Can kids predict the future? In 1966, the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World asked a group of 13-year-olds to share their predictions about what life in the year 2000 would be like. As you might expect, it was fascinating. Two decades later, the showrunners did the same thing again. Only this time, they asked the young teens of 1986 what they thought life in 2020 would be like. How did Gen X’s answers about the future differ from those of their Baby Boomer predecessors? The 1966 cohort’s predictions dealt with space travel, robots, and computers. They were concerned about overpopulation and nuclear war. “That was before the manned moon landings, the microprocessor, strategic arms limitation talks, or test-tube babies,” the feather-haired host shared. “So have the hopes and fears of today’s 13-year-olds changed as they look forward to the year 2020?” The kids from 1986 offered their predictions: “Perhaps brain waves to convert into radio waves, sent to someone else, convert back into brain waves. And it’d be like, what would you call it, like a telepathy thing.” Kids who listened to music on cassette tapes had no concept of the Internet. Photo credit: Canva “Well, instead of a channel tunnel, you could have something like a space tunnel, where you could go [from] one planet to the other, like bypasses.” “Obviously, nuclear war worries me, but I don’t think that’ll happen unless they’ve got computers that press the button for them. Because no, I don’t think any human being is capable of actually pressing some button that releases all nuclear arms cuz it just means destruction of the world.” “I don’t think they’ll be living on Mars yet, but I think they’ll still be living around here.” “I think they may, unless they have another planet to go to, just there’ll be loads of tower blocks. Or people will be restricted to a certain amount of kids.” “Probably be computers running the country.” Predicting the future is hard work. In 1983, most people viewed the home computer as a passing fad. Two @MIT professors debated the future of PCs.Michael Dertouzos tried to convince us that the home computer is here to stay, 1983 pic.twitter.com/HieMxHBsYx— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) May 8, 2024 “But when it comes to wars and things like that, nuclear bombs, and then they’re designing these different gases that can kill people within seconds and things like that. I think that aspect of technology should be wiped out completely.” It’s interesting how similar many of the issues were between 1966 and 1986. Some of the worries these kids had are still major concerns 40 years later. But how accurate were their predictions of what 2020 would hold? The kid talking about not living on Mars yet was right. One could make an argument that computers do run the country, but not necessarily in the way a 13-year-old in 1986 would have imagined. They had no concept of the Internet at that point, which made imagining the reality of 2020 impossible. But the threat of nuclear war and questions about whether a person would ever actually “push the button”? That still feels relevant. “Every thinking person fears nuclear war, and every technological state plans for it. Everyone knows it is madness, and every nation has an excuse.” — Carl Sagan— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) March 8, 2026 However, it’s 2026, and there’s nary a space tunnel in sight, so that one was a bust. It’s wild to remember how we assumed things like flying cars and easy space travel would be common in adulthood. (And yet somehow Google Maps still feels like a miracle every time we use it.) It feels like we’re farther from actual telepathy than we imagined in the ’80s, but who knows? With advancements in nanotechnology and the Wild West of AI, even the near future feels entirely unpredictable. In 1985, wild-haired scientist “Doc” asked a philosophical question in Back to the Future: “Since when can weathermen predict the weather, much less the future?” Thankfully, we’ve drastically improved our ability to predict the weather since then. Predicting the future, however, remains as impossible as it has always been. The post Gen X teens in 1986 predicted what life would be like today. Here’s what they got right. appeared first on Upworthy.

