{"id":26680,"date":"2016-05-15T16:34:33","date_gmt":"2016-05-15T20:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/?p=26680"},"modified":"2020-10-02T10:39:02","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T14:39:02","slug":"volume-19-number-10-5-15-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/volume-19-number-10-5-15-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Volume 19, Number 10 &#8211; 5\/15\/16"},"content":{"rendered":"<table border=\"0\" width=\"575\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"575\">\n<table border=\"1\" width=\"575\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"577\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\" bgcolor=\"#1D4A8E\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/header.jpg\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"middle\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/spacer.gif\" \/>Volume 19, Number 10 &#8211; 5\/15\/16\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/spacer.gif\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#\/FUTUREdition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/logo-twitter.jpg\" alt=\"Twitter\" \/><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/FuturEdition\/149602528442417?sk=wall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/logo-facebook.jpg\" alt=\"Facebook\" \/><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/johnlpetersen.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/wp-logo.png\" alt=\"JLP Blog\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"10\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" width=\"425\">\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\">\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.transitiontalks.org\/resources.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/2014\/images\/banner380x150.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>FUTURE FACTS &#8211; FROM THINK LINKS<\/p>\n<p><i>DID YOU KNOW THAT&#8211;<\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Scientists at a meeting at Harvard Medical School discussed the idea of formulating a synthetic genome to create human beings without biological parents.<\/li>\n<li>The world\u2019s largest coal company, China\u2019s state-owned Shenhua Group Corp., is going solar.<\/li>\n<li>The Pentagon is building a &#8216;self-aware&#8217; killer robot army informed by social media.<\/li>\n<li>Sony has filed a patent for contact lens that records what you see.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>PUNCTUATIONS<br \/>\nby John L. Petersen<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;font-size: medium\"><b>Looking Into the Future: Hang On!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This whole global shift business looks like it\u2019s about to shift into high gear \u2013 as if what we have been experiencing so far is not enough.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re sitting here looking at increasingly erratic weather, unraveling international relations, growing global financial instability, familiar political processes that are out of control, concerns about a world-wide epidemic, Europe staggering under giant immigration and fiscal problems, fundamentally changing mores around gender . . . the list goes on and on.<\/p>\n<p>Now, there is a rising crescendo (particularly in the financial and economic analysis space), of solid citizen reporters who have long histories of being accurate in handicapping markets, etc. who are saying that it\u2019s about to hit the fan. The reporters say a really big recession is inevitable and soon but they don\u2019t know when. There\u2019s a long list, Doug Casey, Jim Rickards, Chris Martenson, Chris Hedges, David Stockman, and Paul Craig Roberts just to name a few, who all say that a very large \u201ccorrection\u201d is inbound.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;font-size: medium\"><b>Clif High Predicts Rapid, Dramatic Change<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most galvanizing prognostication comes from Clif High, of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/halfpasthuman.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HalfPastHuman.com<\/a>. Clif is famous for having developed a very<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/futuredition.org\/2016\/images\/v19-10-1.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>complex planet-wide, Internet-based anticipation system that catalogs and analyzes new ideas and concepts that emerge over time in global conversations \u2013 that point toward incoming significant perturbations. His system has been demonstrably accurate in predicting a rather long list of major events months before they arrive. Clif publishes monthly summary reports about what he sees on the horizon and his two most recent ones for April and May are enough to keep you awake at night pondering what you\u2019d do if what he sees actually happens.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s particularly galvanizing because he sees extraordinary, broad-based, rapid change beginning in two weeks. . . . yeah.<\/p>\n<p>The thing that is compelling to me about his analysis is the rich, comprehensive interdependency of his pictures. It\u2019s one thing to highlight a single disruption \u2013 like a coming currency crisis \u2013 and quite another to weave a tapestry that includes just about every area of human activity, showing the linkages across domains and the likely\/possible endpoints. Think food, energy, social cohesion, etc.<\/p>\n<p>The ALTA reports cost $15, but I think the $30 that I spent was the best investment I made in a long time.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/halfpasthuman.com\/Hph_reports.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">You can find them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;font-size: medium\"><b>David Stockman: It\u2019s Going Down<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/futuredition.org\/2016\/images\/v19-10-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Former Reagan OMB director David Stockman has long been describing the systemic unsustainability of the global financial system.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/davidstockmanscontracorner.com\/david-stockman-cnbc-interview-get-out-of-the-casino-2-upside-40-downside\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Here, in a short but informative CNBC interview<\/a>, he runs down the list of converging issues that guarantee that the world is close on to a rapid recession that will threaten the global financial and economic systems \u2013 to say nothing about politics and social interaction.<\/p>\n<p>Governments, of course, are doing whatever they can to try to keep all of this change from spinning out of control. They are manipulating things so much that it is hard to know, with any certainty, what is actually happening. The US, for example, says that American unemployment is somewhere near 5% but independent analysts estimate it is at least twice if not three times that high.<\/p>\n<p>Although this next article does not represent our government trying to adjust to big change, it certainly illuminates the extent to which it will go to achieve its ends. It would therefore be fair to presume that these levels of extreme efforts are underway in many places within government (and business, for that matter) trying to maintain control of the situation. I think they\u2019re losing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wanttoknow.info\/mk\/behavior-modification-news-articles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-family: arial;font-size: medium\"><b>Fred Burks: The Government Knows How to Make You Do Things That You Will Never Remember Doing<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In his always interesting and provocative site\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wanttoknow.info\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.WantToKnow.info<\/a>, Fred Burks gathers up compelling information on seriously important aspects of our world that don\u2019t otherwise get reported. Behavior modification by the CIA is one of them. If you\u2019re not familiar with the term MKUltra, you should know that in the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s, the agency carried out many experiments to try to learn how to manipulate humans and get them to do most anything that they wanted, mostly without the subject being aware of what they did. As the\u00a0<i>New York Times<\/i>\u00a0said:<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/futuredition.org\/2016\/images\/v19-10-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><b>&#8220;In all, the agency [CIA] conducted 149 separate mind-control experiments, and as many as 25 involved unwitting subjects. At least one participant died, others went mad, and still others suffered psychological damage after participating in the project, known as MKUltra. The C.I.A. &#8230; deliberately destroyed most of the MKUltra records in 1973.&#8221;\u00a0<\/b>~~\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1999\/03\/10\/us\/sidney-gottlieb-80-dies-took-lsd-to-cia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Times article<\/a>\u00a0on CIA&#8217;s secret behavior modification program<\/p>\n<p>Burks gathered together 17 different published articles on the program and I\u2019d encourage you to take two minutes and at least read through the headlines and highlighted areas. That will certainly get your attention&#8230; and change the way you think about your government.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wanttoknow.info\/mk\/behavior-modification-news-articles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;font-size: medium\"><b>Penny Kelly and Rosemary Ellen Guiley Plot a Path to the Future<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Where is all this change going?<\/p>\n<p>With the global transformation accelerating, and with extraordinary changes emerging wherever we look, it is clear that this will be a new world, both in terms of who humans become and how that new world works. Our June Berkeley Springs Transition Talks will feature two extraordinary authors and thinkers in an all-day double-header, exploring where that change is taking us. Come and explore both the inner journey \u2013 who we are becoming as new humans \u2013 and then the notion of our outer expansion into other worlds and whether it will include obvious intelligences from off of this planet.<\/p>\n<p>This will be a delightfully interesting day of thinking about fascinating issues that are not the usual subjects of discussions about global change.<\/p>\n<p><b>Penny Kelly: Transforming the Self \u2013 To What?<\/b><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/transitiontalks.org\/images\/kelly.