Year: 2018

Impact Lab > 2018
Health & Fitness, Healthcare, Human Behavior

Debt prompts patients to delay treatment, data shows

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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.

Continue reading… “Debt prompts patients to delay treatment, data shows”

DaVinci Institute, Higher Education, Tom Frey

Education: getting a degree might not be everything

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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.

Continue reading… “Education: getting a degree might not be everything”

Analysis, Automation, Employment, Robotics

As long as there are humans, there will be jobs

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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.

Continue reading… “As long as there are humans, there will be jobs”

Analysis, Business, Economy, Employment

Seeking a roadmap for the new American Middle Class

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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

2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones - Arrivals

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”

Banking, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Business, Money Talk

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

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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.

Continue reading… “Mastercard will support cryptocurrencies – as long as they’re backed by governments”

new technology, Self-driving Cars, Uber

Here’s how Uber’s self-driving cars are supposed to detect pedestrians

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A self-driving vehicle made by Uber has struck and killed a pedestrian. It’s the first such incident and will certainly be scrutinized like no other autonomous vehicle interaction in the past. But on the face of it it’s hard to understand how, short of a total system failure, this could happen, when the entire car has essentially been designed around preventing exactly this situation from occurring.

Continue reading… “Here’s how Uber’s self-driving cars are supposed to detect pedestrians”

cutting edge, Engineering, IBM, Science & Technology News

IBM unveils ‘world’s smallest computer’ with blockchain at Think 2018

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If there’s one downside to powerful computers, it’s that they’re too damn big.

Luckily, that’s about to change. At least, if IBM has anything to say about it.

March 19 is the first day of IBM Think 2018, the company’s flagship conference, where the company will unveil what it claims is the world’s smallest computer. They’re not kidding: It’s literally smaller than a grain of salt.

Continue reading… “IBM unveils ‘world’s smallest computer’ with blockchain at Think 2018”

Science & Technology News

This futurist predicts how China will use technology to change the world

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When Wired magazine cofounder and editor Kevin Kelly looks at the trends that will shape our future, he sees verbs. The tangible will become intangible as physical products are replaced by services. This in turn diminishes the benefits of ownership, which is being pushed aside in favor of access. As Kelly argues, if you can get something anywhere, any time and leave it behind, why would you want to own it?

Continue reading… “This futurist predicts how China will use technology to change the world”

Agriculture, Analysis, China

Less fertilizer, greater crop yields, and more money: China’s agricultural breakthrough

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Nearly 21 million farmers in 452 counties across China have adopted recommendations from scientists in a 10-year agriculture sustainability study to reduce fertilizer use. According to Nature, their efforts are paying off: all told, the farmers are now $12.2 billion better off than they were before.

Continue reading… “Less fertilizer, greater crop yields, and more money: China’s agricultural breakthrough”

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