Biotech
Human history has been all but defined by death and disease, plague and pandemic. Advancements in 20th century medicine changed all of that. Now advancements in 21st century medicine promise to go even further. Could we bring about an end to disease? Reverse aging? Give hearing to the deaf and sight to the blind? The answer may be yes. And soon.
Featured
The next era of psychedelics may be precision-designed states of consciousness
A look inside Mindstate Design Labs’ effort to design drugs that reliably produce specific states of consciousness.
What is The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050?
We have a historic opportunity to harness AI and other transformative technologies in order to make a much better world in the next 25 years.
Progress happens because solutions create new problems to solve
Solutionism means fully accepting what’s in front of us and enthusiastically stepping up to meet the challenge.
Psychedelics & Mental Health
How to reclaim meaning in a changing world
What if the barrier to a fulfilled life isn’t technology, it’s culture?
The exciting research that may cure Parkinson’s
GeneCode is developing a drug it hopes won’t just alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms but also protect and restore patient’s neural health.
Biohacking
We’re able to create new creatures through gene editing. What’s stopping us?
The question isn’t whether we can sculpt new life. The question is what comes next.
Boosted Breeding and beyond: 3 tech trends that could end world hunger
A world without hunger is possible, and the development and deployment of new farming technologies could be one key to manifesting it.
New AI generates CRISPR proteins unlike any seen in nature
An AI that generates CRISPR proteins is opening the door to gene editors with capabilities beyond what we’ve found in nature.
Ray Kurzweil explains how AI makes radical life extension possible
Life expectancy gains in developed countries have slowed in recent decades, but AI may be poised to transform medicine as we know it.
Vaccines
Personalized cancer vaccines are having a moment
Personalized cancer vaccines were a recurring theme at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in 2024.
The threat of avian flu — and what we can do to stop it
Avian flu is infecting cows on US dairy farms, and now a person has caught it — but new research could help us avoid a bird flu pandemic.
One shot recreates younger immune systems, in mice
An antibody treatment designed to revitalize an aging immune system delivers “surprising” results in elderly mice.
More
This child psychiatrist is saving refugees from trauma
With the right intervention at the right time, a trauma can be recorded in the memory as non-traumatic and in many cases the devastating effects of PTSD in children refugees can be avoided.
Keeper of the missing
One woman is tracking thousands of missing people. Autism is her superpower.
Is the future of therapy… virtual? A look into virtual reality therapy
The immersive world of VR may have therapeutic benefits for people combating phobias, anxiety, and PTSD.
In the US, rural hospitals are closing. Can medical drones fill this healthcare gap?
“Whether you live in the developed world or the developing world, the further you travel outside of a major city,…
Preparing for outbreak: Fighting the world's deadliest diseases
The World Health Organization has compiled a list of the most dangerous diseases that could strike next year.
Angels of debt
These ex-bill collectors got John Oliver’s attention and started a movement. They’re buying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of strangers’ medical debt and erasing it.
A dangerous job: Snake milkers risk their lives to save others
A very small number of very daring people are responsible for all of the world’s antivenom.
The snake milk king
Enter the Kentucky Reptile Zoo—one of the largest collections of venomous reptiles in the world—and meet Jim Harrison, the man that spent his 42-year career milking King Cobras for anti-venom and saving lives across the globe. What drives a man like this to risk his life each and every day?
Why did measles explode in 2019?
Humanity is locked in an arms race with diseases: we update our vaccines, and diseases evolve new ways to try to…
The future of healthcare could look a lot like the 1900s
For many cancer patients, being treated at home is just as safe, more affordable, and more convenient than being…
Macgyver medicine can save lives
The package is simple and dirt-cheap—a plastic bag with a condom, a syringe, a rubber tube, and a card with…
How to change the world
Olivia Leland, founder and CEO of Co-Impact, on how we should approach solving the world’s most complex problems.
Drone racers are a thing and they’re amazing
Blistering speed. Big money. 11-year-old world champions. Is drone racing the next big sport?
Is autism a mysterious medical condition or part of the spectrum of human diversity?
Rethinking Autism: Interview with NeuroTribes Author Steve Silberman
Can people with autism help create next-generation AI?
Daivergent is a new startup that hires people with autism to train artificial intelligence – and helps them start independent careers.
The joy of being wrong
Can practicing intellectual humility make us smarter and happier? Science says yes.
Giving animals new legs
Derrick Campana is a prosthetics engineer helping animals walk again with artificial limbs.
These hero pups are helping veterans and prisoners heal
Hero Pups is an organization providing support dogs for military veterans and first responders. Now, prison inmates are helping train them – with great results.
Who will save your parent’s life story?
When her dad had Alzheimer’s, this journalist wrote his life story to help his caregivers understand him. Now, she’d doing the same for hundreds more.
A day in the life of a 'violence interruptor'
Freethink followed Andre T. Mitchell, the founder of Man Up!, and his violence interrupter team for a day in…
Special Collection
Collection
The Science of Death
Explore the journey from life to death and beyond. Near-death experiences, death doulas, digital immortality, and more – join us for a thoughtful exploration of one life’s most intriguing and inevitable phenomena with stories from the frontlines of death.
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