Cat owners can attest to how their furry friends enrich their lives, and how important it is to support their well-being in return. This isn’t just about feeding them and giving them shelter, but also providing social interaction. It’s considered so important to a cat’s well-being that Sweden passed a requirement for cat owners. The rule? Check in on your cats or expect a fine. The Swedish Board of Agriculture set rules requiring cat owners in the country to check on their cats at least twice a day. Simply setting out food and water doesn’t count. The purpose of the rule is to ensure owners pay attention to their cat’s behavior and health. If a cat isn’t acting like itself, it could indicate illness, injury, or stress that might lead to more serious problems if left untreated. View this post on Instagram This rule applies to both indoor and outdoor cats. That means even if a cat is the prototypical barnyard cat, the owner still has to check on it to ensure it’s in good health. The rule also encourages more frequent check-ins if a cat is sick, pregnant, or injured. What’s the penalty for neglecting your cat in Sweden? The Swedish Board of Agriculture issues a harsh punishment if a cat owner neglects their pet: “If [the county administrative board] discovers that you have not followed the rules, they can demand that you correct the deficiencies. This requirement can be combined with a fine if you do not correct the deficiencies. You can also be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment for a maximum of two years if you are convicted by a court of violating animal welfare legislation.” Are cats actually social? This brings up a common misconception about cats. While they’re often considered solitary creatures, cats aren’t antisocial. They actually benefit from social interaction with humans; they just socialize differently than dogs. Although they aren’t pack animals and can be territorial, house cats do form strong bonds with their humans. House cats tend to see the humans they live with as peers. This is why domesticated cats lick, groom, and nuzzle their humans, much as they would other cats. It also explains why they sometimes present dead animals to their owners, since they consider you part of their safe “core territory” after a hunt. Another sign that a cat has bonded with you is when it gives you a “slow blink,” a gesture that indicates trust. Whether you already own a cat or are thinking about getting one, it’s best to interact with them regularly, regardless of whether there’s a rule requiring it. It’s a great way to make sure your kitty is safe while also providing social time that both of you can benefit from. The post A new law in Sweden requires its citizens to check on their cats at least twice a day appeared first on Upworthy.

McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski went viral recently after taste-testing the new Big Arch burger. Kempczinski, dressed in a light blue sweater, refers to the burger as “product” (not a burger, mind you) and takes a very timid bite, looking uncomfortable eating his own food. The video inspired the CEOs of Burger King, Wendy’s, and Kentucky Fried Chicken to take confident bites of their burgers, while Jack in the Box’s mascot, Jack, warned against timid eaters. Just when it looked like the burger wars were flaming out, the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio stepped up with a challenge of its own: make the CEO “eat a book like it’s a hamburger.” The library’s X feed is known for sharing interesting local history while also having fun. PLEASE don’t [via @ClaussenPickles on ig] pic.twitter.com/0tiY49ffst— Columbus Library (@columbuslibrary) September 23, 2025 happy @GuyFieri Library Card Day to all who celebrate pic.twitter.com/Yo02eFleTp— Columbus Library (@columbuslibrary) September 21, 2025 you should be able to filter "library card ownership" on dating apps— Columbus Library (@columbuslibrary) March 4, 2026 On March 5, the library issued a challenge to its X followers: If the post reached 10,000 likes, CEO Lauren Hagan would eat a book. The tweet did much better than that, receiving more than 60,000 likes. 10K likes and we get our CEO to eat a hardcover book like it's a hamburger— Columbus Library (@columbuslibrary) March 5, 2026 After the post took off, the social media manager began to regret his decision.  starting to think i should've told the CEO before hitting send https://t.co/lpMXnhXomb— Columbus Library (@columbuslibrary) March 6, 2026 chat am i cooked? https://t.co/hZtYIQNxIk pic.twitter.com/GFJP5iJcSb— Columbus Library (@columbuslibrary) March 6, 2026 The CEO of the Columbus Metropolitan Library was challenged to eat a book “like a hamburger” In a follow-up video in which the social media admin promised the CEO would eat a book, he explained to Hagan how the library got caught up in the burger wars. After a quick cut, Hagan gets into character. “Hi, I’m Lauren Hagan, CEO of Columbus Metropolitan Library,” she says. “Last week, more than 50,000 of you made your voice clear. You’d like me to eat my words. More accurately, the words of our social media admin, who did not tell me about this.” She then grabs a book from the top of a pile and, after a very obvious edit, chomps into something resembling the book, which was probably a block of fondant or compressed cotton candy. Hagan ends the video with a pitch for libraries everywhere: “Check out your library, but remember, read them, don’t eat them.” https://t.co/lpMXnhXomb pic.twitter.com/57hS3Svlr8— Columbus Library (@columbuslibrary) March 9, 2026 The video was perfectly acted The video was funny and well acted, and Hagan and the social media admin looked like they could have been cast in The Office. Commenters overwhelmingly thought the social media admin deserved a raise. This SMM turned this into a beautiful message and I think he should get a raise.Do you know how much people pay for the following that he gained? You're on the world stage… Use it!— TheTomJefferson (@Absaroka_Ranger) March 9, 2026 The video brought a satisfying end to the burger wars and reminded people how much they love libraries. The most popular commenter on a Reddit thread about the video wrote: “Libraries are consistently great when allowed to be by their local governments and properly funded. I have never met a librarian who wasn’t an absolute gem of a person as long as they were treated respectfully. I feel like it’s the perfect example of letting people do what they love. Every librarian I’ve encountered had such a genuine love of reading and helping people find a book that it was hard not to get excited.” The post Ohio library pokes fun at McDonald’s CEO by taking the ‘eat a book’ challenge appeared first on Upworthy.