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Whether we turn to New Age, New Thought, old-time religion, or ancient wisdom traditions like yoga and meditation, we eventually run into teachings that urge us toward ascension or transformation. However, this brings up the questions \u2013 ascension to where\u2026 transformation to what, exactly? Where do we think we are going? And who will we be if not who we already are? Very few people have useful or clear ideas of what our real destiny is or the true nature of reality. If you have wondered what it\u2019s really all about . . . if you are looking for input that goes far beyond dogma and platitudes, join us for a talk by author Penny Kelly that presents the path that all individuals are designed to follow, and that reveals our planetary destiny as creations of Mother Earth. Based on the conclusions of her controversial book,\u00a0<i>Consciousness and Energy, Vol. 3 \u2013 History and Consciousness<\/i>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/transitiontalks.org.html\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this is an event not to be missed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Rosemary Ellen Guiley: Preparing for Trans-Reality Earth<\/b><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/transitiontalks.org\/images\/guiley.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Contacts with otherworldly visitors of all kinds are on the rise. Many of these visitors come from Earth, but exist in a different dimensional realm. Our contact experiences are contributing to an expansion of consciousness on a collective level that stands to change the very nature of physical reality. Ultimately, humanity will be in an open sharing of the planet with a variety of beings, all of whom have their own agendas. How can we prepare ourselves for a trans-reality that not only involves nonhuman intelligent beings, but also involves expanded powers of human consciousness that will affect us all? We have already crossed the threshold, and the trans-reality Earth presents one of the greatest challenges to humanity ever experienced.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.transitiontalks.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Register for this June 25th event here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Also remember that\u00a0<b>music maestro Robert Haig Coxon will be here Friday, July 15th &#8211; Saturday, July 16th, 2016<\/b>. That will be a wonderful concert and workshop!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;font-size: medium\"><b>New Technology: A New, Dramatically Different Emergent World<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>All of this change is not negative, of course. Consider this: a\u00a0<b>13-year old kid has invented a free energy device (that produces usable electricity from out of the air) for only $15 worth of parts<\/b>. Hey, it\u2019s on the Internet \u2013 and on TV \u2013 so it must be true! Maybe it is . . . If so, the change is accelerating.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wakingtimes.com\/2016\/05\/18\/13-year-old-invents-tesla-inspired-free-energy-device-for-under-15\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Check it out<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u2019s this blockbuster:\u00a0<b>real time audio translation between two spoken languages<\/b>. Futurism.com summarizes it thus:<\/p>\n<p><i>New York City-based company Waverly Labs says they will soon release the Pilot, a pair of in-ear translators designed to let people who speak different languages understand each other in real-time.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll talk more about this next time in this space. You don\u2019t even begin to understand what this could mean.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/futurism.com\/in-ear-language-translators-may-soon-be-here-thanks-to-waverly-labs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read all about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&amp;hosted_button_id=6QFVE8QLRTX8C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.elysianimc.com\/clients\/tai-fe\/graphics\/fe-donate-banner.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>THINK LINKS<\/p><\/div>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE<\/p>\n<p><a><u>Miscellaneous Data Points \u2013 (No Website \u2013 No Date)<\/u><\/a><br \/>\nSoftware is predicted to disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years. Uber is just a software tool, they don&#8217;t own any cars, and are now the biggest taxi company in the world. Airbnb is now the biggest hotel company in the world, although they don&#8217;t own any properties. This year, a computer beat the best Go player in the world, 10 years earlier than expected. In the US, young lawyers are already having trouble getting jobs. Because of IBM Watson, you can get legal advice (so far for more or less basic stuff) within seconds, with 90% accuracy compared with 70% accuracy when done by humans. Watson already helps nurses diagnosing cancer, 4 time more accurately than human nurses. Facebook now has a pattern recognition software that can recognize faces better than humans. We currently have roughly one accident per every 100,000 km of road use, with autonomous driving that is expected to drop to roughly one accident in 10 million km. As the average number of auto accidents drops quickly, the auto insurance business model will be hugely disrupted. And maybe, just maybe,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/read\/technology-will-replace-the-need-for-big-government\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cTechnology Will Replace the Need for Big Government.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NEW REALITIES<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/speaking-of-science\/wp\/2016\/05\/06\/these-ancient-asian-primate-fossils-might-be-the-missing-pieces-of-a-major-evolutionary-puzzle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">These Ancient Asian Primate Fossils Might Be the Missing Pieces of a Major Evolutionary Puzzle \u2013 (Washington Post \u2013 May 6, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nFor decades, scientists thought that the story of human evolution was fairly straightforward: We and our primate ancestors evolved in Africa over millions of years. But then, in the 1990s, researchers in China made a surprising discovery: The fossil of a tiny monkey-like creature that was some 10 million years older than anything that had been found in Africa. The ancestors of apes, and ultimately us, seemed to have come from Asia. But they hadn\u2019t stayed there. In a study published in the journal Science, K. Christopher Beard, a paleontologist at the University of Kansas, and his colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing report on an \u201cincredible cache\u201d of fossils from 10 previously unknown species uncovered in China\u2019s Yunnan province. These fossils help illuminate a new story of our evolution: one in which our primate ancestors evolved in Asia, sailed across a narrow sea to Africa, then were pushed to extinction on their home continent because of drastic climate change. Some of the only primates that survived were the ones whose fossils were just uncovered \u2014 primitive creatures that were closer to lemurs than apes and humans living today. This more convoluted version of our history begins in the Eocene, some 40 million years ago. At this time, Earth\u2019s climate was hot and humid, and the continents were just beginning to move into the positions they hold today. India was zooming headlong toward the bottom of Asia (the inevitable collision would one day give rise to the Himalayas). An inland sea flooded the center of the Eurasian land mass. And Africa was an island continent, separated from Asia and Europe by a narrow stretch of ocean.<\/p>\n<p>GENETICS\/HEALTH TECHNOLOGY\/BIOTECHNOLOGY<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gizmag.com\/cutting-off-nutrients-stops-tumour-growth\/43169\/\">Starving Cancer Cells of Nutrients Halts Tumor Growth \u2013 (GizMag \u2013 May 5, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nWork done by researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) opens the door to future treatments that could be less prone to resistance than many current methods, and could work across with a wide range of cancers. The researchers worked to cut off the cancer cell&#8217;s access to the amino acid glutamine by identifying and blocking its supply route. The cells use the amino acid when generating building blocks and for energy. The team first had some success by genetically altering the cancer cells, but it found things to be a little more complicated than hoped, with that action setting off a biochemical alarm that opened a second gateway through which the cell could obtain the amino acid. Undeterred, the team continued its work, and eventually managed to disable the second gateway using a technique known as RNA silencing. Combined, the two steps has an astonishing positive impact \u2013 without access to glutamine, cancer cell growth rate dropped by a huge 96%. There&#8217;s still a lot of work to be done, but the breakthrough could have a huge impact of cancer treatment. As blocking the glutamine transport mechanism is an external process, it would be both very difficult for the cancer cells to develop any kind of resistance, and the treatment should work across a wide range of cancers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-health-embryos-idUSKCN0XV260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">For First Time, Scientists Grow Two-week-old Human Embryos in Lab \u2013 (Reuters \u2013 May 4, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nUsing a culture method previously tested to grow mouse embryos outside of a mother, the teams were able to conduct almost hour by hour observations of human embryo development to see how they develop and organize themselves up to day 13. &#8220;This is the most enigmatic and mysterious stage of human development,&#8221; said Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, a University of Cambridge professor who co-led the work. &#8220;It is a time when the basic body shape is determined.&#8221; As well as advancing human biology expertise, the knowledge gained from studying these developments should help to improve in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments and further progress in the field of regenerative medicine, the researchers said. But the research also raises the issue of an international law banning scientists from developing human embryos beyond 14 days, and suggests this limit may have to be reviewed. Zernicka-Goetz, who spoke to reporters in London, said a wealth of new information could be discovered if human embryos could be grown in a lab dish for just a few days more. &#8220;Longer cultures could provide absolutely critical information for basic human biology,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But this would of course raise the next question &#8211; of where we should put the next limit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2016\/04\/160404152906.