2004 was the first year of the future
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge In early 2004, the world was shaking it like a Polaroid picture, flocking to theaters to see what was going to happen with all…
Netflix’s The Electric State is full of big, goofy bots in first trailer
Image: Netflix Seven years after Simon Stålenhag’s The Electric State was picked up for a live-action adaptation, and a few weeks after first-look images were revealed, we finally have the…
Japan plans to build the world’s first Zettascale AI supercomputer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Supercomputers are getting so powerful that the numbers involved are just insane, and this is no exception. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential…
Autoimmune Diseases Stopped in Their Tracks by ‘Phenomenal’ Donor Cell Therapy
For the first time, an off-the-shelf CAR T cell therapy has been used to treat potentially life-threatening autoimmune disorders in three people. With a single shot, the treatment rapidly reversed…
Remember Blockbuster?
It was a chilly winter morning in 2004. The scene was Stanley, Idaho — a city with a population of 101 and a current temperature of negative 17. My boyfriend,…
Melodrama!
In 2004, I was an undiagnosed neurodivergent teenager who had given up on trying to fit in. It felt like everyone was trying to mold me into their version of…
New phase change material melts snow and ice without salt or shovels
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are plenty of parts of the world covered by snow and ice, and often that’s an issue – now it’s easy to get it…
Breakthrough new process converts electricity into biological energy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Life runs on ATP – the energy molecules of all living things – and now we can convert electricity into ATP it opens the door…
Biconomy lets AI agents complete on chain transactions
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In time AI will be spending your money for you – and for itself as it buys goods and services for different purposes – and…