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The Future Perfect 50

Introducing the Future Perfect 50 — the scientists, thinkers, scholars, writers, and activists working on solutions to today’s (and tomorrow’s) biggest problems. Check out the 2024 list here.

The 2024 Future Perfect 50
Future Perfect

Welcome to our third annual celebration of the thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place.

By Bryan Walsh and Izzie Ramirez
The 2024 Future Perfect 50
Future Perfect

Welcome to our third annual celebration of the thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place.

By Bryan Walsh and Izzie Ramirez
John Green’s crusade to make the world “suck less”John Green’s crusade to make the world “suck less”
Future Perfect

Tuberculosis is still the world’s top killer. The author has a plan to fight back.

By Dylan Scott
Chef José Andrés knows how to feed people in a crisisChef José Andrés knows how to feed people in a crisis
Future Perfect

From Gaza to Asheville to Valencia, the celebrity chef understands

By Izzie Ramirez
What would a world with abundant energy look like? Materials scientist Deb Chachra has an idea.What would a world with abundant energy look like? Materials scientist Deb Chachra has an idea.
Future Perfect

The “How Infrastructure Works” author wants us to envision achievable utopias.

By Izzie Ramirez

The latest in The Future Perfect 50

Only 1 percent of neuroscience faculty is Black. Kaela Singleton hopes to change that.
Future Perfect

Whatever you do, don’t call the Black in Neuro founder “resilient.”

By Celia Ford
Neuroscientist Rafael Yuste could play your brain like an instrument. He wants to protect it instead.
Future Perfect

Your brain needs new rights. He’s fighting to secure them.

By Sigal Samuel
Shannon Vallor says AI does present an existential risk — but not the one you think
Future Perfect

AI is not a “stochastic parrot,” It’s a mirror, says the philosopher.

By Sigal Samuel
Denmark is tiny. Its ambition to make its food system more climate-friendly is huge.
Future Perfect

How Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl got the country to launch an impressive vegetarian experiment.

By Kenny Torrella
The climate crisis is a big problem. Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is dreaming of even bigger solutions.
Future Perfect

The What If We Get It Right? author rises to the challenge.

By Sam Delgado
How Christopher Nolan made the threat of nuclear extinction feel real
Future Perfect

The “Oppenheimer” director built his career on making audiences confront humanity’s darkest possibilities.

By Bryan Walsh
Gen Z superstar Billie Eilish doesn't separate climate activism from animal welfare
Future Perfect

That’s what makes her so refreshing.

By Izzie Ramirez
Ticora Jones has supercharged global development research
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Jones expanded the United States’ global development reach. Now she’s fighting for a healthier climate.

By Kenny Torrella
Scott O’Neill hopes to go out of business with his disease-fighting program
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The World Mosquito Fund aims to end many mosquito-borne illnesses.

By Rachel DuRose
Aisha Nyandoro is making guaranteed income a reality in Mississippi
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Nyandoro’s program takes aim at generational poverty in Jackson, Mississippi.

By Sigal Samuel
Ashley Muteti transformed her loss into social change in Kenya
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Named after her daughter, the Zuri Nzilani Foundation hopes to end maternal mortality.

By Rachel DuRose
Katja Grace wants you to stop thinking of AI as an arms race
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Grace argues AI researchers should slow down. They’re starting to agree with her.

By Sigal Samuel
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is building a theory of justice for a warming world
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The tangled nature of climate change and colonialism means justice has to account for both.

By Oshan Jarow
Tatsuyoshi Saijo wants to be “a good ancestor”
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Inspired by “seventh-generation decision-making,” Saijo is looking to the future.

By Sigal Samuel
Christine Parthemore is training a generation to tackle a world of interlocking threats
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The CEO of the Council on Strategic Risks wants us to be better prepared for overlapping existential risks.

By Dylan Matthews
Christopher Fuchs is revolutionizing how we understand our quantum reality
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The physicist and co-founder of the QBism theory is shaking up his field.

By Bryan Walsh
Zahra Biabani wants Gen Z to feel hopeful about the future
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The Climate Optimism author believes focusing on victories can engender more positive action.

