Nowadays, the tools for tracing your family tree have advanced far beyond looking back at names in the family Bible or compiling a scrapbook of paper records. Using your genetic information to find long-lost relatives is easier and cheaper than ever before—and scientists are looking to push the technology even further by analyzing our skin and facial features.

How do we learn to speak? What is the connection between language and movement? Join a broad and distinguished panel of biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers, musicians and writers.

IBM’s Watson has the ability to make a diagnosis. Apps can track and monitor patient emergencies. Our phones may soon be our medical advisers. Preventive and diagnostic medicine is on the cusp of an AI revolution that will no doubt save lives.

In March 2014, scientists working on the BICEP2 telescope at the South Pole reported an incredible discovery: a swirling pattern in the cosmic background radiation that appeared to indicate the presence of gravitational waves.

Alan Alda has issued this year’s challenge to the world’s top scientists: What is sound? In an action-packed hour of interactive demonstrations, Alan and a team of communication experts invite the audience to explore what we hear, how we hear, and what that means for different species.

Computers are getting smarter and more creative, offering spectacular possibilities to improve the human condition. There’s a call to redefine Artificial Intelligence as Augmented Intelligence, to emphasize the potential of …