Stocks behind the fortunes of the world’s richest people are still hitting all-time highs despite malaise around the broader economy.
Germany is about to become the latest country to trial a universal basic income, starting a three-year study of how it affects the economy and recipients’ well-being.
As part of the study, 120 people will receive €1,200, or about $1,430, each month for three years — an amount just above Germany’s poverty line — and researchers will compare their experiences with another group of 1,380 people who will not receive the payments.
The study, conducted by the German Institute for Economic Research, has been funded by 140,000 private donations.
Corrinne Graham (Economic financial analyst, Space Renaissance USA) interviewed Gregg Maryniak, about his history, motivation and aims to inspire young generations to find their way to the outer space. Gregg is the co-founder, together with Peter Diamandis, of the X-Prize Foundation. The X-Prize is recognized, by the space community, as the initiative that triggered the New Space revolution, by demonstrating that the low cost access to space was feasible and mature. He was the Executive Director of the Space Studies Institute, founded by Gerard O’Neill in Chicago, US. He’s on the Board of Directors of the Singularity University and keeps on restlessly working to inspire and motivate youngs, students and public opinion at large, explaining why human expansion into space is needed and very urgent, in order not to miss our “launch window”. During the conversation, we acknowledged that we agree on many points, all of them primary relevant to the survival and continued progress of civilization. Namely the common appreciation for the O’Neill’s model, that gives priority and preference to artificial rotating structures – the “space colonies” – since they assure 1G artificial gravity. Also, we are 100% in tune about the extreme urgency of kicking-off civilian expansion into outer space, and the subsequent need to make people to understand it. The big risk – said Gregg — is to miss our launch window, the period in which social and economic conditions are favorable to begin really moving into space. When I asked him whether he thinks that humanity is doing everything that is to be done, and if we are in time, on our evolutionary road to space, his answer was a clear “NO”. So we understood that we also agree on the most urgent technology advances to be raised as priority: the enabling technologies, necessary to bring untrained civilians to travel, live and work in space. Namely low acceleration vehicles, protection against cosmic radiations, artificial gravity, green environments and artificial ecosystems in space habitats. Gregg is a great achievement indeed, in our SR Academy Mentorship Programme. After this first meeting, we’ll try to hold other ones, properly announced on social networks, with the target to bring the above discussion to large public opinion. Stay in tune! https://spacerenaissance.space/gregg-maryniak-interviewed-by…programme/
CHECK THE SPACE RENAISSANCE ACADEMY MENTORSHIP PROGRAM! https://spacerenaissance.space/the-space-renaissance-academy…programme/ Students: choose some theme(s) for your graduation theses or Ph.D https://spacerenaissance.space/themes-for-graduate-works/ Mentors: choose your favorite disciplines on which you can provide mentorship https://spacerenaissance.space/mentorship-disciplines/
Ogba Educational Clinic
Long before coronavirus appeared and shattered our pre-existing “normal,” the future of work was a widely discussed and debated topic. We’ve watched automation slowly but surely expand its capabilities and take over more jobs, and we’ve wondered what artificial intelligence will eventually be capable of.
The pandemic swiftly turned the working world on its head, putting millions of people out of a job and forcing millions more to work remotely. But essential questions remain largely unchanged: we still want to make sure we’re not replaced, we want to add value, and we want an equitable society where different types of work are valued fairly.
To address these issues—as well as how the pandemic has impacted them—this week Singularity University held a digital summit on the future of work. Forty-three speakers from multiple backgrounds, countries, and sectors of the economy shared their expertise on everything from work in developing markets to why we shouldn’t want to go back to the old normal.
Our mindset is everything: what one person sees as a crisis, another person sees as opportunity.
The magnitude of economic and social disruption caused by COVID-19 (25% of small businesses have closed, bankruptcies are up 26%) means that many existing business models are being upended. In some cases, entire industries.
As an entrepreneur, you should be asking yourself: What challenges or problems can I solve? What are new digital business models I want to experiment with?
Malak Trabelsi Loeb
13-08-2020
Covid-19 did not only cause a health crisis around the world; It led to severe economic, social, and political challenges in various countries.
The Space Force’s announcement last week that United Launch Alliance and SpaceX will launch expensive spy satellites and other military payloads brings a long and often fierce battle for government funds to an end — at least for now.
Why it matters: This type of government money — particularly in light of the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic — is key for space companies that often work on thin margins.
The state of play: ULA was awarded the bulk of the funds — $337 million — for two missions due to launch in 2022, with SpaceX winning $316 million for one mission launching that year.
In the end, we look back at our careers and reflect on what we’ve achieved. It may have been the hundreds of human interactions we’ve had; the thousands of emails read and replied to; the millions of minutes of physical labor—all to keep the global economy ticking along.
According to Gallup’s World Poll, only 15 percent of people worldwide are actually engaged with their jobs. The current state of “work” is not working for most people. In fact, it seems we as a species are trapped by a global work crisis, which condemns people to cast away their time just to get by in their day-to-day lives.
Technologies like artificial intelligence and automation may help relieve the work burdens of millions of people—but to benefit from their impact, we need to start changing our social structures and the way we think about work now.
Bacteriophage can reduce bacterial growth in the lungs, limiting fluid build-up. This could decrease the mortality of patients affected by COVID-19, according to the peer-reviewed journal PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research.
“The bacterial growth rate could potentially be reduced by the aerosol application of natural bacteriophages. These prey on the main species of bacteria known to cause respiratory failure,” says Marcin Wojewodzic, PhD, University of Birmingham (U.K.). Decreasing bacterial growth would also give the body more time to produce protective antibodies against the disease-causing coronavirus.
Used correctly, phages have an advantage here of being able to very specifically target the bacteria that cause secondary infections. They would remove the problematic bacterium but leave an otherwise fragile microbiome intact.” Martha Clokie, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of PHAGE and Professor of Microbiology, University of Leicester (U.K.)
The pandemic of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has caused the death of at least 270,000 people as of the 8th of May 2020. This work stresses the potential role of bacteriophages to decrease the mortality rate of patients infected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. The indirect cause of mortality in Covid-19 is miscommunication between the innate and adaptive immune systems, resulting in a failure to produce effective antibodies against the virus on time. Although further research is urgently needed, secondary bacterial infections in the respiratory system could potentially contribute to the high mortality rate observed among the elderly due to Covid-19. If bacterial growth, together with delayed production of antibodies, is a significant contributing factor to Covid-19’s mortality rate, then the additional time needed for the human body’s adaptive immune system to produce specific antibodies could be gained by reducing the bacterial growth rate in the respiratory system of a patient. Independently of that, the administration of synthetic antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 viruses could potentially decrease the viral load. The decrease of bacterial growth and the covalent binding of synthetic antibodies to viruses should further diminish the production of inflammatory fluids in the lungs of patients (the indirect cause of death). Although the first goal could potentially be achieved by antibiotics, I argue that other methods may be more effective or could be used together with antibiotics to decrease the growth rate of bacteria, and that respective clinical trials should be launched.