The World's 1st Blood Factory

This isn't a scene from "Hellraiser XXV: Dear God The Franchise Is Still Going", but a major breakthrough in medical technology. With the ability to grow blood in bulk we might never have to sit through another "Please please give blood" ad ever again.
A combination of commercial and academic researchers have produced ahundred billion blood cells by emulating the blood production system inhuman bone marrow. While that's only 1% of the blood in a human body,once... >> Read more...

The Foundation For The Future

For more than a decade the Foundation For the Future, in Washington (USA), has pursued its mission to increase and diffuse knowledge concerning the long-term future of humanity.

The Foundation conducts a broad range of programs and activities to promote an understanding of the factors in the social, genetic, biological, medical, psychological, physiological, cultural, technological, and ecological fields that may have an impact on human life during coming millennia.
To fulfill its mandate, the Foundation For the Future:
• Promotes public awareness of and education in futures issues.
• Convenes seminars, workshops, and symposia that focus on issues associated with the long-term future of humanity.
• Publishes scholarly works that address issues concerning the factors that will affect the future quality of human life.
• Awards the annual Kistler Prize (cash and gold medallion), the Walter P. Kistler Book Award (cash and certificate), the Walter P. Kistler Science Teacher of the Year Award (cash and certificate), and the Walter P. Kistler Science Documentary Film Award (cash and certificate).
• Provides financial support to scholars’ research through Research Grant Awards.
• Facilitates a Student Education Program that encourages young scholars to think about the future.
The Foundation’s benefactor and founding President is Walter Kistler. A Board of Trustees oversees all Foundation activities and is supported by an Executive Director, two Deputy Directors, and a small administrative staff.
The Foundation has assembled teams of prominent scholars and humanists to serve on the Foundation’s Board of Advisors and on the Kistler Prize Advisory Panel.
The Foundation is sustained in perpetuity by a permanent endowment.

The Purpose
The Kistler Prize was created out of concern for the long-term future of humanity.
Leaders of human societies – constrained by relatively short-term problems related to economics, education, poverty, trade, and international affairs – often show little interest in addressing issues that have consequences for the long-term future of humanity. This attitude has been prevalent from the beginning of the industrial revolution and continues today. At the same time, because of wondrous technological achievements and political ideologies, we have affected reproduction, resulting in higher growth rates of population. The rules of Darwinian selection are being changed, thus affecting the evolutionary processes that have determined the human genome.
Our goal is to raise concerns about the future, to end the “head in the sand” attitude that seems to prevail in human organizations, private and public. Unbiased research into the connection between the human genome and human society, culture, and tradition is urgently needed. The role of nature and of nurture in the development of a human being needs to be better understood.
The purpose of the Kistler Prize is to acknowledge and encourage scientific research that demonstrates the connections between current genetic trends in human populations and the long-term impact on the viability and survivability of the human race, society, and culture.
The Award
The Kistler Prize consists of a US$100,000 cash award and a specially designed 180-gram gold medallion seated in a leaded glass sculpture. It is named for Walter P. Kistler, originator of the award program and benefactor of the Foundation For the Future.
The Prize is awarded annually to a scientist or research institution that has, with courage and wisdom, pursued the truth and made original, substantive, and innovative contributions in the study of the connections between the human genome and human society.
Please go to the NOMINATION PROCESS page for eligibility requirements.

How to manage what we don´t know!

Risk management is a core strategic discipline! There are two categories of risks in business decisions: knowable (and therefore learnable) and unknowable.

Learnable risks are the ones we could make less uncertain if we had the time and resources to learn more about them.

The crucial distinction between learnable and random risks is not about how to manage them. In fact, there is always something to learn about managing every risk. We can improve response times, train people to recognize signs that something has gone wrong and even control the size of our exposure. Whether a particular risk is learnable or random thus has little to do with our ability to manage it.

Random risks would be the ones where nothing we could learn would reduce the uncertainty behind them.

Scoring your risk intelligence:

Rule 1. Recognize which risks are learnable.

Rule 2. Identify risks you can learn about fastest.

Biblio: Apgar, David, Risk Intelligence, Harvard Business School Press, 2006

Future Memory: is it possible?

Some researchers believe that our brain/mind system can live the future before it occurs! They propose a new category be established under mods of futuristic awareness. Author P.M.H. Atwater describe this category as follows:

Future Memory >> to prelive in advance (subjective/sensory-rich). The ability to fully live a given event or sequence of events in subjective reality before living that same episode in objective reality. This is usually, but not always, forgotten by the individual after it happens, only to be remembered later when some "signal" triggers memory.
For them, the present moment can be past tense! It is more a process of memory than anything psychic. They actually remember the future, just as they remember the past, even though that memory is not based on previous "constructions" (the brain´s ability to adapt actualities to accommodate whatever is precedent). They do not predict. They are just people who now live in a different reality system than before, where the understanding of time and space has shifted from the norm. Other researchers often misinerpret and misunderstand this phenomenon, thinking it to be something it is not.

In business we use forecasting. It is to predict in advance (objective/logical). Depends on mathematical projections made from detailed facts and figures to provide information. But some futurists use another kind of phenomenon: precognition. It means to know in advance (subjective/feeling). Is the act of knowing or feeling the future before it happens; occasionally called "sensing". Refers too advance knowledge suddenly known without precursory promptings or impressionistic stimulus of any kind.

