The following submission statement was provided by /u/tonymmorley:

Quaise Energy, a Boston company, is using tech from nuclear fusion experiments to reach new depths. *"12 miles down", that's 19 kilometers for team metric.

>"Quaise Energy, a startup based in Boston, is taking a third approach: digging deeper—and using more heat—than any company has before. To do so, it’s refashioning a millimeter-wave drilling technique from nuclear fusion experiments."

Globally installed geothermal capacity has grown by 982% between 1975 and 2020, and an astonishing 70% since the year 2000. 📈

While the theoretical potential of geothermal energy is enormous, the technology still accounts for less than 0.2% of the global power supply.

>
"Quaise’s chief executive officer, likens it to “a big cousin of the microwave in your kitchen”—only with 1,000 times more power. “It’s a fairly mature technology,” he says. “We just use it for this purpose.”

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yjqjzw/drilling_12_miles_down_to_tap_geothermal_energy/iup8wlt/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Man-from-Hjelmdall:

After a few failed attempts in the past few decades, it looks like this RSV vaccine is pretty successful if you look at the data from trials. RSV kills more people than expected per year, especially the very young. If this truly works and is distributed on a large scale, it's a real game-changer.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yjgwwo/new_rsv_vaccines_are_on_track_to_make_this_one_of/iunpt8o/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/darth_nadoma:

Following the U.N. Climate Change Conference that took place in November
2021, the Angolan authorities have set an ambitious target to derive
70% of its energy matrixfrom renewable sources by 2025. While the
current national electrification rate is below 50%, the country has
plans to increase this to 60% by 2025, on the back of clean energy
development. Angola is home to abundant sunshine for much of the year,
with a global annual horizontal solar radiation estimated between 1,370
and 2,100 kWh per cubic meter per year. As a result, the country could
have as much as 55 GW of potential solar power capacity.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yjc2lx/harnessing_angolas_solar_power_potential/iumyxex/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>There are many, many other examples, but the point of nearly all of them is that you’ll have much better dating prospects if you’re forklift certified.
>
>But I have bad news for the guys out there in that oh-so-exclusive club of certified operators who are never lonely on Friday night. A recent press release from BMW shows us that the machines want in on the action. Not only are they going to steal your lucrative forklift job at the local warehouse, but they’re probably going to steal your ladies, too.
>
>BMW i Ventures has announced its lead investment in Fox Robotics, the world’s first intelligent forklift that can autonomously unload pallets from the trailer to the receiving dock. The oversubscribed funding round raised a total of $20 million from new and existing investors. New investors include Zebra Technologies, Japan Airlines & Translink Innovation Fund, and Foothill Ventures. Existing investors Menlo Ventures, ENIAC Ventures, and SignalFire also participated in the round.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yj9n9r/bmw_its_robots_are_going_to_take_your_forklift/iumkrwy/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Responsible-Hat5816:

>It may strike many as common sense that most causes of death are what we have come to understand as “age-related”: The longer we live, the more likely we are to develop, for example, heart disease, cancer, or Alzheimer’s. Therefore, a reasonable thing one can do to prevent the development of age-related diseases, is to, well, not age. It turns out that’s actually not as flippant as it sounds. So, is that possible and how do we get there?
>
>In short, all strategies for life extension revolve around a combination of three factors, all working together to fortify health and wellness for a longer haul: 1) things you should stop doing (I have a list which I mostly ignore, you?), 2) things you should start doing (honestly part of my same list), and 3) adopting the contributions of new health and wellness technologies and scientific discoveries that are helping to curb aging. All three comprise parts of a budding ecosystem that is growing into a multibillion-dollar industry on an exponential trajectory to displace everything we have come to understand as modern medicine. If just what we know today were fully embraced and actualized, the global economy could also be transformed—and with it, a renaissance of human flourishing.
>
>And we could use it. When ranking countries for life expectancy, the United States often doesn’t make the top 50—despite having the highest healthcare costs per capita in the world, by far. In other words, maybe we’re doing it wrong.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yj9b9d/want_to_live_longer_how_life_extension_industry/iumj4yh/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/darth_nadoma:

The report stresses that without urgent action on clean air, the financial cost of air pollution in Africa’s cities is predicted to increase by more than 600 per cent by 2040. Studies show that Africa’s cities are likely to house 65 per cent of its population by 2060.

