BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
KOTCHAKORN VORAAKHOM | 38
In 2011, Thailand suffered its
worst flooding in half a century,
stranding families, including
landscape architect Kotchakorn
Voraakhom’s. In response,
Voraakhom set out to populate
the Thai capital with climate-
resilient green spaces as buffers
against the annual tempests.
After winning a contract to build
Bangkok’s first public park in three
decades, she created an 11-acre
“thirsty” plot capable of absorbing
1 million gallons of water through
a combination of sloped gardens,
wetlands and a retention
pond. Later this year, her firm
Landprocess will open a second,
36-acre park featuring the biggest
urban farming green roof in Asia.
As climate- related emergencies
strike cities around the world,
Voraakhom says, architects must
rise to the challenge. “If we keep
building business as usual, our
survival will be at stake.”
ÑLaignee Barron
FINDING MAGIC
YUAN CAO | 23
If you’re 23 years old and in the early
stages of your career as a physicist, it’s
best not to say that the work you’re
doing amounts to “magic.” So Yuan
Cao doesn’t—but that doesn’t stop oth-
ers from excitedly touting his break-
through with “magic angle graphene.”
Working in the lab of MIT physicist
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Cao has been in-
vestigating what happens when two
layers of graphene—a crystalline form
of carbon, each just one atom thick—
are laid atop each other. The answer:
nothing. But when he twists the sheets
1.7 degrees and super cools them, they
become an insulator. If he changes the
twist to 1.1 degrees, the graphene be-
comes super conducting—able to con-
duct electricity with no resistance. That
is the magic angle—and a near magical
effect, since super conducting mate-
rials have all manner of scientific
applications. —Jeffrey Kluger
DELIVERING HOPE
KELLER RINAUDO| 32
Every day, thousands of people die for
lack of medical supplies, from vaccines
to snakebite antivenom. In 2014, Keller
Rinaudo began testing a solution: drones.
Since then, the CEO and co-founder of
California- based health startup Zipline has
overseen the drone- enabled delivery of
vital medical goods across Rwanda. The
company’s battery-powered, fixed-wing
“Zips” have covered more than 1.2 million
miles and made over 23,000 emergency
deliveries. Early next year, it will launch
in the Indian state of Maharashtra. U.S.
deliveries are not far behind, says Rinaudo:
“If we’re going to have instant delivery for
hamburgers, we should absolutely have
instant delivery for medicine.” —Aryn Baker
SEIZING THE MOMENT
JESS MORALES
ROCKETTO | 33
By Hillary Rodham Clinton
You couldn’t miss Jess Mo-
rales Rocketto during my 2016
campaign: she was the young
woman standing on top of a
cabinet, leading hundreds of
staff and volunteers in a rousing
chant. After the election, she
used her passion, digital savvy
and activist experience to facili-
tate the protests that cropped
up at airports across America.
She joined the National Domes-
tic Workers Alliance, tackling
issues from economic justice to
immigration reform. Faced with
the crisis at the border, Jess
helped lead efforts to reunite
every child with their loved
ones. And after witnessing the
power of women’s activism, she
helped launch Supermajority,
an organization dedicated to
gender equity. She is not only
tireless—she is fearless.
Dolores Huerta said, “Every
moment is an organizing
opportunity, every person a
potential activist, every minute
a chance to change the world.”
Jess embodies those words.
I can’t wait to see how she
continues to make the most of
every moment.
Clinton, a Democrat, is a former
Senator and Secretary of
State, and was the first female
presidential nominee of a
major party
PORTRAIT-ILLUSTRATION BY GLUEKIT FOR TIME; VORAAKHOM: CALLIE GIOVANNA—TED; RINAUDO: GETTY IMAGES
