What's Emerging mid-February 2024
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy.
Welcome to our second newsletter for 2024
In the next few weeks Paul will be presenting and facilitating at a board and management retreat for the YMCA in Geelong, working on the strategy consultation process with RSL Victoria, and working with a Melbourne Council. He will also be facilitating an economic development workshop in Canberra and presenting to a CEO Institute syndicate on Foresight for Practical Strategy. He will also continue in his role of venture philanthropy organisation Social Venture Partners Melbourne that is conducting a wide ranging strategy review in March (stand by for news from that).
If you are interested in talking to us about any of our strategy approaches, foresight approaches, workshops, or conference presentations for next year, please Contact Us.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition was one of our business tips:
The first results from the world’s biggest basic income experiment
GiveDirectly has been conducting the world’s largest test of basic income: It is giving around 6,000 people in rural Kenya a little more than $20 a month, every month, starting in 2016 and going until 2028. Tens of thousands more people are getting shorter-term or differently structured payments........…..Read more
What are we Writing About?
Paul had a piece published in the Our Community Directors Newsletter on How not-for-profits can face the future. You can read it Here
What’s Emerging
Researchers demonstrate rapid 3D printing with liquid metal
Their new technique can produce furniture-sized aluminum parts in only minutes.
Their new technique can produce furniture-sized aluminum parts in only minutes.
One person can supervise 'swarm' of 100 unmanned autonomous vehicles
During the course of the four-year project, researchers deployed swarms of up to 250 autonomous vehicles -- multi-rotor aerial drones, and ground rovers -- able to gather information in "concrete canyon" urban surroundings where line-of-sight, satellite-based communication is impaired by buildings............…..Read More
First Bipedal Robots With Hands Coming to BMW Factory
The bipedal bot, which is simply dubbed the “Figure 01,” stands 5'6" tall, weighs 130 pounds, and has five-fingered hands that the company claims can be used to physically construct objects............……. Read more
Frontier buyers sign world’s first enhanced weathering offtake agreements with Lithos Carbon
Lithos accelerates the natural ability of rocks to absorb CO₂ by spreading superfine crushed basalt on farmlands and measuring the removal empirically. Frontier buyers will pay Lithos $57.1 million to permanently remove 154,240 tons of CO₂ between 2024 and 2028......……. Read More
3 million smart toothbrushes were not used in a DDoS attack after all, but it could happen
"To clarify, the topic of toothbrushes being used for DDoS attacks was presented during an interview as an illustration of a given type of attack, and it is not based on research from Fortinet or FortiGuard Labs. It appears ... the narrative on this topic has been stretched to the point where hypothetical and actual scenarios are blurred." .....…..Read more
Preliminary AgFunder data point to 78% decline in cultivated meat funding in 2023; investors blame ‘general risk aversion’
As AgFunder crunches the numbers for its forthcoming annual global agrifoodtech investment report, preliminary data shows that funding for cultivated meat startups peaked at $989 million in 2021, dipped slightly to $807 million in 2022 (bolstered by a $400 million round into UPSIDE Foods) and then dropped off sharply in 2023 (-78%) to $177 million, against a backdrop of a -50% drop in agrifoodtech investing overall in 2023.........…..Read more
No cervical cancer cases in HPV-vaccinated women
A new study has found that no cases of cervical cancer have been detected in young women who have been fully-vaccinated as part of the HPV immunisation programme. The Public Health Scotland (PHS) research said the HPV (human papillomavirus virus) vaccine was "highly effective" in preventing the development of the cancer......….. Read more
Most Top News Sites Block AI Bots. Right-Wing Media Welcomes Them
As media companies haggle licensing deals with artificial intelligence powerhouses like OpenAI that are hungry for training data, they’re also throwing up a digital blockade. New data shows that over 88 percent of top-ranked news outlets in the US now block web crawlers used by artificial intelligence companies to collect training data for chatbots and other AI projects. One sector of the news business is a glaring outlier, though: Right-wing media lags far behind their liberal counterparts when it comes to bot-blocking. Paul: This is a big issue for AI LLM models. If the training data is biased so will the results.……. Read more
John Deere Announces Strategic Partnership with SpaceX to Expand Rural Connectivity to Farmers through Satellite Communications
The SATCOM solution will connect both new and existing machines through satellite internet service and ruggedized satellite terminals. This will fully enable technologies such as autonomy, real-time data sharing, remote diagnostics, enhanced self-repair solutions, and machine-to-machine communication, all of which help farmers work more efficiently while minimizing downtime. Paul: I told outback farmers in Qld during the COVID Pandemic that satellite systems would solve a lot of their connectivity problems within 5 years. I might be able to go back there and show my face. See Starlink story below as well.......…..Read more
Tomatoes ready for harvest in 40 days? Gene edited prototypes could transform one of the world’s most popular fruits
The end result is a more compact cherry tomato plant that grows in clusters, like grapes, and also more quickly than unmodified cherry tomatoes, in only around 40 days. These changes make the tomatoes easier to grow in smaller, controlled spaces, like indoor farms, urban rooftop farms, and even spaceships. The scientists published their results in a paper in Nature Biotechnology........….. Read more
Atlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point, study finds
Using computer models and past data, the researchers developed an early warning indicator for the breakdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that is a key component in global climate regulation. They found Amoc is already on track towards an abrupt shift, which has not happened for more than 10,000 years and would have dire implications for large parts of the world............….….Read more
Starlink's Laser System Is Beaming 42 Million GB of Data Per Day
During his presentation, Brashears also showed a slide depicting how the laser system can deliver data to a Starlink dish in Antarctica through about seven different paths. “We can dynamically change those routes within milliseconds. So as long as we have some path to the ground [station], you’re going to have 99.99% uptime....….…Read more.
The UK hits one million electric vehicle registrations
The registration of the one-millionth BEV since 2002 underscores the growing strength and popularity of the industry. BEV market share for January reached 14.7%, indicating a year-on-year increase but slightly below the 2023 performance of 16.5%. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) secured an 8.4% share, boasting a substantial growth of 31.1%. Meanwhile, hybrid (HEV) volumes dipped by -1.2%, representing a 13.1% share.....… Read more.
Fervo Energy Drilling Results Show Rapid Advancement of Geothermal Performance
Fervo has consistently reduced drilling times and costs in horizontal, high-temperature, deep granite drilling. Though Cape wells are hotter and over 2,100 feet deeper than Project Red wells, Fervo drilled its fastest Cape well in just 21 days, a 70% reduction in drilling time from Fervo’s first horizontal well drilled at Project Red in 2022. This increase in drilling efficiency has translated into significant cost reductions, with drilling costs across the first four horizontal wells at Cape falling from $9.4 million to $4.8 million per well...……...… Read more.
Business and Other Tips
The best small EVs on the market today
Smart and small: Six pint-sized EVs with big advantages over large electric cars....…..read more
Two keys to go from being busy to becoming productive and having guilt-free time for your personal life
These two scheduling methods can help you get deep work done and have guilt-free time for things you enjoy outside of work.....…. Read More
Effect of exercise for depression: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Exercise is an effective treatment for depression, with walking or jogging, yoga, and strength training more effective than other exercises, particularly when intense. Yoga and strength training were well tolerated compared with other treatments. Exercise appeared equally effective for people with and without comorbidities and with different baseline levels of depression……Read More
What One Nonprofit Learned From Getting Hacked — and How Other Groups Can Protect Themselves
Paul: Some relatively simple things here but are you doing all of them? ……Read More
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