Presenting the Humans of the Year

Here at Motherboard, we like to say that "the future is wonderful, the future is terrifying." Looking at the news, it's really easy to feel like only the latter of those is the case. Just scroll through Facebook on your phone or turn on the TV, and you'll see no shortage of conflict and hardship around the world. It's enough to make even the sunniest of optimists bummed out.

But there are plenty of people working on projects to make the future more wonderful, especially in science and technology, and who don't make the news nearly as often as they should. These people include scientists researching Mars missions and the human brain, security researchers teaching kids how to code, open-source programmers writing free software used by millions, spies fighting wildlife poachers, and many, many, others.

We love talking to these people, learning about their work, and bringing their stories to a wider audience. It's basically the best part of working at Motherboard.

This year, we wanted to focus on a few enterprising individuals in science and tech in particular—people whose names you may not recognize right away, but whose work has the potential to touch your life and change the world in a positive and novel way.

We're calling these people our "Humans of the Year," because they've all been up to something truly inspiring in the past 365 days. The truth is, though, their work isn't confined to just this year (or any one year). Over the next few weeks, we'll be publishing stories and videos about the cool stuff they've been doing and plan to do next. We invite you to join us in celebrating them and their visions of a more wonderful future

Read more about the Humans of the Year.