Magazine articles offering tips on how to be happy were also blamed for worsening modern day depression.
Children who are rated “highly cheerful” at school went onto die younger than their more reserved class mates according to researchers.
Where Are They Now: The Cast of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lum91xHsico&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Everyone has seen the classic American movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), but what has the cast been up to all these years later?
Continue reading… “Where Are They Now: The Cast of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”
The Difference Between a Genius and an Idiot May Come Down to a Single Gene
The brain on the left lacks normal folds and convolutions.
Out of the 3 billion letters in the human genetic alphabet only two genetic letters may spell the difference between being a genius or an idiot, according to a new report.
Continue reading… “The Difference Between a Genius and an Idiot May Come Down to a Single Gene”
World’s Smallest 3D Printer
Markus Hatzenbichler and Klaus Stadlmann with their micro-printer.
A group of engineers at the Vienna Institute of Technology, claims they’ve created not only the world’s smallest 3-D printer, but also one that’s so light and inexpensive that it could conceivably pave the way for truly domestic 3-D printing. Lost an earring or a cuff-link? Print one out. That’s the future, and it might not be far off at all.
1 in 3 University Students in Berlin Consider Sex Work
Thirty percent of students working in the sex industry were in debt.
One third of university students in the German capital of Berlin would consider sex work as a means to finance their education, a study from the Berlin Studies Center said on Wednesday.
Continue reading… “1 in 3 University Students in Berlin Consider Sex Work”
Worm Regenerates Entire Body from a Single Cell
Asexual fission from one cell?
Planarians, a type of flatworm, reproduce by asexual fission. Cut one in half, and the missing parts will regrow until you have two planarians. Scientists have known for a while that the regeneration took place among a cluster of cells called cNeoblasts. Some wondered if was possible to grow an entire worm from a single such cell, and so performed an experiment…
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Almost Half Of All Online Orders Now Include Free Shipping
Online retail spending reached $38 billion this quarter, up 12 percent from a $33.8 billion a year ago according to Comscore. This growth is due to an increase in the number of buyers (7%), transactions per buy (9%) and tempered by a decline in spending per transaction (4%).
According to a ComScore report released today, nearly half of those orders included free shipping, at 47% versus 53% for Q’1 ’11, 49% versus 51% in Q’4 10 (the holiday season) and 41% versus 59% in Q3 ’10.
Continue reading… “Almost Half Of All Online Orders Now Include Free Shipping”
TEDxUChicago 2011 – Thomas Frey – Communicating with the Future
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ6UHFIbFyc[/youtube]
Futurist Thomas Frey at the TEDx University of Chicago event
We are a very backward looking society.
We’re very backward looking in that we’ve all personally experienced the past. As we look around, we see evidence of the past all around us. The past is very knowable, yet we will spend the rest of our lives in the future.
My job as a futurist is to help turn people around and give them some idea of what the future holds.
So, what images come to mind when you think about the future?
If you are like most people, you have some persistent vision of the future that keeps replaying in your head. Perhaps it’s an image of riding on a hoverboard, traveling in a flying car, or stopping at a space hotel.
Many of these visions have been planted in your head through the movies you watch or the magazines and books that you read.
More importantly than how they were created is the question, “Who owns these visions?”
I’m not talking about the intellectual property rights associated with these images. Rather, who is it that cares enough about these particular visions to want to take an ownership stake in their creation and fruition?
In the vast majority of all cases, the answer is simply, “no one.”
In the years ahead, the speed of business will continue to accelerate, and executive teams will quickly learn that simply planning for the future is no longer good enough. In order for them to better control their own destiny, they will need to take an ownership stake in the creation of the future, and that’s why this book is so important.
Until now, the science of the future has been a murky science. The tools are primitive, reputations are often suspect, and the unknowns continue to dominate the path ahead.
Scenario planning, trend analysis, demographic shifts, and cyclical patterns are all tiny Braille bumps on the looming mosaic that constitutes our future, and some of our best and brightest continue to be confounded when it comes to predicting the future.
But what if we step beyond simply predicting the future and instead work on controlling it?
Contact:
If you’d like to get more information about the process for “Communicating with the Future” or to have Futurist Thomas Frey speak at one of your events, please contact Deb at deb (at) davinciinstitute.com or 303-666-4133.
Futurist Thomas Frey: We are a very backward looking society.
We’re very backward looking in that we’ve all personally experienced the past. As we look around, we see evidence of the past all around us. The past is very knowable, yet we will spend the rest of our lives in the future.
My job as a futurist is to help turn people around and give them some idea of what the future holds.
Continue reading… “TEDxUChicago 2011 – Thomas Frey – Communicating with the Future”
First Potentially Habitable Exoplanet Found
Gliese 581 and its exoplanets are only 20 light years away.
One of our own solar system’s closest neighboring stars and a regular point of exoplanetary interest, the red dwarf Gliese 581, can finally claim the title of owning the first confirmed potentially-habitable expolanet. French researchers running complex computer models have demonstrated that the planet Gliese 581d–once thought too cold to sustain life–indeed could possess the proper ingredients to sustain liquid water and an atmosphere.
Continue reading… “First Potentially Habitable Exoplanet Found”
Privatizing Libraries
Expanding our thinking about the notion of
corporate-run community libraries
Futurist Thomas Frey: Consider the following scenario. Two years from now in November, you find yourself walking into a voting booth to decide on the fate of your local library. The issue you will be deciding affects you directly because it has to do with the management of your local library. You will be voting on one of four choices for the operational management of your library. The choices you have to pick from include Microsoft, Google, Apple, or your current city-run operation.
First Twitter User to Reach 10 Million Followers
Lady Gaga
In a big milestone for Twitter’s relentless march to the heart of the mainstream, a user has for the first time crossed the 10 million follower mark.
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Binge Drinking Destroys Long Term Memory Even in Young Adults
Heavy alcohol consumption makes it more difficult to build new memories.
Binge drinking not only makes you forget what you did the night before but also the day before that – and the day before that, a study suggests. Researchers have found that a big night out destroys long term memory even in young adults.