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Two Groundbreaking Alzheimer\u2019s Discoveries Could Revolutionize Research \u2013 (Modern Readers \u2013 April 27, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nAlong with discovering what could be the earliest symptom of preclinical Alzheimer\u2019s, experiments on test subjects have highlighted a possible method for reversing the symptoms of the disease. Scientists from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Glasgow University injected mice with a protein called IL-33 on a daily basis, which resulted in a full reversal in cognitive decline and the symptoms of Alzheimer\u2019s in a matter of days. Though the tests have so far been limited to rodents, the team believes it possible that the same technique could be used to treat human patients. IL-33 is a protein naturally present in the body, which has been linked to a reduction in the amyloid plaque development that causes Alzheimer\u2019s and its devastating symptoms. Meanwhile, the results of a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.morningticker.com\/2016\/04\/stunning-discovery-on-alzheimers-could-change-everything\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new study<\/a>\u00a0carried out at Washington University in St. Louis suggest that long before a clinical diagnosis is possible, Alzheimer\u2019s patients display signs of increasing difficulties with navigation. Specifically, their brains\u2019 capacity to build, store and access mental maps of their surroundings was found to be somewhat reduced. \u201cThese findings suggest that navigational tasks designed to assess a cognitive mapping strategy could represent a powerful new tool for detecting the very earliest Alzheimer\u2019s disease-related changes in cognition,\u201d wrote associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts &amp; Sciences, Denise Head. See also:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/new-alzheimer-s-treatment-fully-restores-memory-function\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Alzheimer\u2019s treatment fully restores memory function.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/scientists-turn-skin-cells-into-heart-and-brain-cells-using-only-drugs-no-stem-cells-required\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scientists Turn Skin Cells into Heart and Brain Cells Using Only Drugs \u2014 No Stem Cells Required \u2013 (KurzweilAI \u2013 April 29, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nScientists at the Gladstone Institutes have used chemicals to transform skin cells into heart cells and brain cells, instead of adding external genes \u2014 making this accomplishment a breakthrough, according to the scientists. The research lays the groundwork for one day being able to regenerate lost or damaged cells directly with pharmaceutical drugs \u2014 a more efficient and reliable method to reprogram cells and one that avoids medical concerns surrounding genetic engineering. Instead, the team of scientists at the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Gladstone used chemical cocktails to gradually coax skin cells to change into organ-specific stem-cell-like cells and ultimately into heart or brain cells. \u201cThis method brings us closer to being able to generate new cells at the site of injury in patients,\u201d said Gladstone senior investigator Sheng Ding, PhD, the senior author on both studies involved. \u201cOur hope is to one day treat diseases like heart failure or Parkinson\u2019s disease with drugs that help the heart and brain regenerate damaged areas from their own existing tissue cells. This process is much closer to the natural regeneration that happens in animals like newts and salamanders, which has long fascinated us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/05\/14\/science\/synthetic-human-genome.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scientists Talk Privately About Creating a Synthetic Human Genome \u2013 (New York Times \u2013 May 13, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nScientists are now contemplating the fabrication of a human genome, meaning they would use chemicals to manufacture all the DNA contained in human chromosomes. The prospect is spurring both intrigue and concern in the life sciences community because it might be possible, such as through cloning, to use a synthetic genome to create human beings without biological parents. While the project is still in the idea phase, and also involves efforts to improve DNA synthesis in general, it was discussed at a closed-door meeting at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The nearly 150 attendees were told not to contact the news media or to post on Twitter during the meeting. Organizers said the project could have a big scientific payoff and would be a follow-up to the original Human Genome Project, which was aimed at reading the sequence of the three billion chemical letters in the DNA blueprint of human life. The new project, by contrast, would involve not reading, but rather writing the human genome \u2014 synthesizing all three billion units from chemicals. But such an attempt would raise numerous ethical issues. Could scientists create humans with certain kinds of traits, perhaps people bred to be soldiers? Or might it be possible to make copies of specific people?<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&amp;hosted_button_id=6QFVE8QLRTX8C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/donate-2.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES\/CLIMATE<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/more-than-one-fifth-of-the-world-s-plant-species-are-now-threatened-with-extinction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More Than One Fifth of the World&#8217;s Plant Species Are Now Threatened with Extinction \u2013 (Science Alert \u2013 May 11, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThe world&#8217;s first international study of plants estimates that there are 391,000 known unique species of vascular plants \u2013 ie. those with conductive tissue that transport water and synthesize foods \u2013 but warns that 21% of these are currently at danger of becoming extinct. The report, released by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the UK, says about 2,000 new plant species are discovered by scientists every year, but while we&#8217;re continually increasing our records of plants, there&#8217;s still much we don&#8217;t know about them and the factors that threaten them around the world. While climate change is a factor threatening the survival of plant species, the biggest issues at the moment include destruction of habitats for farming, deforestation for timber, and the construction of buildings and infrastructure \u2013 with 13 out of 14 of the world&#8217;s vegetation biomes having seen a loss of more than 10% of land in the past decade.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2016\/05\/11\/honey-bee-losses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USDA: Beekeepers Lost 44% of Honey Bee Colonies Last Year \u2013 (EcoWatch \u2013 May 11, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThe Bee Informed Partnership, in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), released its annual report on honey bee losses in the U.S. Beekeepers reported losing 44% of their total number of colonies managed over the last year\u2014close to the highest annual loss in the past six years. These losses are considered too high to be sustainable for U.S. agriculture and the beekeeping industry. A large and growing body of science has attributed alarming bee declines to several key factors, including exposure to the world\u2019s most widely used class of insecticides, neonicotinoids. States, cities, universities, businesses and federal agencies in the U.S. have passed measures to restrict the use of these pesticides due to delay by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, these pesticides are still widely used despite mounting evidence that they kill bees outright and make them more vulnerable to pests, pathogens and other stressors. This past year, the USDA, a co-chair of the Pollinator Health Task Force, a group established by President Obama\u2019s Presidential Memorandum on pollinators, was reported to suppress and silence its own scientists for speaking to the harms of neonicotinoids and glyphosate\u2014an herbicide that is a leading contributor to monarch decline. See also the article from the\u00a0<i>Washington Post<\/i>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/magazine\/was-a-usda-scientist-muzzled-because-of-his-bee-research\/2016\/03\/02\/462720b6-c9fb-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Was a USDA scientist muzzled because of his bee research?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/hanford-nuclear-reservation-radioactive-waste-454808\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nuclear Waste Leaking at \u2018American Fukushima\u2019 in Northwest \u2013 (Newsweek \u2013 May 3, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThe Hanford Nuclear Reservation sits on the plains of eastern Washington, where the state meets Oregon and Idaho. This is open country through which cars pass quickly on the way to the Pacific coast or, conversely, deeper into the heartland. The site is nearly 600 square miles in area\u00a0and has been largely closed to the public for the past 70 years. Late last year, though, it became part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which will allow visitors to tour B Reactor, where plutonium for one of the two atomic weapons dropped on Japan in World War II was produced. This was a hopeful turn for a place that, for four decades, stocked the American nuclear arsenal. A total of nine reactors operated at Hanford, and though they are now decommissioned, the reactors have left behind 56 million gallons of radioactive waste. That a place so tainted with radioactive material could become parkland was a positive\u00a0sign. Not quite, it seems, with recent reports indicating new breaches in the tanks holding the nuclear waste. Workers on the site have been sickened too, suggesting that designating Hanford as a park may have been premature. The 177 underground tanks were never a permanent solution, and the government has hired private contractors to build a plant that will solidify the waste and prepare it for permanent safe storage. The project will cost an astonishing $110 billion, according to estimates, making it what many believe to be the most expensive, and extensive, environmental remediation project in the world. Completion is about five decades away. Otherwise sober observers have likened the place to a nuclear tinderbox. Of the 28 newer double-shelled tanks, AY-102 was already known to be leaking toxic sludge into the soil. Now a second double-shelled tank, AY-101, is believed to be leaking as well. For more explicit details of the leak, see this article from a UK newspaper, the\u00a0<i>Daily Mail<\/i>:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-3547975\/Five-year-long-nuclear-leak-Washington-state-s-infamous-Hanford-Site-CATASTROPHIC-former-worker-claims-eight-inches-radioactive-waste-escapes-world-s-safest-tank-one-night.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nuclear leak at Washington&#8217;s infamous Hanford Site is catastrophic, former worker claims, as eight inches of radioactive waste escapes core of &#8216;the world&#8217;s safest&#8217; tank.