Flash Forward
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
EARTH: The Polar Flip
12 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future where the Earth’s magnetic poles reverse.→ → → Further reading available here ← ← ← Guests:Eftyhia Zesta -- ...
EARTH: The Sunshade
05 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We're back! Did you miss me? Don't answer that please. Today's episode kicks off Season FIVE of Flash Forward. This year, I'm doing things a little bi...
Season Five Coming Soon!
26 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In case you think I've been sitting on my butt doing nothing, here's a trailer to let you know that I have been sitting on my butt doing lots of thing...
Snip Snip Snip
18 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
At long last, we’re doing genetic editing. What’s the deal with the recent news about CRISPR babies? What does a future full of human genetic edit...
Water Would Be Nice
04 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the Rio Grande dries up? The river is often overshadowed, at least in the US, by the Colorado River. But the Rio Grande creates the ...
The Commute From Hell
20 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Getting from one place to another is hard. What if we could just teleport? From the physics of how this would work (it wouldn’t) to the ripple effec...
What To Expect When You're Expecting In Space
06 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If humans want to really have a go at leaving Earth and living in space or on other planets, we’re going to have to figure out a lot of things: spac...
Farm To Tablet
23 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On today’s episode we tackle a future that was once a staple of science fiction: food pills. Instead of shopping and cooking and sitting down to eat...
Eyes In The Skies
09 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Computers are getting smaller and smaller. But what if we had sensors the size of dust, that could float through the air undetected, talk to one anoth...
Money For Nothing
25 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What if we just gave everybody money? It sounds simple, but universal basic income is a trendy idea right now and a lot of you have asked for an episo...
Fungus Among Us
11 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How much of what you do is actually your choice? What if you were secretly being controlled by a parasite that had infected your brain? What if that i...
Spawn of Sponcon
28 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On today’s episode we travel to the near-future of advertising. Welcome to a future in which you can sign up to be a brand ambassador, and get paid ...
Dr. Doolittle
14 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
~~~~ TAKE THE SURVEY! (Please) ~~~~Today we tackle the age-old question: what if animals could talk? Or, more precisely, what if we could actually und...
Under The Sea
31 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1960's, the United States spent millions of dollars exploring two different realms: outer space, and the deep oceans. But today, only one of th...
Portrait Of The Artist As An Algorithm
17 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode I welcome you to the Museum of Non-Human Art, a brand new gallery full of art made entirely by machines, computers, algorithms, r...
The Very Big Sick
03 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 1918, the Spanish flu killed four to five percent of the entire global population. Infectious disease experts all agree that another pandemic is co...
The Space Roomba
19 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we take on a future where space junk has gotten so bad, that active spacecraft are constantly having to maneuver around it, which wastes ...
We Are Family
05 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
With the rise in consumer DNA tests and online genealogy, people might soon have a pretty good idea where their families came from for generations. Bu...
Federal Project Two
22 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Guests:Susan Quinn, author of Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times and other books.Monet N...
Enter the Exos
08 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we talk exoskeletons: what are they being used for now? What might they be used for in the future? And what happens when they’re everyw...
Fitness in a Bottle
24 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Some people love going to the gym. Some people hate it. But what if there was a pill that could replace exercise? Today’s future might actually be c...
Fire From the Deep
10 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, a huge submarine volcano erupts, breaks the surface of the ocean, and forms a new island. What happens next?Guests:Tracy Gregg, assoc...
The Grey Dawn
27 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back! After a bit of a break, your regularly scheduled Flash Forward episodes will resume starting today. Every other Tuesday you’ll get a f...
You’ve Got Brainmail
09 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In our last episode of the season, we take one one of the most requested futures: telepathy! What would it be like to be able to link minds, and commu...
Countless
26 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we travel to a future where the 2020 census goes haywire. What happens if we don’t get an accurate count of Americans? Who cares? Appar...
There’s No Great Future in Plastics
12 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is all about a world without plastic. What would that look like? Is it even possible? Today, plastic is seen as one of our great env...
Our Father, Who art in Algorithm
28 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we travel to a future where a tech mogul feeds a machine learning system all the religious texts he can find, and asks it to generate...
