Futurist Thomas Frey: Our teenage years have always been a time of great awkwardness, super hormones, and bad decision-making. But lately these years have moved even further down the path of supreme weirdness.
Patent system gets streamlined makeover
Margaret Focarino, Commissioner for Patents, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was in a state of crisis in 2009. There was a huge backlog of pending patent applications and it was growing. The process for reviewing patents had not changed in decades and was out-of-date. Employee job satisfaction was low and the longstanding distrust between management and the patent examiners union was ever-present.
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Self-destructing microbial robots turn wastewater into high value products
A company called Pilus Energy has a new technology for harvesting renewable energy from wastewater. The company has tweaked bacteria to come up with proprietary energy-harvesting organisms it calls BactoBots™, leading to a new generation of high efficiency microbial fuel cells.
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The future of the energy infrastructure in the U.S.
The U.S. has massive renewable energy potential.
Transmission lines hold much of the same challenge and promise of the interstate highway system a century ago. The transmission network – the high voltage, long distance power lines that carry electricity from power facilities and into communities – is currently a patchwork system, lacking centralized organization or planning. Assuming that America cannot achieve 100% clean energy with distributed resources, the transport of renewable electric energy across state lines is a major hurdle to realizing a future without fossil fuels.
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The strongest teams might be temporary
The best teams might be temporary, but their company’s success is enduring.
We often think of high-performance teans as long-term allies—a band of brothers in the organizational world. It takes a while for teams to move through the traditional phases of storming and norming before they start to really perform. It’s easy to assume that the longer a team is together, the better they’ll be at performing. But research into the inner workings of teams, particularly creative teams, suggests a different conclusion, one supported by experience from many of the most innovative companies: The best teams might temporary, with members forming around a given project and then going their separate ways to work on new projects.
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Amazon reports vinyl record sales are up 745% since 2008
Why are vinyl record sales up?
In the era when it seems like all of our music has gone digital, an interesting trend has been reported by Amazon: sales of vinyl records are up 745% since 2008.
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When media and big data collide
If we lived in a PR utopia, it would look something like this: Businesses would send journalists timely, interesting stories. Journalists would receive an ongoing supply of quality information. Readers, in turn, would grow enthusiastic about brands, turning media coverage into a conduit for sales and investor interest.
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Hospitals now a major source of contracting antibiotic-resistant infections: CDC
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are prevalent in the U.S.
Antibiotic-resistant infections are rapidly increasing in the United States, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the U.S., more than two million people get drug-resistant infections every year. About 23,000 die from these diseases that are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics in doctors’ arsenals.
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Income flowing to the top 1% is at a record high
The economic recovery belongs to the rich. It seemed ominous in 2007 when the share of national income flowing to America’s top 1% of earners reached 18.3%: the highest since just before the crash of 1929. But whereas the Depression kicked off a long era of even income growth the rich have done much better this time round.
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The Internet of Things could lead the U.S. economy out of a ‘slow-growth rut’
The report describes how technological innovation, particularly as it relates to the Internet of Everything (IoE), could lead America’s economy out of a “slow-growth rut.”
The Internet of Things could be just what the U.S. economy needs. The Progressive Policy Institute released a report today titled “Can the Internet of Everything bring back the High-Growth Economy?” The PPI is a public policy think tank that conducts research and promotes liberal economicand political policies.
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Contract a community to get the best developer talent working for you
A great developer is worth 10 times as much as an average one.
The core part of how many people navigate major cities is the taxi. Through the power of cloud, social, and mobile, Uber and companies like it are upending the status quo taxis and limousines — an industry that has been stable since the early 1900s.
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Scientists discover a way to erase bad memories
Researchers have already learned how to erase memories of fear, as well as how to plant false memories.
What if you could walk into a clinic, just like in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and have your bad memories erased? It might sound fantastical, but scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have successfully done something similar in mice.
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