At least we dodged the asteroid (if only just). As we prepare to celebrate the big 7-0 in a little under two months’ time (you may have noticed we’ve had a little glow-up for the occasion), those threats may feel familiar, but the challenges we face as individuals and as society are even more pressing. AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations 2016 was the year that the Paris Agreement went into force, with the ambition of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
In 2024, the planet breached that line for a full calendar year for the first time. With a powerful El Niño on top of an already warmer planet, 2026 is set to surpass that record, accompanied by heatwaves, wildfires, landslides and other catastrophic events. A decade ago, Donald Trump’s election was shocking, but his second term has seen stronger anti-science rhetoric than ever, driving not only cuts to funding but also dangerous misinformation – in particular with regard to health and the environment.
As for AI, it seems we are in a moment of reckoning. In a recent turn of events, even those developing it now warn that the technology could threaten humanity itself, but whether or not this threat is a real one, its effects are already here, changing everything from the way we work and warfare to the way that people get their news. For many publishers, this last point poses an existential risk in itself, with audiences increasingly turning to pre-digested AI summaries and social media pundits for their information, and no news publisher is immune.
Yet at a time when science, truth and journalism are all under threat from multiple directions, the importance of science journalism, and especially the high-quality, trusted and sceptical brand of journalism that New Scientist was built on, is stronger than ever. There are many more reasons for optimism, too. The past 70 years have seen transformational changes in medicine, green technologies that can help us live more sustainably, and astonishing advances in our understanding of the universe.
We will celebrate many of these in our anniversary coverage in the coming weeks, along with our predictions for what the biggest breakthroughs of the future will look like. We’ll also be sharing life-affirming stories from readers, some of whom have been with us from the very beginning. And let’s not forget the fun – this is a birthday, after all.
The party begins properly in under two weeks, when tens of thousands of you descend on London for our annual event, New Scientist Live, which turns 10 this year. As for the rest of the year, and the next one, and the one after that: none of us can truly predict what the future holds, but whatever is in store, we plan to still be covering it in 2096. New Scientist may be turning 70, but retirement is firmly off the cards.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