Air pollution killed 1.1 million Africans in 2019, while AIDS related diseases killed 440 thousand.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yixcuc/clean_air_activists_condemn_silent_pandemic_of/iul1ad0/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/mafco:

This is great news. Both the US and the EU risk becoming dependent on China for the technologies of the next century. The inflation Reduction Act and recent Biden executive actions aim to renew the US solar industry. It's great to see the EU also responding. I would love to also see cooperation between the two.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yiua5f/germanys_solar_valley_could_shine_again_germany/iukjpna/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/globehater:

Submission Statement: "More testing" is not always the best answer to cancer prevention. Although new MCED (Multi-Cancer Early Detection) blood tests promise to be able cleverly find trace evidence of tumor DNA in the blood, confirming the test results is going to require even more costly follow-up tests. And survival rates might not actually be improved by knowing earlier about tumors that prove to be benign.

How can we make sure this technology leads to longer lives?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yiomdj/a_blood_test_that_screens_for_multiple_cancers_at/iujo1nd/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Ezekiel_W:

>For their influenza vaccine, the researchers created an mRNA cocktail encoding the four influenza proteins neuraminidase, nucleoprotein, matrix protein 2, and the stalk portion of hemagglutinin
>
>The vaccine was then injected into a group of twenty or so naive mice who had never experienced influenza before. They either got a quadrivalent jab (meaning all four mRNA segments for each protein was present) or monovalent (the conventional flu vaccine or vaccines containing an individual mRNA for any one of the proteins). Some animals received one shot, while others lucked out with one shot plus a booster four weeks later. The mice were then challenged with an assortment of different influenza strains, both that infect humans and other animals like dogs.
>
>“When we mix all of them together, we get the broadest immune response,” he says. “You get the engagement of T cells against the nucleoprotein, you get antibodies, and we get a pretty strong neuraminidase response. That’s kind of the beauty here that you’re flexible in what types of [viral proteins] you use… and you have a lot of possibilities to try [out].”
>
>The researchers also expect it wouldn’t need to undergo annual updates as our current ones do. Instead, they might last for a few years.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yinwz9/scientists_use_mrna_technology_to_create_a_potent/iujkdcp/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/future168life:

If this substance is mass-produced, it will impact the dominance of mainland China, the largest supplier of rare earths with 80% of the global market. In addition to being used in smartphones, electric vehicles, nuclear magnetic resonance machines, etc., rare earths can also be used in military fields such as fighter planes and missiles, and have considerable strategic value. According to data previously published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tetrataenite consists of 50% iron and 50% nickel, with iron and nickel atoms arranged alternately in a regular periodic crystal structure. It produces a hard magnet, that is, the direction of magnetization does not change easily, and its magnetic properties are close to that of rare-earth magnets. With the rapid development of industries such as electric vehicles, the global demand for rare earths has been increasing in recent years. U.S. President Joe Biden has previously expressed support for increasing rare earth production, and the European Union also sees diversification of rare earth supply chains.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yilbyf/british_and_austrian_scientists_have_developed/iuj8v23/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/tonymmorley:

Building a better future for civilization requires believing a better future is possible as a fundamental prerequisite.

>“On what principle is it, that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?” — Thomas Babington Macaulay, Review of Southey’s Colloquies on Society, c. 1830 📈

​

>"Over the last 200 years, the lives of average people in every country have been radically transformed and improved. In our modern day, we are living longer and are more prosperous than ever before — in both high-income and low-income countries. And while progress forward is by no means progress completed nor a guarantee of progress to come, the remarkable improvements in global living standards serve, not as a high water or finish line, but rather as a source of inspiration and hope."

From #1. Life expectancy to #3. Indoor air pollution, and from #7. Safe water and sanitation to #6. Literacy, here are "9 astonishing ways that living standards have improved around the world"

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yi93km/9_astonishing_ways_global_living_standards/iuhiiin/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>"This launch will put the satellite on a trajectory that will take about three months to reach its science orbit," said John Baker, the mission's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "Then Lunar Flashlight will try to find water ice on the surface of the Moon in places that nobody else has been able to look."