Future TOP 10 HOT CAREERS IN 2012

Space Tourism to Genetic Counseling
In our information-rich society there is an ever increasing demand for workers in the fields of computers, health care, science and space technology—much of it driven by the demands of the retiring baby boomers. If you like to plan ahead, here is sampling of some of the jobs that will be hot in the next several years and beyond.
Organic food Industry
By 2010, organic food and beverage will represent about 10 percent of the total market — a tenfold increase from 1998. Bob Scowcroft, executive director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation says the industry will soon need more organic food producers, certification experts, retailers and scientists as organic becomes mainstream.
Qualifications: Organic food expertise in farming, business or science.
Salary range: $50,000 to $80,000
Computational Biology
There is a growing need to combine computer science, biology and math to make sense of research data in massive quantities, says Leroy Hood, co-founder of the Institute for Systems Biology. This field may eventually allow physicians to test for a patient’s unique genetic markers and tailor the best treatments and medicine for that patient.
Qualifications: A bachelor’s degree or higher in bioinformatics, computer science, mathematics, biology or related area; strong software engineering skills.
Salary: $106,000 to $118,000
Parallel Programming
By 2012, computers will jump from core duo processors to multi-core processors — as many as 80 processors per machine — packing supercomputer power into desktops, said Jerry Bautista, co-director of Intel’s Tera-scale Computing Research Program. The different cores can work in parallel, like a symphony’s instruments, cracking complex problems, building lifelike models and anticipating its users’ needs, all at breathtaking speed. Parallel programmers who can keep the ‘symphony’ in tune will be in high demand.
Qualifications: A bachelor's degree or higher in computer science or relevant field, non-linear thinking and creativity.
Salary: $79,000 to $88,000
Data Technology
In 2012, radio frequency ID chips, video cameras, computers and sensors will generate incredible amounts of information. Data technologists build structures—real and virtual—that turn the pile of data into something meaningful and beautiful, says Eric Rodenbeck, founder and creative director at Stamen Design.
Qualifications: Experience in virtual environments, imaging and visualization, technical skills, willingness to learn new tools and imagination.
Salary: $90,000 to $102,000
Simulation Engineering
By 2012, an increase in processing power and rich data will make simulations more realistic, and user-friendly. Simulation engineers will be working on bringing us closer to “Star Trek’s” Holodecks—the ultimate total immersion simulation. Simulations will be in every industry and every engineering field, said Frieder Seible, dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California-San Diego. Businesses will test products and product releases and forecast markets. Engineers will test designs, from bridges to skyscrapers, by examining lifesize projections. Historians will be able to recreate the past, like ancient Rome or the moon landing.
Qualifications: A bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, math, physics or relevant field; analytical skills; and interpersonal skills.
Salary: $91,000 to $114,000
Boomer Caregiving
This job may not sound as exciting as some, but it will certainly be in demand. Most retiring baby boomers want to remain in their homes for the rest of their lives, accord to the AARP. To accomplish that, they will need help with errands, chores and home care. From 2004 to 2014, home health aide will be the fastest-growing career, with 56 percent growth and about 350,000 new openings, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Qualifications: Short-term training, people skills and compassion.
Salary: $23,000 to $25,000 (sometimes includes free housing in the clients’ home and other perks)
Genetic Counseling
Doctors will be able to test for dozens of genetic markers and predict when a person will likely experience a genetically based condition. With more tests and treatments available, genetic counselors will be needed to help individuals and families make decisions about genetic technologies as it applies to science and personal beliefs. Today, about 2,000 counselors are recognized by the American Board of Genetic Counseling.
Qualifications: A master’s degree in genetic counseling, critical thinking skills and communication skills.
Salary: $58,000 to $64,000
Brain Analysts
Using increasingly advanced brain imaging tools, neuroscientists will determine how people feel and react or what they’re capable of, said Terry Sejnowski, a professor at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies and head of its Computational Neurobiology Laboratory. People could detect deception, diagnose mental illness, identify intellectual strengths and collect accurate market research and even get help picking careers best suited to their brains.
Qualifications: A bachelor’s degree in neuroscience, experience in health care and people skills.
Salary: $180,000 to $229,000
Space Tourism
While this one may sound far-fetched, the entire industry of space tourism is poised to “take off”. There are already 200 reservations for space flights. Space Adventures plans on hiring about 10 space tour guides to start, said spokeswoman Stacey Tearne said. The world’s first space hotel is also set to open in 2012, which could be the beginning of a whole new sector of jobs which will require the merging of space smarts with great hospitality.
Qualifications: A bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering or a relevant field, a love for sky-high adventure and a strong belief in the benefits of human space exploration.
Salary range: $80,000 to $90,000
Roboticists
In a way, robots have already taken over the world. The components, processors and sensors for robots are getting cheaper every quarter, said Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster. Hundreds of new applications for robots are already being developed. Robots already work in research laboratories, factories, hospitals, daycares and housekeeping, and the trend is only expected to grow as the field progresses.
Qualifications: Experience in computer science, engineering and electronics and a love of tinkering.
Salary: $80,000 to $90,000
Posted by Rebecca Sato (Original source: The Daily Galaxy)
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