What's Emerging October 2021
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy
Introduction
Welcome to our end of October newsletter for 2021 as Victoria emerges from (hopefully) its last lockdown.
In the next few weeks, Paul will continue working with a council on their community vision and working on a value adding strategy for agriculture in Queensland. He will also be working with the AFL Players Association on their next strategic plan (with futurist Reanna Browne who is the lead consultant). Paul will also continue working in his role as advisor for foresight and strategy to Save the Children Australia and will be presenting to the Australian Veterinary Association on the future of veterinary science in agriculture. He is also commencing 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 starting work on the new project with Vision Australia on their 10 year vision and strategic planning.
Stay safe out there. If you are in Australia we are about to start a whole new phase of the Pandemic and things might be a little tumultuous over the next few months.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition:
Is there a dark side to China’s high-speed rail network?
Researchers say bullet trains could mean lower economic activity in some western parts of the country. The conclusion is based on analysis of satellite data showing changes in night light……Read more
What are we Writing About?
Paul’s presentation to the Murray River Tourism Board AGM on the future of tourism in the next 12 months is now up on our website. Go to our Home Page and look under our latest work.
What’s Emerging
Tesco opens first “just walk out” store to take on Amazon
The supermarket’s GetGo store has opened in Holborn, central London, and follows a small trial of a similar store at Tesco head office in Welwyn Garden City.…. Read More
Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
“Our result of AD 1021 for the cutting year constitutes the only secure calendar date for the presence of Europeans across the Atlantic before the voyages of Columbus. Moreover, the fact that our results, on three different trees, converge on the same year is notable and unexpected. This coincidence strongly suggests Norse activity at L’Anse aux Meadows in AD 1021”.....…. Read more
GitHub sees uptick in coders using AI assistant
The open-source software developer GitHub says that for some programming languages, about 30% of newly written code is being suggested by the company's AI programming tool Copilot.
Copilot can look at code written by a human programmer and suggest further lines or alternative code, eliminating some of the repetitive labor that goes into coding..….. Read more
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W: New $15 board offers up to 5x the performance of its predecessor
The ultra-cheap, ultra-hackable Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W offers a bump in both multi- and single-threading performance compared to its 2015 namesake.…… Read more
Radiant aims to replace diesel generators with small nuclear reactors
California company Radiant has secured funding to develop a compact, portable, "low-cost" one-megawatt nuclear micro-reactor that fits in a shipping container, powers about 1,000 homes and uses a helium coolant instead of water.
Founded by ex-SpaceX engineers, who decided the Mars colony power sources they were researching would make a bigger impact closer to home, Radiant has pulled in US$1.2 million from angel investors to continue work on its reactors….Read more
Bill Gates’s latest big climate investment is . . . milk
The company works with dairies to reduce emissions as much as possible, and then offsets the rest, making each product carbon neutral....….. Read more
COVID Vaccine Makers Prepare for a Variant Worse Than Delta
Pfizer’s chief executive, Albert Bourla, made a bold promise in June. Standing next to US President Joe Biden at a press conference in St Ives, UK, just before the G7 summit meeting, Bourla said that should the need arise for a new COVID-19 vaccine, his company could get one ready within 100 days.. Paul: we used this report in a scenario exercise for a client in the last week in order to think through what a new variant that significantly reduces current vaccine effectiveness would mean...…. Read more
Self-driving race cars reach blistering speed at inaugural race
Setting the record pace over two laps, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) won a $US1 million ($1.34 million) prize in the first Indy Autonomous Challenge, an event dedicated to self-driving cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Their car, a Dallara AV-21 used by every team, clocked an average speed of 218kph to win the inaugural event.....….. Read more
Major Companies Commit to Zero-Carbon Fueled Vessels by 2040, Sending Clear Market Signal to Fuel Producers
Nine major companies including Amazon, IKEA, Michelin, and Unilever announced today their commitment to progressively switch all of their ocean freight to vessels powered by zero-carbon fuels by 2040, in a “fantastic display of ambition that sends a clear market signal to the maritime value chain and fuel producers,” said Jonathan Lewis, Director of Transportation Decarbonization at Clean Air Task Force.....…..Read more
Telstra backs Internet of Things agtech startup in $2.7 million raise
Farmbot is already looking towards a series B round in early 2022. The company is looking to expand into the US having recently launched its next-generation satellite connected monitor with ambitions to improve water management practices around the world. Farmbot already has a presence in North America, with product testing underway to optimise the technology for US ranch conditions....….….Read more
UK schools will use facial recognition to speed up lunch payments
The Financial Times reports that nine schools in the UK's North Ayrshire will start taking payments for canteen (aka cafeteria) lunches by scanning students' faces. The technology should help minimize touch during the pandemic, but is mainly meant to speed up transaction times. That could be important when you may have roughly 25 minutes to serve an entire school of hungry kids, but …….Read more
SCIENTISTS 3D PRINT LIVING BRAIN CELLS IN “PROMISING DEVELOPMENT” FOR BIOPRINTING
The scientists used their Laser-Induced Side Transfer (LIST) technology to produce sensory neurons, a vital component of the peripheral nervous system, the majority of which remained alive two days after printing. The team ran several tests to measure the capacities of the printed cells, which they believe could help to significantly advance the field of bioprinting...…. Read more
Lithium-carbon battery lets electric mopeds recharge in 90 seconds
German outfit Mahle has teamed up with battery-maker Allotrope Energy to put forward a new fast-charging solution for electric vehicles. The duo's novel lithium-carbon battery borrows elements from the world of supercapacitors to deliver charge times that are on par with the refueling process for internal combustion-powered vehicles, and offers a few other environmental benefits while it's at it.......…Read more
MCDONALD’S IS BRINGING ITS PLANT-BASED BURGER TO THE U.S.
The burger giant said that it is bringing its plant-based burger stateside for what it calls a “small operations test” at eight locations in different parts of the country.
The test will begin Nov. 3 for a limited time, “while supplies last.” The locations are in a wide variety of communities, including Irving and Carrolton, Tex., Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jennings and Lake Charles, La., and El Segundo and Manhattan Beach in California. The test is expected to run through early December......……. Read more
Business Tips
Don’t wear earphones all day – your ears need to breathe
Although wireless earphones are fairly new to the market, there is a large amount of research investigating the long-term use of hearing aids, which in many cases, have a similar mechanism. From this research, it appears prolonged use of in-ear devices can cause problems with earwax...…… Read more
COVID aged care deaths down, but fully vaccinated residents still vulnerable
Your reminder that vaccination is not a complete protection, especially for older people.……Read more
The NEW Evernote widget boosted my workflow
Those of you who have been receiving this newsletter for a while would be aware that Paul is a big user of Evernote. Here is a widget that can be used for the Home to create efficient workflows ...…. Read more
The best free VPNs: Why they don't exist
If you're not paying for your VPN service, where is the provider getting the money to run it? The answer might cause you to lose some sleep. .……Read more
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