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yhtohc/nasas_lunar_flashlight_ready_to_search_for_the/iufn7mj/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/EnergyTransitionNews:

Operating gas-fired power plants would be 10 times more expensive in the long-term than building new solar capacity in Europe, according to research from intelligence company Rystad. Their study uses the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for gas and coal-fired power generation at different price levels and compares it to the LCOE of solar PV and wind.

If gas funds were invested in renewables instead, Europe could replace gas with solar and onshore wind power generation by 2028, when total capacity would reach 333 GW, Rystad forecasts. This estimate assumes a weighted average capital cost for the technologies of €1.3 per watt, as well as a two-year pre-development phase.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yhraj6/new_solar_capacity_10_times_cheaper_than_gas_says/iufbixa/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/KJ6BWB:

> According to the team, phosphorus allows the iron and nickel atoms to move faster, enabling them to form the necessary ordered stacking without waiting for millions of years. They were able to accelerate tetrataenite formation by between 11 and 15 orders of magnitude by mixing iron, nickel, and phosphorus in the right quantities. This meant the material was able to form over a few seconds in a simple casting.

> “What was so astonishing was that no special treatment was needed. We just melted the alloy, poured it into a mold, and we had tetrataenite,” says Greer. “The previous view in the field was that you couldn’t get tetrataenite unless you did something extreme, because otherwise, you’d have to wait millions of years for it to form. This result represents a total change in how we think about this material.”

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yhn4ql/researchers_discover_substitutes_for_rare_earth/iuenc72/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/mossadnik:

Submission Statement:

>As Antarctica’s emperor penguins are increasingly threatened by the climate crisis, the flightless seabirds will receive new protections under the Endangered Species Act, or ESA.

>With global warming melting the sea ice the penguins depend on for their survival, the US Fish and Wildlife Service now categorizes the species as threatened. The federal agency lists “imperiled species as endangered or threatened regardless of their country of origin.” The announcement came more than a year after an initial proposal by the service to protect emperor penguins under the ESA.

>Emperor penguins rely on sea ice to form their breeding colonies, avoid predators in the ocean and forage for food. But as Earth’s temperature rises in relation to greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions, sea ice is at risk of disappearing. When sea ice melts or breaks apart earlier in the season than expected due to global warming, entire penguin colonies can decline or disappear.

>Parts of the Antarctic Peninsula’s sea ice have melted by more than 60% in 30 years, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. And if emperor penguins suffer and decline, it’s likely that other species within the ecosystem are also at risk due to the climate crisis. Emperor penguins forage for krill, fish and squid in the sea, but they also serve as prey for leopard seals and killer whales.

>There are about 61 emperor penguin breeding colonies along Antarctica’s coastline, which in total consist of between 270,000 to 280,000 breeding pairs (or 625,000 and 650,000 individual penguins, including juveniles), according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The bird population is currently stable, but research has suggested that the emperor penguin’s population will decrease by 26% to 47% by 2050, or drop to 185,000 or 132,500 breeding pairs, according to the service.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yhjpvd/antarcticas_emperor_penguins_at_risk_of/iue3sr7/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/nevernotdating:

Starter comment: This NYT Magazine piece, using text and illustrations, explains our possible quasi-apocalyptic, but livable future under 2-3C of warming over the next century, instead of 3-5C. The future will be chaotic, full of shortages, extreme weather events, and vastly different than our present, but humanity will live on in a recognizable sense. It will not be extinction, but evolution of our society. How we get to the next phase of civilization is our choice.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yhgn5d/the_new_world_envisioning_life_after_climate/iudqmlt/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

By the end of the century, Africa will be home to 40% of the world’s population – and nowhere is this breakneck-pace development happening faster than this 600-mile stretch between Abidjan and Lagos.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ygmcfa/megalopolis_how_coastal_west_africa_will_shape/iu97p0q/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/WallStreetDoesntBet:

Multinational tech giant Amazon recently released a household robot named Astro. The robot, currently available by invitation only, puts Amazon’s virtual assistant, Alexa, onto a dog-sized body with wheels that roams around your living space.

