Celebrate the New Year with a Tour of the Future!

What if there is no end to the ingenious people solving problems in the world? What if the future is actually really bright, the opposite of what we hear on the 24-hour news cycle?

It’s true! And we’ve proven it every day in 2017!

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Get ready to blast off into a new mindset. Today we are going to take you on a journey into the future, and here’s the big secret: the future is now!

Here at Ever Widening Circles, we’ve written hundreds of carefully fact-checked and cited articles to prove that it’s still an amazing world and celebrate all the clever people with great intentions who are making the world a better place.

So join us on a journey through some of the articles that our staff considers their favorite windows into the future. Take some time to dive into each and every one and you will be able to just smile and shrug the next time the news is all doom and gloom!

First up, let’s start with a few of Dr. Lynda’s favorites. She’s our founder and if you are curious, you might enjoy reading the story of why, in 2014, a dentist would start a new global effort to change the negative dialogue about our world!

Here’s the first of Dr. Lynda’s favorites: a wonderful look at how the most radical engineers are pushing us up into the sky! (Get ready for some mindboggling fun at the end of this article.)

Next up, take a look at what Nat Geo adventures are using emerging technology (and nerves of steel) to discover the incredible wonder of creatures’ who live fascinating lives in the Arctic. (Get ready to smile broadly in amazement!)

One of Dr. Lynda’s favorite “news moments” this past year was learning about the wonders that the spaceship Cassini revealed about our solar system and the very important reason we purposefully crashed Cassini into Saturn when the spacecraft was at the end of its life. (It’s not what you think it was. The reason is as noble and jaw-dropping as it gets!)

When Samantha, the Executive Assistant here at Ever Widening Circles, looks into 2018 and beyond, she sees ways that we can improve the structures inside of our societies.

For starters, let’s look at what we can do with all those plastic bottles that have accumulated over our soils and throughout the oceans. Here’s one of the most inspiring projects we’ve come across: The Plastic Bottle Village

But of course, there are a few different ways that we can improve our environments. One is through adding a creative touch to them and making them more interactive. Take a look at what Studio Roosegarde has up their sleeves to make our communities healthier and more connected. (You’re going to love the machine that turns smog into diamonds and the Van Gogh bike path!)

Adding a bit of creativity and beauty can completely change our perceptions of a subject. A subject like, say, science. It’s amazing to imagine that just by showing how visually breathtaking science can be we could increase students interests in the subject! Take a look at what Beauty of Science is doing to help us all become more engaged with reactions under a lens.

To round us out, let’s hear from Liesl, EWC’s COO. Looking towards the future, she is most excited about the ways in which people are finding answers to some of our biggest problems in surprisingly simple and accessible ways!

To begin, let’s celebrate how something that the vast majority of us have in our pockets, is helping to save the rainforest. Yes, your cell phone. Well, actually, your old cell phone, could be used to protect some of the world’s richest ecosystems from poachers. We think that this brilliant idea says a lot about the future of conservation!

Switching over to medicine, we think that this is a breakthrough everybody should know about! Alzheimer’s researchers at MIT have found a surprising potential therapy for patients suffering from the disease. The fascinating part, there are no drugs involved!

Finally, her favorite article from this year? Well in keeping with the theme of low-tech solutions to some of our most pressing problems, we want to point you towards this article on how paper tools are helping bring innovations in medicine, education, and science to all corners of the globe!

Sometimes the most remarkable innovations are those that show us how much we can do with so little. Costly machines can be replaced with simple paper tools and old cell phones, light therapies could help to treat life-changing diseases. These answers, in many ways, democratize progress and innovation across the world. Putting solutions in the hands of all people, regardless of economic status or geographic location. Progress really can be for all!

Collections of inspiration and wonder:

If you’d like to spend a lazy afternoon bingeing on EWC’s collection of insights, innovation, and wonder, there are two other great places to visit:

First, don’t miss our “Fan Picked Favorites” page, where you’ll see the most popular articles from this past year!

Then take a scroll down our “Must-See TED Talk” list! There are some amazing talks here that are little-known but jaw-dropping.

Thanks for celebrating possibility with us today!

You can join us in changing the negative dialogue about our world. You can subscribe and/or spread the word about Ever Widening Circles on your social media! You can easily contact us to tell your story about discovering EWC or send us inspiring links. You can even become a guest writer or join our team!

Meanwhile, stay open, optimistic and very curious!

~ Dr. Lynda