The actual number of guns bought may have been even higher if individual customers took home more than one each.
Over 1.5 million background checks on customers were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December, according to the FBI. Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas.
AGNES, a suit to emulate old age.
I am sure you have heard of the fat suit and pregnancy suit. Now meet AGNES – the old person suit.
AGNES stands for “Age Gain Now Empathy System” and was designed by researchers at MIT’s AgeLab to emulate what it feels like — physically — to be 75 years old with arthritis and diabetes.
Continue reading… “AGNES – the suit that makes you feel 75 years old”
What significant advances can we expect in 2012?
In 2011 some great medical feats were accomplished. Dallas Wiens became the first recipient of a full-face transplant in the United States, Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords survived a gunshot to her brain, and HIV researchers found a way to lower an infected person’s chance of transmitting the virus to sexual partners by 96 percent.
Continue reading… “5 advanced in medicine predicted for 2012”
Shortages of medicines like Ritalin and Adderall are so endemic that some patients say they worry almost constantly about availability.
Drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are in such short supply that hundreds of patients complain daily to the Food and Drug Administration that they are unable to find a pharmacy with enough pills to fill their prescriptions.
Continue reading… “Nationwide shortage of ADHD drugs prompts hundreds of calls daily to the FDA”
Futurist Thomas Frey: The sixth law of the future states, “The “unknowability” of the future is what gives us our drive and motivation.”
The fact that the future is unknowable is a good thing. Our involvement in the game of life is based on our notion that we as individuals can make a difference. If we somehow remove the mystery of what results our actions will have, we also dismantle our individual drives and motivations for moving forward.
Continue reading… “Year in Review: Top 10 Articles on FuturistSpeaker.com”
Oil refineries in Deer Park, Texas
The United States is the world’s biggest gas guzzler. But for the first time ever the top export for the U.S. is — wait for it — fuel.
Bullet
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) student has invented the first “self-balancing” electric unicycle. (Video)
Continue reading… “World’s first self-balancing electric unicycle”
“High expectations are the key to everything” – – Sam Walton
Futurist Thomas Frey: On a recent shopping trip, I went to three separate stores and had difficulty finding what I was looking for. On each of these occasions I talked with a staff person and they told me about an option that either wasn’t apparent to most customers, or that I hadn’t considered.
Continue reading… “Flooring the customer: Retail 2.0, the rebirth is coming”
Modern mobile phones come with a built-in dictionary which enables them to predict what word a user wants from only a few key presses.
Predictive text is a modern marvel of the mobile phone industry. Predictive text has, no doubt, made it quicker and easier to communicate with those around us. However, the very tool designed to help bring us closer together appears to be driving a wedge between some mobile phone users and their nearest and dearest.
Continue reading… “When predictive text errors end relationships”
Artas Systems
Restoration Robotics, a privately held, Mountain View-based company, went through clinical trials for two years while awaiting clearance from the FDA. Its product: A high-tech robot that performs hair-transplant procedures.
Continue reading… “Artas – high-tech robot that performs hair transplant procedures”
A beach in Samoa, where clocks are set to go forward by a whole day.
Samoa is making Dec. 30 disappear, just this once.
It’s the key step in the Pacific island nation’s plan to move from the eastern to the western side of the International Date Line and mesh its work week with two of its primary trading partners, New Zealand and Australia. The New Zealand territory of Tokelau is making the switch as well.
Continue reading… “Samoa will skip Friday this week”
Illustration depicts a Chinese Shenzhou vehicle approaching the Tiangong 1 space lab during orbital rendezvous and docking tests.
Over the next five years, China plans to launch space labs and manned ships and prepare to build space stations, according to a plan released Thursday that shows the country’s space program is gathering momentum.
Continue reading… “China reveals its space plans through 2016”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.