<\/a><\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>COMMUNICATIONS\/COMPUTING<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2016\/05\/okcupid-study-reveals-perils-big-data-science\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OkCupid Study Reveals the Perils of Big-Data Science \u2013 (Wired \u2013 May 14, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nRecently, a group of Danish researchers publicly released a dataset of nearly 70,000 users of the online dating site OkCupid, including usernames, age, gender, location, what kind of relationship (or sex) they\u2019re interested in, personality traits, and answers to thousands of profiling questions used by the site. When asked whether the researchers attempted to anonymize the dataset, Aarhus University graduate student Emil O. W. Kirkegaard, who was lead on the work, replied bluntly: \u201cNo. Data is already public.\u201d He observed, \u201cSome may object to the ethics of gathering and releasing this data. However, all the data found in the dataset are or were already publicly available, so releasing this dataset merely presents it in a more useful form.\u201d For those concerned about privacy, research ethics, and the growing practice of publicly releasing large data sets, this logic of \u201cbut the data is already public\u201d is an all-too-familiar refrain used to gloss over thorny ethical concerns. The most important, and often least understood, concern is that even if someone knowingly shares a single piece of information, big data analysis can publicize and amplify it in a way the person never intended or agreed. However, many of the basic requirements of research ethics\u2014protecting the privacy of subjects, obtaining informed consent, maintaining the confidentiality of any data collected, minimizing harm\u2014are not sufficiently addressed in this scenario. And since OkCupid users have the option to restrict the visibility of their profiles to logged-in users only, it is likely, due to their collection methods, the researchers collected\u2014and subsequently released\u2014profiles that were intended to not be publicly viewable. This article goes on to examine the ethical responsibilities of working with big data.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/raytheon-developing-technology-to-make-software-immortal-300260341.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Raytheon Developing Technology to Make Software &#8220;Immortal&#8221; \u2013 (PR Newswire \u2013 May 2, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nA team led by Raytheon BBN Technologies is developing methods to make mobile applications viable for up to 100 years, despite changes in hardware, operating system upgrades and supporting services. The U.S. Air Force is sponsoring the four-year, $7.8 million contract under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency&#8217;s (DARPA) Building Resource Adaptive Software Systems program. &#8220;Mobile apps are pervasive in the military, but frequent operating system upgrades, new devices and changing missions and environments require manual software engineering that is expensive and causes unacceptable delays,&#8221; said Partha Pal, principal scientist at Raytheon BBN. &#8220;We are developing techniques to eliminate these interruptions by identifying the way these changes affect application functionality and modifying the software. The Raytheon-led team, which also includes Securboration, Inc., Oregon State University, Vanderbilt University and Syracuse University, plans to: Develop a set of static and dynamic discovery techniques to identify the ways in which changes in the application&#8217;s ecosystem can affect the software&#8217;s functionality; Develop a set of transformation technologies that modify the software as needed to adapt to these changes; and Create a software framework to demonstrate and evaluate software evolution in response to ecosystem changes.<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&amp;hosted_button_id=6QFVE8QLRTX8C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/donate-2.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>SHELTER\/ARCHITECTURE<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.truth-out.org\/buzzflash\/commentary\/san-francisco-becomes-first-major-city-to-require-solar-panels-on-new-buildings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Francisco Becomes First Major City to Require Solar Panels on New Buildings &#8211; (Truth Out \u2013 April 21, 2016)<\/a>\u00a0San Francisco is one step closer to its goal of transitioning to 100% renewable energy after the city&#8217;s Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Tuesday to mandate solar installations on new buildings. Starting Jan. 1 of next year, new commercial and residential buildings up to 10 stories high must install rooftop solar systems for heat or electricity.\u00a0Buildings that are taller are\u00a0exempt for now. The famously green metropolis is now the first major city in the U.S. to legislate such a\u00a0requirement.\u00a0San Francisco\u00a0follows the footsteps of the smaller towns of Lancaster and Sebastopol. The municipalities, which are also in California,\u00a0passed similar mandates in 2013. &#8220;This legislation will help move us toward a clean energy future and toward our city&#8217;s goal of 100 percent renewable energy by 2025,&#8221; according to supervisor Scott Wiener, who introduced the legislation. He added that San Francisco&#8217;s new rooftop solar law is an extension of an\u00a0already established California law that requires all buildings 10 floors or less designate\u00a0at least 15% of the rooftop for solar use. &#8220;My legislation takes the next step by requiring that the rooftops not just be solar ready, but actually have solar panels installed,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/s\/601218\/desk-size-turbine-could-power-a-town\/\">Desk-Size Turbine Could Power a Town \u2013 (Technology Review \u2013 April 11, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nGE Global Research is testing a desk-size turbine that could power a small town of about 10,000 homes. The unit is driven by \u201csupercritical carbon dioxide,\u201d which is in a state that at very high pressure and up to 700 \u00b0C exists as neither a liquid nor a gas. After the carbon dioxide passes through the turbine, it&#8217;s\u00a0cooled and then repressurized before returning for another pass. The unit\u2019s compact size and ability to turn on and off rapidly could make it useful in grid storage. It\u2019s about one-tenth the size of a steam turbine of comparable output, and has the potential to be 50 percent efficient at turning heat into electricity. Steam-based systems are typically in the mid-40 percent range; the improvement is achieved because of the better heat-transfer properties and reduced need for compression in a system that uses supercritical carbon dioxide compared to one that uses steam. The GE\u00a0prototype is 10 megawatts, but the company\u00a0hopes to scale it to 33 megawatts. In addition to being more efficient, the technology could be more nimble\u2014in a grid-storage scenario, heat from solar energy, nuclear power, or combustion could first be stored as molten salt and the heat later used to drive the process. (For more on molten salt storage, see the next article.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/futurism.com\/worlds-largest-coal-company-going-solar\/\">The World\u2019s Largest Coal Company is Going Solar \u2013 (Futurism \u2013 May 6, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThe world\u2019s largest coal company, China\u2019s state-owned Shenhua Group Corp.,\u00a0has just partnered with Santa Monica, Calif.-based SolarReserve in order to bring 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal plants into China. Under the memorandum, Shenhua will bring its expertise in constructing and operating power plants and take the lead on development, while SolarReserve brings its solar thermal technology, as well as its support services. SolarReserve just brought its 110 MW Crescent Dunes project in Nevada online earlier this year, and is currently working on its 100 MW Redstone Project in South Africa and the 260 MW Copiap\u00f3 facility in Chile. Unlike other solar power providers, SolarReserve builds and develops its own molten salt energy storage technology. The way it works is that it focuses the solar energy from the sun into a tall molten salt tower at the center of the complex, heating the molten salt into more than 566 C(1050 F). This is then transferred to storage tanks and used to run turbines. Because the salt can maintain its heat for up to ten hours, the plant can continue to produce energy long after the sun goes down. This technology allows SolarReserve\u2019s plants to create power for 24 hours a day and maintain a stable electricity output\u2014in contrast to the inconsistent production from typical renewable plants difficult to cope with.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>TRANSPORTATION<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2016-05-04\/billions-are-being-invested-in-a-robot-that-americans-don-t-want\">Billions Are Being Invested in a Robot That Americans Don&#8217;t Want \u2013 (Bloomberg \u2013 May 4, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThree-quarters of drivers don&#8217;t want to own an autonomous car. One commuter&#8217;s concern: `It scares the bejeebers out of me&#8217;. The driverless revolution is racing forward, as inventors overcome technical challenges such as navigating at night and regulators craft new rules. Yet the rush to robot cars faces a big roadblock: People aren\u2019t ready to give up the wheel. Recent surveys by J.D. Power, consulting company EY, the Texas A&amp;M Transportation Institute,\u00a0Canadian Automobile Association, researcher Kelley Blue Book and auto supplier Robert Bosch LLC all show that half to three-quarters of respondents don\u2019t want anything to do with these models. \u201cTechnologically, we will be ready for automated driving within this decade,\u201d\u00a0said Kay Stepper, a vice president and head of the automated driving unit at Bosch, which supplies\u00a0components to the world\u2019s leading manufacturers. \u201cBut it will take well into the next decade to convince consumers.