Futurology: Delphi method, Causal layered analysis, Patrick Dixon, Scenario planning, Future history, Failure mode and effects analysis, Social ... class forecasting, Forecasting, Prediction
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 3 hours ago
About 73,000 years ago (74,000 by some estimates) a massive volcano on the Indonesia island of Sumatra erupted with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8. Such an eruption isso severe in its effects it basically would cause the deaths of billions of people today. New evidence finds that Toba's eruption caused deforestation in what is now central India. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study provides...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 2 hours ago
A person's own purified adult stem cells can reduce pain from a form of heart disease. CHICAGO --- The largest national stem cell study for heart disease showed the first evidence that transplanting a potent form of adult stem cells into the heart muscle of subjects with severe angina results in less pain and an improved ability to walk. The transplant subjects also experienced fewer deaths than those...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | yesterday
Some obese people even think they could gain weight. ORLANDO, FLA., Nov. 17, 2009 — Some obese people misperceive that their body size is normal and think they don't need to lose weight, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009. In the Dallas Heart Study of 5,893 people, researchers found that 8 percent of the 2,056 who were obese said they were...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | yesterday
Mexicans and Puerto Ricans of mixed races tend to marry those of similar racial mix ratios. A team led by Neil Risch and Esteban González Burchard of the University of California, San Francisco, took DNA samples from married couples in Mexican and Puerto Rican populations, examining around 100 genetic markers from across the genome. From these markers, the researchers were able to discern the...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 21/11/2009
Using nanocrystal-based inks printed onto metal foil photovoltaics start-up Solexant claims it can get its costs under those of low cost leader First Solar. Making the entire cell using a roll-to-roll process gives the company an advantage over other thin-film photovoltaic companies that print on glass, which is heavier and limited to smaller areas, says Solexant CEO Damoder Reddy. "The cost benefit...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 21/11/2009
An MIT press release about the use of nanoparticles to deliver gene therapy contains an interesting statistic about the size of the overall effort to develop clinically useful gene therapies: In the United States alone almost 1000 gene therapy clinical trials are underway. That's a surprisingly large number. There are nearly 1,000 clinical trials under way in the United States involving gene therapy,...
THE CITY PROJECT (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
As far as the urbanist blogosphere is concerned, the 'networked city' made possible by the iPhone and its applications is the only thing worth talking about. The street as platform ... The kind of program a city is ... This is where the urban buzz is right now. And this is a plea for moderation. Look, I know futurology is shiny and exciting, but let's put this in context. Research from Nielsen shows...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
The direction of causation is not clear but a little bit of anxiety might be good for your health. Depressed smokers must have terrible life expectancy. A study by researchers at the University of Bergen, Norway, and the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King's College London has found that depression is as much of a risk factor for mortality as smoking. Utilising a unique link between a survey of over...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
Fracturing rocks deep underground so that water can be heated up doesn't work well for generating geothermal energy. The US Department of Energy has decided to fund some national labs to develop an approach for geothermal energy capture involving carbon dioxide as a substitute for water. The approach offers the additional benefit of sequestering CO2. In 2000, Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist...
PhotoReflect (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009
click photo to enlarge I have said elsewhere in this blog that I think I could have been a futurologist. It's a job with little responsibility - I mean, honestly, how many people really believe your predictions? Moreover, you know for a fact that much of what you foresee will never come to pass, so failure in your job is a given. However, it would definitely be great fun (for a while at least) to get...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009
Babies less prone to feel fear are more likely to commit crimes. Even at the tender age of 3, children who will go on to be convicted of a crime are less likely to learn to link fear with a certain noise than those who don't. This may mean that an insensitivity to fear could be a driving force behind criminal behaviour. Adult criminals tend to be fearless, but whether this characteristic emerges before...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009
A vitamin boosts cancer risk? Patients with heart disease in Norway, a country with no fortification of foods with folic acid, had an associated increased risk of cancer and death from any cause if they had received treatment with folic acid and vitamin B12, according to a study in the November 18 issue of JAMA. Most epidemiological studies have found inverse associations between folate (a B vitamin)...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009
People work harder on their current task when they have a tougher task coming up. Consumers will work harder on a task if they're expecting to have to do something difficult at a later time, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. In today's fast-paced world, consumers frequently undertake unrelated tasks in a sequence. An individual might make a grocery list, decide whether to...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009
In a sample of 200 students those with two copies of a particular allele of an oxytocin receptor appear to be better at reading emotional state in others. CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers have discovered a genetic variation that may contribute to how empathetic a human is, and how that person reacts to stress. In the first study of its kind, a variation in the hormone/neurotransmitter oxytocin's...
FuturePundit (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009
Okay, weeks have gone by without a vitamin D post. Well, with big turkeys on the horizon it is time to think about heart health. Patients over 50 years old with the lowest vitamin D levels died at higher rates. MURRAY, UT – While mothers have known that feeding their kids milk builds strong bones, a new study by researchers at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City...
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