Magazine

The Play issue

July/August 2024

In this issue: Did you know you could surf in the desert? New pools make it possible–but at what cost? Learn how AI is bringing an unprecedented expansiveness to computer and video games and how high-tech supershoes are helping athletes run faster and more safely. Plus: Gamification was always a dubious concept–so how did it take over the world?

Read the issue

Letter from the editor

Do you want to play a game?

Nick Little

Features

Categorized in Computing
How gamification took over the world
Gamification was always just behaviorism dressed up in pixels and point systems. Why did we fall for it?
Categorized in Culture
Supershoes are reshaping distance running
Kenyan runners, like many others, are grappling with the impact of expensive, high-performance shoes.
Categorized in Artificial intelligence
How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play
AI-powered NPCs that don’t need a script could make games—and other worlds—deeply immersive.
Categorized in Climate change and energy
The cost of building the perfect wave
The growing business of surf pools wants to bring the ocean experience inland. But with many planned for areas facing water scarcity, who bears the cost?

Also in this issue
- Job title of the future: Space debris engineer
  Stijn Lemmens is working for the European Space Agency on reducing space trash.
  
  Categorized in Space
- Inside the US government’s brilliantly boring websites
  You may not notice it, but your experience on any US government website is a carefully crafted experience.
  
  Categorized in Policy
- These board games want you to beat climate change
  What board games featuring climate change–including a new version of Catan–tell us about grand problems, and ourselves.
  
  Categorized in Climate change and energy
- Why does AI hallucinate?
  The tendency to make things up is holding chatbots back. But that’s just what they do.
  
  Categorized in Artificial intelligence
- Meet the architect creating wood structures that shape themselves
  Achim Menges uses computer-guided techniques designed to make buildings more sustainable and affordable.
  
  Categorized in Profile
- The return of pneumatic tubes
  Pneumatic tubes were supposed to revolutionize the world but have fallen by the wayside. Except in hospitals.
  
  Categorized in Business
- An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary
  Synthesia's new technology is impressive but raises big questions about a world where we increasingly can’t tell what’s real.
  
  Categorized in Artificial intelligence
- Is this the end of animal testing?
  Researchers are increasingly turning to organ-on-a-chip technology for drug testing and other applications.
  
  Categorized in Biotechnology and health
- Learning from catastrophe
  Three books reckon with technological complexity and the wicked problems it creates.
  
  Categorized in Policy
- Lego bricks are making science more accessible
  Scientists use the iconic colorful bricks to build everything from bioprinters to microscopes—increasing the accessibility of science in the process.
  
  Categorized in Field Notes
- Toys can change your life
  What if your favorite childhood toys like balls, Frisbees, and jacks could predict the future?
  
  Categorized in Archive

Updated

Magazine

The Play issue

Letter from the editor

Features

How gamification took over the world

Supershoes are reshaping distance running

How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play

The cost of building the perfect wave

Job title of the future: Space debris engineer

Inside the US government’s brilliantly boring websites

These board games want you to beat climate change

Why does AI hallucinate?

Meet the architect creating wood structures that shape themselves

The return of pneumatic tubes

An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary

Is this the end of animal testing?

Learning from catastrophe

Lego bricks are making science more accessible

Toys can change your life

Past issues

The latest iteration of a legacy

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