WEB FOCUS
Futures
In this focus
What does the next century have in store? Or even the next half-century? The record of the past 50 years shows that almost anything could happen. In 1955, roomfuls of vacuum-tube equipment were needed for computing power dwarfed by objects we now carry in our pockets. There were no mobile phones, no integrated circuits and almost no television.
In the same era, a generation inspired by the possibilities of science had taken an old 'westerns-in-space' formula and begun to forge a new kind of literature that asked serious questions about how technological change might affect the way we think about ourselves. This was the golden age of science fiction. The 1950s saw the publication of — to pick a few choice pebbles from the shore — Robert Heinlein's The Man Who Sold the Moon, Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. In 1999 and 2000, and again in 2005 and 2006, Nature ran Futures, a popular series of science-fiction vignettes on what the coming millennium had to offer. A separate strand of Futures now hums along in Nature's sister journal Nature Physics.
Now, Nature is proud to present the return of Futures to the mother ship: a forum for the best new science-fiction writing, exploring some of the themes that might challenge us as the future unfolds. Prepare to be amused, stimulated, even outraged, but know this: the future is sooner than you think.
Image: Corbis
Latest Futures
Ignorantia juris
Gareth Owens
Nature 454, 366 (17 July 2008) doi:10.1038/454366a
Misprint
Vonda N. McIntyre
Nature 454, 252 (10 July 2008) doi:10.1038/454252a
When Johnny comes marching home
Chaz Brenchley
Nature 454, 136 (3 July 2008) doi:10.1038/454136a
Dead yellow
Tanith Lee
Nature 453, 1284 (26 June 2008) doi:10.1038/4531284a
Travel by numbers
Gareth D. Jones
Nature 453, 1142 (19 June 2008) doi:10.1038/4531142a
Permanent position
John Gilbey
Nature 453, 956 (12 June 2008) doi:10.1038/453956a
The invisible hand
Allan M. Lees
Nature 453, 822 (05 June 2008) doi:10.1038/453822a
Morpho sanguinalis
Julie Jansen
Nature 453, 696 (29 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453696a
The Neanderthal correlation
Jeff Hecht
Nature 453, 562 (22 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453562a
Sanctity
Heather Bradshaw
Nature 453, 426 (15 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453426a
The icosahedral anaster
John P. Boyd
Nature 453, 256 (8 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453256a
Build your own time machine
Igor Teper
Nature 453, 132 (1 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453132a
SETI for profit
Gregory Benford
Nature 452, 1032 (24 April 2008) doi:10.1038/4521032a
After the snow
C. N. Simms
Nature 452, 912 (17 April 2008) doi:10.1038/452912a
All over, Rover
Neale Morison
Nature 452, 780 (10 April 2008) doi:10.1038/452780a
Shoppers
James Patrick Kelly
Nature 452, 664 (03 April 2008) doi:10.1038/452664a
Acting up
Elizabeth Counihan
Nature 452, 502 (27 March 2008) doi:10.1038/452502a
Shambles
Alexander Hay
Nature 452, 386 (20 March 2008) doi:10.1038/452386a
The protocol
Ralph Greco
Nature 452, 252 (13 March 2008) doi:10.1038/452252a
From Alice to everywhere, with love
Chaz Brenchley
Nature 452, 126 (6 March 2008) doi:10.1038/452126a
Ever
Jeff Crook
Nature 451, 1028 (21 February 2008) doi:10.1038/4511028a
The champagne award
Gregory Benford
Nature 451, 864 (14 February 2008) doi:10.1038/451864a
Chess's game
Nye Joell Hardy
Nature 451, 744 (7 February 2008) doi:10.1038/451744a
Annie Webber
Elizabeth Bear
Nature 451, 604 (31 January 2008) doi:10.1038/451604a
SuperB
Janet Wright
Nature 451, 498 (24 January 2008) doi:10.1038/451498a
Project: Verbivore
James Lovegrove
Nature 451, 372 (17 January 2008) doi:10.1038/451372a
