Environmental activists want us to feel "flight shame" if we can take a train, instead. But this isn't entirely realistic, even in Europe.

Overwintering is profoundly stressful for trees. So why do they bother?

Many countries just ship their plastic waste overseas.

You could become plant food.

Economic growth is more about quality than quantity.

Flashy desalination technology is more costly and cumbersome than many other solutions.

Pando is a stand of aspen in Utah that is 14,000 years old and weighs 12 million pounds. Humans threaten to end its long reign.

The monsoon rains were not always so reliable.

You might think it's impossible to run out of wind, but Europe's "wind drought" proves otherwise. And it's only going to get worse.

Most electric car charging is done at night. A grid powered mostly by renewable energy might not be able to meet demand, but there is a solution.

Short-hop regional flights could be running on batteries in a few years.

We asked 11 experts about the future of progress for humanity.

About the project The goal of driving more progress across the world—scientifically, politically, economically, socially, etc—is one shared by many. And yet, debates about the best way to maximize progress […]

If our goal is to effect the greatest possible progress, what would it look like to approach this holistically? What might need to dispositionaly in how we approach solving our most important problems—at an individual level, a community level, or at a civilizational or global one? We asked our experts to think big picture about how what new thinking would be required to create a larger pro-progress framework.

As with any "big idea" progress means a lot of different things to different people and not everyone comes into the discussion with the same priors. Some experts are primarily focused on material progress while others emphasize the importance of moral progress. So to start the discussion, we asked each expert to define the term as they see it from their specific vantage point.

The world isn’t ending! But we are likely at the beginning of a profound transformation.

WIRED founder Kevin Kelly explains why progress often looks like dystopia to the untrained eye.

These dissolvable pills aren’t meant to be swallowed, though.

Spaceguard shows that we can manage risks to the extinction of humanity — if only we put our mind to it.

Should you blast the A/C even when you're not at home?

The new material may make marine uranium extraction economically feasible.

The last 70 years have taken us farther than the previous 70,000. But can we accomplish more than creating a record saying, "We were here?"

The Rubbee X requires almost no setup and is far cheaper than a brand new e-bike.

Anyone up for a crisp, blonde ale?

"When you see me, weep." When rivers dry up in Central Europe, "hunger stones" with ominous inscribed warnings from centuries past reappear.

Scientists turn to nature to improve a ubiquitous building material.

We're still using 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid a year, but burials are becoming far less common.

Americans on average consumed about 58 pounds of beef and veal in 2019 – compared with a global average of 14 pounds.

EV charging stations are the most widespread alternative to gas and diesel pumps. Each alternative has its own hotspots and "deserts."

Some artifacts drown in shipwrecks, others are taken by the tide. Many others will vanish as a result of climate change and rising sea levels.