\u201d Automakers and tech giants including Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google unit have high hopes for a rapid rollout of autonomous vehicles, which they say will radically reduce traffic deaths and cure congestion in big cities. Boston Consulting Group says the market for autonomous technology will grow to $42 billion by 2025, and self-driving cars may account for a quarter of global sales by 2035. All of this depends on people buying something they don\u2019t currently want. Experience will assuage those apprehensions. Consumers are getting their first exposure through semi-autonomous features such as automatic brakes, systems that steer a drifting car back into its lane and adaptive cruise control that operates the brake and accelerator to stay a set distance from vehicles ahead. Luxury makers such as Mercedes and Audi soon will introduce traffic-jam assist that takes over in stop-and-go situations. (Editor\u2019s note: When the autonomous vehicles are road-ready and individual baby boomers reach the point at which s\/he is no longer capable of driving safely, that autonomous vehicle is going to equal the ability to maintain an autonomous life style. We expect these vehicles will be adopted far more readily \u2013 and sooner \u2013 than pollsters currently imagine.) For more on the development of the underlying technology: \u201cYou&#8217;re in your self-driving car, with heavy rain and poor visibility. All of a sudden, a blurred shape appears on the road. What should the car do?\u201d See:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/deep-neural-networks-that-identify-shapes-nearly-as-well-as-humans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deep neural networks that identify shapes nearly as well as humans.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/bmw-plans-self-driving-car-launch-by-2021\/\">BMW Plans Self-driving Car Launch by 2021- (ZD Net \u2013 May 13, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nBMW wants to have its first fully driverless vehicle on the roads within five years, the German auto manufacturer&#8217;s CEO Harald Krueger has revealed. &#8220;In 2018, we will launch a BMW i8 Roadster. This will be followed in 2021 by the BMW i Next, our new innovation driver, with autonomous driving, digital connectivity, intelligent lightweight design, a totally new interior and ultimately bringing the next generation of electro-mobility to the road,&#8221; he said. Until recently, BMW&#8217;s parent company Daimler was reportedly in talks with Apple about a collaborative project on automonous vehicles, but the German firm is said to have walked away from a deal after being unable to come to terms with who will own data received from customers&#8217; driving. The race to develop driverless cars is getting increasingly competitive, with a number of high profile automotive manufacturers working on projects in this area. Volvo has already set out plans to test driverless vehicles on the streets of London from next year, while Toyota recently opened a research institute with a focus on &#8220;fully autonomous&#8221; driving. (Editor\u2019s note: Note that phrase, \u201cwho will own data received from customers&#8217; driving\u201d. Whatever company can access it has at its disposal a huge trove of deep data.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/business\/self-driving-robots-are-the-new-longshoremen-on-la-waterfront\/\">Self-driving Robots Are the New Longshoremen on L.A. Waterfront \u2013 (Seattle Times \u2013 May 14, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nOn one end of a dock at America\u2019s busiest port, tractor-trailers haul containers through dense, stop-and-go traffic. Sometimes they collide. Sometimes the drivers must wait, diesel engines idling, as piles are unstacked to find the specific container they need. A few hundred yards away, advanced algorithms select the most efficient pathway for autonomous carriers to move containers across the wharf. The four-story-high orange machines cradle their cargo, passing quietly within inches of each other, at speeds as fast as 18\u2009miles an hour, but never touching. Self-driving cranes on tracks stack the containers and then deliver them to waiting trucks and trains with minimal human intervention. TraPac\u2019s Los Angeles marine-cargo facility demonstrates how autonomous technology could revolutionize freight transport as much as or more than personal travel. TraPac\u2019s equipment doubles the speed of loading and unloading ships, saving money and boosting profits. Its impact is rivaling that of containerization, which eliminated most manual sorting and warehousing on docks after World War II. \u201cSelf-driving won\u2019t just rebuild the current freight system, it will create a whole new way of thinking about it,\u2019\u2019 said Larry Burns, a former research and development chief at General Motors and now a consultant at Alphabet\u2019s Google unit. \u201cIt will happen sooner with goods movements than with personal transportation, because the economics are crystal clear.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>AGRICULTURE\/FOOD<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/benjamin-hardy\/this-new-restaurant-feeds_b_9802576.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">This New Restaurant Feeds Thousands of Hungry People Every Day \u2013 (Huffington Post \u2013 April 29, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nAccording to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 48.1 million Americans have insecure access to food, including 32.8 million adults and 15.3 million children (approximately 1 out of 5). Inspired by TOMs shoes, the company that gives a pair of shoes to someone in need with every pair sold \u2014 Even Stevens, a new restaurant based in Salt Lake City, gives a sandwich to a local hungry person with every sandwich sold. According to their website, Even Stevens has donated 444,022 sandwiches so far. The founder of Even Stevens, Steve Down, is a serial entrepreneur with several start-ups he\u2019s currently trying to build to IPO. As the father of millennials who care deeply about social consciousness and giving, Down saw the opportunity to use his skills as an entrepreneur to turn the food service industry into a force for social good. The result is \u201ca sandwich shop with a cause.\u201d Even Stevens is growing rapidly, with seven current locations since the first opened in Salt Lake City in June, 2014. Down plans to have 20+ locations open by the end of 2016. The 10 year plan is to have 4,000 locations feeding over 1,000,000 people per day. To put these numbers in perspective, Subway has approximately 34,000 locations and Chipotle has approximately 2,000. The results of Even Stevens speak for themselves, with each location currently opened achieving profitability within the first 30-60 days.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fastcoexist.com\/3059228\/what-does-the-new-crispr-edited-mushroom-mean-for-agriculture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What Does the New CRISPR-Edited Mushroom Mean for Agriculture? \u2013 (Fast Company \u2013 April 26, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThe mushrooms of the future may last a little longer on the shelf, and a certain type of corn will have better yields. The white button mushroom and waxy corn were the first foods edited with CRISPR-Cas9\u2014a gene-editing technique\u2014to get a pass from the USDA. CRISPR makes it simple to target a gene and delete it, or paste in another. By snipping a gene out of the mushroom&#8217;s genome, a researcher from Penn State was able to develop a new variety with less activity from the enzyme that makes white mushrooms turn brown if they&#8217;re cut. The common white button mushroom, which is produced mainly in Pennsylvania, was actually cultivated after a mushroom farmer in the 1920s discovered some all-white mushrooms in his mushroom bed. In other words, it was a chance mutation that happened to reduce enzyme activity. The new version of the mushroom is functionally no different than something that might have also mutated naturally. But CRISPR made the change simpler. &#8220;It would be hard to find this kind of mutation, because the mutation on the surface is a little easier to spot,&#8221; said Yinong Yang, the plant pathologist at Penn State who developed the mushroom. &#8220;For this one, you&#8217;d have to cut thousands of these mushrooms, and you probably won&#8217;t find it.&#8221; When Yang sent a letter of inquiry to the USDA about the new mushroom, after several months, they replied that the mushroom wouldn&#8217;t fall under their scope of regulating genetically modified foods. That&#8217;s because the agency uses a peculiar test: If a new food is made with a &#8220;plant pest&#8221; such as bacteria or a virus, then the USDA has oversight under the Plant Protection Act of 2000. When the U.S. first developed its regulatory framework, most GMOs used the so-called plant pests in production. Now, they don&#8217;t\u2014so the law doesn&#8217;t apply. The FDA doesn&#8217;t evaluate plants for safety (it&#8217;s up to the producer not to put something unsafe on the market).<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>SECURITY AND THE FUTURE OF WARFARE<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2016\/04\/21\/listen-to-an-fbi-honeypot-on-the-job\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to an FBI \u201cHoneypot\u201d on the Job \u2013 (Intercept \u2013 April 21, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nAfter one woman broke his heart, Khalil Abu Rayyan, a 21-year-old Michigan man, contemplated suicide. Then, when he confided his dark thoughts to another woman, she suggested he steer his violence toward\u00a0other people. Both women, it turned out, were FBI honeypots, and one of the recorded conversations with Rayyan entered into ongoing court proceedings provides a rare glimpse into how federal informants work. The U.S. government now alleges that Rayyan, who has been indicted on federal gun charges, is an Islamic State sympathizer who talked of attacking a church in Detroit. Federal prosecutors have not filed terrorism-related charges, yet they are handling Rayyan\u2019s indictment with the secrecy of a national security investigation. When Ghaada called off the relationship, Rayyan was heartbroken. The FBI then introduced \u201cJannah Bride,\u201d a 19-year-old Sunni Muslim who had a soft and charming accent when she spoke (in Arabic, Jannah means heaven). \u201cI love your voice, by the way,\u201d Rayyan told her in one conversation. To impress his new romantic interest, who appeared preoccupied with\u00a0jihad, Rayyan claimed to have an AK-47 (he didn\u2019t), and to have attempted travel to Syria (there\u2019s no evidence he even bought a ticket). In a motion filed April 15, Rayyan\u2019s lawyers, Todd Shanker and Benton C. Martin, wrote: \u201cThe government clearly exploited Rayyan, and blatantly attempted to steer him toward terrorism as an acceptable form of suicide before God.