World Futures Fall 2021

Scientists continue to invent advanced materials with highly specific properties that outperform existing materials and enable more innovative product designs.

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"Developments That May Impact the Ability to Effect an Attack Using a Synthetic Biology-Enabled Weapon"

Please add a short description here...and...is this H1, H2, or H3...in your view?

It leads to new ways to activate our brain to be more eficient during certain tasks.This achievement helps to identify the roles played by individual neurons in coordinating and carrying out behaviors which could be a cornerstone of future neural interface technologies. This research begins to teach us how the brain processes and executes goal-directed behaviors in higher-order species, giving the knowledge and tools to begin making sense of neural circuitry and coding. (Sanchez, Justin)

DARPA is always a great source! Is this H1, H2, or H3...in your view?

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DRIVER-INFRASTRUCTURE-FUNDING-POLITICS 5-year update to 50-year Texas Water Plan QUICK FACTS: **Texas' state water plans are based on future conditions in the event of a recurrence of the worst recorded drought in Texas' history-known as the "drought of record"-a time when, generally, water supplies are lowest and water demands are highest. **Texas' population is anticipated to increase 73 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 29.7 million to 51.5 million, with approximately half of this growth occurring in Regions C and H. Water demands are projected to increase less significantly, by approximately 9 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 17.7 million to 19.2 million acre-feet per year. **Texas' existing water supplies-those that can already be relied on in the event of drought-are projected to decline by approximately 18 percent between 2020 and 2070, from 16.8 million to 13.8 million acre-feet per year primarily due to reservoir sedimentation and depletion of aquifers. **Water user groups face a potential water shortage of 3.1 million acre-feet per year in 2020 and 6.9 million acrefeet per year in 2070 in drought of record conditions. **Approximately 5,800 water management strategies recommended in this plan would provide 1.7 million acrefeet per year in additional water supplies to water user groups in 2020 and 7.7 million acre-feet per year in 2070. **Conservation strategies represent approximately 29 percent, or 2.2 million acre-feet per year, of all recommended water management strategy volumes in 2070 and were recommended for more than half of the water user groups in the plan. **The estimated capital cost to design, construct, and implement the more than 2,400 recommended water management strategy projects by 2070 is $80 billion. If strategies are not implemented, approximately one-quarter of Texas' population in 2070 would have less than half the municipal water supplies they will require during a drought of record. **If Texas does not implement the sta

"The move comes amid a global cryptocurrency crackdown as governments from Asia to the United States fret that privately operated highly volatile digital currencies could undermine their control of the financial and monetary systems, increase systemic risk, promote financial crime and hurt investors."

"I have seen one fool's gold rush from up close in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis. It feels like we may be on the cusp of another with cryptocurrencies (crypto) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The 2008 crisis holds lessons that can help industry and regulators chart a better path and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past."

Talks about rising sea levels, specific east coast and the effect it will have on life as we know it today

Have a look at the tags on this one..."Climate Change" should be one tag...

Anticipatory legal framework centered on privacy in relation to expected advancements in Neurotechnology

The supply chain issue has been escalated to where the government is getting involved. Biden is talking with big retailers and looking for solutions as the problem seems to be getting worse and more likel to affect the economy

The Ever Given incident--the cargo ship that blocked the Suez Canal for several days, pirmarily due to its size--has invoked new ideas about shipping--in this instance, it is wind powered ships. The ships would need to be smaller, but a zero emissions ship would be ideal. Can the increase in demand and port throughput still be accomdated with smaller ships? Is there a trade off for zero emissions and efficiency?

Good article on the entire shipping industry. The current backlogs have driven many to take a closer look at the day-to-day operations. This article gives a good overview of operations and problems. It identifies problems such as container shortages, to inefficient shipping, to integration with rail, and the effects of the pandemic. Lots of issues to be addressed as reliance on supply chains increase globally.

Short article on the Port of Virginia testing autonomous trucks. Containers received at the port are either hauled away by trucks or rail. Integrating autonomous trucks into the system could result in improved efficiencies in delivering and receiving containers. Actual implementation is likely a few years out, but automation coupled with less reliance on human intervention will be changing the way operations look in the future.

To me this is how leadership leads - The current UN plans want at least 10% of fuel used in global aviation to be sustainable by 2030. The head of Rolls Royce, manufacturer of aircraft engines, feels the industry needs to move quicker. He has committed to making sure their Trent engine can run purely on sustainable fuel by 2023. And Shell has committed to increasing their production tenfold by 2025.