What's Emerging March 2022
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy
Welcome to our end of March of newsletter.
In the next few weeks, Paul will continue working with a council on their community vision. He is also running a project on how to maximise the adoption of new irrigation technologies in the Dairy and Cotton industries via the use of Sense Maker narrative collection techniques. He will also be continuing work with Vision Australia on their 10 year vision and strategic planning and working with the General Melbourne Cemetery Trust on strategy. he has also just started a scenario project with the New Zealand veterinary profession on the future for veterinary science. He will also be speaking at the Australian Veterinary Association Conference at the Gold Coast in May, an agriculture conference on the future of plant protein as human food, an innovation day for the complementary medicines industry, and another syndicate of the CEO Institute on foresight for practical strategy. He is helping to organise a conference on the future of the farm later in the year and has joined a new global research project led by Simon Wardley from the UK. More on that later.
He has also started a pro-bono project with 100 Story Building as a lead Partner for Social Venture Partners Melbourne which will involve a comprehensive business model review.
Please Contact Us if you want to talk about any of these approaches for your organisation or industry or want a presentation for your organisation or conference.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition:
Shane Warne's death has many asking: How likely are heart attacks in your 50s? And how can I protect my heart?
Paul: Some good advice here. I had a heart health check a couple of years ago when my best mate had his assessed and ended up having a stent put in a week later...……Read more
What are we Writing About?
Things have been pretty busy in private scenario and strategy work in the last couple of weeks so we have nothing new we can share. As part of Paul’s work with the NZ veterinary profession he went back to some previous articles. Here is one: Veterinary Schools as a Platform, which touches on some important platform principles that are beyond just vets and education.
What’s Emerging
Australia's budding vanadium industry vital to more sustainable future, experts say
The hard, metallic element is used in redox flow batteries that store grid-scale energy and are often attached to power plants or electrical grids. Vanadium is also used with steel to produce lighter, stronger, and more resistant building materials.…. read more
Expanded alphabet, precise sequencing make DNA the next data storage solution
Expanding DNA’s molecular makeup and developing a precise new sequencing method enabled a multi-institutional team to transform the double helix into a robust, sustainable data storage platform.…. Read more
Ants Can 'Sniff Out' Cancer, Scientists Discover
The team used Formica fusca ants, also known as silky ants, and trained them through a reward system. "After a few minutes of training, these insects, which use smell for daily tasks, were able to differentiate healthy human cells from cancerous human cells," the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said in a statement..….. Read more
Attackers can force Amazon Echos to hack themselves with self-issued commands
Academic researchers have devised a new working exploit that commandeers Amazon Echo smart speakers and forces them to unlock doors, make phone calls and unauthorized purchases, and control furnaces, microwave ovens, and other smart appliances. ..…… Read more
How a YouTube channel is transforming a remote village in Bangladesh
The channel behind this operation is called AroundMeBD, and its success has created a whole new economy in Shimulia, which has since been dubbed the YouTube village of Bangladesh. The YouTube village is a prominent example of a niche but is also part of a growing online trend across South Asia: As the internet reaches villages, rural societies are finding ways to showcase and monetize their unique food cultures to audiences across the world, using platforms like YouTube and Facebook...…..Read more
Changing the shape of floors could cut concrete usage by 75 percent
Swapping solid slab floors for a ‘thin shell’ vaulted alternative could help the construction industry towards its net-zero targets.....….. Read more
Victoria's population shrank by almost 45,000 at pandemic's height
The data covers the 2020/2021 financial year, during which time the state underwent multiple lockdowns. The greatest exodus came from metropolitan local government areas (LGAs) — Melbourne, Port Phillip, Stonnington, Boroondara, Yarra, and Monash had the greatest estimated resident population declines in terms of percentage of population.…. Read more
The war in Ukraine will determine how China sees the world
On the other side of the planet, the world’s emerging superpower is weighing its options. Some argue that China will build on a pre-war friendship with Russia that knows “no limits”, to create an axis of autocracy. Others counter that America can shame China into breaking with Russia, isolating Vladimir Putin, its president. This will have long implications........….. Read more
ISRAELI SURGEONS CARRY OUT “WORLD’S THINNEST 3D PRINTED CORNEA” TRANSPLANT
Developed by medical device manufacturer EyeYon, the implant itself was just 50 microns thick and 3D printed from synthetic materials, to ensure that it wouldn’t be rejected by its human host. Having now been used to restore the sight of a local patient, in what’s believed to have been the first procedure of its kind, the device is expected to drastically improve the future availability of corneal transplants. ......…..Read more
We are running out of sand and global demand could soar 45% by 2060
Demand for sand, a key building material, could skyrocket in the next 40 years, led by development in Africa and Asia – but not if we reuse concrete and design more lightweight building..….….Read more
BlackRock CEO to shareholders: It’s the end of globalization as we know it
In his annual letter to shareholders, Larry Fink, the head of the world’s largest asset manager, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has severed cross-border economic and diplomatic ties, ending three decades of globalization already strained by the pandemic. The era of peace and globalization “accelerated international trade, expanded global capital markets, increased economic growth,” wrote Fink, whose fund manages about US$10 trillion in assets. “But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades.” …… Read More
Why are so many EV charging stations out of order? Are they reliable?
Martin Andrews , CEO of Chargefox, admits that it is not a good look for ChargeFox, which as the network operator is the public “face” of the network, even though it is dependent on third party suppliers. Andrews cites a multitude of issues. The fallout on logistics from the Covid-19 pandemic that has afflicted many industries, the global boom for EV charging stations, and the difficulties sourcing parts from equipment suppliers such as Tritium,.....…. Read more
Cities need to be redesigned for the climate crisis. Can they make us happy, too?
It’s tempting to draw lines on a map, but we can’t forget that cities should be designed for the people who live there….. Read More
Climate groups say a change in coding can reduce bitcoin energy consumption by 99%
Bitcoin mining already uses as much energy as Sweden, according to some reports, and its booming popularity is revitalizing failing fossil fuel enterprises in the US. But all that could change with a simple switch in the way it is coded, according to a campaign launched on Tuesday......……. Read more
Business Tips
Best places to find free Zoom backgrounds
You don’t need to settle for Zoom’s default backgrounds—or, perish the thought, your real environs. You can even create your own background from scratch. .…… Read more
The Perfect Nap
Paul: long term subscribers will know how found I am off the coffee nap and its importance for focus and productivity. Here are the specific instructions from Daniel Pink.……Read more
Vitamin B3, niacinamide and reducing skin cancer risk: what does the research say?
Australia is the skin cancer capital of the world, where two-thirds of people can expect to develop some form of skin cancer by retirement age. It is the most common type of cancer and also exerts the costliest burden on the health-care system. Anything that can help minimise the burden of skin cancer is worth considering...…. Read more
What's the best way to parallel park your car? Engineers have the answer
You should always park at one end of a parking space, leaving as big a space as possible at the other end. It doesn’t matter which end – just remember to leave yourself room to get out. While this might sound obvious, a quick look at the street outside your home will show many drivers think parking in the middle of the space is best – or just don’t give it much thought at all....……Read more
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