Deceptible Me
14 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we travel to a future where you can choose to turn off your ability to deceive yourself. Are you now a perfectly clear eyed genius? Or a ...
Easy Bake Organs
31 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we take on a future full of bioprinted replacement organs. You asked for more hopeful futures, this is about as hopeful as they get! ...
Buzz Off
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we travel to a world without bees. And not just honey bees, all bees. You’ve probably heard a lot of doom and gloom predictions...
Piraceuticals
03 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This episode we go to a future with pirates! There always has to be at least one pirate episode per season. This time it’s pharmaceutical pirates. ...
After Life
07 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This month’s episode is about what it would take to sterilize the Earth, and why you might want to figure that out in the first place. First we...
Down For Everyone Not Just You
08 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is a little different than other episodes. As many of you know, Flash Forward is my second job. My first job is at ESPN, where I recently...
Love On The Brain
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This episode, we travel to a future where your romantic partners aren’t chosen by questions or swipes, but rather by your brainwaves. This future...
Mons Voyage
06 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This episode, we go on another vacation! Can you tell I need a vacation? Anyway, back to the episode. What would it be like if you could hop on a spac...
Back to the Future: A Womb Away From Home
18 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Long time listeners of Flash Forward might feel like this future is kind of… familiar. And it is. It’s actually the first future we ever traveled ...
Robocop
02 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this future there are no more human police officers. Is that even possible? The future of policing is a really really complicated topic. And it’...
Unreel
04 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This month on Flash Forward, we go to a future where anybody can make a video of you doing anything they want. And that technology is cheap and easy t...
California Dreaming
07 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
California has one of the largest economies in the world. So what would happen if it broke away from the United States? Could California ever go indep...
Greetings From Paradice
07 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Every year, over 20 million people get on a cruise ship and set sail for a seafaring vacation. Most of those cruises take their vacationers to warm, s...
Robocrop
03 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about a future where nobody works on farms anymore, all farming is done by robots. It might be closer than you think.Learn more a...
Extra! Extra!
06 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week we travel to a future where there is so much fake news that nobody can tell what is real anymore. Are we already there? What happens next?Le...
How is Babby (Not) Made
03 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when everybody has 100% control over when they do or don’t have babies? We got to a world with perfect and accessible birth control. Yo...
The Witch Who Came From Mars
05 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we do something weird, in honor of the end of the second season! Instead of coming up with a future and then finding experts to talk about it, I...
Where’s the Beef?
10 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we go to a future where animal products are banned. It’s one that lots of listeners have asked for so here you go. We talk about what happens ...
Revenge of the Retweet
26 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we try to figure out what happens when our future presidential candidates have thousands of Tweets and Tumblr posts and Instagrams in their onli...
The Altered State
12 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future where all drugs are legal. Just roll up to the store, and get yourself some cocaine! We start with some history: for ce...
Bot for Teacher
28 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today a future without schools. Instead of gathering students into a room and teaching them, everybody learns on their own time, on tablets and guided...
Kaboom
14 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today week we take on a doomsday future! We haven’t done one of those this season. So, what would happen if all the active volcanoes in the world er...
Popnonymous
31 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we go to a future where all pop stars use avatars, clones, robots or cartoons instead of their real bodies and faces. What does that do to music...
Expiration Date
17 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future where it’s possible to know exactly when you will die. Do you chose to find out? Now, this is, impossible. Totally im...
Omnibot
03 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a world with universal translation devices. Where the babelfish from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes true (although prob...
Swipe Right For Democracy
19 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future where America has converted to a direct democracy. Everybody votes on everything! Hey, did you know it was an electio...
Rude Bot Rises
05 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, you asked for it, and I finally did it. Today’s episode is about conscious artificial intelligence. Which is a HUGE topic! So we only took a s...
Tree Free
29 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a fully digital world, a world where paper is a thing of the past. On this show we’ve tackled a huge range of futures — we...
MiniPod Time Travel
22 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is a minipod, a smattering of time travel, future travel, and news about the show. In this episode we hear a bunch of messages fr...
Unpawful
15 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future without pets. What would it take for us to give up our fuzzy, slithery, fishy friends? Should our pets get more rights? An...
