MOTHERBOARD - Dear Future
2018 Webby Award Winning Series
Devil Worm
Role: Assistant Editor, Social Editor
Series Producer: Xavier Aaronson
DP: Rylan Morris Scherer
Editor: Danielle Beeber
Partnership: Microsoft & CNET
A mile under the Earth’s crust, inside the gold mines of South Africa, lie the deepest living animals on the planet. These creatures are called nematodes and they’re the tiniest multicellular worms on Earth. The discovery of these worms thriving in extreme environments previously deemed uninhabitable has opened up clues and implications for potential, non-intelligent extraterrestrial life. The one that Belgian zoologist Gaetan Borgonie discovered was nicknamed the “Devil Worm” because it was found over 2 miles underground at over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Nuclear Fusion Energy
Role: Assistant Editor
Produced: Huffman Studio
Series Producer: Xavier Aaronson
DP: Drew Levin
Editors: Gaspard Nemec, Lukas Huffman
Partnership: Microsoft & CNET
If the processes powering the fusion reactor at the Sun's core could be recreated on Earth, it would be one of the most important events in the history of our species. Nuclear fusion power plants could end our dependency on fossil fuels and provide a virtually limitless, highly efficient source of clean energy. We went to two of the world's leading nuclear fusion research centers—Sandia National Labs in New Mexico and General Fusion outside Vancouver—to see how close we are to bringing the power of the stars down to Earth.
Powerwalls
Role: Assistant Editor, Social Editor
Produced: Huffman Studio
Series Producer: Xavier Aaronson
Editor: Eddie Shore
Client: MIicrosoft
Production: VICE
The rechargeable batteries in your laptop, your cell phone, your headphones: all of these can be used to power your life and take you off the grid. DIY Powerwalls – rechargeable lithium-ion battery installations, made from recycled batteries – are the future of power, whether you know it or not. We visited Jehu Garcia, a DIY Powerwall builder and enthusiast, and the folks at EV West in Southern California as well as the University of Michigan Battery Lab to see just how DIY Powerwalls can power your home, your car, and even the rest of your neighborhood.
People's Internet
Role: Assistant Editor, Social Editor
Producer: Lara Heintz
Editor: Danielle Beeber
DP: Gene Michael Bradley
When it comes to the internet, our connections are generally controlled by telecom companies. But a group of people in Detroit is trying to change that. Motherboard met with the members of the Equitable Internet Initiative (EII), a group that is building their own wireless networks from the ground up in order to provide affordable and high-speed internet to prevent the creation of a digital class system.
Bipedal Robots
Role: Assistant Editor, Social Editor
Producer: Lara Heintz
Editor: Daniel Ferry
DP: Gene Michael Bradley
Creating a walking robot is no easy task. But despite numerous efforts throughout the years, people are still trying to create robots that can truly walk around our environments like we do. Motherboard met with Agility Robotics, a small startup in Oregon that is one of many trying to crack the code of creating the perfect bipedal robot.
Phages
Role: Assistant Editor, Social Editor
Producers: Xavier Aaronson, Bram Menglers
DP: Gene Michael Bradley, Thomas Van Krugten
Editor: Selena Rhine
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria kill 23,000 people every year in the United States, and the United Nations estimates that by 2050, more people will die from antibiotic-resistant infections than currently die from cancer. Discovered 100 years ago, bacteriophages—viruses that eat bacteria—might provide an answer. But phage therapy has only been approved for use on humans in the former Soviet Union. Motherboard travels to Georgia to meet the doctors using phage therapy today, and meets with the American scientists trying to normalize phage therapy in the United States.