What's Emerging Mid-June 2021
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy
Introduction
Welcome to our Mid-June newsletter for 2021.
In the next few weeks, Paul will continue working with a council on their community vision, work with a new leadership team in the food sector, and working on strategy and foresight for a listed ASX company. He will also be working on a value adding strategy for agriculture in Queensland. Paul will also continue working in his role as advisor for foresight and strategy to Save the Children Australia . He will also be presenting to an agricultural forum in Western Australia (COVID gods willing)
Paul is also acting as lead partner for a Social Venture Partners Melbourne pro bono project with Little Dreamers, a fantastic organisation helping young people who are caring for a family member.
We continue to build our Red Teaming initiative and more outside experts have been added since the last newsletter. You can read more about Red Teaming here or you can see the amazing breadth of our team here.
If you want to talk about the use of foresight or red teaming in your strategy for 2021 then please Contact Us.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition:
Stockpile of Unfinished Ford Super Duty Pickups Missing Chips Is Now Visible from Space.. read more
What are we Writing About?
Paul wrote about how easy it is to be Fooled by COVID Probabilities in Melbourne just because of the effect of super-spreaders in chains of transmission
What’s Emerging
Nexport takes order for 3,000 electric vehicles for ride sharing in Australia
Nexport, the company that plans to link up drivers directly with China EV maker BYD to sell its range of electric vehicles “direct-to-consumer”, has nabbed its first large scale EV order which will be made available to Uber drivers.…. Read More
A Canadian study gave $7,500 to homeless people. Here’s how they spent it.
The results show the power of cash transfers to reduce homelessness..….. Read more
Musk says “very intense” Tesla Roadster will go from zero to 100 in just 1.1 seconds
Paul: How they will stop that going airborne all the time is beyond me ..…. Read more
Drug dealer jailed after sharing a photo of cheese that included his fingerprints
Carl Stewart, 39, from Liverpool, northwestern England, sent a picture on an encrypted device of a block of Stilton he had found in upmarket British grocery store Marks & Spencer, Merseyside Police said in a press release. But the photograph was discovered by police, who used it to analyze his fingerprints and identify Stewart..….. Read more
Europe's biggest concrete 3D printer creates the home of tomorrow
The campus of experimental Architecture in Belgium is home to the World's ´first single-piece concrete 3D printed house. Europe's largest concrete 3D printer was used to build the two-storey, 90 square metre dwelling. The very same printer is now being used by students to develop new sustainable building solutions for Europe's construction industry..…. Read more
New material could harvest water all day long
The material, a micro-architected hydrogel membrane (more on that later), can produce water through both solar steam-water generation and fog collection—two independent processes that typically require two separate devices. A paper about the material was published in Nature Communications on May 14..….. Read more
As brands take livestreaming more seriously, hosts become a hot commodity
As U.S.-based brands explore how to capitalize on the medium, they are taking a patchwork approach to sourcing on-camera talent. Some are partnering with influencers off of Twitch or Instagram. Others are hiring new employees or contractors who specialize in livestream hosting. And many more are tapping their own employees, from executives to sales associates, to staff their streams....….. Read more
Soon we’ll all be sitting in the lab of luxury, with lab grown caviar
Exmoor Caviar in Devon, England, produces sustainable sturgeon caviar, and has been working on a lab-grown version with leading scientists from UK universities. Kenneth Benning, the chief executive of Exmoor Caviar, said, “We’re using biotech to grow cells using proteins and lipids derived from the fish. We’re now at the point where we have a cell bank, a bit like a resource of frozen eggs. If and when we need to, we can take a portion out and grow them in a bioreactor.”....…. Read more
Could this tiny high-tech implant cure jet lag?
US biotechnology company Blackrock Microsystems, with the help of a US$33 million grant from the USA's Department of Defence research arm, is developing a "wireless, fully implantable device that can shift the body's circadian clock." ..…..Read more
A 20-Foot Sea Wall? Miami Faces the Hard Choices of Climate Change
A proposal to construct barriers for storm surge protection has forced South Floridians to reckon with the many environmental challenges they face.….….Read more
Maersk seeks $150-a-ton carbon tax on shipping fuel
Maersk is calling on the International Maritime Organization—shipping’s global regulator—to have a carbon dioxide tax for the industry ready by 2025, likely starting at about $50 a ton, then ramping up to at least $150 a ton in subsequent years. While the company is not able to officially submit plans to the watchdog, its size and importance will color the upcoming international discussions..…. Read more
Volkswagen says it can profitably sell a self-driving system for €7 an hour
One of the ways Volkswagen plans to introduce a self-driving system differs from how other notable automakers, like Tesla, have rolled out theirs. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving systems are for sale for one lump sum: currently $10,000 on top of what you pay for your car. While Tesla has hinted toward a subscription service soon, Volkswagen seems to be introducing this strategy for its self-driving systems. It appears to be a more customer-based option that could let drivers pay for how much they use the system and not pay a massive, lump sum of cash when they may not be interested in using the system enough to justify a large purchase. …. Read more
Robot paramedic carries out CPR in ambulance in UK first
A robot paramedic is being used for the first time in the UK to carry out chest compressions on patients in ambulances to free up the emergency team to carry out other vital treatments.…..Read more
Tiny creatures survive after being frozen for 24,000 years in Siberian tundra
Using radiocarbon dating, the researchers dated the permafrost to between 23,960 and 24,485 years old. After thawing the permafrost, the researchers uncovered several rotifers and other microorganisms. Read more
Business Tips
Amazon devices will soon automatically share your Internet with neighbors
Since only a tiny fraction of people take the time to change default settings, that means millions of people will be co-opted into the program whether they know anything about it or not. This seems to currently only apply to the USA but keep an eye out because you should opt out unless you really want to be in...Read more
Norton 360 antivirus now lets you mine Ethereum cryptocurrency
Paul. I only have one thing to say about this - don’t …… Read more
The #1 Management Mistake For Companies and Potty Training
Are you motivating people the wrong way? If you don’t know Goodhart’s Law, you might be making a huge mistake .…. Read more
Australian Solar Design Tool Adds Remote Shading Analysis
With shading analysis, Pylon Observer users can get a year-round estimate of shading on their proposed solar panel installations, with visualisations of how shadows move around during the day and providing installers projected annual energy yield for their design without an on-site visit.….. Read More
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