This blog post is the third and final entry in a series on utopian thinking. Read Part I and Part II of the series before you start this one! There was a time when the Wild West was true to its name – gold prospectors, homesteaders, […]

This blog post is the second entry in a series on utopian thinking. Read Part I of the series now, and once you’re finished here, don’t miss Part III. To pioneers crossing the North American continent during the 19th century, the landscape around them was considered […]

This is a guest post from Stacy Jannis, on behalf of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. Are you looking for a creative learning activity that helps spark your middle or high school students’ imagination while fueling their interest in STEM subjects? The USA Science & […]

This is a guest post from Carolyn Forbes, Assistant Director of ASU’s Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, which promotes interdisciplinary research and education on the dynamics of religion and conflict with the aim of advancing knowledge, seeking solutions and informing policy. Where does […]

David Quammen’s Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (W.W. Norton, 2012) is an eloquent book, weaving a compelling, scientifically-grounded narrative about the potential for emergent global pandemics. I have come to expect nothing less from Quammen, who throughout his illustrious career has elevated scientific […]

The notion of 3D printing has fired up our collective imagination worldwide. The ambitious folks over at MakerBot know this. That’s why they’re poised to enmesh 3D printing into the mainstream. MakerBot’s expansive offerings allow for dabblers to 3D print laser-scanned objects at home. Also, their […]

This blog post is the first entry in a series on utopian thinking. Read Part II of the series, and stay tuned for Part III, coming soon! The idea of utopia (a perfect place, separate from the conflicts and hardships of ordinary life) has always been […]

The Man from Earth (Dir. Richard Schenkman, 2007) explores the idea of a 14,000-year-old “cave man” living throughout history until today. The plot centers on John Oldman (ahem), a university professor who claims that he is a Cro-Magnon who has survived for thousands of years. The […]

The human species is hardwired for survival. What’s paramount is having a shot at existence beyond the confines of our dissipating home world. It makes little sense for us to squander opportunity. Luckily for us, the team at Planetary Resources received that memo in advance. At […]

More and more, however, respect for video games has been growing. As the average gamer ages, awareness of the potential for games to enhance cognitive functions and even improve the world has similarly developed. But acknowledgement of their potent artistic power has been somewhat more elusive. And so it was with great exultation that your author received news of The Art of Video Games exhibition opening at the Phoenix Art Museum. Finally, the time had come to put away childish things and embrace video games in all their glory.

You wouldn’t think so at first, but some rules for writing fiction apply perfectly to reality. It does make sense considering that most forms of fiction try their best to capture reality in the written word. Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is the case […]

Elysium isn’t as strong of a social commentary as director Neill Blomkamp’s last science fiction venture, District 9, but it still has something to teach us, in a heavy-handed sort of way. Beware: spoilers ahead. The setting of Elysium is dystopian. However, due to the existence […]

Have you ever wondered what people in the past thought the future would be like? What kinds of inventions they thought would revolutionize the way we live? When I look back at what people thought our present would look like, I feel a little cheated in […]

On Saturday, July 13, the CyberSenses group opened a display at ASU’s Digital Culture Gallery as part of the ASU Art Museum’s Family Fun Day. CyberSenses, an initiative of the Imagination Project, is a series of workshops seeking to explore the developing networks of interaction between […]

This is the third and final installment of the “Information as Infection” series. Check out Part I and Part II to get the whole story! The concept is compelling – that passing along ideas or practices to others is like spreading the DNA of a virus. […]