The Kauffman Index reported in 2014 that 24.7 percent of new entrepreneurs were ages 20–34. That’s down from 1996, when 34.3 percent of new entrepreneurs were ages 20–34. That also represents a relatively steady slowdown. So while entrepreneurship is at its highest mark since the early 2000s, the millennial generation isn’t contributing much to this...
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Will water shortages dry up global economies?
Water shortages will severely stunt Gross Domestic Product in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia by 2050 unless water-management practices are changed, according to a report from the World Bank. The Middle East could lose 14 percent of its GDP, Africa north of the Sahara Desert 12 percent, and central Asia —...
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Trendpost
Water shortages will lie at the root of a long menu of future ills in Africa and Asia, from disease and famine to refugee migration and armed conflict. To mitigate the risk of shortages, countries need to focus on basic water stewardship, including replacing leaky urban water mains and building or improving underground storage facilities....
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Robot in a pill
Tiny robot repairmen or therapists traveling the byways of the human body to keep its systems working have been standard futurist fare for years. Now, a team of scientists and engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology and University of Sheffield have shown how it might work. The team created what...
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Trendpost
Advances in nano-engineering, artificial intelligence and bioscience will bring the possibility of on-board medical microbots to reality before 2025 for use in simple chores such as stitching ripped tissue or delivering medication. The second quarter of this century will see in situ robots becoming part of robotic surgery, with robots easily slipping into crannies of...
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PTSD in cells
Chronic pain from old accidents or sports injuries is common, but until now, scientists haven’t understood why pain should persist after the injury has healed. They knew that cells involved in the immune system helped perpetuate the pain, but didn’t know how. To answer the question, researchers at King’s College London studied immune cells in...
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If some forms of chronic pain can be found to have a genetic cause, then those forms could be “cured” through gene therapy. Researchers will pursue this new trail, but approved therapeutic treatments are still at least 20 years away.
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One-pot fuel recipe
A hurdle between plant-based engine fuel and commercial reality has been the several steps needed to process the plant materials before turning them into combustible, petroleum-lookalike liquids. Now, scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are a large step closer to vaulting that barrier. The research team engineered a strain of E. coli bacteria...
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Trendpost
The future of plant-based petroleum analogs is uncertain. By the time the technology is ready for large-scale commercial production at competitive prices, non-petroleum competitors may be not only just as cheap, if not cheaper, but also cleaner and more versatile.
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Teen pot use declines
In a survey of 216,000 adolescents from all 50 states, the Washington University School of Medicine has found that marijuana use among 12- to 17-year-olds fell 24 percent from 2002 through 2013. In 2002, a little more than 16 percent of that age group reported using pot during the previous year; in 2013, the number...