Zed's fanverse
Toiya Kristen Finley
Nature 451, 222 (10 January 2008) doi:10.1038/451222a
When Britney Spears comes to my lab
Vince LiCata
Nature 451, 106 (3 January 2008) doi:10.1038/451106a
To look too closely
Paul Grainger1
Nature 450, 1276 (20 December 2007) doi:10.1038/4501276a
Recoper
Neal Asher
Nature 450, 1126 (13 December 2007) doi:10.1038/4501126a
Life, abundant and with simple joy
Sarah K. Castle
Nature 450, 920 (6 December 2007) doi:10.1038/450920a
Repeating the past
Peter Watts
Nature 450, 760 (29 November 2007) doi:10.1038/450760a
Dating for the wired generation
Stephen Gaskell
Nature 450, 584 (22 November 2007) doi:10.1038/450584a
A better mousetrap
Mike Resnick
Nature 450, 456 (15 November 2007) doi:10.1038/450456a
A hand and honour
Brenda Cooper
Nature 450, 318 (8 November 2007) doi:10.1038/450318a
A sudden absence of bees
Nick Mamatas
Nature 450, 134 (1 November 2007) doi:10.1038/450134a
The patter of tiny feet
Guy Riddihough
Nature 449, 1088 (25 October 2007) doi:10.1038/4491088a
Red
Melissa Yuan-Innes
Nature 449, 946 (18 October 2007) doi:10.1038/449946a
BYOB FAQ
Terry Bisson
Nature 449, 754 (11 October 2007) doi:10.1038/449754a
ARGUS blinked
Paul Di Filippo
Nature 449, 636 (4 October 2007) doi:10.1038/449636a
Alloy
Marissa Lingen
Nature 449, 506 (27 September 2007) doi:10.1038/449506a
Only in your dreams
Arran Frood
Nature 449, 376 (20 September 2007) doi:10.1038/449376a
Safety critical
John Gilbey
Nature 449, 258 (13 September 2007) doi:10.1038/449258a
A bullet with your name on it
David Hall
Nature 449, 114 (6 September 2007) doi:10.1038/449114a
A new note for Nat
Gareth Owens
Nature 448, 1080 (30 August 2007) doi:10.1038/4481080a
Formic gender disorder
Barrington J. Bayley
Nature 448, 968 (23 August 2007) doi:10.1038/448968a
Succussion
Steve Longworth
Nature 448, 838 (16 August 2007) doi:10.1038/448838a
What I did on my holidays
Ian Stewart
Nature 448, 726 (9 August 2007) doi:10.1038/448726a
Junk
Gord Sellar
Nature 448, 622 (2 August 2007) doi:10.1038/448622a
And on gloomy Sunday...
Anthony S. Haines
Nature 448, 510 (26 July 2007) doi:10.1038/448510a
Modern mating
John Zakour
Nature 448, 386 (19 July 2007) doi:10.1038/448386a
A piratical sabbatical
Ian Whates
Nature 448, 224 (12 July 2007) doi:10.1038/448224a
Olympic talent
Richard A. Lovett
Nature 448, 104 (5 July 2007) doi:10.1038/448104a
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Ivory Tower
A place to call our own.
Bruce Sterling
Nature 434, 806 (7 April 2005) doi:10.1038/434806a
Dreadnought
All for one ... and one for all.
Justina Robson
Nature 434, 680 (31 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434680a
Heartwired
Love is the drug.
Joe Haldeman
Nature 434, 544 (24 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434544a
Last man standing
Whatever happened to 'boy meets girl'?
Xaviera Young
Nature 434, 420 (17 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434420a
A man of the theatre
All the world's a stage.
Norman Spinrad
Nature 434, 256 (10 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434256a
A modest proposal
...for the perfection of nature.
Vonda N. McIntyre
Nature 434, 122 (3 March 2005) doi:10.1038/434122a
The party's over
It was only a game...
Penelope Kim Crowther
Nature 433, 906 (24 February 2005) doi:10.1038/433906a
Play it again, Psam
It's all in your mind ... isn't it?
Ian Stewart
Nature 433, 556 (3 February 2005) doi:10.1038/433556a
Under martian ice
Cold ... and never more alone.
Stephen Baxter
Nature 433, 668 (10 February 2005) doi:10.1038/433668a
Undead again
How sweet the taste of freedom.
Ken Macleod
Nature 433, 784 (10 February 2005) doi:10.1038/433784a
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