Science fact, not science fiction, on the cutting-edge developments that are already changing the course of our future. Every day, scientists conduct pioneering experiments with the potential to transform how we live. Yet it isn't every day you hear from the scientists themselves! Now, award-winning author Jim Al-Khalili and his team of top-notch experts explain how today's earthshaking discoveries will shape our world tomorrow -- and beyond. The scientists in the pages are interested only in the truth -- reality-based and speculation-free. The future they conjure is by turns tantalizing and sobering: there's plenty to look forward to, but also plenty to dread. And undoubtedly the best way to for us to face tomorrow's greatest challenges is to learn what the future looks like -- today.

The future of our planet : demographics, conservation, and climate change.Demographics / Philip Ball ; -- The biosphere / Gaia Vince ; -- Climate change / Julia Slingo -- The future of us : medicine, genetics, and transhumanism. The future of medicine / Adam Kucharski ; -- Genomics and genetic engineering / Aarathi Prasad ; -- Synthetic biology / Adam Rutherford ; -- Transhumanism / Mark Walker -- The future online : AI, quantum computing, and the internet. The cloud and "internet of things" / Naomi Climer ; -- Cybersecurity / Alan Woodward ; -- Artificial intelligence / Margaret A. Boden ; -- Quantum computing / Winfried K. Hensinger -- Making the future : engineering, transportation, and energy. Smart materials / Anna Ploszajski ; -- Energy / Jeff Hardy ; -- Transportation / John Miles ; -- Robotics / Noel Sharkey -- The far future : time travel, the apocalypse, and living in space. Interstellar travel and colonizing the solar system / Louisa Preston ; -- Apocalypse / Lewis Dartnell ; -- Teleportation and time travel / Jim Al-Khalili.