My Everything Pal
08 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future full of spreadsheet approved lives. A future where everything we do is tracked and quantified: calories, air quality, slee...
Micro But Mighty
01 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future where your microbiome becomes a key part of your identity. From health to your child’s kindergarten, here are all the wa...
The Ultimate Swatting
23 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future where humans have decided to eradicate the most dangerous animal on the planet: mosquitos. How would we do it? Is it even ...
Don’t Lie To Me
16 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we travel to a future without lies. What would it be like if we all wore accurate lie detectors around all the time? In this episode we talk ...
Love At First Bot
09 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Right now there’s a whole lot of buzz about sex robots. Some people are really excited about them, and think we’ll be marrying robots by 2050. Oth...
Face Off
02 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to season two of Flash Forward! We kicked off this season with a pretty unlikely future: the entire world goes face blind. In the episode...
Reputationville
20 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What would it be like if we lived in a world where everything you do is subject to a rating dolled out by a combination of machines and other people?L...
Crossing
13 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Every country has their own idiosyncratic rules and regulations for border crossings. But what if the whole process were standardized and run by a sin...
Bye Bye Binary
06 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What if we lived in a world where gender was more like hair color — something you could change at will, and that had little bearing on what other pe...
The Carbon Gene
29 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to climate change, there are a lot of researchers already thinking about how to equip crops and food animals with genes to help them wit...
Unseen
22 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In 2006, scientists described the world's first invisibility cloak. But there was a catch. It only worked in two dimensions, and on microwaves. But to...
Greetings
15 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Humans spend a lot of time and energy wondering if there’s anybody else out there. But what if we got unequivocal evidence that there was? In this w...
The Empathy Machine
08 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
When you were a kid and stole your friends’ toys, your parent probably asked you this angry hypothetical: “How do you think that made them feel?”...
Caged
01 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What would happen if we rounded up all the critically endangered animals and plants and put them in armored zoos?Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...
A Drone of One’s Own
25 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What does the world look like when everybody with a smart phone also has a drone?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Eternal Life in Prison
11 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What if “life in prison” could mean 100 or 200 or 400 years? Does that change the way that sentences are dolled out? What happens when a person ge...
Sunward Bound
04 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
If the Earth, somehow, stopped rotating around the sun, it would have exactly 64 1/2 days before it crashed into the fireball at the center of our sol...
Facetime
28 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Your face is one of your most valuable possessions. But what happens when facial recognition is so good that any company can grab an image of your fac...
Winded
21 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What would happen if a company put up so many wind turbines that they actually changed the climate on Earth? I know this sounds totally crazy, but I s...
Grounded
14 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Need to get from New York to Paris? Or San Diego? Chances are you’re not taking a car or a bus or a boat to go there. Instead, you’d hop on a plan...
The Bodybuilders
07 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
We all want to be our best selves. But what if you could add almost anything to your body and mind? A camera here, an exoskeleton there. This is the w...
The Supernova Next Door
30 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
We often think of stars as twinkling, harmless little points of light that fill our night sky with majesty. But stars can be dangerous too. When they ...
The Day the Internet Broke
23 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re reading this, you have access to the Internet. But what would happen if the Internet suddenly went away? And what would it take to make th...
Never Lay Me Down to Sleep
16 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
If there was a drug that meant you never had to sleep again, would you take it? Would those who didn’t need to sleep have special advantages over th...
Revenge of the Germs
09 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past 85 years, antibiotics have been miracle drugs. They’ve kept infections at bay and opened up a world of medical possibilities: organ tr...
The Most Dangerous Games
02 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Meanwhile in the Future we step onto the field and talk about contact sports. What would it take to create a future in which the most dan...
Forcing the Hand
26 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s future is a social experiment. What if Earth had a robotic overlord who decided to ban all weapons? All fights would have to be hand to ...
The Moon is a Harsh Second Mistress
19 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What would happen if the Earth suddenly had a second moon? This week, we work through the impact an additional satellite would have on our planet, fro...
A Womb Away From Home
12 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when women no longer have to physically bear children? Who wins? Who loses? Who takes artificial wombs to a far away planet to create a c...