\u201d After his arrest, Rayyan told\u00a0a psychologist: \u201cI have never been touched by a girl in any way nor have I touched one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/insurge-intelligence\/the-pentagon-is-building-a-self-aware-killer-robot-army-fueled-by-social-media-bd1b55944298#.lzvsl4fni\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Pentagon Is Building a &#8216;Self-aware&#8217; Killer Robot Army Informed by Social Media \u2013 (INSURGE intelligence \u2013 May 12, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nAn unclassified 2016 Department of Defense (DoD) document, the Human Systems Roadmap Review, reveals that the US military plans to create artificially intelligent (AI) autonomous weapon systems, which will use predictive social media analytics to make decisions on lethal force with minimal human involvement. Despite official insistence that humans will retain a \u201cmeaningful\u201d degree of control over autonomous weapon systems, this and other Pentagon documents dated from 2015 to 2016 confirm that US military planners are already developing technologies designed to enable swarms of \u201cself-aware\u201d interconnected robots to design and execute kill operations against robot-selected targets. More alarmingly, the documents show that the DoD believes that within just fifteen years, it will be feasible for mission planning, target selection and the deployment of lethal force to be delegated entirely to autonomous weapon systems in air, land and sea. The Pentagon expects AI threat assessments for these autonomous operations to be derived from massive data sets including blogs, websites, and multimedia posts on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The raft of Pentagon documentation flatly contradicts Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work\u2019s denial that the DoD is planning to develop killer robots. (Editor\u2019s note: Note the research project using \u201cdata which is already public\u201d in the \u201cOkCupid\u201d article in the Communications section above; here\u2019s another way that similar blocks data are going to be used.)<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>TRENDS OF GOVERNANCE<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/05\/08\/magazine\/the-aspiring-novelist-who-became-obamas-foreign-policy-guru.html?_r=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama\u2019s Foreign-Policy Guru \u2013 (New York Times \u2013 May 5, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThis article is an in-depth profile of Benjamin R. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. \u201cThe Iran experience was the place where I saw firsthand how policy, politics and messaging all had to be brought together, and I think that Ben is really at the intersection of all three,\u201d said Rob Malley, a favored troubleshooter. \u201cHe reflects and he shapes at the same time.\u201d Now the most effectively weaponized 140-character idea or quote will almost always carry the day, and it is very difficult for even good reporters to necessarily know where the spin is coming from or why. (Editor\u2019s note: This article is quite long and worth every minute of your time if you are interested in how American foreign policy is shaped and communicated. If you have a few more minutes, read this commentary which offers a little distance and perspective on the primary article:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.salon.com\/2016\/05\/10\/did_the_new_york_times_just_accidentally_tell_the_truth_about_the_obama_administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Did the\u00a0<i>New York Times<\/i>\u00a0just accidentally tell the truth about the Obama administration?<\/a>)<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>GLOBAL RELATIONS<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2016\/05\/08\/did-china-trade-cost-the-united-states-2-4-million-jobs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Did China Trade Cost the United States 2.4 Million Jobs? \u2013 (Foreign Policy \u2013 May 8, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThe question of whether trade with\u00a0China has inflicted\u00a0lasting harm on the United States\u00a0is the subject of some much-celebrated research by three distinguished economists: David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson. They argue that import growth from China cost the United States about 2.4 million jobs over a dozen years. The work provides evidence that U.S. labor markets do not adjust quickly or easily to shocks. When a manufacturing worker loses a job, not only can it take a long time to find another, not only might that new job have lower wages, but the worker\u2019s entire lifetime stream of earnings may suffer. But we already knew this. The real question is whether American workers have suffered ills due to trade \u2014 more specifically, due to trade with China. Autor, Dorn, and Hanson show empirically that where imports from China increased the most, the pain to workers was most acute. But this does not prove their point; that would require them to defend\u00a0their preferred cause against alternative explanations. What this article goes on to show is that pointing a finger specifically at China is more a political message than a reality. The reality is that production moves from places with higher labor costs to places with low labor costs, be that China, Viet Nam, Brazil, India, or the Rust Belt \u2013 and American workers as a whole have suffered due to these moves. To frame the issue as \u201cChinese exports cost American jobs\u201d evidences a blindness to the larger economic forces at play.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/hillary-clinton-approved-delivering-libyas-sarin-gas-to-syrian-rebels-seymour-hersh\/5522647\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hillary Clinton Approved Delivering Libya\u2019s Sarin Gas to Syrian Rebels: Seymour Hersh \u2013 (Global Research \u2013 May 1, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThe investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, has reported that the Obama Administration falsely blamed the government of Syria\u2019s Bashar al-Assad for the sarin gas attack that Obama was trying to use as an excuse to invade Syria; and Hersh pointed to a report from British intelligence saying that the sarin that was used didn\u2019t come from Assad\u2019s stockpiles. Hersh also said that a secret agreement in 2012 was reached between the Obama Administration and the leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, to set up a sarin gas attack and blame it on Assad so that the US could invade and overthrow Assad. \u201cBy the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi\u2019s arsenals into Syria\u201d. There have been multiple independent reports that Libya\u2019s Gaddafi possessed such stockpiles, and also that the US Consulate in Benghazi Libya was operating a \u201crat line\u201d for Gaddafi\u2019s captured weapons into Syria through Turkey. So, Hersh isn\u2019t the only reporter who has been covering this. Indeed, the investigative journalist Christoph Lehmann reported on 7 October 2013, \u2018Top US and Saudi Officials responsible for Chemical Weapons in Syria\u201d and reported, on the basis of very different sources than Hersh used, that\u00a0\u201cEvidence leads directly to the White House, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, CIA Director John Brennan, Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar, and Saudi Arabia\u00b4s Interior Ministry\u201d. And, the definitive analysis of the evidence that was performed by two leading US analysts, the Lloyd-Postal report, concluded that, \u201cThe US Government\u2019s Interpretation of the Technical Intelligence It Gathered Prior to and After the August 21 Attack Cannot Possibly Be Correct\u201d. Obama has clearly been lying. However, now, for the first time, Hersh has implicated Hillary Clinton directly in this \u201crat line\u201d.<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&amp;hosted_button_id=6QFVE8QLRTX8C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/donate-2.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>LIFE STYLE\/SOCIAL TRENDS AND VALUES<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/business\/archive\/2016\/05\/american-financial-hell\/481107\/?google_editors_picks=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Circles of American Financial Hell \u2013 (Atlantic \u2013 May 5, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nMiddle-class Americans, by definition, earn decent incomes and live in relative material comfort. Yet they are in financial distress. For people earning between $40,000 and $100,000, 44% said they could not come up with $400 in an emergency (either with cash or with a credit card whose bill they could pay off within a month). Even more astonishing, 27% of those making more than $100,000 also could not. So what\u2019s going on here? At its core, this relentless drive to spend any money available comes not from a desire to consume more lattes and own nicer cars, but, largely, from the pressure people feel to provide their kids with access to the best schools they can afford (purchased, in most cases, not via tuition but via real estate in a specific public-school district). \u00a0The biggest sources of Americans\u2019 debt are housing and education. Housing and education appear to be two distinct categories of spending, but for many families they are one and the same: For the most part, where a family lives determines where their kids go to school, and, as a result, where schools are better, houses are more costly. Breaking the bank for your kids\u2019 education is, to an extent, perfectly reasonable: In a deeply unequal society, the gains to be made by being among the elite are enormous, and the consequences of not being among them are dire. When understood mainly as a consequence of this rush to provide for one\u2019s children, the drive to maximize spending is not some bizarre mystery, nor a sign of massive irresponsibility, but a predictable consequence of severe inequality.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/in.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-tech-teens-idINKCN0XU1P5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Families Struggling with Teens&#8217; Phone Addiction: Report \u2013 (Reuters \u2013 May 3, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nHalf of teenagers in the United States feel addicted to their mobile phones, with most checking the devices at least every hour and feeling pressured to respond immediately to messages, a survey has found. The majority of parents concurred, with 59% of those with children between ages 12 and 18 saying their kids cannot give up their phones, according to a poll of 1,240 parents and children by Common Sense Media. U.S. children between ages 8 and 12 report spending nearly six hours a day using media, while those ages 13 to 18 spend almost nine hours per day using media, according to the group. About a third of those parents polled said they argue every day about screen use, the San Francisco-based group said. Its survey is the latest indication of American families struggling to balance mobile devices in an age of ever-evolving technology. It also underscores the ongoing debate over Internet addiction and its consequences.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2015\/05\/07\/us\/cnn-heroes-homeless-doctor-jim-withers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Meet the Doctor Who Treats the Homeless \u2013 (CNN &#8211; March 21, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nDr. Jim Withers used to dress like a homeless person. Two to three nights a week, he rubbed dirt in his hair and muddied up his jeans and shirt before walking the dark streets of Pittsburgh. Withers wanted to connect with those who had been excluded from his care. &#8220;I was actually really shocked how ill people were on the street,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Young, old, people with mental illness, runaway kids, women (who) fled domestic violence, veterans. And they all have their own story.