Futurist Thomas Frey: In July 2011, as a cost cutting measure, the U.S. Postal Service put together a list of 3,700 post offices that it wanted to close.
Four statements about the future by John Smart
Virtual assistants will be useful for nany of us by the early 2020’s
Here are four interesting statements about the future:
1. Chemical brain preservation is a technology that may soon be validated to inexpensively preserve the key features of our memories and identity at our biological death.
2. If either chemical or cryogenic brain preservation can be validated to reliably store retrievable and useful individual mental information, these medical procedures should be made available in all societies as an option at biological death.
3. If computational neuroscience, microscopy, scanning, and robotics technologies continue to improve at their historical rates, preserved memories and identity may be affordably reanimated by being “uploaded” into computer simulations, beginning well before the end of this century.
4. In all societies where a significant minority (let’s say 100,000 people) have done brain preservation at biological death, significant positive social change will result in those societies today, regardless of how much information is eventually recovered from preserved brains.
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Quality lapses at big drug manufacturing plants lead to shortages and danger
The Ben Venue facility in Bedford, Ohio has spent more than $300 million to upgrade the plant.
Quality lapses as big drug companies show that contamination and shoddy practices go well beyond the loosely regulated compounding pharmacies that have attracted attention because of their link to an outbreak of meningitis..
Weevils have been found floating in vials of heparin as well as morphine cartridges that contain up to twice the labeled dose. There are manufacturing plants with rusty tools, mold in production areas and — in one memorable case — a barrel of urine.
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Inflatable trampoline bridge across the River Seine
Trampoline bridge
Currently, there are 37 bridges spanning the River Seine in Paris. There may be room for one more that is very different than the rest. It is inflatable and comprised of three huge trampolines. Such a bridge may not be practical, but it would be fun, and no doubt become something of a tourist attraction in a city already blessed with an abundance of tourist attractions. Such a bridge exists, at least in the form of a concept design by Paris-based architectural studio Atelier Zündel Cristea. (Pics)
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By 2016 proximity mobile payments will explode in the U.S.
Using a mobile phone as a payment device.
In the U.S. proximity mobile payments are not yet very popular. It is estimated that such point-of-sale payments using a mobile phone as a payment device, whether via near-field communications or other contactless technology, will total just $640 million this year. But that’s an increase of 283% over last year’s even smaller base, and a number that will rise a further 234% by the end of next year.
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Top 10 Photos of the Week
Revenge comes in many forms. This one, nastier than most!
Quote of the Day: “Immortality is a long shot, I admit. But somebody has to be first.” – Bill Cosby
More than 1 billion smartphones in use worldwide
One in seven of the world’s population owns a smartphone.
Worldwide, the number of smartphones in use has passed the 1 billion mark for the first time, according to analyst firm Strategy Analytics, which estimates the landmark was surpassed during the third quarter of 2012.
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The disaster that exposed the corruption of China’s economic boom
The crash at Wenzhou.
Train passengers hurried across Beijing South Station at the final call to board bullet train D301, heading south on the world’s largest, fastest, and newest high-speed railway, the Harmony Express on the morning of July 23, 2011. It was bound for Fuzhou, fourteen hundred miles away.
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How easy is it for doctors to diagnose death?
How do doctors know if a patient is really dead?
This week, Newspapers reported a story about a woman who ‘returned from the dead’. Tasleem Rafiq collapsed at home and was taken to hospital in an ambulance where doctors tried to resuscitate her for about 45 minutes without success.
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How diet affects brain function revealed in studies
Your brain on food
New studies just released explore the neurological component of dietary disorders, uncovering evidence that the brain’s biological mechanisms may contribute to significant public health challenges — obesity, diabetes, binge eating, and the allure of the high-calorie meal. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.
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Americans are getting fatter and drunker
Are American citizens hurting themselves with bad habits? The bottom line is mixed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Americans are imbibing alcohol and overeating more yet are smoking less (black lines in center graphs).
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Cardboard bicycle can change transportation habits around the world
Israeli inventor Izhar Gafni holds his cardboard bicycle
Izhar Gafni, an Israeli inventor, says that a bicycle made almost entirely of cardboard has the potential to change transportation habits from the world’s most congested cities to the poorest reaches of Africa.
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