Astro’s primary function is home monitoring and security.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ygf0fr/robot_companions_are_on_their_way_but_dont_worry/iu88idh/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Test19s:

Vehicles are getting very interesting this decade, as they diversify into living/hangout spaces, software platforms, backup batteries, and even robot/AI companions. I hope this doesn’t further worsen the divide in societies or cut into public spaces. Thankfully there is increasing interest in walkable open spaces that is offsetting the worst of this new age car culture.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yfrygs/automakers_are_going_allin_on_gaming_to_keep_us/iu4vy9w/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>A team from the University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy created the new audit tool to evaluate “compliance with the law and national guidance” around issues such as privacy, equality, and freedom of expression and assembly.
>
>Based on the findings, published in a new report, the experts are joining calls for a ban on police use of facial recognition in public spaces.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yfotlr/uk_police_fail_to_meet_legal_and_ethical/iu4eo7p/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/darth_nadoma:

The number of installed industrial robots globally has increased by 517 thousand units in 2021, brining the total number of operational units to 3.5 million. With 74 % of installations being in Asia and UK being the only major country where installations decreased.

The article stated that while humanoid robots attract fanfare the humble industrial robots are doing more to transform the economy. The humanoid robots do not yet perform as good as humans

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yfmpv3/forget_the_humanoids_industrial_robots_will/iu43j65/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/redingerforcongress:

The battery pack will be based on GM's Ultium platform, which it's using to power its own electric vehicles. Due to the type of battery cells it employs, Ultium is billed as a modular and scalable system that can be adapted to different needs, so it may just fit the bill for the military.

GM said the military wants a light- to heavy-duty EV for use in garrison and operational environments in order to reduce fossil fuel use. As a result, that should reduce the military's carbon emissions.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yfbyck/gm_will_make_an_ultium_battery_pack_prototype_for/iu2s5df/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lightscameracrafty:

Submission Statement:

A new UN report predicts warming this century will fall between 2 and 3 degrees — this is a dreadful miss from our 1.5 degree goal that would have allowed us to continue our lives with relative normalcy, but also much much lower than the 4-5 degree apocalypse that was heralded even just a few years ago: “we have cut expected warming almost in half in just five years.” Neither normal nor apocalyptic - the future lies, frustratingly, somewhere in the middle.

This article also makes the case that we are hurtling rapidly towards a decarbonized future: renewables prices have plummeted over the last decade at an astonishing, almost miraculous, rate. Investment in green energy has officially outpaced investment in dirty energy for the first time this year — one paper estimates that a faster decarbonization process stands to make the world “trillions of dollars richer by 2050.”

At the same time, Wallace-Wells also makes the case that as amazing as this progress is, it’s simply not enough. A third of Pakistan is underwater. Hundreds died due to heat waves in Pheonix alone this summer - thousands in the UK, Spain and Portugal. “Even if temperature rise is limited to two degrees….the extremes might be what you would have projected for four or five.”

He echoes the warning of the IPCC last February: we were focusing too much on near-term amelioration rather than “transformational adaptation” and relocation - especially as “hard limits to adaptation have already been reached in some ecosystems” even as we seem to continue to populate them (cough Florida).

“What will the world look like at 2 degrees? Disruption and upheaval at every level. Suffering and injustice. Innovation too…and some new prosperity.”

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yfab57/beyond_catastrophe_a_new_climate_reality_is/iu2knii/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/edweirdmuybridge:

Shofu Maru is a bulk carrier that has been retrofitted with a sail to capture wind energy. The sail creates thrust for the ship that would otherwise have to be generated by bunker fuel. The sail is retractable so that it can be lowered in unfavorable wind conditions or at port.

Outfitting bulk carriers with sails is an interesting concept because a lot of bulk cargo (eg iron ore, coal, grain, etc) is not particularly time sensitive. This will allow the ship to make a more circuitous route and take advantage of any favorable wind along its voyage.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yf5ncg/worlds_1st_bulker_powered_by_wind_sails_into_port/iu1v9ab/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/thenewrepublic:

Submission statement:

This article is a review of William MacAskill’s new book “What We Owe the Future.” According to the review, the book rejects the scientific consensus that we have roughly a decade left to initiate the changes needed to preserve a living planet capable of supporting a complex civilization. In fact, even ­MacAskill’s “worst-case” climate scenario—the burning of 300 years’ worth of fossil fuels, resulting in three trillion tons of emitted carbon—is a survivable scenario with a sunny side.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yf37ne/the_heavy_price_of_longtermism_longtermists_focus/iu1fpwy/