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Features

Themed dossiers on a broad range of topics that explain the main technological challenges of our time. They include interviews, stories, portraits and infographics.

Augmented human

Power from thin air

BY Edwin Cartlidge

Mobile devices need energy – lots of it. Instead of focussing only on improving battery performance, some scientists are looking at the ambient energy that is all around us.

The power of thought

BY Julie Zaugg

An amazing project may enable paralysed humans to walk again, with the help of an exoskeleton controlled directly by their thoughts.

“New social norms will have to be accepted”

BY Serge Maillard

The latest portable technology will connect humans from head to toe. But it could also endanger both our safety and our social lives, warns Wijnand IJsselsteijn.

Birth

Making labour less laborious

BY Ben Skuse

Childbirth may be the most important event in a mother’s life, but it can also be the most traumatic. Technology can help.

The debate over C-sections

BY Ben Skuse

The procedure has advantages as well as downsides. Science can help mothers decide what is best for them.

CRISPR scissors editing embryos

BY Jean-Christophe Piot

Genetic engineering is developing on human embryos, raising both hopes and ethical concerns.

Cryopreservation: a new miracle?

BY Sophie Gaitzsch

Women who want to delay their pregnancies can now freeze their eggs effectively and safely. But success is not guaranteed.

Europe’s shortage of children

BY Robert Gloy

Births are falling across the continent – although not in France. Why do women working in tech have fewer kids? And why are there more premature births?

Future of work

Time to rethink the meaning of work

BY Ben Skuse

Automation has already eliminated numerous tasks, and now artificial intelligence will add to the carnage. Humans may have to reconsider their obsession with labour.

Getting in on the game

BY Blandine Guignier

Increasingly, organisations are using entertaining ways to train and motivate their employees.

How AI threatens white-collar jobs

BY Robert Gloy

In the beginning, technology eliminated many clerical tasks. Now the danger is extending to positions that require a high level of skill.

The turbulent world of technological unemployment

BY Ben McCluskey

Labour-saving advances usually increase both jobs and wages, but the unequal path of change can cause major friction.

Happiness

Think yourself healthy

BY Gaia Vince

The vagus nerve, which connects the brain to various organs, plays an essential role in the mind-body relationship. Can you train it to make you happy?

“The field has finally reached scientific maturity”

BY Line Emilie Fedders

Happiness can be understood objectively, says pioneer researcher Ruut Veenhoven.

Happy? Your smartphone will know

BY Elizabeth Gibney

New technologies and citizen science offer innovative ways to track and quantify emotions. They are uncovering new ingredients in the recipe for happiness.

Hypervision

A world of invisible colours

BY Elizabeth Gibney

Chemical cameras reveal a world that is invisible to the human eye. Smaller and cheaper devices are now finding uses from agriculture to cancer diagnostics.

Microscopy: Going beyond the limits of light

BY Uta Deffke

Super-resolution techniques have pushed back the limits of optics, becoming an essential tool in the life sciences.

Longevity

The shades of grey

BY Line Emilie Fedders

The vision of a world in which everyone lives longer and better is attractive – but for societies the changes will be over-whelming. An ethicist and a sociologist discuss the implications.

When 80 became the new 40

BY Line Emilie Fedders

Life spans in the developed world have doubled over the past two centuries — and scientists are working hard to decipher the code of aging.

How old are you really?

BY Edwin Cartlidge

Age is so much more than years elapsed since your date of birth.

Medtech

Engineering healthier humans

BY Ben McCluskey

Drawing on their knowledge of algorithms, design and materials, engineers can help improve healthcare in many arenas.

Medicine: the debate over Big Data

BY Ben McCluskey

Should doctors have access to huge datasets? The potential to improve healthcare is obvious, but privacy remains equally important.

Life-saving lessons

BY Ben Skuse

Linking engineering and medicine has led to better diagnostics, drugs and treatments. But it’s not always easy to collaborate successfully.

Sleep

Why we don’t sleep

BY Line Emilie Fedders

Bad nights are disruptive to a person’s life. Fortunately, scientists are constantly learning more about the causes.

Tick-tock goes the body clock

BY Catherine de Lange

You can sleep when you’re dead, they say. In the meantime, though, circadian rhythms are best not tampered with.

Why we sleep one third of our time

BY Catherine de Lange

You may think you’re resting, but your brain is fulfilling critical tasks from building memories to reinforcing learning to clearing toxins.

“Modern life is just too interesting to sleep longer”

BY Line Emilie Fedders

We spend one third of our time sleeping, but scientists still don’t know why. A prominent researcher reviews the most likely explanations.

Smell

The sweet smell of sweat

BY Catherine de Lange

Everyone knows that animals use odours to communicate. Now a growing body of research suggests that humans do, too.

Master of fragrances

BY Judith Bregman

The exclusive creator of Hermès perfumes Jean-Claude Ellena revisits his brilliant career, revealing a glimpse of his perfumer’s palette.

Humans, dogs – and now e-noses

BY Holly Cave

Canines still take the lead when it comes to sniffing out smells. But the latest research shows that machines are closing the gap.

Sports and tech

The connected athlete

BY Yann Bernardinelli

Amateurs can now enhance their performance and their health by using wireless devices and biosensors that monitor behaviour, environment and physiology.

New materials for new records

BY Edwin Cartlidge

Aluminium, carbon and even bamboo: sport results today depend highly on the materials.

Ending the pain

BY Jens Lubbadeh

Computer simulations and data analysis can now help prevent injuries, while individual prostheses hasten the recovery process.

Superbugs

With its horrible symptoms and 80% mortality rate, Ebola fever is especially frightening. The cases in Spain and the U.S. served as a reminder that procedures for strict disinfection, while simple on paper, are less so in practise. Even the Western health system cannot entirely protect us from this virus.

Beating the Superbugs

BY Louise Williams

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise, but the pipeline for new drugs is drying up. Researchers are developing new strategies to avoid a resurgence of illnesses that once seemed easy to cure.

New ways of fighting bacteria

BY Louise Williams

Four novel approaches to keep killers in check.

The science of listening

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