In this issue: DEAD DOWN-UNDER VIRTUAL STRIKES ROBOT SKIN SUB-PROFESSIONALS DE-COUPLING FACEBOOK FATIGUE And much, much more... ------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ____ ___ _____ ____ ______ ______ * / __ )/ __ \/ | / _/ | / / |/ / | / _/ / / __ / /_/ / /| | / // |/ / /|_/ / /| | / // / / /_/ / _ _/ ___ |_/ // /| / / / / ___ |_/ // /___ /_____/_/ |_/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/_/ /_/_/ |_/___/_____/ *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail email issue 39 - May 2008 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail is a free snack-sized newsletter dedicated to current and future trends. To subscribe or unsubscribe go to http://brainmail.nowandnext.com Tell the whole world about brainmail forward this to a couple of friends. ------------------------------------------------------------ > Virtual Strikes The internet is changing how people strike a bargain. Apart from inflicting just-in-time strikes, which inflict maximum disruption with minimum loss of pay, workers are now staging virtual protests. For example, last year 2,000 IBM workers in France conducted a virtual strike in Second Life to protest at IBM's latest real-life pay settlement. Ref: The Economist (UK) > Thinking Outside the Box. Researchers working in Canada have discovered that open plan offices make people work more slowly and make people subconsciously mimic the behaviour of other workers in their field of vision. This links to other studies that have found that open plan designs increase workplace stress. Ref: Journal of Human Movement Science (Netherlands) > Word Detective: Excuse Technology. The latest excuse for not paying attention is technology. A recent example is a woman who testified in court that she could not remember what was discussed in a critical meeting because she was checking email under the table. Ref: Harvard Business Review (US) > The Rise of the Sub-Professional A trend that gets very little coverage is the way that professions have been segmented to create new classes of cheaper and lower-skilled labour. For example, the number of classroom teaching assistants in Britain has increased from 60,000-160,000 over the past decade. Nurse practitioners and community policemen are other examples. Ref: The Independent (UK) > Robot Skin NASA funded scientists in the US have created a 'smart skin' for robots using layers of polymers and carbon nanotubes. The 'flesh' allows machines, ranging from robots to artificial limbs, to 'feel' pressure and heat. Ref: The Times (UK) > Self-Repairing Materials Scientists at the University of Illinois and the University of Bristol are developing composite materials that repair themselves when damaged, much in the same way that human bones fix themselves when cracked or broken. Uses for self-healing composites could include aircraft windows and doors. Ref: The Economist (UK) > Upside Down Thinking A number of studies investigating the rise terrorist groups have asked the question: "Why do people join?" However, a more insightful question could be "Why do people leave?" A study by Penn State (US) psychologist John Horgan has found that a popular response is "Disillusionment". This finding is potentially useful because it may be possible to feed this disillusionment process. Ref: Time (US) > Happy or Sad? According to the World Database of Happiness two of the happiest countries on earth are Iceland and Switzerland. These countries also have amongst the world's highest suicide rates and are also relatively homogeneous ethnically. Ref: The Economist (UK) > Word Detective: Decoupling Decoupling refers to the idea that emerging markets have started to move away from the US in terms of economic dependence. The implications of such moves could include increased nationalism and regional protectionism. Ref: Newsweek (US) > Aged Innovation In Sweden seniors in the Stockholm area can arrange for various odd jobs to be done free of charge. The idea behind the idea is that elderly people (especially those aged 75+) are often injured doing simple home repair jobs and these injuries can be expensive in terms of treatment and ongoing care. The service is thought to have saved more than Euro 1 million in one town alone. Ref: Monocle (UK) > Clean City Law The city of Sao Paulo has banned all outdoor advertising including posters and flyers on city buses and trains in an attempt to reduce 'visual pollution'. 70% of local residents agreed with the ban in a recent poll. Ref: Monocle (UK) > Luxury Airship French designers have created a 210m (690 ft) long airship shaped like a whale, which could be floating around the world by 2020. The airship will carry up to 40 passengers along with a restaurant, a library, a gym and viewing terraces. Ref: The Times (UK) > Snail Mail 2.0 Forget email. The next big thing could be the letter logger. This is a cheap envelope insert that allows the sender to track where their mail is anywhere (almost) in the world thanks to GPS. The invention is being looked at by the US Postal Service but there is, as yet, no definitive plan to introduce the idea. Ref: Popular Science (US) > Corporate Voluntourism Is the next big thing in company perks the meaningful sabbatical? Companies such as Deloitte and HSBC are offering jaded employees the chance to take long trips abroad that not only recharge the