InternetNovember 17, 2025
The unlikely story of an e-mail time machine
Twenty years ago Forbes.com sent hundreds of thousands of messages to the future. Here’s what happened next
The E-mail Time Capsule: Communicating with the Future
Link rot, deep time and the very hard problem of preserving information
Federico Tramonte
AnthropologyNovember 17, 2025
How to send a message to future civilizations
When written knowledge is more ephemeral than ever, how can we pass on what’s important?
Black HolesNovember 17, 2025
Does the universe keep secrets? Inside the black hole information paradox
Black holes and quantum mechanics present a paradox about the preservation of information
Nuclear energyNovember 17, 2025
The mind-bending challenge of warning future humans about nuclear waste
Designing nuclear-waste repositories is part engineering, part anthropology—and part mythmaking
GeologyNovember 17, 2025
Can a time capsule outlast geology?
A ridiculous but instructive thought experiment involving deep time, plate tectonics, erosion and the slow death of the sun
InternetNovember 17, 2025
The human network behind a digital time capsule
Scientific American’s editor in chief David M. Ewalt reflects on a 20-year experiment in e-mailing the future