What If?

A tale of two cities: June 2041
What if a deadly heatwave hit India?

Why Hyderabad is weathering India’s deadly heatwave so much better than Chennai. An imagined scenario from 2041

Mrs Chippy’s benediction: February 2055
What if marmosets lived on the Moon?

A primate colony set up to explore one fundamental aspect of the human condition has ended up illuminating another. An imagined scenario from 2055

iHealthy: September 2028
What if smartphones became personal health assistants?

The latest model of Apple’s iconic iPhone is built around health-monitoring features. An imagined scenario from 2028

Rage against the machine: December 2036
What if an AI won the Nobel prize for medicine?

Controversy ensues when the greatest prize in medical research is awarded to a non-human. An imagined scenario from 2036

Germ of an idea
What if germ theory had caught on sooner?

The idea that tiny micro-organisms could cause disease was embraced only in the 19th century. But it could have been discovered sooner

Freedom to tinker: October 2029
What if biohackers injected themselves with mRNA?

Members of the Witnesses of Bioinformatic Freedom, a biohacking-rights group, demand the right to alter their own biology. An imagined scenario from 2029

You are what you eat: January 2035
What if everyone’s nutrition was personalised?

How the mass adoption of personalised nutrition is changing people’s health—and the food industry. An imagined scenario from 2035

Novel treatments: August 2050
What if dementia was preventable and treatable?

How behavioural changes and new therapies turned the tide against dementia. An imagined scenario from 2050

The other epidemic: June 2025
What if America tackled its opioid crisis?

Kamala Harris’s administration is getting serious about tackling deaths from drug overdoses. It is a problem with deep roots. An imagined scenario from 2025