&#8221; Homelessness costs\u00a0the medical system a lot of money. Individuals often end up in emergency rooms, and stay there longer, because their illnesses go untreated and can lead to complications. For 23 years, Withers has been treating the homeless &#8211; under bridges, in alleys and along riverbanks. &#8220;We realized that &#8230; we could make &#8216;house calls,'&#8221; he said. It&#8217;s something that Withers&#8217; father, a rural doctor, often did. Withers&#8217; one-man mission became a citywide program called Operation Safety Net. Since 1992, the group has reached more than 10,000 individuals and helped more than 1,200 of them transition into housing. In addition to street rounds, the program has a mobile van, drop-in centers and a primary health clinic, all where the homeless can access medical care. In the way I&#8217;d like to see things, every person who is still on the streets will have medical care that comes directly to them and says, &#8220;You matter.&#8221; Having street medicine in [the] community transforms us. We begin to see that we&#8217;re all in this together.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>CONTACT AND THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/futurism.com\/proof-aliens-definitely\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Study Asserts That Earth Is Not the First Intelligent Civilization in the Universe \u2013 (Futurism \u2013 May 6, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nTwo scientists from the University of Rochester and the University of Washington have developed an \u201carchaeological form\u201d to the famous Drake equation, which will allow us to determine how many technological civilizations have formed in the history of the universe. And it seems there may be a number of them. The famous \u201cDrake equation,\u201d formulated by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961, sought to establish a mathematical, probabilistic framework to understand the question of whether or not humanity ia really alone in the cosmos; it used a number of ingenious terms to estimate the number of technological civilizations in our galaxy. The problem with Drake\u2019s original formulation was that three of those terms, in particular, were just too uncertain to permit a reliable estimate. The results of a newly modified formulation suggest that humankind is only likely to be unique if the odds of another civilization developing on a habitable world are less than one in 1022. That\u2019s a very\u2014some might say improbably\u2014small number. \u201cTo me, this implies that other intelligent, technology producing species very likely have evolved before us,\u201d says Frank.\u00a0\u201cThink of it this way: before our result you\u2019d be considered a pessimist if you imagined the probability of evolving a civilization on a habitable planet were, say, one in a trillion. But even that guess, one chance in a trillion, implies that what has happened here on Earth with humanity has in fact happened about 10 billion other times over cosmic history!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.techtimes.com\/articles\/156854\/20160508\/pluto-is-looking-more-like-a-planet-after-all.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pluto Is Looking More Like A Planet After All \u2013 (Tech Times \u2013 May 8, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nPluto may have been demoted to the status of dwarf planet, but as astronomers learn more about this distant body, they are learning it behaves more like a planet than once believed. This frigid globe interacts with solar wind in a way that is much like its larger cousins. The New Horizons team is still interpreting vast amounts of data recorded by the spacecraft as it whizzed past Pluto in the summer of 2015. A Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument aboard the vehicle measured the effect the distant world had on charged particles from the far-distant sun. Pluto\u00a0was found to affect the solar wind in a manner that appeared to be a hybrid between cometary and planetary effects. Comets hardly change the course of this stream of electrically charged particles, and what little alteration that does occur takes place close to the body. Planets have a great effect on the solar wind, which is felt for significant distances. Astronomers found the river of particles was significantly affected by Pluto, but only for short distances from the icy sphere. Until New Horizons arrived at the dwarf planet in July 2015, most astronomers believed heavy ions from Pluto&#8217;s atmosphere would quickly be lost to space. The body was thought to be too small, and too far from the sun, to hold on to these molecules. The spacecraft found atmospheric ions in far greater concentrations than thought likely. Pluto was also found to possess an ion tail extending 73,800 miles behind the frozen globe. The dwarf planet was found to only interfere with the solar wind just 1,844 miles in front of the body. This is roughly the distance between Chicago and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>STATISTICS\/DEMOGRAPHICS<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/health-care\/could-medical-errors-be-no-3-cause-death-america-n568031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Could Medical Errors Be No. 3 Cause of Death? \u2013 (NBC \u2013 May 4, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nMedical mistakes \u2014 from surgical disasters to accidental drug overdoses \u2014 are the No. 3 cause of death in the U.S., behind cancer and heart disease, according to two experts. They said a careful count of all deaths from preventable medical errors shows between 200,000 and 400,000 people a year die in the U.S. from these mistakes. The only way to get the country to do something about them is to start counting them, Dr. Martin Makary and Michael Daniel of Johns Hopkins University medical school argued. Cancer and heart disease are neck and neck as the top cause of death in the United States. In 2012, 24% of all deaths were from heart disease \u2014 599,711 to be precise. And 582,623 deaths, or 23% of the total, were from cancer. Number three, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, with 149,000 deaths. Makary&#8217;s estimate of 250,000 deaths a year would top that. Health policy experts and many doctors have been trying to call attention to the problem of medical errors for more than a decade. In 1999 the Institute of Medicine released a landmark report estimating that as many as 98,000 people died every year from medical errors. Since then, other studies have put the number as high as 400,000 a year. One problem is that errors are not usually put down on death certificates, said Makary, who&#8217;s been helping lead the movement to disclose and prevent medical mistakes. See also\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-ca\/news\/other\/bmj-editor-fiona-godlee-takes-on-corruption-in-science\/ar-BBrXVzP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this article<\/a>\u00a0which discusses that fact that hundreds of papers published in prestigious medical journals are being pulled from the scientific record, for falsified data, for plagiarism, and for a variety of other reasons that are often never explained. Sometimes it&#8217;s an honest mistake. But it&#8217;s estimated that 70% of the retractions are based on some form of scientific misconduct.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>NEW TOOLS\/NEW PROCESSES<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gizmag.com\/sony-contact-lens\/43157\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sony Files Patent for Contact Lens That Records What You See \u2013 (GizMag \u2013 May 5, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nThe tech nerds are calling them &#8220;smart eyes,&#8221; and they&#8217;re supposed to measure a person&#8217;s blink, wink, and tilt of the eye to figure out when to record, save and delete video. Sony&#8217;s contacts include a camera, a wireless processing component and a storage unit, unlike Samsung&#8217;s smart lenses patented earlier this month, which rely on a smartphone. A patent filing by the Japanese company reveals its vision for a contact lens that not only records video and images with a simple blink, but manages to store them right there and then on the user&#8217;s eyeballs. Google, Samsung and a number of research groups have also made plans for various types of smart contact lenses public. The motivation behind these range from glucose monitoring to augmented reality to boosting vision through telescopic lenses. But one thing they have in common is that they are all early-stage prototypes or patented pipe dreams, with consumer-ready products seemingly still a ways off. Sony&#8217;s patent application doesn&#8217;t change that, but does reveal an even bolder plan for a smarter, and probably scarier, piece of eyewear. Among the hardware built into the lens would be an image capture unit, a main control unit, storage module, antenna and a piezoelectric sensor. See also:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/futurism.com\/google-wants-inject-computerized-lens-eyeballs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Wants to Inject Cyborg Lenses into Our Eyeballs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>ECONOMY\/FINANCE\/BUSINESS<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/cio\/2016\/02\/02\/cio-explainer-what-is-blockchain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CIO Explainer: What Is Blockchain? \u2013 (Wall Street Journal \u2013 February 2, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nKnown by many as the technology underpinning the bitcoin digital currency, blockchain has acquired a new identity in the enterprise. At a time when companies face new challenges in data management and security, it\u2019s emerging as a way to let companies make and verify transactions on a network instantaneously without a central authority. Today, more than 40 top financial institutions and a growing number of firms across industries are experimenting with distributed ledger technology as a secure and transparent way to digitally track the ownership of assets, a move that could speed up transactions and cut costs while lowering the risk of fraud. Some companies see an opportunity to use blockchain to track the movement of assets throughout their supply chains or electronically initiate and enforce contracts. Blockchain remains in the experimental phase inside many large firms and there are few tested use cases, experts and analysts caution. The blockchain architecture allows a distributed network of computers to reach consensus without the need for a central authority or middleman. A good example is in financial services, where trades are often verified by a central clearinghouse that maintains its own central ledger. Using that process, it can take days to settle a transaction, and the clearinghouse typically collects some kind of fee. Here\u2019s a look at how this emerging technology works. See also:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/aeon.co\/essays\/how-blockchain-will-revolutionise-far-more-than-money\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How Blockchain Technology Will Revolutionize Far More Than Money.