Trend forecaster Gerald Celente, whose book, “What Zizi Gave Honeyboy,” was made into a film starring Doris Roberts in her last dramatic role, paid tribute to the Emmy Award-winning star on the news of her passing in April. “How grateful I am to have met Doris and for her wonderful portrayal of my aunt Zizi,” said Celente. “She gave the role the...
Don’t dare question war
ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps from World War I. But it now stands for a lot more. April 25 was ANZAC Day, Australia and New Zealand’s Veterans Day, and has been so for more than a century. It commemorates the landing by the ANZAC expeditionary force on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey in 1915. And I...
Trend Forecast
The Last War is one of the institute’s Top Trends for 2016. As this piece illustrates, speaking against war and for peace comes with consequences, spoken and unspoken. As we wrote in the Winter Trends Journal: “Despite incontrovertible evidence of spreading wars and escalating global tensions, in the worlds of entertainment, politics and media, there is a deafening silence in...
A global crisis
America and much of the world are facing a clean-water crisis of epic proportions. It came to the forefront in the states recently with the Flint, Michigan lead-water fiasco that has poisoned thousands, been linked to a Legionnaires’ disease breakout that killed several people and resulted in criminal charges against three city and state workers. In 2013, to save money,...
Trendpost
Access to clean water will remain an increasing challenge globally for the foreseeable future – not only due to shortages caused by drought and overuse, but also to crumbling infrastructure in developed and undeveloped worlds. Moreover, explosive global population growth will tax these rotting systems even further. In 1900, the world’s population was just 1.5 billion. Today, it stands at...
Why your sweet tooth isn’t going away
You can’t give up glazed donuts just by willpower. Researchers at Duke University have shown that a habit rewires the brain to ensure that our nervous system will continue to crave the fix. The scientists addicted mice to sugar in varying severities, then surveyed the nerve networks in the part of the brain that governs addiction. They were surprised to...
Trendpost
Continuing research revealing specific aspects of the brain’s plasticity is uncovering not only new methods, but also less invasive ways, to redirect neural wiring and alter behavior by modifying biochemistry. This avenue of research will find new, more effective ways to treat and perhaps cure mental illnesses, but it also raises the specter of creating designer personalities. As always, science...
Digital greengrocer bypasses bureaucracy
Hunger remains a problem in developed countries — not for lack of food, but for lack of getting it where it needs to go before it rots. Two new online ventures are showing how the problem can be solved. Cropmobster, covering seven counties in central California, lets growers and producers post their wares for hundreds of retailers and other buyers...
Trendpost
About 40 percent of food in the US is wasted, which also wastes energy, water and work. Digital platforms and community linkages can turn “food thrift” into a tool to solve community-level hunger without government agencies having to write a check.