The Long and Short

Dear readers, We regret to inform you that from today The Long + Short will be ceasing publication. Our archive will remain online for the foreseeable future, so you can continue to find the ...

http://thelongandshort.org/life-death/a-note-to-our-readers

The year is 2027. Dorothy visits her GP about panic attacks she's been getting at work. Before prescribing any treatment, the doctor looks at her genetic history for markers that could affect her...

http://thelongandshort.org/life-death/precision-medicine

Sara lets the Lyft park itself in the drive, lets out a sigh, and tweets wish me luck plus some emojis before slipping her phone into a hoody pocket. Curtains twitch, and before she can get her b...

http://thelongandshort.org/forecasts/divided-we-stand

Myndlift, a startup based in Tel Aviv, aims to alleviate the inattention and hyperactivity symptoms associated with heavy smartphone usage. It's done through neurofeedback therapy made available ...

http://thelongandshort.org/enterprise/myndlift-tel-aviv-startup-focus

It's my first go at delivering a baby by caesarean section – and the foetal head is impacted, jammed in its mother's pelvis. To be honest I'm struggling. Incisions have been made in the lower...

http://thelongandshort.org/life-death/obstetrics-for-beginners

On a chilly February morning in Glasgow, Stephanie Anthony and her three-year-old son Ilan are perching on a log in front of a small bonfire. They are making popcorn with kernels, using two sieve...

http://thelongandshort.org/society/scottish-local-democracy

"You are about to meet a true international beauty, with a shape that blends elegance and excitement," intoned the golden voice of a television advert for the 1965 Chevrolet Corvair: "There is no...

http://thelongandshort.org/enterprise/ralph-nader-car-safety-regulation

"Modern girls and modern boys: it's tremendous!" So goes the sunny reflection of the eponymous hero in Bill Forsyth's 1981 film Gregory's Girl, as he surveys the playing fields, comprehensive sc...

http://thelongandshort.org/cities/new-towns

Trust has always been a dangerous business. Every instance of it brings the risk of let-down, disloyalty and betrayal. Still, in recent times, the vulnerability inherent in trust seems more prono...

http://thelongandshort.org/society/the-future-of-trust-in-a-post-truth-world

The Centre for the Future of Intelligence is seeking to investigate the implications of artificial intelligence for humanity, and make sure humans take advantage of the opportunities while dodgin...

http://thelongandshort.org/machines/the-future-of-intelligence

Drug development is an expensive, resource-heavy and slow business. It typically takes more than a decade and costs more than £1bn for a drug to make it from the lab to patients. But of drugs ...

http://thelongandshort.org/life-death/old-drugs-new-uses

Post-Brexit, it might be expected that the UK has an opportunity to reduce the burden of regulation, in areas where European standards have been more restrictive than those we might have decided ...

http://thelongandshort.org/growth/deregulation-and-lettuces

Within the lifetimes of most children today, bio-enhancement is likely to become a basic feature of human society. Personalised pharmaceuticals will enable us to modify our bodies and minds in po...

http://thelongandshort.org/forecasts/why-upgrading-your-brain-could-make-you-less-human

In January 2015, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang dropped in on OCT-Loft in Shenzhen. The sprawling 'creative culture park' in the west of the city has recently been converted from communist-era factor...

http://thelongandshort.org/enterprise/china-maker-movement

"Who's got emotional work?", Sarah Turner asks, leaning over to get a stamp while women imprint different symbols on to a paper tablecloth. Turner works for The Well, a multicultural resource cen...

http://thelongandshort.org/society/the-peoples-bank-of-govanhill-reinventing-money

The city of Oslo has created an app that keeps children safe on the way to school by enlisting them as "secret smartphone agents". The first program of its kind, Traffic Agent encourages chil...

http://thelongandshort.org/cities/oslo-safer-streets-secret-agent-app

During the recording of Thriller , so the story goes, Michael Jackson and his producer got hold of a state-of-the-art drum machine, and eagerly set to work with their new toy. Playing back their...

http://thelongandshort.org/creativity/teamlab-at-pace-london

In the past year, as we have witnessed the upending of the political order, the internet has been the theatre where many of the battles have been fought: from the hacking and leaking of Democrati...

http://thelongandshort.org/forecasts/the-end-of-the-web

OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER IS RELEASED EVERY TUESDAY, FEATURING A DIGEST OF OUR LATEST ARTICLES AND A ROUNDUP OF OUR FAVOURITE STORIES OF INNOVATION FROM ACROSS THE WEB.  Below is some of what we f...

http://thelongandshort.org/forecasts/newsletter-31-january

It's the end of the century. We started out on our trip through the innovations in 20th-century dance music in the early 1900s , when records were made out of shellac and played on gramophones...

http://thelongandshort.org/creativity/dance-moves-microhouse-burn-out