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Here's a red-letter date in the history of science: November 5th, 1955. Yes! Of course! November 5th, 1955! That was the day I invented time travel. I remember it vividly. I was standing on the edge of my toilet hanging a clock, the porcelain was wet, I slipped, hit my head on the sink, and when I came to I had a revelation, a vision… A picture in my head, a picture of this – this is what makes time travel possible! Doc Brown – Back to the Future (1985) It was seventy years a

The 20th century brought an education revolution. Could the 21st century be on the brink of another? In 1900, only one in three children went to school. By the turn of the millennium, it was four in five – an astonishing leap. The mission to widen access to education was a world-changing success. But in 2025, it’s starting to run out of steam. Schoolchildren have all the world’s information at their fingertips – and AI assistants to help do their homework – yet classrooms, c

One week ago, more than six million of us tuned into The Celebrity Traitors  (UK)  – and haven’t stopped talking about it since! Starring a raft of bona fide household names – a rarity for “celebrity” editions nowadays – the opening episode delivered a feast of mind games, side-eyes, and rising paranoia as 19 hopefuls descended on the Scottish Highlands to root out the traitors among them, all in the name of charity. And it didn’t take long for the accusations to fly. Within

Why are we so bad at predicting the future – and how can we get better at it? Humans have been trying to peer into the future for millennia and, for just as long, we’ve been blindsided by events that we should have seen coming — stock market crashes, natural disasters, the fact they’re still making Smurf movies in 2025... For much of history, our forecasting flops can be put down to some of the questionable methods we used. Crystal balls, tea leaves, and horoscopes proved far

My inbox is overflowing. Every day I get bombarded with promotions, pointless updates, and notifications I never signed up for. Most of the time I swipe away without even opening. But imagine if, just once, an email landed that you actually  looked forward to reading... Alright, you caught me – this is a shameless plug for the iluli newsletter . But I promise there’s a good reason. Each month, we take on subjects that might sound intimidating at first – from bioprinting huma

Black Mirror’s  “ USS Callister ” first beamed onto screens in late 2017, wrapped in the familiar aesthetics of a Star Trek tribute – high-necked uniforms, retro sets, and a Shatner-esque captain at the helm. But beneath the camp was something far darker: a lonely, resentful tech genius – Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons) – trapping digital clones of his co-workers in a sadistic simulation of his own design. A classic descent into techno-horror from the brilliant mind of Charlie Br

More than thirty years ago, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park captivated audiences with its amber-encased DNA, lab-grown dinosaurs, and a franchise so enduring even Dr. Ian “life, uh… finds a way” Malcolm might not have predicted its staying power.   And with the aptly titled Jurassic World Rebirth  (yes, there’s another one!) roaring into cinemas this July, it’s the perfect time to ask: how close are we to turning science fiction into fact? These days, with dino DNA long gone

What’s the formula for success? Hard work? Talent? Grit? That’s what we’re often told. But what if there’s another important ingredient that we rarely acknowledge? The truth is that luck plays a much greater role in success than we like to admit. Whether we’re talking pop megastars, entrepreneurs or world leaders, random chance can be the difference that helps some people make it to the top. So why do we overlook the role of luck? And, if we’re all at the mercy of random chan

In January 2020, Detroit Police pulled up outside the home of Robert Julian-Borchak Williams and arrested him in front of his wife and two daughters. His crime? Stealing five watches from a shop that he’d never even visited.  Despite protesting his innocence, Robert spent nearly 30 hours behind bars before being released on bail. Eventually, the truth emerged  – an AI-powered facial recognition system had mistaken him for another Black man.  This was the first documented case

NASA’s Artemis program is about to send humans back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.  Or is it? Artemis was set to make history by landing the first woman and first person of colour on the lunar surface. It aimed to lay the groundwork for a permanent Moon base, which some see as key to eventually reaching Mars. But amid political upheaval in the US, the future of Artemis now looks precarious. Might NASA be about to take a giant detour and head straight for the

