Futurist Thomas Frey: Today, our best and brightest are drawn to elite colleges like Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and Yale. As they attend these institutions they are surrounded by some of the most talented people in the world.
Continue reading… “Accomplishment-Based Education”
Charging people to deposit? Really?
It seems an odd problem to have, this “too much cash” thing. I don’t know that most of us can relate. But it seems that in times of economic insecurity, those who used to invest in stocks are simply holding their money in banks, and now bankers are inundated with money. So what’s the solution? Charge people to deposit. Or, at least some of the people, at some banks anyway…
Continue reading… “Banks with too much cash charge for deposits”
Coins can save $.
The recently-assembled super-committee tasked with saving the US from financial disaster by year’s end wants to trade dollar bills for dollar…coins? Wait, don’t we already have some of those that nobody uses?
This controversial plan has been floated before but has met with a tepid response from most Americans and strong lobbying efforts from both paper and mining industries (and the states in which those industries reside). However, a recent study by the Government Accountability Office found that the coin’s longer lifetime—4.2 years vs. 22 months for bills—would translate into a $5.6 billion savings over the course of 30 years…
Continue reading… “Would you use dollar coins if it saved the Government $5.6 billion?”
North Dakota has plenty of jobs…but ya gotta live there too.
Psst! Wanna job? There’s a place in the United States that actually can’t get enough people to hire.
The catch? You have to live in North Dakota … kidding! Actually its a bit worse: you have to live in camps in North Dakota 😉
Continue reading… “North Dakota: Where the jobs are”
Energy beneath our feet.
New research from SMU’s Geothermal Laboratory, funded by a grant from Google.org, documents significant geothermal resources across the United States capable of producing more than three million megawatts of green power — 10 times the installed capacity of coal power plants today…
A new view on temperature regulation.
Let’s face it, programmable thermostats can be complicated. They’re like any other device you have to program — they sound neat but actually using them can be annoying. And yet, the thermostat is one of the most important parts of a home for keeping the carbon footprint low. So how do we simplify something that can add up to a complex ordeal what with mornings, evenings, different rooms, different preferences, and so on? Well, the creator of the iPod — a marvelously simple but powerful device — has an idea…
Continue reading… “iPod creators design the perfect thermostat that learns your habits”
Is the IQ up or down today?
IQ, the standard measure of intelligence, can increase or fall significantly during our teenage years, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust, and these changes are associated with changes to the structure of our brains. The findings may have implications for testing and streaming of children during their school years…
It is always hard to keep up, but this might help.
Weekends offer time to explore and find input for this features roundup. You ready to rock this list?
Continue reading… “Digital Media resources you may have missed”
A new DARPA solicition seeks “swarming robot space vampires” (in JWZ’s evocative phrasing) to disassemble and harvest valuable components from decommissioned satellites before they’re decommissioned, to use as spare parts for the stuff that’s still functional…
A Few Companies Have Power Over Most of the Real Economy
The idea that the few dominate the many will not come as news to those gathered either to occupy wall street or to occupy everywhere. But up until now it has been just an intuition that a few corporations control the world.
Not any more. A team of Swiss mathematicians just proved that out of over 43,000 transnational corporations (TNCs), relatively few control almost 80% of the global economy. Find out who has the power below…
Continue reading… “Proof of global domination by a few corporations”
Synthetic Biology Could Change the World.
Daisy Ginsberg is an artist and designer currently exploring the frontiers of possibility in the emergent field of synthetic biology. She just gave what was by far one of my favorite talks at this year’s Poptech conference; she discussed the potential boons and pitfalls that products of synthetic biology may yield in coming years. To showcase the nascent field’s unpredictable future, she pointed to E. Chromi, a bacteria that she and a handful of Cambridge students genetically programmed to secrete colorful pigments when it comes into contact with designated toxins.
Think bacteria that could change color to expose contaminants in groundwater, air pollution in cloud cover — perhaps most strikingly, it can even change the color of your poop if it comes into contact with toxins in your digestive system. This great video details the genesis of the bacteria…
Continue reading… “New synthetic bacteria can detect air pollution & color-code your poop”
A continuous rhythm of 60 BPM causes the brainwaves and heart rate to synchronise with the rhythm.
Sound therapists and stress specialists worked with the band Marconi Union to develop “Weightless”, the most relaxing song ever…
Continue reading… “Scientists develop the most relaxing tune”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.