Can We Predict the Next Disaster? The Science of Wildfires, Droughts, Tornadoes and Tsunamis From the fire-risk maps of Los Angeles to experimental tornado forecasts: what science can predict today, what AI is improving, and where nature still leaves us guessing. Can science predict disasters before they strike? From wildfires and droughts to tornadoes and tsunamis, new technologies are changing how we anticipate natural hazards. In January 2025, destructive fires swept through neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The winds were fierce, the landscape dangerously dry, and thousands of people had to flee. In a study published that April, researchers showed that a machine-learning system designed to forecast fire activity—not just dangerous fire weather—had identified elevated risk in the region five days ahead. It did not predict the first spark or the house that would burn. But it had seen the conditions for trouble coming. That distinction matters. A forecast can tell firefighters w...

How to Become an Astronaut: The Real Road from Earth to Space An evidence-based guide to the qualifications, medical tests, psychological selection, training, and career decisions that could put you on a spacecraft. Imagine the moment you finally climb into a spacecraft. The cabin is smaller than it looked in the photographs. You can hear pumps, fans and the voices of the crew. Years of work have brought you here. But the most surprising part of becoming an astronaut is what happened long before this moment: you became very good at doing difficult, useful work on Earth. The popular picture involves fighter jets, perfect vision and an appetite for danger. The actual career is more interesting. Space agencies need people who can solve technical problems, conduct experiments, respond to emergencies, cooperate with strangers and accept that the mission matters more than their personal adventure. That might describe a pilot. It might also describe an engineer, doctor, geologist or res...

MINDS THAT CHANGED THE FUTURE  /  NIKOLA TESLA Nikola Tesla and the Future He Could Not Finish A century after his experiments with rotating magnetic fields and wireless power, engineers are still working on the same stubborn question: how do we move energy — and make it useful — with less waste? Nikola Tesla helped shape the modern electrical age through his work on alternating-current motors and power systems. More than a century later, his inventions remain essential to modern technology, while some of his most ambitious visions are still unrealized. In June 2024, engineers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory transferred 270 kilowatts of power to a Porsche Taycan without plugging a cable into it. Electricity crossed a gap of about 12 centimeters between coils. The laboratory reported efficiency above 95 percent for the demonstration, while emphasizing that the system remained a research prototype. More surprising than the absence of a cable was the design: the team used po...

The Future of Virtual Reality: What Happens When the Digital World Feels Real? From Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro to AI-generated worlds, brain interfaces, and the science of presence. What happens when the digital world begins to feel real? Virtual reality is transforming how we experience space, perception, and the boundaries of reality. The room that isn’t there Imagine standing at the edge of a cliff. You know perfectly well that you are in your living room. You remember putting on a headset. Yet when you look down, your stomach tightens and your feet hesitate. Nothing below you is real. Your reaction is. That strange split between knowledge and instinct is the secret of virtual reality—and perhaps its most important scientific achievement. VR does not need to convince you intellectually that a digital world exists. It needs to persuade the perceptual systems that normally keep you alive. For decades, the popular promise was straightforward: put on a headset and go somewh...