What's Emerging mid-August 2023
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy.
Welcome to our mid-August newsletter
In the next few weeks, Paul will be working on a strategic board review with a health sector foundation and working with VETASSESS on its long-term strategy. He will also be presenting on the future of Agricultural Shows in Adelaide, and working with the I CAN network on the future of their online mentoring program.
If you are interested in talking to us about any of these approaches, please Contact Us.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition:
What is Strategic Thinking?. The Four Key Characteristics | by Roger Martin
“If we are going to apply the modifier strategic to the activity thinking, what makes it different than just plain business thinking? Upon reflection, I think there are four characteristics that make strategic thinking sufficiently unique and distinctive that it is a question worth answering”…... Read more
What are we Writing About?
Due to all our work being private, we have nothing in this section this edition.
What’s Emerging
Meta's Flamera headset prototype fights distortion with "bug eyes"
Mixed reality headsets like the Quest Pro or the Apple Vision Pro have a problem. Their external cameras sit a few centimetres in front of your eyes. As a result, the computer-graphic-enhanced outside world is not captured from the correct perspective. Algorithms have to correct the deviation by projecting the image. Meta wants to solve this problem with an approach that makes users look like insects.....…..Read More
Researchers engineer bacteria that can detect tumor DNA
Pushing into a new chapter of technologically advanced biological sensors, scientists from the University of California San Diego and their colleagues in Australia have engineered bacteria that can detect the presence of tumour DNA in a live organism. Their innovation, which detected cancer in the colons of mice, could pave the way to new biosensors capable of identifying various infections, cancers and other diseases......…..Read More
Ageing in a housing crisis: growing numbers of older Australians are facing a bleak future
The collision between an ageing population and a housing crisis has left more older people in Australia enduring housing insecurity and homelessness...........……. Read more
On the Highway to Climate Hell
Countries have spent decades building critical infrastructure that is now buckling under extreme heat, wildfires, and floods, laying bare just how unprepared the world’s energy and transportation systems are to withstand the volatility of climate change.......……. Read More
Solar tiles for miles: Australian company lands world’s biggest integrated rooftop install
Volt Solar Tiles, a subsidiary of the busy commercial and large-scale solar company Leeson Group, was officially launched in October of last year from its base in Victoria. Less than a year later, the company’s managing director – and the man behind the solar tile – Peter Leeson is in Türkiye, where the company is working with local partners to deliver a huge 100kW rooftop integrated solar array...........…..Read more
Paraguay approves cultivation of drought-tolerant wheat thanks to sunflower genes
Paraguay has approved the cultivation of the drought tolerant wheat HBP wheat. The approval of HB4 technology in wheat will give the country’s farmers another tool to fight drought during the crop cycle. The HB4 gene that confers drought resistance comes from sunflower and helps plants to better cope with moisture deficit conditions during their vegetative growth..........…..Read more
World’s tallest wind turbine tower made of wood goes up in Sweden
Construction is underway in Sweden on a 105-metre wind turbine tower made entirely from wood, a milestone for Swedish wood technology company Modvion. Upon completion, the tower will be Modvion’s first commercial installation and will be the tallest of its kind in the world. A 2MW turbine will be mounted atop the turbine produced by leading Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, who is also an investor in Modvion....….. Read more
YouTube experiments with AI auto-generated video summaries
YouTube is running a new test to auto-generate video summaries with the use of AI. As noted on the support page, the summaries have begun appearing on the watch and search pages, but are only available for a limited number of English-language videos and viewers. Paul - opens up the possibilities of much better video search, being able to look for specific scenes, characters or products in videos....…. Read more
How AI is helping airlines mitigate the climate impact of contrails
The 2022 IPCC report noted that clouds created by contrails account for roughly 35% of aviation's global warming impact, over half the impact of the world’s jet fuel.1 Google Research teamed up with American Airlines and Breakthrough Energy to bring together huge amounts of data — like satellite imagery, weather and flight path data — and used AI to develop contrail forecast maps to test if pilots can choose routes that avoid creating contrails........…..Read more
Tasmania's first timber high-rise building taking shape on Launceston skyline
A multi-storey construction is turning heads in Launceston's CBD — the building is made almost entirely from timber. The 28-metre-high structure is going up fast, in fact, a lot faster than ones made from traditional building products like steel and concrete...........….. Read more
Tired of Dating Apps, Some Turn to ‘Date-Me Docs’
Writers of the online text profiles, which can read like 1,000-word versions of the personal ads of yore, hope for a more meaningful connection than a swipe might allow..........….….Read more
XQ-58 Valkyrie Solves Air Combat ‘Challenge Problem’ While Under AI Control
One of the U.S. Air Force's stealthy XQ-58A Valkyrie drones recently completed a successful test flight demonstrating the ability to carry out aerial combat tasks autonomously using new artificial intelligence-driven software. The service says the test is part of a tiered approach to maturing autonomy "agents," which involves training algorithms millions of times first in simulations and other testing.….…Read more.
Scotland could become first ‘rewilded’ nation—what does that mean?
At the end of the last ice age, Scotland was a truly wild place, where the Highland tiger, a distinctly banded wildcat, and the wolf, lynx, and bear roamed among Caledonian pine forests. The Romans called the country’s north “The Great Wood of Caledon.” But over time, humans purged the land for timber, charcoal, and agriculture. Native species such as wild boar, polecat, and elk vanished. By the turn of the 20th century, only 5 percent of Scotland’s land area was covered by forest...……...… Read more.
Japan’s population drops by nearly 800,000 with falls in every prefecture for the first time
Every one of Japan’s 47 prefectures posted a population drop in 2022, while the total number of Japanese people fell by nearly 800,000. The figures released by the Japan’s internal affairs ministry mark two new unwelcome records for a nation sailing into uncharted demographic territory, but on a course many other countries are set to follow. Japan’s prime minister has called the trend a crisis and vowed to tackle the situation. But national policies have so far failed to dent population decline, though concerted efforts by a sprinkling of small towns have had some effect.................…Read more.
Business and other Tips
How air travellers can cut their door-to-door emissions right now – by as much as 13% on the Sydney-Melbourne route
Newly published research shows for an average economy passenger flying from Sydney to Melbourne, the carbon emissions from using a fossil-fuelled car to get to and from the airports make up a staggering 13.5% of the total door-to-door emissions.......…..read more.
Can Australian employers stop you working from home? Here’s what the law says
In Australia, close to 90% of employers have implemented mandatory in-office days, according to a survey of 300 hiring managers commissioned by recruitment agency Robert Half. The survey shows 19% insisting on five days a week, 28% on four days, and 26% on three days. Almost a third of respondents reported at least one employee quitting in response....…. Read More
Induction cooking 101: Do you really have to buy new pots and pans?
Whether you are prompted by the threat of climate change, concerned about the cost of gas, or worried by emerging research that links emissions from gas cooktops with increased health risks, you may be considering making the switch to electric.”…... Read more
3 essential Windows tools for troubleshooting (and how to use them)
If your PC is misbehaving, there's a good chance that one of these free tools can help you figure out why. And they're all included with every Windows installation. Paul - I use the Task manager a lot but not the other two but now I am checking them out……Read more
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