Fusion Worker
Todd Detwiler
Job: Manage fusion reactors.

Hiring: 2025

Trend: When ITER starts up in France in 2019, it will be the first thermonuclear reactor with a chance of fusing nuclei together to yield net power. If it works (and that’s a big “if”), about five fusion plants could generate enough gigawatts to power New York City at its peak usage. Fusion jobs will boom, much like nuclear-power ones did in the early ’70s. Jobs—“diagnostic physicist,” “magnet auxiliary officer”—will, er, radiate.

Education: Check out the U.S. Burning Plasma ITER Summer School.

Thought Hacker
Wikimedia
Job: Read thoughts.

Hiring: 2030

Trend: Last year, U.S. lawyers made the first request to introduce a “lie-detecting” functional-MRI scan as evidence. Though later withdrawn because of shaky scientific support, mind-reading tech will only get stronger. Neuroscientists led by Jack Gallant of the University of California at Berkeley can already roughly reconstruct what people are seeing just from scanning their brains, and memories, thoughts and dreams could be next. Brain-computer interfaces are also well on their way—at least one paralyzed man has used a brain implant to move a computer cursor and a robotic arm. Fields including psychotherapy and recreational mind-melding will depend on workers who can see into the mind’s eye.

Education: Neuroscience or computer science—they should converge before we go bionic.

More: Popsci