World Futures Fall 2021

Britain, taking a cautious view of cryptoassets and wanting to ensure they are backed by sufficient capital, may establish rules prior to the Basel Committee's finalization of guidance

Global regulators worry the rise in privately operated currencies could undermine their control of the financial and monetary systems, increase systemic risks, promote financial crime and hurt investors. In the United States, President Joe Biden's regulators have launched several efforts to rein in cryptocurrencies.

- By 2050 nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have some degree of hearing loss and at least 700 will require hearing rehabilitation. - Over 1 billion young adults are at risk of permanent, avoidable hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices. - An annual additional investment of less than US$ 1.40 per person is needed to scale up ear and hearing care services globally. - Over a 10-year period, this promises a return of nearly US$ 16 for every US dollar invested.

"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."

"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."

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

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

"What sounds like sci-fi is now becoming a reality, and as these minute cameras pass through your body, they take two pictures per second checking for signs of cancer and other conditions like Crohn's disease." This new technology is a less invasive and more convenient alternative to current practices. The ease of this care provides a more comfortable experience for those who would have needed a traditional endoscopy.

I've swallowed the pill camera before to check an issue in my gut. It was 14 hours of video!!!

"Material science offers corrosion engineers design options in corrosion control with advanced materials. Engineered properties created through specialized processing and synthesis technologies give advanced materials superior performance over conventional materials and include ceramics, high value-added metals, electronic materials, composites, polymers, and biomaterials."

"Arcadia program will work with nature to develop "probiotics" for military materials and equipment to prevent corrosion, decrease drag.(...) Bacteria are the most abundant and diverse lifeform on Earth, coating almost every surface, with the majority spending their lives in biofilms.his lifestyle is universally perceived as problematic since biofilms contribute significantly to equipment degradation. However, biofilms do not have to be a problem. New insights suggest biofilms could be rendered beneficial by redirecting their composition and structure. Similar to the Arcadian vision of harmony with nature, the DARPA Arcadia program will develop "probiotics" to protect military materials and equipment using naturally occurring microorganisms to generate robust and beneficial coatings."

This is a chapter excerpt from a very popular book on Nano Biopesticides. "Today's global population has reached 7 billion, and is projected to reach 9.2 billion by 2050, an increase of 30% (70 million per annum). This explosive increase of the global population is expected to increase the demand for food production by 70%, notably due to changes in dietary habits in developing countries toward high-quality food." There is public demand for an alternative to chemical pesticides as well as the financial incentives "biological pesticides require 3-6 years and an investment of around $15-20 million for development and registration compared to synthetic pesticides, which require 10 years and $200 million for their development." The article is longer than many but a broad spectrum introduction to the technology.

"It is estimated that worldwide plant disease caused 13%, insect 14% and weed 13% loss in food production and accounted for 2000 billion dollars economic loss per year" The initial response to this challenge has been the use of chemical pesticides, but those have historically caused environmental and health issues. This article does a nice job of summarizing the current state of nanopesticides, which hold the promise of being equally effective as the chemicals in use now while doing much less collateral damage. The article concludes with a punch list of the challenges that need to be overcome to make these nanopesticides easy to deploy and raise the confidence that they are safe.

We have all heard of citronella, commonly known to be a natural mosquito repellant. "Biopesticides are substances or mixtures of biological substances used to prevent, destroy, kill, control, or mitigate pests." This article is short but provides a valuable list of biopesticide plants that can be used as the basis for research.

"Dozens of microchips scattered over the cortical surface might allow researchers to listen in on thousands of neurons at the same time." These microchips will work to record brain activity and may also "stimulate neurons...to to explore for treating brain disorders like epilepsy and Parkinson's or restoring brain function lost to injury" Currently this system is being tested on rats but there are still challenges to overcome such as how to get the chips across and in the human brain with the goal of being a less invasive alternative and how to organize and collect all the data that could be transmitted.

The article notes some hesitation and confliction between wireless monitoring of patients from false alarms and disconnect between patient care vs ease and accessibility to spread care to underserved communities.