What's Emerging mid-July 2022
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy
Welcome to the first new financial year version of the newsletter.
In the next few weeks, Paul will be finalising 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 continue a scenario project with the New Zealand veterinary profession on the future for veterinary science. 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. Lastly he will be working with a business looking at new teaching platform models for universities. He will also be taking a couple of weeks off, including a week away skiing. But before that he will be getting his fourth COVID vaccination and strongly recommends you do the same as soon as you are able
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
Paul 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.
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition:
Could flat tyres soon be a thing of the past?
Is it the end of the black rubber air-filled doughnut first used on vehicles in the 1890s - a product designed to be indestructible, and therefore not easy to recycle? On a test track in Luxembourg, a Tesla Model 3 is twisting through tight corners, accelerating rapidly, and doing emergency stops. Standard stuff. What's remarkable, though, is the car is sitting on four airless tyres - made by Goodyear, the US manufacturer...…… Read More
What are we Writing About?
Paul’s presentation to a the Hydroponic Framers Federation national conference is now up on our website. Go to our HOME PAGE and scroll to our latest work to access it.
What’s Emerging
MIT Media Lab trials modular tiles that self-assemble into "entirely novel type of space architecture"
Called Tesserae, the project aims to create future space habitats from reconfigurable tiles that assemble while in orbit around the moon or Earth. MIT suggested the tiles can be used to form designs from "geodesic dome habitats, to microgravity concert halls, to space cathedrals."....…. read more
A WATER LEAK DETECTOR THAT LISTENS CAREFULLY
The AquaPing is a so-called “stand-off” sensor that is intended to detect leaks at a distance, even if they are inside a wall. No contact is needed with the plumbing itself. Instead, the device detects the broadband high-frequency noise created when water leaks from a pipe under pressure. The device will soon be launched on CrowdSupply as a purchasable product, however the project is fully open source for those eager to dive in themselves...……read more
Why the US military is listening to shrimp
The Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors (Pals) project, eavesdrops on marine animals as a way of detecting underwater threats..…..Read more
CATL unveils Qilin Battery, says it can easily achieve 1,000 km vehicle range
The Qilin Battery sets a new record for volume utilization at over 72 percent, making it the most integrated battery in the world today, according to CATL.......…..Read more
Sunkist uses citrus fruit sorter that's powered by Google AI
The Sunsortai uses a proprietary imaging system to automatically identify fruit characteristics such as size, shape, weight, blemishes, and even decay that might not be visible to the naked eye. Be it citrus greening, oleocellosis, or citrus cankers, Sunsortai sorters can be trained to recognize the blemishes and defects that matter the most to each packer's operation......….. Read more
Astronaut study reveals effects of space travel on human bone density
A year after returning to Earth, the astronauts on average exhibited 2.1 per cent reduced bone mineral density at the tibia — one of the bones of the lower leg — and 1.3 per cent reduced bone strength. Nine did not recover bone mineral density after the space flight, experiencing permanent loss.....….. Read more
CEO test-drives Mojo Vision's smart augmented reality contact lens
Mojo Vision has been working on a smart contact lens design since 2015, and its latest prototype Mojo Lens packs in a pretty impressive amount of gear – especially for something that has to live behind your eyelid....…. Read more
Leading Standards Organizations and Companies Unite to Drive Open Metaverse Interoperability
The Metaverse Standards Forum brings together leading standards organizations and companies for industry-wide cooperation on interoperability standards needed to build the open metaverse. The Forum will explore where the lack of interoperability is holding back metaverse deployment and how the work of Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) defining and evolving needed standards may be coordinated and accelerated. Open to any organization at no cost, the Forum will focus on pragmatic, action-based projects such as implementation prototyping, hackathons, plugfests, and open-source tooling to accelerate the testing and adoption of metaverse standards, while also developing consistent terminology and deployment guidelines........….. Read more
Nanoparticle Vaccine Protects Against a Spectrum of COVID-19-causing Variants and Related Viruses
Betacoronaviruses, including those that caused the SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 pandemics, are a subset of coronaviruses that infect humans and animals. The vaccine works by presenting the immune system with pieces of the spike proteins from SARS-CoV-2 and seven other SARS-like betacoronaviruses, attached to a protein nanoparticle structure, to induce the production of a broad spectrum of cross-reactive antibodies. Notably, when vaccinated with this so-called mosaic nanoparticle, animal models were protected from an additional coronavirus, SARS-CoV, that was not one of the eight represented on the nanoparticle vaccine. .....…..Read more
Climate change: 'Sand battery' could solve green energy's big problem
Finnish researchers have installed the world's first fully working "sand battery" which can store green power for months at a time. The developers say this could solve the problem of year-round supply, a major issue for green energy. Using low-grade sand, the device is charged up with heat made from cheap electricity from solar or wind....….….Read more
Netherlands moves to make work-from-home a legal right
Legislation was approved by Dutch Parliament but still needs nod from Senate before its final adoption..…… Read More
Switzerland Moves Ahead With Underground Autonomous Cargo Delivery
The vehicles, which travel on wheels and have an electric drive with induction rails, operate in three-track tunnels with a constant speed of around 30 kilometers per hour. The goods are transported on pallets or in modified containers. Thanks to refrigeration-compatible transport vehicles, the transport of fresh and chilled goods is also possible. Attached to the roof of the tunnel is a rapid overhead track for smaller goods packages....…. Read more
Meet Amazon's first fully autonomous mobile robot
Human-centred mechanism design with Democratic AI
Abstract
Building artificial intelligence (AI) that aligns with human values is an unsolved problem. Here we developed a human-in-the-loop research pipeline called Democratic AI, in which reinforcement learning is used to design a social mechanism that humans prefer by majority. A large group of humans played an online investment game that involved deciding whether to keep a monetary endowment or to share it with others for collective benefit. Shared revenue was returned to players under two different redistribution mechanisms, one designed by the AI and the other by humans. The AI discovered a mechanism that redressed initial wealth imbalance, sanctioned free riders and successfully won the majority vote. By optimizing for human preferences, Democratic AI offers a proof of concept for value-aligned policy innovation.. Read More…..
The first CRISPR gene-editing drug is coming—possibly as soon as next year
Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics’ therapy uses what’s called an “ex-vivo” application of CRISPR gene editing (one done outside the actual body): The patient’s stem cells are extracted, the cellular DNA is modified by exa-cel to spur the production of a type of hemoglobin that the body usually makes only in infancy, and the modified cells are put back into the patient in order to boost healthy hemoglobin and red blood cell production......……. Read more
Business Tips
Wardley Maps Online - New Beta release
As you know I love Wardley maps and there is a new version of the online site that allows a range of new tools, including iterations for a presentation mode (Paul)…… Read more
5 habits of people who are productive working from home
It is so important to maintain discipline and cultural rituals.……Read more
Is It Ever OK To Use Cable Conduit On A Solar Roof?
Cable conduit can look awful on a solar roof, and is overused by crap installers. But sometimes a little bit of rooftop rigid conduit can be justified....…. Read more
A Chat with Liz Fosslien
Why we should remain vigilant for 'burnout burnout'. ..……Read more
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Looking forward to hearing more about the SenseMaker work, Paul, if appropriate!