily lives, thanks to the advent of personal computers, smartphones and social media. Now real and virtual worlds are poised to become even more tightly enmeshed as augmented reality (AR) technology advances.

Human augmentation could soon give us unprecedented control over our biological destiny. Our ability to monitor and manipulate the workings of our brains is accelerating rapidly. Brain monitoring and stimulation can already help to treat diseases like Parkinson’s and epilepsy. But soon they could also be used to enhance brain function in healthy individuals.

Human augmentation could soon give us unprecedented control over our biological destiny. Genetic engineering techniques could soon give us unprecedented control over our biological destiny. Human genetic engineering. Genetic engineering could disrupt medicine. Gene editing may soon be a common treatment.

Human augmentation could soon give us unprecedented control over our biological destiny. Scientists are starting to unravel the underlying biology of ageing. Opening the door to interventions that may slow, stop or even reverse the ageing process. Managing biological ageing could delay or prevent diseases associated with old age as well as physical and mental decline.

Humanity could soon have unprecedented control over its biological destiny. As our understanding of consciousness grows so will our ability to enhance it.

Organoids – simplified versions of real organs – promise to serve as a better proxy for the study of our tissues than either cell lines or animal models. Organoids remain primitive versions of real organs, crudely recreating their basic features and functions. However, advances in enabling technologies will soon allow them to become far more complex.

Understanding and protecting the environment is an existential challenge for humanity. Decarbonizing our societies is the only way to prevent catastrophic climate change. If CO2 emissions continue at current rates, within a decade the planet will warm 1.5°C since pre-industrial levels. Preventing that will require co-ordinated action to reduce and reverse carbon emissions.

A digital twin of Earth could help policymakers make better decisions. We exist in a system where social and ecological factors collide. A global network of sensors and increasingly powerful computers could simulate it. Ecological models could shine light on our planet’s poorly understood yet interconnected ecosystems. These models can identify feedback loops between climate, biodiversity, environment, and human activity.

Understanding and protecting the environment is an existential challenge for humanity. Resilient and sustainable food systems are needed to support a growing population. By 2050 there will be more than 10 billion people on the planet. Feeding them as climate change disrupts agriculture is a major challenge.

We are consuming more than what the Earth can produce each year. Many are keen to exploit the abundant resources beyond our atmosphere. The Moon and Mars have stores of water that could support outposts. Some entrepreneurs also see asteroids as potentially lucrative sources of minerals. New resource extraction technologies will be key to exploiting these riches.

Understanding and protecting the environment is an existential challenge for humanity. Ocean stewardship will save vital ecosystems and protect the livelihoods of millions. The oceans support all life on Earth by producing half of the planet's oxygen. But human activity is putting them under increasing strain.

Solar radiation modification (SRM) is a set of approaches that could fully or partially offset the temperature rise caused by greenhouse gas emissions, thus reducing some of the harmful impacts of anthropogenic climate change.

Computational approaches to diplomacy could boost global stability. The complexity of international relations can be revealed by mapping networks of influence. Data mining text from historical negotiations can help us analyse the language of diplomacy. This could help to depoliticise negotiations and resolve complex situations faster. Science-Based Diplomacy is powered by big data, AI and machine learning. These approaches are starting to let us model real-world diplomacy which could allow us to simulate outcomes of different approaches and negotiation tactics. But this will require experts well-versed in both diplomacy and computer science.

Building bridges between science and diplomacy will help us design a better future. Science and diplomacy must work hand-in-hand to tackle global challenges. COVID-19 and climate change illustrate how science plays a crucial role in international negotiations.

Many parts of the technological infrastructure, algorithmic systems and data flows that we rely on every day can be exploited for criminal or political purposes. While the world has yet to see a large-scale destructive global attack on a critical infrastructure, non-state, semi-state and state actors' cyber operations cause minor to major disruptions on an almost daily basis.

The science of complex systems can help us understand and manage our highly interconnected societies. Our world is governed by interdependent networks of information, ideas, goods, services and money. This enables global communication, innovation and trade, but also social turmoil, financial crises and pandemics. Complexity science can help us understand this network of networks. Complexity science offer ways to empower people in an increasingly complex world through Digital Democracy.

Building bridges between science and diplomacy will help us design a better future. Advances in educational science could provide high-quality and life-long learning globally. The UN’s fourth Sustainable Development Goal is to ensure quality education for all. This is vital for a sustainable world populated by creative people.

Our economic system faces challenges including sustainability, automation and inequality. Today’s ‘take, make, waste’ economy places no cost on pollution or over-exploitation of resources. We need to shift to a circular economy that includes the full life-cycle cost of goods. This will encourage reuse and repair and also incentivise renewable power. The growth of automation will also fundamentally change the economy. AI advances could lead to massive efficiency and productivity gains in many fields, but they’re also stoking fears that machines could replace workers. Radical economic innovations could redistribute wealth generated by machines

Understanding the origins of life is an enormously challenging multi-dimensional problem. It takes in biology, chemistry, geology, palaeontology, physics, cosmology and information theory; attempts to solve it from any of these perspectives in isolation have not proved fruitful, indicating that cross-disciplinary research is essential.