Future Stories

The USA is increasing its lead in per capita income (Purchasing power parity and nominal income) versus major European countries, Japan and latin american and central american countries. Only faster growing asian countries are catching up in per capita income compared to the USA. The rate of catchup for Asian countries has slowed. The pandemic ... Read more

You like me! You really like me! Image: SYFY/USA Network The Chucky TV series is a hit—and the diabolical doll will return for a second season to continue his overall-clad reign of terror . USA Network and SYFY, which both run the series, announced that Chucky was one of the top two new cable series for viewers ages 18-49. (The other was (SYFY’s Alan Tudyk-starring Resident Alien .) That tracks with the series’ attempt at capturing younger viewers (by casting teenagers as its main characters) while also thrilling fans of the classic Child’s Play horror movies (by bringing back actors from the cult-beloved Don Mancini films, including Jennifer Tilly and Alex Vincent, as well as Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky). “We’re thrilled to start pulling the strings on a second season of puppet mayhem with Chucky ,” executive producer Mancini said in the same press release. “Many thanks to our partners at USA, SYFY, and UCP for their incredible support and guidance bringing Chucky t...

Lucy and Charlie Brown playing a game modeled after a deeply flawed healthcare system. Screenshot: Apple Heartwarming as Peanuts stories tend to be, Apple TV+ ’s upcoming For Auld Lang Syne animated special tells a story about just how stressful and emotionally exhausting the holiday season often ends up being . Though Lucy Van Pelt prides herself on doling out mental health advice to her friends, Auld Lang Syne finds her in sore need of a bit of her own medicine after a disappointing Christmas. Auld Lang Syne ’s first trailer details how, after Lucy’s grandmother ends up being a no-show on Christmas day, the young girl interprets her absence as a sign that the older woman doesn’t love her. Rather than outright beating herself up about it, Lucy resolves to kick the New Year off right with the party to end all parties—the sort of gathering meant to remind her that she is, actually, surrounded by people who adore her. Cheering one’s self up with a party’s a fairly solid idea, and...

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is ready for flight, and launch preparations are resuming toward Webb’s target launch date of Wednesday, Dec. 22, at 7:20 a.m. EST. The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket. The primary mirror of the JWST, the Optical Telescope Element, consists of 18 hexagonal mirror ... Read more

Ivanna Sakhno in front of a blue face. Coincidence? Photo: Emma McIntyre (Getty Images) Star Wars producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are hard at work prepping their next streaming show, Ahsoka , and have added a relatively unknown actress to the cast in a mystery part. Deadline reports that Ukranian actress Ivanna Sakhno, who previously appeared in Pacific Rim Uprising and the High Fidelit y TV show, has come aboard. And while there’s no official word on who she could be playing, we have a wild guess . Going off looks alone, she could be playing Ar’alani , a Chiss military strategist who rose up in the ranks alongside a better-known Chiss by the name of Thrawn . Now, why make this giant, possibly incorrect leap? Well, don’t forget that when Ahsoka appeared in The Mandalorian season two , she was able to obtain Thrawn’s whereabouts. We also know that, around this time, she and Sabine Wren (likely to be played on this new show by Natasha Liu Bordizzo) went off on a mission t...

It is often a popular belief that technology cannot be both elegant and functional; both streamlined and repairable. However, we are beginning to see a shift towards modularity that should be welcomed by the public. Modularity can reduce costs when things break because components are more easily replaceable – meaning the consumer can do it ... Read more

Tesla China is expanding to produce 1.5 million cars per year in 2022. Tesla is starting a US$188 million expansion that will complete in April 2022. Today (Nov. 26) the media learned from the environmental information disclosure platform that Tesla will expand the production line of its Shanghai plant. The total investment in the production ... Read more

Purdue University engineers have invented a new, patent-pending charging station cable that would fully recharge certain electric vehicles in under five minutes. Today, chargers are limited in how quickly they can charge an EV’s battery due to the danger of overheating. To charge an EV faster, a higher current needs to travel through the charging ... Read more

Purdue University has a new 5.2 petaflop AI Anvil supercomputer. It will enable new discoveries in fields ranging from hypersonics and deep learning to archeological reconstruction and bone biomechanics. Anvil was funded by a $22.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Early users are working on projects in key areas of research such as: ... Read more

Vox Machina’s Elven siblings are ready to see their story told. Image: Nikki Dawes/Del Rey After dominating the tabletop actual play realm , branching out into the world of tabletop settings themselves , and now turning into a transmedia empire with an animated adventure , Critical Role is ready to enter the world of original fiction this week. A new Marieke Nijkamp novel is delving deep into the past of two of Vox Machina’s biggest stars—and we’ve got a look inside. Nijkamp’s Kith & Kin follows Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan, the roguish sibling characters played by Laura Bailey and Liam O’Brien in the group’s first campaign series , Vox Machina . Set well before the duo joined the hero group, Kith & Kin follows Vex and Vax’s days together from their childhood to the harsh lives they led before becoming heroes, including their time with the villainous crime organization the Clasp—testing their bonds as siblings in ways the duo have never faced before. But before the twins h...