batteries but also make a difference to the soul. Ref: The Times (UK) > Busy Kids Kids as young as ten have become so busy that in Japan they are buying day planners to organize their activities. Sales of these schedule books are growing at 20% a year. Ref: Nikkei Weekly (Japan) > More Travel Trends Carbon neutral holidays anyone? The desire for a low-carbon lifestyle is having an impact of the travel industry with demand for cycling and camping holidays showing steady growth. Expect this low carbon logic to be applied to coach travel in the fairly immediate future. Ref: The Times (UK) > Personal Air Conditioning A Japanese company has developed a variety of bedding products that cool the user without the need for air conditioning. Similarly a Swiss company has invented temperature adjustable clothing. Finally, Prof. Makoto at Tokyo University has developed a misting machine that cools condominiums through the use of 'dry mist'. Ref: Nikkei Weekly (Japan) > Risky Behaviour An experiment conducted by a psychologist at the University of Bath (UK) found that drivers that overtake cyclists do so closer if the cyclist is wearing a helmet. Similar studies have found that cars fitted with anti-lock brakes are driven faster than those without and that the use of seat belts in cars transfers the risk to those outside the vehicle. Ref: The Economist (UK) > Facebook Fatigue Are people getting fed up with social networks? Facebook suffered a 5% decline in the number of users in the UK between December and January this year and MySpace and Bebo registered similar falls. Time on site is also declining as people are becoming aware of issues relating to online privacy and piracy. Ref: Nielsen Online (UK) > Dead Down Under It's all very well getting buried in an organic eco-coffin in a wood with no headstone, but how on earth can your relatives find you in years to come? Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery in Australia has unearthed a plan to build a burial site where people can toss in a GPS transmitter and relatives can then find their loved ones with sat-nav. Ref: Register Hardware (UK) > Sporting Success The five most watched sporting events during 2007 were: the US Super Bowl, the Brazilian Grand Prix, the European UEFA league final, the Rugby World Cup and the World Athletics Championship. Ref: Time (US) > Pub Quiz A person's eyes are the same size from birth to death but ears and noses never stop growing. Ref: BBC (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : STATSHOTS Almost 35,000 nurses have left Britain since 2004. Ref: Prospect (UK) The number of non-food antibacterial products launched globally grew from less than 200 in 2003 to 1,610 in 2006 according to Mintel's New Products Database. Ref: Brand Strategy (UK) US $750 billion is now managed globally under Islamic or Sharia principles. That's more than the total GDP of Australia. Ref: Harvard Business Review (US) Between 2001 and 2006 the market for micro-finance loans increased by 525%. Ref: Time (US) In 2020 the dominant family type in Australia will be couples without children. Ref: Sunday Life (Aus) 51% of credit in Hungary is in foreign currencies. Ref: The Economist (UK) Smoking kills 25% of all men in the developed world. Ref: World Health Organisation (Switzerland) Sales of the five major painkilling medicines grew by 88% in the US between 1997-2005. Ref: Drug Enforcement Agency (US) London accounted for 20% of UK economic growth between 1997-2007. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) 30% of Australians claim to have no religion (up from 25% in 1996). Ref: 2006 Census (Aus) ------------------------------------------------------------ : WEBSITE OF THE MONTH Following on from the zebra crossing made from the names of pedestrians killed in automotive accidents comes the ghost bike. This is an old bike painted completely white and locked to a lamp-post to commemorate a cyclist killed on the road and to act as a reminder to people to watch out for cyclists. Chilling. See for yourself at http://www.ghostbikes.org ------------------------------------------------------------ : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "The question is not what you look at but what you see." Henry David Thoreau_ ------------------------------------------------------------ : BOOK OF THE MONTH Brand Obsession: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion by Lucas Conley ------------------------------------------------------------ : STILL HUNGRY? If this snack-sized newsletter still leaves you feeling hungry feed your brain with something a little more substantial at www.nowandnext.com (and yes, that's free too). ------------------------------------------------------------ : LOVE IT? THEN SHARE IT Do you know someone whose brain is not being fully exercised? Someone that is snacking on media that isn't terribly satisfying. Floss their brain and brighten up their day with a copy of brainmail in their inbox - forward this to your friends. ------------------------------------------------------------ : SMALL PRINT The stories and statistics appearing in brainmail are sourced from a variety of trustworthy publications worldwide. However, brainmail cannot guarantee the truthfulness of stories and a degree of commonsense should be applied before quoting or using any of this material in a commercial context.