In This Issue:
Recession-Proof Industries
Infertility May Become More Common
Engineering's Grand Challenges
Goal-Driven Toddlers
News from the Futurist Community
News From WFS
As economists and other pundits dance around the "R" word, workers and investors worried about their future security have several directions in which to look for protection from a potential recession in the United States, according to workplace trend watchers Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
Among the most recession-proof industries offering new job and investment opportunities are energy, security, health care, and education, according to the firm. Meanwhile, retail and manufacturing industries are more vulnerable. In places such as Michigan, where auto manufacturing appears to be on the skids, new jobs are likely to be created by wind turbine and solar manufacturing projects.
SOURCE: Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
Future generations already have a problem: There may be fewer of them, as infertility becomes common, according to recent research published in the BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL.
In affluent countries, infertility affects approximately 15% of couples trying to conceive; up to 6% of children are conceived through assisted reproductive technologies in some countries.
A complex array of factors underlie fertility and fecundity, from social and economic choices that reduce the number of children desired to environmental risk factors that impair childbearing, such as those associated with reduced sperm counts in young men (the endocrine-disruption hypothesis). More direct markers of fecundity trends are urgently needed in order to identify public-health concerns, the researchers warn.
SOURCE:
BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL (16 February 2008).
How can future engineers make the world a better place? The U.S. National Academies have issued a set of twenty-first-century challenges designed to inspire engineering students toward creative problem solving and "game changing" projects that could dramatically improve life. Among the Grand Challenges are:
* Make solar energy affordable.
* Provide access to clean water.
* Restore and improve urban infrastructure.
* Engineer better medicines.
* Reverse-engineer the brain.
* Prevent nuclear terror.
* Secure cyberspace.
* Advance personalized learning.
"Tremendous advances in quality of life have come from improved technology in such areas as farming and manufacturing," says Google co-founder Larry Page, a member of the Challenges committee. "If we focus our effort on the important grand challenges of our age, we can hugely improve the future."
SOURCE: http://www.engineeringchallenges.org.
Children learn to act toward achieving specific goals at about the age of 3, basing their behaviors on expected, valued outcomes, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. This developmental skill is what sets the 3-year-olds apart from kids in "the terrible twos"--the age at which toddlers' inability to get what they want causes sleepless nights for parents.
The experiment tested the behaviors of children ages 18 months to 4 years old who were trained to touch a red or a green butterfly icon on a computer display in order to see different cartoon clips. One set of cartoons was repeated frequently in order to bore the children and be a less-valued outcome of touching the correct butterfly icon. The researchers found that at age 3 the children were better able than the younger kids to choose the right butterfly for the more-interesting cartoons, even when the cartoons weren't immediately shown.
Goal-directed behavior is not something we are born with, but something we develop as we grow up. The researchers conclude: "This capacity [to internalize one's control over the environment] is an important component of becoming a fully autonomous intentional agent."
SOURCE:
American Psychological Association
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* NOMINATE A TECHNOLOGY INNOVATOR: The Tech Museum Awards is calling for nominations of innovators--individuals or organizations--whose use of technology has benefited humanity. Deadline for nominations is March 24.
* TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION: TechEd 2008, a program of the Community College Foundation, will be held April 13-16 at the Ontario (California) Convention Center. The conference will bring together more than 3,500 educators and administrators from around the world to focus on digital media, virtual learning, social networking, instructional technology, and more.
* LONDON FUTURES SYMPOSIUM, to be held April 18 at London South Bank University's Keyworth Centre, will cover the cashless society, the disappearance of the nation-state, the future of work and management, and more. World Future Society members are offered a generously discounted registration fee of ₤60.
* FORESIGHT CANADA CONFERENCE AND WORKSHOPS: Foresight Canada is hosting a conference on strategic foresight in Calgary, April 30 to May 2, titled Seeing and Shaping Tomorrow. Two preconference professional training workshops will also be held: Strategic Foresight (April 28-30) and Complexity and Systems Thinking (April 30). Content. For information about the conference programs, contact Ruben Nelson; for information about registering, contact registration.
* MAGDA CORDELL McHALE: We were saddened to learn of the death on February 21 of Magda Cordell McHale, a visionary architect and pioneering futurist, in Buffalo, New York, where she had taught at the School of Architecture and Planning. She was 87 years old. With her late husband, John McHale, Magda was a longtime supporter of the World Future Society, generously contributing her inspiring ideas to its publications and conference programs.
Futures scholar James Dator of the University of Hawaii described Magda as "flamboyant, gruff, and always stylishly dressed" and as a "superb artist." With her husband, she "produced excellent textual/visual presentations of trends, emerging issues, and new and interconnected ideas," Dator wrote in a post to the Association of Professional Futurists. "They were always tirelessly searching for something 'new,' and excelled in seeing, early on, patterns that most of us did not see until much later, presenting them to us in very memorable ways."
Another moving tribute to Magda McHale appears on the blog of architect and graphic designer Alex Bitterman.
* WORLDFUTURE 2008: SEEING THE FUTURE THROUGH NEW EYES, the World Future Society's annual meeting, will be held July 26-28 in Washington, D.C. The preliminary program will soon be mailed to all Society members. LEARN MORE or REGISTER BY FEBRUARY 29 and save $150 off the on-site registration fee.
* BEST FUTURES BOOKS OF 2007: FUTURE SURVEY editor Michael Marien has selected the 30 most authoritative, original, and important future-oriented books of the past year. Among his picks are VITAL SIGNS 2007-2008 by the Worldwatch Institute; 2007 STATE OF THE FUTURE by Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon; THE BOTTOM BILLION by Paul Collier; THE NEXT CATASTROPHE by Charles Perrow; A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR 21st CENTURY AMERICA by Joseph F. Coates; and THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE by Andy Hines and Peter Bishop. Visit FUTURE SURVEY online to see the entire list.
* PRESIDENT'S BLOG NOTES INCREASING INTERACTIVITY: WFS President Tim Mack's latest blog offers some figures and reflections on Internet culture and activity.
* FUTURES LEARNING SECTION is seeking participants engaged in all forms of futures learning to help develop new tools for educators and learners. Planning is now under way for a major Educational Summit at the Society's 2008 conference in Washington, D.C.