What's Emerging mid March 2023
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy.
Welcome to our end of mid-March newsletter
In the next few weeks Paul will continue working on a large foresight and strategic planning program for RSL Victoria and speaking at an ag conference in Qld as well as at and anniversary dinner for the Freemasons. He is also working with mining services representative body Austmine to challenge their strategy. He will also be working with several clients on Wardley mapping analysis of their strategic options as part of our “try before you buy” option for foresight and strategy approaches utilising Wardley mapping. Please contact us if you are interested in our free 2nd Opinion process that demonstrates our approach while working on a real-world issue for you.
Paul will also be continuing his work with Save the Children, and his new position as Chair of Social Venture Partners Melbourne that supports innovative not for profit startups to scale their operations through engaged philanthropy.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition:
The run away winner last edition was the solar panels post. After being a close second in the previous edition.
The Best Solar Panels In 2023: According To Aussie Installers
For three years now, Solar Quotes has asked their network of 500+ solar installers what brands of solar panels they’d choose to install on their own homes.. .……Read more
What are we Writing About?
As all of our work has been private so far this year we have nothing in this section for this edition.
What’s Emerging
Full impact of NASA's DART asteroid-smashing mission revealed in new studies
Full results of the DART mission, published in a series of five papers today in the journal Nature, reveal more detail about the moment of impact and exactly how far the tiny moon shifted. Measurements of Dimorphos taken for two weeks following impact suggest the moon's orbital period, or the time it takes to complete one orbit of Didymos, was reduced by around 33 minutes — nearly five times greater than predicted. ….. Read More
Quest Pro Price Cut To $1000 Just 4 Months After Launch
Paul: Not selling or a new strategy? You would not be happy if you bought one 2 months ago....... Read More
Wastewater sector emits nearly twice as much methane as previously thought
Municipal wastewater treatment plants emit nearly double the amount of methane into the atmosphere than scientists previously believed, according to new research from Princeton University. And since methane warms the planet over 80 times more powerfully than carbon dioxide over 20 years, that could be a big problem.........……. Read more
New York City rats can carry Covid variants, new study finds
CDC says animal-to-human transmission is rare but study’s lead investigator calls for closer look at virus in rats for new strains.........……. Read more
New 3D bioprinter could repair organs inside the human body
Australian researchers have developed a snake-like soft robot, designed to 3D print living cells right inside patients’ bodies — and it might one day eliminate the need for invasive surgeries to transplant 3D-printed tissues and treatments.....…..Read more
UK Space Agency backs Rolls-Royce nuclear power for Moon exploration
Scientists and engineers at Rolls-Royce are working on the Micro-Reactor programme to develop technology that will provide power needed for humans to live and work on the Moon. All space missions depend on a power source, to support systems for communications, life-support and science experiments. Nuclear power has the potential to dramatically increase the duration of future Lunar missions and their scientific value.......…..Read more
Robotics and millions of maggots to convert food waste to fodder after pilot project's success
More maggots and machinery are poised to head to the Albury Waste Management Centre in southern New South Wales after the success of a 12-month pilot program. Over the past year, black soldier fly maggots and robot technology have kept 350 tonnes of food waste out of the Albury tip. . .......….. Read more
Stanford Alpaca, and the acceleration of on-device large language model development
Paul: You have heard a lot of CHATGPT stuff in the last couple of weeks. In the background a number of people are working on how you can make these sorts of models work with much less computing power. Down to running on mobile phones....…. Read more
The first wiring map of an insect's brain hints at incredible complexity
Scientists have created the first detailed wiring diagram of an insect brain. The brain, from a fruit fly larva, contained 3016 neurons connected by 548,000 synapses, the team reported Thursday in the journal Science. Previous wiring diagrams, known as connectomes, were limited to worms and tadpoles with just a few hundred neurons and a few thousand synaptic connections. The fruit fly larva connectome is an important advance because it's "closer in many regards to a human brain than the other ones," says Joshua Vogelstein, an author of the study and an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University.......…..Read more
Electricity is in the air as scientists discover new power source
Sunscreen, picnic basket, elephant dictionary? Soon a trip to the zoo could be a very different, much more interactive experience, as some researchers say that a human-to-animal translation device may not be far off.............….. Read more
Heartbeat May Shape Our Perception of Time, Study Shows
Researchers have long assumed that the brain controls our sense of time. A new study suggests the heart plays an important role.......….….Read more
Australia's Space Command pushes for 'soft kill' capability to take out enemy satellites
The head of the ADF's Space Command says Australia is working on a plan to acquire "soft-kill" capabilities to take out enemy satellites without creating dangerous debris. Paul: with the high level of satellites now up there, space debris is a critical issue.........…… Read More
JinkoSolar’s Stunning Solar Panel Shipment Tally
For the final quarter of last year, Jinko says its quarterly shipments reached 16,802 MW (16,020 MW for solar panels, and 782 MW for cells and wafers) – up 54.8% sequentially, and up 73.3% year-over-year. For the full year, shipments were 46,580 MW (44,520 MW for modules, and 2,060 MW for cells and wafers), up 84.5% year-over-year. 44.52 gigawatts of panels in a single year is astounding; particularly when you consider the amount of small-scale rooftop solar capacity ever installed in Australia is around 19.25GW according to the latest figures from Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (some estimates put it at around 20G..........…Read more.
Researchers Spot an Active Volcano on Venus, Suggesting the Planet Is Active
A new analysis of 30-year-old images taken by the Magellan spacecraft suggests that a volcanic eruption happened on the planet between 1990 and 1992. In other words, Venus is a living planet. The discovery — published in Science — seems to resolve a longstanding question about the scorching hot, craggy world: whether volcanoes are still active on the Venusian surface. If volcanic activity is responsible for the surface change seen in the images, Venus will be the third body in the solar system to host active magma volcanoes (as opposed to mud volcanoes). The other two bodies are Jupiter’s moon Io and (of course) Earth. Paul: that is not a real image.............…Read more.
Business Tips
"Standby" apartments offer cheap rent with sudden departures
Paul: This is an interesting model. Landing has a subscription model for short to medium rental of apartments for workers on short to medium term contracts. In order to maximise occupancy, they offer empty apartments at a discounted rate as long as you are prepared to move out with 3 days notice. They appear to guarantee new accommodation when you are given notice. You need to book a month at a time and it is only in the USA..…..read more.
Qantas extends travel credit use-by date to December 2024
They will also launch a “find my credit” tool in April which will be very useful. Note that despite the extension you still have to book by December this year.……Read more
14 meeting agenda templates to make your meetings productive (and maybe even fun)
Behind every unproductive meeting is an agenda that missed the mark or didn’t exist in the first place. And that's a serious problem, considering how much time we all spend in meetings.....…. Read More
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