By Julieta Cardenas
Gul Dolen wants to harness psychedelics for healing
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Dolen hopes “critical periods” created by psychedelics can help stroke patients.

By Sigal Samuel
David Kaplan is building an academic community for the future of meat
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Meet the scientist democratizing the cell-cultivated meat sector and training its next generation of researchers.

By Kenny Torrella
Maisa Rojas is putting political power behind climate science
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Chile’s minister for the environment hopes to bring science, social equality, and decarbonization together.

By Julieta Cardenas
Crystal Heath wants veterinary medicine to live up to its values
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The US veterinary profession props up factory farm cruelty. A coalition of vets is fighting to change that.

By Marina Bolotnikova
How Christopher “Soul” Eubanks fights for a better life — for animals and people of color alike
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

For the APEX Advocacy founder, moral consistency means championing the rights of all.

By Julieta Cardenas
Heidi Williams is steering the science of innovation toward progress
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The economist aims to kickstart the slumping rate of progress by reforming the science of science.

By Oshan Jarow
Gebisa Ejeta is finding lasting solutions to hunger
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The Ethiopian American plant geneticist designed better sorghum — saving thousands, if not millions, of lives.

By Izzie Ramirez
Kristie Sullivan is quietly, and effectively, fighting animal testing
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

High-tech methods of chemical testing are helping get animals out of labs.

By Kenny Torrella
Jerry Chow wants to make quantum computers you can actually count on
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

A reliable quantum computer system could unleash truly amazing technological progress, as long as the engineers can get it to work.

By Bryan Walsh
Alec Stapp and Caleb Watney have a plan for national progress
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The co-founders and co-CEOs of the Institute for Progress want to kick-start America’s innovation engine.

By Bryan Walsh
Justin Marceau is defending a new generation of animal rights activists
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

If you’re going to break the law in order to change it, you need a good lawyer.

By Kenny Torrella
From court to classroom, Jon Lovvorn is working to end factory farming
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The lawyer helped spearhead California’s Prop 12, one of the most effective cage laws in the country.

By Julieta Cardenas
Seye Abimbola hopes to amplify marginalized voices in the global health space
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

As editor of BMJ Global Health, Abimbola aims to decentralize global health research.

By Rachel DuRose
Azeem Azhar is drawing a road map to a better future
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

The technologist and author is providing a guide to a world changing at an exponential rate

By Bryan Walsh
Hannah Ritchie fights climate doomerism with facts
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Ritchie believes we can be the first generation to build a sustainable world.

By Rachel DuRose
Genesis Butler is leading the next generation of animal and climate activists
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

At just 17, Butler is drawing attention to the connections between animal rights and the climate crisis.

By Marina Bolotnikova
Priya Donti is harnessing AI to fight climate change
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Donti is showing how machine learning can be a powerful ally to address the climate crisis.

By Oshan Jarow
Catalina Lopez is fighting the horrors of fish farming
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Fish are often overlooked in animal welfare debates. Lopez is trying to change that.

By Marina Bolotnikova
Mahi Klosterhalfen is leading Germany’s animal welfare revolution
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

How Germany’s meat-centric culture is becoming more humane — and vegan-friendly.

By Kenny Torrella
Jesse Jenkins is figuring out how to electrify America’s power grid
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Reaching net-zero emissions requires a historic overhaul of America’s infrastructure. Jenkins is mapping the way.

By Oshan Jarow
Robin Carhart-Harris studies psychedelics to understand the mind
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Carhart-Harris shows how psychedelics can shed light on the nature of consciousness, and treat mental illness.

By Oshan Jarow
Meredith Whittaker wants to keep your digital conversations private
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

Whittaker, the president of Signal, is also asking hard questions about artificial intelligence.

By Sigal Samuel
Joey Savoie and Karolina Sarek want to help you make the world a better place
The 2023 Future Perfect 50

It can be hard to start a nonprofit. Savoie and Sarek are trying to make it easier.

By Dylan Matthews