What If?
Scenarios for the future of health
What If? is our annual collection of scenarios. This year it considers the future of health. Each of these stories is fiction, but grounded in historical fact, current speculation and real science. They do not present a unified narrative but are set in different futures. If you are not already a subscriber you can unlock some of our content by registering here.
What If?
Freedom to tinker
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
The other epidemic
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
A tale of two cities
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
You are what you eat
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
iHealthy
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
Mrs Chippy’s benediction
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
Novel treatments
What if dementia was preventable and treatable?
How behavioural changes and new therapies turned the tide against dementia. An imagined scenario from 2050
Rage against the machine
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