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In This Issue:
* Drug Therapy Could Benefit Frail Elderly
* Recession-Proofing Your Career
* How the Environment May Benefit from Financial Crisis
* Click of the Month: Guy Yeomans's London Futures Symposium Coverage
* News from the Futurist Community
Muscle mass in the arms and legs of healthy older adults increased with the experimental drug MK-677, with no serious side effects, according to researchers at the University of Virginia Health System. A single daily dose could help frail adults stay strong enough to avoid falls and fractures, the researchers believe.
The drug mimics the actions of a peptide that stimulates the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), which helps regulate growth hormone and appetite. In the study, MK-677 restored 20% of muscle mass loss associated with normal aging.
"Our study opens the door to the possibility of developing treatments that avert the frailty of aging," says Michael O. Thorner, a professor of internal medicine and neurosurgery. "The search for anti-frailty medications has become increasingly important because the average American is expected to live into his or her 80s, and most seniors want to stay strong enough to remain independent as they age."
SOURCE: University of Virginia Health System,
www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/news/archives08/anti_frailty.cfm
Employers will likely continue to aggressively reduce payrolls in the foreseeable future, according to The Conference Board's assessment of its latest Employment Trends Index.
Few sectors seem immune to these cuts, though individuals with skills in high demand may find it a little easier to transition to a new employer. Personal-finance adviser Kiplinger.com reports that the career choices likely to remain hot over the next few years include:
* Health care (e.g., pharmacists, physical therapists).
* Education (especially math, science, and bilingual education).
* Security (police officers, detectives, private security guards).
* Environmental science (hydrologists, environmental chemists,
geoscientists).
Forensic accounting and medical equipment and supplies distribution are two of the unique specialty programs that the University of Alabama, Birmingham, offers for students seeking high-growth careers. Public administration also offers some security, the University advises, as the government lays off workers at only 25% of the rate of the private sector.
And for many workers, recession-proofing will mean more self-reliance, fluid career paths, and nontraditional work settings. For example, "jellies" are a new form of worker—mostly young entrepreneurs, freelancers, and telecommuters—first introduced by Web entrepreneur Amit Gupta. Unlike a company's work teams, the members of jelly groups may work for different clients or employers, gathering informally with their fellow jellies to brainstorm and support each other on various projects, notes strategic business futurist Joyce Gioia-Herman.
SOURCES:
The Conference Board, www.conference-board.org
Kiplinger, www.kiplinger.com
University of Alabama, Birmingham, http://main.uab.edu
Herman Trend Alert: Spreading Jellies (November 12, 2008),
www.hermangroup.com
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Sign up now for the World Future Society's next annual meeting,
WorldFuture 2009, and save $200 off the on-site registration fee. The theme, Innovation and Creativity in a Complex World, promises one of the most inspiring programs yet! Join us in Chicago at the beautiful Hilton Chicago hotel, July 17-19, 2009.
Helen Harkness, a professional career consultant and coach, will
coordinate a free career-counseling program at the conference.
Professional career counselors will volunteer their time and expertise to conduct individual 30-minute counseling sessions.
Among the recently confirmed experts you'll meet are Robert D.
Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation
Foundation; Freitas Guerra, executive director of SHAREcircle; Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson & Son distinguished professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern, University; Ambassador John W. McDonald, president of the Institute of Multi-Track Diplomacy; and Susan Whitfield, president of White Tree Consulting.
A special two-hour tour of the Advanced Photon Source at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has also been arranged for conference attendees on July 17 for just $44 ($35 for Society Members). Space is limited, so sign up now!
REGISTER FOR WORLDFUTURE 2009 BY DECEMBER 31 AND SAVE $200:
https://www.wfs.org/2009regform.htm
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If there could be any bright side to the current financial crisis, it might be that it could slow down rapid development in coastal areas and allow fragile ecosystems such as barrier reefs to regain strength.
So suggests Iliana Ortega, coordinator of the International Coral Reef Initiative in Mexico. Coral reefs provide habitats for a million diverse aquatic species and billions of dollars in jobs in 90 countries around the world, she told a recent symposium on coral reef preservation and sustainable tourism in Mexico.