What do Bill Gates, The Beatles and Canadian ice hockey stars have in common? Clue: the answer isn’t just that they are phenomenally successful… We’re often told that success comes down to talent and effort – the most able and hardest working are the ones who achieve wealth, fame and power. But what if there’s another secret ingredient that we’re missing? In the latest   iluli video , we explored the critical role of luck in helping those who rise to the top. It’s a theme run

From space travel to smartphones, many of today’s groundbreaking inventions first appeared in fiction.  But beyond predicting new technologies, science fiction can tell us something much more important. It invites us to imagine not just what’s possible, but the kind of future we want to create.  Here’s my short explainer on the subject: Predicting the future I’m going to take an educated guess that your introduction to many of today’s technological marvels came from the film

Messi or Ronaldo? Coke or Pepsi? Republican or Democrat? Whether it’s politics, fan allegiances or opinions on Marmite, we love to frame our choices as black and white. This “binary bias” can be a useful way to simplify complex decisions and spur us into action. But it can also harm our decision-making more than we realise and lead to unhelpful divides. Here’s my quick explainer on the subject: The appeal of binary From Shakespeare and The Beatles , to JFK and The Clash , w

Spoiler alert: Yes, it’s already happening. Scorsese. Kubrick. Lynch. Anyone with the last name Coppola. Iconic directors invariably have a distinct style and vision that make their work easily recognisable. Chances are that even if you didn’t see the words "Directed by Quentin Tarantino" appear in the credits of a film, you’d still be able to identify the auteur through the kind of snappy dialogue, hammy violence and unique overall aesthetic seen on screen. Or would you? In

There’s arguably no emotion more powerful than shame. From an early age, we learn the discomfort brought on by feelings of having done "wrong". Without the heaviness of shame, you might not know your behavior is unacceptable. Public shaming has undergone a digital renaissance, thanks in large part to Twitter and online social media commentary. If you don’t stand corrected, then fear not – someone out there is more than happy to step up to the task. The flip side of today’s tr

Going to the cinema in the late 20th century would have been a very different experience without the acting talent of Mr. Val Kilmer. With iconic roles in everything from blockbusters like Top Gun (1986), Batman Forever (1995) and Heat (1995), to cult classics like True Romance (1993), Kilmer’s voice was one of the sounds of the 80s and 90s.  Now, after a painful battle with throat cancer, scientists have been able to use a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and

In my day job, I’ve been responsible for hundreds – if not thousands – of hires. I’ve read CV after CV, conducted interview after interview… It can be a long, arduous process but it’s one I take very seriously.  It’s about more than just finding the right person for the job – it’s ensuring it’s the right job for the person. Will they find the work interesting? Will they feel challenged? Will they enjoy it? These are not questions answered by two sides of A4, but by hearing wh

“Covfefe” will forever remain as Donald Trump’s best contribution on social media — the memes that followed were the gift that kept on giving. Even US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel conceded “what makes me saddest is that I know I’ll never write anything funnier than 'covfefe'”.  But whilst we laughed and joked at this innocuous typo, Trump’s tweets were becoming increasingly dangerous. On 6th January this year, riots took place at the U.S. Capitol, jeopardising the peaceful tra

If you’ve ever felt a lump in your throat listening to a piece of music, you’re far from alone. It’s a strange phenomenon — that the soft strumming of a guitar or sad sax solo can make you well up, especially without any prior connection to the tune. Sure, you’d expect a melancholy hymn from a funeral you attended to evoke such emotion, but what of a new track you’ve just heard on the radio? Or that Spotify has thrown up on a playlist? If you’ve seen The Holiday — a festive f

Fifty years ago, Joni Mitchell lamented “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” in her hit single Big Yellow Taxi. She wasn’t wrong, and we have 2020 to thank for proving it to the masses. In a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Mitchell stated: “I wrote “Big Yellow Taxi” on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked d