March 2018 – Impact Lab

FCC approves SpaceX plan for 4,425-satellite broadband network

March 31, 2018

SpaceX has a green light from the FCC to launch a network of thousands of satellites blanketing the globe with broadband. And you won’t have too long to wait — on a cosmic scale, anyway. Part of the agreement is that SpaceX launch half of its proposed satellites within six years.

The approval of SpaceX’s application was not seriously in doubt after last month’s memo from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who was excited at the prospect of the first U.S.-based company being authorized to launch a constellation like this.

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Business, communication, Internet, Space

The new internet from space

March 31, 2018

If they make it through regulatory approvals and meet financial projections, the new satellites will create new industries

A new era of global communications is on the launch pad. Eleven companies have applied to the Federal Communications Commission and other telecom regulators to beam broadband internet from clouds of more than 15,000 new satellites. Not since the telegraph replaced the Pony Express has communication technology seen such a leap in capacity and promise.

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Agriculture, Energy, Engineering, Environment, Farming

Incredible Sahara Forest Project to generate fresh water, solar power and crops in African desert

March 30, 2018

Can you imagine being able to produce enough water in the Sahara to grow crops there? Can you imagine harnessing sufficient quantities of solar power to supply electricity to cities in Africa and cities in Europe? Can you imagine producing a sustainable bio-fuel that doesn’t impact on world food supplies? Charlie Paton, Michael Pawlyn and Bill Watts can and what’s more they can imagine all these happening in the same place at the same time.

This week this trio of visionaries launched the Sahara Forest Project: their proposal to combine two innovative technologies, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Seawater Greenhouses, to produce renewable energy, water and food in an area of desert known to be one of the hottest places on earth.

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Business, Cancer, Healthcare, Medicine, Science & Technology News

This Silicon Valley startup has quietly raised $500 million to help diagnose cancer using controllers

March 30, 2018

Health and Commerce

Since its debut six years ago, Redwood City-based startup Auris Health has quietly raised $500 million to develop a series of tools designed to innovate surgical robotics technology.

The company’s latest product, Monarch, is a controller-operated robotic camera that allows physicians to visualize the inside of the human body.

The technology, which was approved by the FDA earlier this month, could become a key tool in helping physicians diagnose lung cancer early on.

Continue reading… “This Silicon Valley startup has quietly raised $500 million to help diagnose cancer using controllers”

Health & Fitness, Healthcare, Human Behavior

Debt prompts patients to delay treatment, data shows

March 30, 2018

Does your outstanding debt cause you to avoid the medical care you need?

Though Americans certainly aren’t strangers to debt, the impact of owing money extends not just to their financial decisions, but health-related ones, as well. According to new data from lifeinsurance.org, indebted individuals often will delay medical treatment to avoid the added costs. This holds true for roughly 23% of U.S. adults with $10,000 to $25,000 of debt and 27% of those with $25,000 in debt or more.

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DaVinci Institute, Higher Education, Tom Frey

Education: getting a degree might not be everything

March 30, 2018

A lot of kids at age 17 or 18 are often not clear, about what career would fit them best. Add to that is a changing world, that would make things even more confusing. The job opportunities that exist now were absent ten years ago and so it is quite likely that what you train for now might not be enough sooner or later.

At one point degrees were the sole motivating factor for higher education. There was prestige in the number of degrees you ‘gathered’ or what degree, for that matter, you attained. Although degrees continue to be relevant, somehow they no longer are a defining factor for some jobs at the entry level.

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Analysis, Automation, Employment, Robotics

As long as there are humans, there will be jobs

January 6, 2019

By Deb Frey: Automation will dominate some fields. But people will want new things, and new industries will arise.

Predicting the course of technological progress is extremely difficult. Just because worries about human obsolescence ultimately turned out to be misplaced in the Industrial Revolution doesn’t mean that the same happy result must necessarily prevail this time around. So the persistent question about artificial intelligence — or “robots” in common parlance – is whether they will make human workers obsolete.

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Analysis, Business, Economy, Employment

Seeking a roadmap for the new American Middle Class

March 29, 2018

Over the past few months, Starbucks, CVS, and Walmart announced higher wages and a range of other benefits like paid parental leave and stock options. Despite what the brands say in their press releases, the changes probably had little to do with the Republican corporate tax cuts, but they do reflect a broader economic prosperity, complete with a tightening a labor market. In the past couple of years, real wages hit their highest levels ever, and even the lowest-paid workers started getting raises. As Matt Yglesias wrote at Vox, “for the first time in a long time, the underlying labor market is really healthy.”

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Biotech, Health & Fitness, Medicine, People Making a Difference

Life… UNLIMITED: Beating ageing is set to become the biggest business in the world, say tycoons

March 28, 2018

Silicon Valley billionaires are investing in slowing the ageing process

They include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos

Investor Jim Mellon is leading the anti-ageing race on this side of the Atlantic

Continue reading… “Life… UNLIMITED: Beating ageing is set to become the biggest business in the world, say tycoons”

Employment, women

Women at work: ‘pre-apprenticeships’ boost female construction workers

March 28, 2018

Sara Glascock, an electrician’s apprentice, stands at her job site at the San Francisco International Airport. For women, breaking into construction can be tough. “Pre-apprenticeships” can give them an extra edge.

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Banking, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Business, Money Talk

Mastercard will support cryptocurrencies – as long as they’re backed by governments

March 27, 2018

It seems Mastercard is gradually softening its stance on cryptocurrency, after CEO Ajay Banga downplayed non-government mandated digital currencies as “junk” back in October last year.

In a conversation with Financial Times, Ari Sarkar, Mastercard co-president for the Asia-Pacific region, said the company is open to explore cryptocurrencies created and backed by governments.

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