Five Interesting Things: Today’s Scan Hits
Here are five indicators, observations or articles that caught the eye of FA futurists today.
- In 2011, federal health officials and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended cholesterol screening for children between 9 and 11 years of age, concerned about development of heart disease risk factors early in life. Now a new study has identified a simple measure that may indicate hardening of the arteries in children; doctors believe that exercise and a healthy diet can reverse the problem in young patients.
- University of Wyoming researchers have discovered a lithium deposit in Wyoming that could potentially meet all US lithium demand. Lithium is a critical ingredient in high capacity batteries, and the US currently imports 80% of its annual demand for this strategic mineral.
- Telefonica, Samsung, and Intel have invested in Expect Labs, a startup developing software that can listen in on telephone calls, determine topics being discussed, and offer up relevant information. (A simple example might be to offer the location of nearby restaurants if the conversation is about going out for Chinese.) Telefonica says it could introduce the technology as early as next year and will also explore using it to serve up targeted advertising.
- Matternet is a startup founded by four graduates of Singularity University to develop a vision of the “next paradigm for transportation”: a global network of UAVs that transport goods–including food, medicines, products, etc.–to developing regions, allowing them to leapfrog over conventional transportation networks.
- According to the US Census Bureau, 36% of all births in the US in 2011 (latest year data was analyzed) were to unmarried women. In addition, six out of 10 women in their 20s who had children were unmarried. The birthrate of children to unwed mothers in the US has risen by 80% in the past 30 years. As expected, single motherhood is lower among college educated or higher-income earning women.