Natalie Holmes

“Don’t be afraid. Enjoy yourself. It’s not forever.”
If I could talk to my dog while he’s at the kennel, that’s what I’d say. Eight short, simple words—a few huge, abstract concepts. Of all the mind-blowing applications offered by the Animal Internet, I keep coming back to this one emotional exchange.

I went to see Halima on a sunny Friday morning. She lives in a pretty, quiet and orderly town—which made the clutter of white goods piled on the lawn of her home all the more disconcerting.

What if you owned a share of your city’s electricity grid? Along with your fellow citizens, you could decide where your energy comes from, how much it costs and even receive a portion of the profits each year.

Among art therapy’s well-documented benefits is the establishment of a safe space, both literal and figurative, wherein children can feel a sense of control over their environment. And though what’s happening at Tempelhof is not art therapy in any technical sense, there’s no doubt that these workshops are therapeutic.

Constantly connected and predominantly urban, many of today’s workers might agree that we’re all suffering from “nature-deficit disorder.”

The people forced to flee their homes come from all walks of life: teachers, students, doctors, scientists, artists. Their narrative is not a single one, and each individual’s identity transcends that of “refugee,” which is why their voices should not go unheard or be misrepresented.

In 2015, the Human Cloud at Work study by Goldsmiths University found the huge volume of data produced by a wearable-enhanced workforce could be leveraged in a number of ways, from identifying better physical improvements to the workplace to coordinating better shift patterns, improved hot-desking, and even pinpointing downtime trends.

Collaboration is more than a buzzword. It’s at the heart of successful business—and never more so than right now, as expertise evolves and disciplines merge into each other.

Across Europe cities are taking urgent steps to cut rising levels of air pollution from congested urban areas.

On any weekday morning in India’s big cities traffic jams stretch back as far as the eye can see as commuters slowly make their way into the office.

Almost every object in a city can now be fitted with a sensor or GPS, which can be used to gather additional layers of information as well as allowing the devices to interact with each other and respond in real time – an infrastructure practice to truly make the city “smarter.”

Across the world, from Greece to Guatemala; Illinois to Iran, people are assembling life-size humanoid robots. They’re creating a legion of AI-powered clones that anyone with access to a 3D printer can build.

If you’ve noticed Siri getting quietly smarter, that’s just the start. Chatbots look set to replace apps, infiltrate our homes and predict our every desire. They might even free us from the trappings of the web.

From exoskeletons to augmented reality goggles, wearable tech is coming to construction sites – and helping to improve safety, efficiency and morale.

While deep-rooted cultural signifiers like tradition, religion and politics leave us unable to agree on basics such as the point when human life begins, scientists have been busy pushing the boundaries of our already vague definitions.