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Podcasts

Podcast Pick: 'Flash Forward' answers your questions about the future

Carly Mallenbaum
USA TODAY

Looking for something new to listen to while you drive to work/go for a walk/wash the dishes? We're here for you. In a weekly series, we're highlighting a podcast, audio personality or specific story worth hearing.

Podcast 'Flash Forward' is for the sci-fi fan who thinks practically. The show, hosted by Rose Eveleth, comes up with a fictional future scenario, and then talks with experts on the real-life implications of that new thing. For example: How would the existence of artificial wombs impact our culture? Fascinating stuff.

This week's pick: Flash Forward

What would our future look like if people stopped working on farms, if babies could be made in an artificial womb or if no one could tell real from fake news? (And is the latter already happening?) These questions are seriously addressed every month in Flash Forward, a podcast where Rose Eveleth talks with experts about what would happen in the future if these concepts became reality.

Why it's ripe for listening

In a world where the Department of Education misspells on Twitter and a man who once wanted to eliminate the Energy Department is the nominee for energy secretary, current events are pretty weird. And so taking strange inquiries (like "What if, because of global warming, the arctic becomes a tourist destination?") to the nth degree doesn't seem so outlandish. Plus, flashing forward and figuring out the implications of new technology, trends and behaviors is a fun, intellectual exercise.

Memorable line

Eveleth introduces her show this way:

"Flash Forward is a show about the future. Every episode we take on a specific possible, or not-so-possible, future scenario. First, we go to the future to hear what that's like, and then we come back to now and talk about how it would really go down with a team of experts."

To see last week's podcast pick, go here.

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