The Wall Street Journal reported in January that this past September the U.S. National Security Council Advisor John Bolton requested the Pentagon draw up plans for a “strike” against Iran after militants, allegedly aligned with Iran, fired three mortars into Baghdad’s diplomatic quarter which hosts the U.S. Embassy. The shells landed in an open lot...
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As forecast, pot is on fire worldwide
The “Get Healthy, Get High” trend for 2019 is growing strong across the globe, ensuring that this will be the year that legalized marijuana for both recreational and medical use will break into the mainstream in the U.S. and many other countries. As we forecast in December: “In 2019, the legalization of marijuana in many...
Eat, drink and be pot merry
There is much more to the expanding cannabis industry than just smoke. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) can be ingested into the human body in a wide variety of ways to achieve the desired result whether it be “getting high” or relieving a specific medical condition. They are called alternative consumption options and include eating...
Where has all the sex gone?
The number of Americans who approve of sex between unmarried adults is at an all time high. The HIV virus is at an all time low. Birth control is readily available; the morning after pill doesn’t require a prescription. Hook up sex is a computer click away on Tinder, Grindr, and dozens of others. So...
Scooter craze is big business
After announcing last April that it will virtually abandon production of cars in North America by 2020, the Ford Motor Co. has spent $100 million to buy Spin, an electric scooter-sharing company. Spin operates in 13 U.S. cities and on several college campuses. Its scooters rent for $1 a trip plus 13 cents a minute....
No more canned tuna?
A December 2018 Wall Street Journal article accused Millennials of killing off the canned tuna industry. Sales are down, the paper claimed, because Millennials “can’t be bothered to open and drain the cans or fetch utensils and dishes to eat the tuna.” Actually, Millennials are still fetching dishes and using utensils. They’re just not using...
Got a cut? Spray it away
Avita Medical, a California biotech firm, has developed a spray-on skin to treat burns. Making the spray takes only 30 minutes, the company says. Technicians take a skin sample from the patient and turn it into a liquid suspension that can be sprayed over an area 80 times the size of the sample. Trial outcomes...
Stem cells from skin can rebuild the body
For the first time, scientists have been able to transform ordinary skin cells into stem cells that could be used to repair or regrow any part of the body. At the University of Helsinki and the Karolinska Institute, researchers found a way to simplify the process of using CRISPR gene-editing technology to harvest the skin...
Multi-purpose sensor in your stomach
Swallow the smart capsule just developed by an MIT-led coalition of bioengineers and it can stay in your stomach for weeks, delivering drugs, diagnosing conditions, or monitoring treatment of infections, among other tasks. The device responds to commands from a smartphone app and reports its readings back to you or to your doctor’s computer. The...
Businesses see green in going green
More and more US companies see the changing climate as a threat to their brand images and bottom lines, according to a December 2018 report from CDP Worldwide. Formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP gathers environmental impact reports from businesses around the world. While some companies are explicitly highlighting the business risks that a shifting...