The U.S. economy has lost $1.1 billion due to inaction on the issue during the Senate’s two week recess.
After almost three weeks of heated debate the Senate Judiciary Committee left for April Recess on the doorstep of an historic deal to curb the scurrilous practices of patent trolls.
Continue reading… “Waiting for patent reform is costing the U.S. billions of dollars”
Bitcoin and other digital currencies have captured the attention of the media, entrepreneurs, and regulators. The coverage has described exchange meltdowns, price volatility, and government crackdowns. However, the focus on Bitcoin as a currency may distract businesses and governments from its disruptive impact: as a technology.
Continue reading… “Bitcoin will go far beyond payments in the future”
Science fiction can be used to help scientists think about the uses and ethics of their inventions.
The Smithsonian Magazine May issue has an essay on the relationship between science, science fiction, and the future by Boing Boing buddy Eileen Gunn. She writes, “What’s science fiction good for? Major writers — Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Samuel R. Delany, Kim Stanley Robinson, Cory Doctorow and others — talk about why science fiction likes to think about the future and how science fiction can be used to help scientists think about the uses and ethics of their inventions. The rest of the issue covers science and ethical issues of the near future.”
Continue reading… “Science fiction influences our thinking about the future”
Multimaterial 3-D printing – a complex lattice using different inks.
3D printing capabilities are rather limited despite the excitement that 3-D printing has generated. It can be used to make complex shapes, but most commonly only out of plastics. Even manufacturers using an advanced version of the technology known as additive manufacturing typically have expanded the material palette only to a few types of metal alloys. But what if 3-D printers could use a wide assortment of different materials, from living cells to semiconductors, mixing and matching the “inks” with precision?
Continue reading… “A 3D printing breakthrough: 3D printed biological tissue”
E-Learning carries with it the promise of an educational revolution.
E-Learning has the potential to revolutionize education. It can provide for a truly personalized learning experience, and take each student down the path that is uniquely theirs.
America’s largest metro areas are currently gaining population at impressive rates. This trend is driving much of the population growth across the nation. But that growth is the result of two very different migrations – one coming from the location choices of Americans themselves, the other shaped by where new immigrants from outside the United States are heading.
Continue reading… “Two different types of migrations are driving population growth in U.S. cities”
It’s not exactly E=mc². But for would-be job hunters, it’s probably a lot more useful.
Continue reading… “Google’s incredibly simple formula for killer résumés”
In recent decades, many Western nations have experienced significant declines in crime, but could the removal of lead from gasoline explain that?
Continue reading… “Did removing lead from gasoline spark a decline in crime rates?”
It might soon be possible to grow human body parts in a lab, even from older adults’ stem cells.
For the first time ever human cloning has been used to create stem cells for adults in a breakthrough which could lead to tissue and organs being regrown. Scientists have turned the skin cells of a 75-year-ol man into stem cells, which can grow into any type of tissue in the body.
Jazz musician, Sun Ra.
Popular culture tends to turn to the fantastical, providing an escape from the harsh realities of life during times of economic and political crisis. However, what is usually represented as Utopian in mainstream science fiction is often culturally European with a story that frequently revolves around a white male character. Even when depicting “multiracial” future societies, culturally the tropes of that imagined culture are regularly not representative of the races seen. If we accept that all humanity will be present in the future, why is it that non-European cultures seem to disappear once we get through the Earth’s atmosphere?
Continue reading… “Afrofuturism: where space, pyramids and politics collide”
No Business as usual with libraries, taking control of your destiny by a better understanding of the future and just in case vs. just in time scenarios. Erik Boekesteijn of This Week in Libraries interviews Futurist Thomas Frey on the future of libraries. (Video)
Continue reading… “This Week in Libraries interviews Futurist Thomas Frey”
Older people are quietly moving in with their parents at twice the rate of their younger counterparts.
Debbie Rohr, her husband, and twin teenage sons live in a well-tended three-bedroom home in Salinas. The ranch-style house has a spacious kitchen that looks out on a yard filled with rosebushes. It’s a modest but comfortable house, the type that Rohr, 52, pictured for herself at this stage of life.
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.