The Mesoamerican barrier reef in the Caribbean Sea is the second
largest in the world. The reef provides jobs, food, key tourist
attractions, and protection against hurricanes. Threats to the reef system's health from pollution, climate change, and overfishing thus also represent threats to the economic health of Mexico and Central America, Ortega pointed out.
Ortega described her organization's creative marketing efforts to rally public support for saving Mexico's reefs, including parade floats during Carnival, ads on buses (reaching 730,000 people a day), and sales of telephone cards brightly decorated with photographs of corals.
The symposium, "The Wonder and Value of Coral Reefs," was sponsored by the Mexico Tourism Board, the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, visit International Coral Reef Initiative,
www.icriforum.org
ALSO, International Year of the Reef 2008, www.iyor.org
Guy Yeomans describes his "tumblelog" as an "opportunity to engage with some of my wider futures & strategic foresight interests." In his latest entries, he provides an excellent report of the recent London Futures Symposium, organized by Stephen Aguilar-Millan of the European Futures Observatory.
"I felt this was a useful and comprehensive overview that provided the right kind of insight into the range, versatility and general applicability of the strategic foresight toolkit," Yeomans writes in the first of his reports. "Given the size of the toolkit (9 were explicitly mentioned) it should remind us of the complexity of any investigation of the future."
COMMENT: Responsible citizen journalism in blogs like this can serve a vital function in the Information Age: niche reporting for niche topics. With the fierce competition for attention in the mainstream press, a critical but esoteric subject like the study of the future is too easily and too often ignored. The audience for these subjects now must serve as reporters and gatekeepers; for futurism, I'm gratified to see the need being ably met. --CGW
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WORLD FUTURE REVIEW: A Journal of Strategic Foresight (WFR) is a new bimonthly journal for futures practitioners and researchers, combining the scholarship, professional resources, and literature reviews of its predecessor publications, FUTURES RESEARCH QUARTERLY and FUTURE SURVEY.
WFR will be a key benefit of the Society's new and improved
Professional Membership program.
Highlights of the new journal will include a range of articles on policy, trend dynamics, and new techniques, along with profiles of today's leading foresight practitioners and thinkers and short pieces on critical developments in key areas.
DETAILS, WORLD FUTURE REVIEW and Professional Membership:
www.wfs.org/wfr
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* MARILYN FERGUSON, author of THE AQUARIAN CONSPIRACY (1980) and editor of the BRAIN/MIND BULLETIN, died October 19 at her home in Banning, California. She was 70. Ferguson was considered a pioneer in the rise of the New Age movement that promoted the development of human potential through both science and spirituality. DETAILS: www.potentialsmedia.com/MarilynFerguson.html
* COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE FOR INTELLIGENCE: The Millennium Project's Korean node has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea's S&T research organization to create a new intelligence/brain research institute, reports Millennium Project director Jerome C. Glenn. The goal of the yet-unnamed institute will be "to increase knowledge and dissemination of how to improve brain functioning." DETAILS: Millennium Project, World Federation of UN Associations,
www.millennium-project.org
* WFS PRESIDENT PROFILED: The November issue of the WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT journal features a lively and candid profile of Society President Tim Mack, describing the work of futurists and covering a broad range of issues on the minds of futurists now. "For Mack, every day spent thinking about the future is interesting and often surprising," reporter John Shaw notes. "And the challenge of peering into the unknown is always stimulating." READ "Beyond the Crystal Ball: Having the Foresight to Predict Future" by John Shaw, WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT (November 2008): www.washdiplomat.com/November%202008/a1_11_08.html
* WHAT DO WE MEAN BY "SUSTAINABLE"? Futurist Bruce Lloyd asks for feedback from WFS members and friends on the question of what we really mean when we use the term "sustainable." Many of the crises that society has faced, including the current global financial crisis, have occurred because the issue of sustainability was not adequately addressed, he argues. READ Lloyd's essay in the Global Strategies Forum, www.wfs.org/lloyd08.htm, and submit your comments in the feedback box or to FUTURIST UPDATE, mailto:cwagner@wfs.org