In this Wednesday, November 15, 2012 file photo, a young girl in her colorful dress reaches out to greet a Pakistani policeman securing the road outside Kainat Riaz's home in Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan. (Photo by Anja Niedringhaus/AP Photo)

A burned vehicle sits among a destroyed home in the Mountain fire, Wednesday, November 6, 2024, near Camarillo, Calif. (Photo by Ethan Swope/AP Photo)

A prototype Rollkers transportation device is displayed during a press event at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center for the 2015 International CES on January 4, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The product is not a skate; it balances for you and when you place it on the bottom of your shoe, it gives you the ability for faster transportation based on walking. The balance CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs from January 6-9 and is expected to feature 3,600 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Y-40 Deep Joy is the worlds deepest pool. Y-40 is projected by Architect Emanuele Boaretto and supported by the “Boaretto Group Hotel and Resort”. The name Y-40 is inspired by mathematical symbols. “Y” is the ordinate axis of the Cartesian system and “–40” means the world's record depth or our pool- that is 40 meters underground. (Photo by Courtesy Y40 Deep Joy)

People wade through a flooded street after Typhoon Fung-wong hit Dagupan City, Pangasinan, Philippines, on November 10, 2025. (Photo by Noel Celisn/Reuters)

A chicken seller carries his chickens on his head in the market in Peshawar, Pakistan, August 20, 2015. (Photo by Khuram Parvez/Reuters)

William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.

Samba dancers outside Woolwich station celebrate the opening of the Elizabeth Line in London, England on May 23, 2022. Originally due to open in December 2018, the £18.8bn railway links Reading and Essex via central London. (Photo by Jill Mead/The Guardian)