There are only a few things in this life we can’t evade. One of them is aging. Sure, there’s Botox and facelifts and all that jazz to help us look younger. But in the end, our cells simply insist on keeping score, and no matter how hard some might fight it, our DNA is bombarded with hits that will eventually take us down. The good news is that with years often comes wisdom. I like to think of our minds as though they were hiking trails. Each trail has a sign, but instead of telling us which way to go, the signs remind us who we are. This past week, I was honored to read some of those signs at the senior home where my mom resides. Nearly every conversation, at least for me, yielded little sage sachets of advice that are truly invaluable. Know someone before you marry them. A woman in her early 80s shared that it takes about a year for someone’s “true nature” to be revealed, even in the most intimate of relationships. (This, at least according to a professor she had in graduate school.) In other words, she says, “A person can hide their psychological pathologies, on average, for about a year.” So, she wishes younger people would wait at least that long before moving in or getting married. “Slow down,” she said. “Really take your time before you take the leap. Everyone puts their best foot forward at first and then sometimes that mask can slip. Don’t get stuck.” A man kissing a woman near the ocean. Photo by Esther Ann on Unsplash Some research shows that the “honeymoon phase” can, of course, vary in length. Brides.com shares, “The honeymoon phase is an early part of a couple’s relationship where everything seems carefree and happy. It usually lasts from six months to two years and can be marked with lots of laughs, intimacy, and fun dates.” No matter how long that phase lasts, her advice to slow down and really get to know someone before fully committing seems like (mostly) a good idea. Listen to your doctors A doctor examining a patient’s wristu00a0with a stethoscope Photo by CDC on Unsplash I met a woman who was a retired OBGYN. We talked at length about perimenopause, hormones, and life after 50. She urges, “Do the research, but also (for the most part) listen to your doctors. Most of them know what they’re doing.” We both kind of laughed, and then she leaned in and said, “No. Really.” She added, “Nothing wrong with getting a second, or even third opinion. But listen and read all you can before it’s too late.” Understand that time is precious Two men play chess. Photo by Vlad Sargu on Unsplash One thing my mom rather casually mentioned really stuck with me. This was how difficult it is to make new friends—and not for reasons one might think. Sure, senior living facilities can be just as cliquey as groups were in middle school. But for my mother, it was less about fitting in and more about fearing she would lose people as she grew to love them. “No one warns you how many of your new friends will pass on. When I first moved here, I befriended a brilliantly funny woman and within six months she was gone. This happens more and more and you never get used to it. You’re never prepared.” If you don’t want to eat dinner at 4:30, you don’t have to. On a simpler note, this one might be obvious to some, but it was certainly a common topic among the people with whom I spoke. Even though they serve dinner at 5:00 in many senior homes, it doesn’t mean you can’t put it in Tupperware and save it for later. To that point, just because people age, doesn’t mean they have to go to bed at 8:00 p.m. (Though for many, that timeline is just perfect.) One man noted, “Just because we all live in one place doesn’t mean we all become one person. We’ve got night owls and early birds and every other kind of bird you could imagine. Eat and sleep when you want to. It’s still your life.” His friend added, “If you want to play Mahjong at midnight, do it!” This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated. The post I spent a week chatting with people over 80. Here are 4 pieces of wisdom they shared. appeared first on Upworthy.