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2016\/05\/13\/after-three-weeks-in-china-its-clear-beijing-is-silicon-valleys-only-true-competitor.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">It&#8217;s Clear Beijing is Silicon Valley&#8217;s Only True Competitor \u2013 (CNBC \u2013 May 13, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nBeijing will be the only true competitor to Silicon Valley in the next 10 years. Beijing is not just a nice startup playground which might become truly interesting in a few years. This is the big leagues now. Startups can achieve massive scale quickly, because the domestic market is 1.3 billion people, which is four times the U.S. or European population. An increasing share of these 1.3 billion people is actually targetable. In the U.S., 190 million people carry a smartphone; in China, it is more than 530 million today, and it will be 700 million or more in three years. But a large market alone does not mean that a place will become a startup hub. it is the combination of market size and the extreme consumer-adoption speed of new services, combined with the entrepreneurial spirit and hunger for scale of Chinese entrepreneurs. We pride ourselves on being fast in Silicon Valley. Chinese startups are faster. Big startups are built in 3 to 5 years versus 5 to 8 in the U.S. Accordingly, entrepreneurs who try to jump on the bandwagon of a successful idea scramble to outcompete each other as fast as they can. Work-life balance is nonexistent in Chinese startups and meetings are anytime \u2014 really. In China, there is a company work culture at startups that&#8217;s called 9\/9\/6. It means that regular work hours for most employees are from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. And the argument that Chinese entrepreneurs are mainly cloning Western startups is outdated.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>FOR WHAT IT&#8217;S WORTH<b>\u00a0&#8211; articles off the beaten track which may &#8211; or may not &#8211; have predictive value.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/life-sized-noahs-ark-to-sail_us_571f99cbe4b0b49df6a91ffc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Life-Sized Noah\u2019s Ark Replica to Hit the High Seas This Summer \u2013 (Huffington Post \u2013 April 26, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nA life-sized replica of Noah\u2019s Ark may soon be hitting the Atlantic Ocean \u2014 but don\u2019t worry, there\u2019s no forecast for genocidal floods (that we know of). The Dutch ship\u2019s creator has announced plans to move the massive vessel, with the help of a barge, from its port in the Netherlands to Brazil this summer as part of a multi-country tour. Carpenter Johan Huibers, who completed the biblical boat in 2012 as a religious attraction, said he hopes its 6,000-mile journey to South, Central and North America will help spread the message of the Bible. According to the foundation\u2019s page, Huibers decided to build the mega ship after dreaming that his homeland was flooded by a storm, like one that led to the creation of Noah\u2019s ark as told in the Book of Genesis. Taking a chapter straight out of the Old Testament, Huibers said he crafted his modern-day ark using the same measurements used by Noah. See also an article about an ark-building project in Kentucky,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/2016\/01\/29\/noahs-ark-kentucky-dinosaurs-416653.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Noah&#8217;s Ark Rises in Kentucky, Dinosaurs and All<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>JUST FOR FUN<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/05\/03\/arts\/music\/gennady-tkachenko-papizh-georgias-got-talent.html\">What\u2019s That Sound? Nature? No, It\u2019s This Guy\u2019s Voice \u2013 (New York Times \u2013 May 2, 2016)<\/a><br \/>\nLong before he became a global web fascination for using his mouth and his nose and \u2014 he swears \u2014 his soul to make nature sounds\u00a0spring from a microphone like a geyser from the ground, Gennady Tkachenko-Papizh was a show-business chameleon. however, widespread renown did not arrive for Mr. Tkachenko-Papizh, 52, until March. That was when, while sitting at a cafe here checking his smartphone, he saw that\u00a0Miss Arab U.S.A. \u2014 who is a 22-year-old Brooklyn-born Syrian named Fabiola al-Ibrahim \u2014 had, for some reason, posted to her Facebook page\u00a0a video of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MissArabUSA\/videos\/1090248857692625\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mr. Tkachenko-Papizh<\/a>\u00a0competing on a talent show in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. \u201cThis will take you to another world!\u201d she promised of the link, which leads to about three minutes of Mr. Tkachenko-Papizh vocalizing the sounds of crickets, bird wings rustling, water dripping, and hyper-dramatized operatic chanting.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>A FINAL QUOTE<\/p>\n<p><i>We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.<\/i>\u00a0&#8211; R. Buckminster Fuller<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p><b>A special thanks to<\/b>: Chas Freeman, Ursula Freer, Diane Petersen, Bobbie Rohn, Gary Sycalik, Steve Ujvarosy and all of you who have sent us interesting links in the past. If you see something we should know about, do send it along &#8211; thanks.\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org\">johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org<\/a><\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&amp;hosted_button_id=6QFVE8QLRTX8C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/donate-2.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<hr align=\"center\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p>CONTACT US<\/p>\n<p>Edited by John L. Petersen<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org\">johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.arlingtoninstitute.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.arlingtoninstitute.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>PRIVACY POLICY<\/b>:\u00a0<i>We don&#8217;t share your information with anyone<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FUTUREdition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/logo-twitter.jpg\" alt=\"Twitter\" \/><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/futuredition?sk=wall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/logo-facebook.jpg\" alt=\"Facebook\" \/><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/johnlpetersen.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/wp-logo.png\" alt=\"JLP Blog\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"#F8F9B3\" width=\"150\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&amp;hosted_button_id=6QFVE8QLRTX8C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/fe-donate.jpg\" alt=\"Paypal Donation\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0984495541\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0984495541&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=fu079-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/2014\/images\/cover-cosmicinternet.jpg\" alt=\"The Cosmic Internet\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1933465050\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1933465050&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=fu079-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/2014\/images\/cover-12layers.jpg\" alt=\"The Twelve Layers of DNA\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" valign=\"top\"><a href=\"http:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/tai\/john-l-petersen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.elysianimc.com\/clients\/tai-fe\/graphics\/jp-speaking-ad.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"4\" align=\"center\" bgcolor=\"white\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\">\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1555916619?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=fu079-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1555916619\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b><i>A Vision for 2012: Planning for Extraordinary Change<\/i><\/b><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=fu079-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1555916619\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\nby John L. Petersen<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1555916619?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=fu079-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1555916619\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/2012bookcvr.jpg\" alt=\"Buy at Amazon\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div>Former senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart has said\u00a0<i>&#8220;It should be required reading for the next President.&#8221;<\/i><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arlingtoninstitute.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/tai-logo.jpg\" alt=\"The Arlington Institute\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arlingtoninstitute.org\/tai\/fearchive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.futuredition.org\/fe-images\/FE-ad.jpg\" alt=\"FUTUREdition Archive\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"150\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\" width=\"100%\"><a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/MTt25\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sign up for the FUTUREdition Email Newsletter<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jcarpenter.biz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #008fad;font-size: xx-small\">JC Consulting<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: white\">*|REWARDS|*<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Volume 19, Number 10 &#8211; 5\/15\/16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 FUTURE FACTS &#8211; FROM THINK LINKS DID YOU KNOW THAT&#8211; Scientists at a meeting at Harvard Medical School discussed the idea of formulating a synthetic genome to create human beings without biological parents. The world\u2019s largest coal company, China\u2019s state-owned Shenhua Group Corp., is going solar. The Pentagon is [&hellip;] <a class=\"g1-link g1-link-more\" href=\"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/volume-19-number-10-5-15-16\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[46],"class_list":{"0":"post-26680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-futuredition","7":"tag-newsletter"},"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtoninstitute.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}