A viral video has been making the rounds lately that shows a giant (and extremely bizarre) ship opening up at its middle and dropping a metric buttload—that’s the official term—of cinderblocks directly into the ocean. The video is fascinating, so much so that I was certain it was AI-generated at first. After all, what kind of ship can part down the middle like that? Turns out, the video is real! The ship is called a split hopper barge and is often used to transport and deliver dredged soil. Dumping concrete like this looks like the world’s worst case of littering, but in actuality, the concrete blocks serve an important purpose that benefits sea life of all varieties. But how? Dumping concrete block in the ocean. Soon coral and algae will take root on them and help them create a reef. pic.twitter.com/IgEiMb3HhP— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) July 24, 2025 For answers, look no further than the GARP — that’s the Grenada Artificial Reef Project (also known as the Grand Anse Artificial Reef Project or GAARP). With coral reefs under threat and disappearing all over the world, the team behind the project came up with an interesting solution they wanted to test out. In 2013, the scientists placed four concrete pyramids (basically, cinderblocks stacked together into something of a tower structure) in a barren part of the Caribbean Sea. The location was just off the coastal beaches of Grenada. View this post on Instagram In just 3 months, the pyramids had attracted tons of marine life. The block pyramids gave shelter to the animals who otherwise had nowhere to hide, nest, or feed in this part of the water. “An initial growth of algae and colourful encrusting sponge was soon followed by a varied range of invertebrates. These included feather duster worms, lobster, crab, and urchins. Excitement developed as we started to see a range of juvenile fish including squirrel fish, goat fish, grunts and scorpionfish,” says the official website. After a year, word must have spread among the fish, because the simple concrete blocks transformed into “buzzing diverse communit[ies] of marine life.” At around 18 months, things started to get really exciting. Stony and brain corals, described as the “building blocks of coral” began to appear on the pyramids. Over the following 10 years, the project has exploded with more and more coral growing on the blocks and more fish and other sea life moving in. “Each subsequent year more pyramids have been added to increase biomass. GARP is becoming a balanced ecosystem, home to over 30 species of fish, 14 different kinds of corals and many of the invertebrates and algae you would find on a naturally occurring reef.” Today, there are upwards of 100 pyramid blocks in the location. Other, similar projects are taking place in waterways all over the globe. GARP/GAARP isn’t the first or only project of its kind. Concrete has been shown again and again to make an excellent shelter for marine life and a perfect launching pad for new coral growth. People have tried other materials before, to varied results. One such project off the coast of Florida in the 1970s utilized millions (!) of old tires in an effort to create new fish habitats. Called the Osborne Reef, the effort is now considered a major ecological disaster as storms and sea currents have tossed many of the tires around, washing them ashore and even damaging otherwise healthy natural reefs nearby. Talk about a backfire. Major clean up initiatives to undo the damage are still underway. Specialized concrete structures are heavy enough to stay put in rough conditions and are one of the few things that can withstand years and years of being battered by rough, salty seawater without degrading. An artificial reef created by using nothing but concrete blocks by innextfuckinglevel Coral reefs are disappearing around the globe at an alarming rate. Physical damage, both natural and manmade, along with pollution, coral harvesting, global warming, and bleaching wreaks havoc on natural ecosystems under the sea. Coral reefs aren’t just there to look pretty. They dampen waves and currents before they hit land, reducing erosion and protecting people who live on the coast. Reefs are home to a huge variety of marine life who use it for shelter and finding food. And, finally, they’re amazing destinations for scientific discovery—new species and even medical treatments are being discovered on reefs all the time! All that and the very existence of coral reefs may be in jeopardy, according to the EPA. There’s no easy fix to this grave problem. Natural coral reefs take thousands of years to grow and mature. So, even with all the cinderblocks in the world acting as growth platforms, it would be impossible for us to replace all the coral we’ve already killed or destroyed. Saving our oceans must be a multi-faceted effort, with initiatives that combat pollution and rising sea temperatures in addition to creating artificial reefs. But projects like GARP/GAARP are an awesome start. They may not save the planet all on their own, but if you ask me, those fish look pretty darn grateful for their new home. This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.The post Scientists left cinderblocks in a barren part of the sea. 3 months later they were ecstatic. appeared first on Upworthy.

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Researchers are trying to stop bats from spreading disease by inoculating them using vaccine-carrying mosquitoes. These flying vaccinators or flying syringes are being developed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. […] The post Wuhan Institute of Virology is developing edible vaccines and vaccines for mosquitoes to turn them into “flying vaccines” first appeared on The Expose.

However, Pentagon insists it was not enemy or friendly fire...