In this issue: WEAK VERSUS STRONG TIES WORD DETECTIVE: SELF-TRACKING SLEEP ON IT And much, much more... ------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ____ ___ _____ ____ ______ ______ * / __ )/ __ \/ | / _/ | / / |/ / | / _/ / / __ / /_/ / /| | / // |/ / /|_/ / /| | / // / / /_/ / _ _/ ___ |_/ // /| / / / / ___ |_/ // /___ /_____/_/ |_/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/_/ /_/_/ |_/___/_____/ *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail email issue 83 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail is a free monthly (usually) newsletter dedicated to current and future trends, statistics and other nuggets of information. To subscribe, or unsubscribe, to the world's best cerebral snackfood visit http://brainmail.nowandnext.com/ Tell the whole world about brainmail - forward this to zillions of friends. ------------------------------------------------------------ : INSIGHTS, INNOVATIONS AND IDEAS > Final chapter for school textbooks? Louise Robinson, head of the Girls' School Association in the UK says that the "magic" of iPads and other tablet devices inspires students more than traditional books. Meanwhile, sales of e-books downloaded from the Internet have grown by 600% over the last 12 months and Amazon now sells 2.5 e-editions for every p-edition in hard copy. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) > Weak versus strong ties A study by Eytan Bakshy at Facebook has revealed that users tend to share information with weak ties (distant friends) far more than with strong ties (close friends). The explanation put forward is that information from distant friends or acquaintances tends to be more novel. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > A very big battery - sort of A firm of Danish architects (Gottlieb Paludan), along with researchers at the Technical University of Denmark, have come up with a novel way to store energy. The plan involves building an artificial island containing wind turbines. When the wind blows, water is pumped out of a giant tank on the island into the sea. When power is needed, water is let back in, thereby driving a turbine. Ref: Economist Technology Quarterly (UK) > Machine versus human creativity In an experiment, David Moffat, at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland, asked a series of musical experts and non-experts to rate the worth of six musical compositions. When participants were asked again, but told that computers composed some of the music, people liked these much less than those created by humans. But why? According to Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale, the answer is that part of the pleasure we associate with art comes from an appreciation of the human process responsible. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Libraries in South Korea While Britain closes many of its public libraries (but not as many as some people think), South Korea has announced that it has invested around #300 million in 180 public libraries, with a view to promoting reading. Ref: Financial Times (UK) > The quarter-million pounder (with cheese) Meat grown in laboratories is already here, only the amounts so far produced are miniscule. Mark Post, a scientist at Eindhoven University in the Netherlands, is attempting to change this by creating the world's first lab-grown beef patty. Why bother? Because raising animals for meat already takes up around 30% of the world's ice-free land and rising demand, especially from Asia, means that finding commercially viable alternatives could be highly profitable, if a bit tasteless. Ref: Economist (UK) > Word detective: Self-tracking Self-tracking is self-knowledge through numbers - or individuals measuring everyday activities to improve efficiency or quality of life. More on this at: http://quantifiedself.com/self-tracking/ > Britain's best record stores Monorail in Glasgow, Rough Trade East in London's Brick Lane, Alan's Records in London's East Finchley and Beatin' Rhythm in Manchester. Ref: The Times (UK) > Sleep on it A study of 475,000 people from 8 countries over 25 years says that people who routinely sleep for less than 6 hours per night, or those whose sleep is regularly disturbed, have a 48% greater risk of developing heart disease and a 15% higher risk of having a stroke than people that regularly sleep 8 hours per night. Ref: The Week (UK) > Rise of the micro-pub The traditional British boozer may be in serious trouble, but micro-pubs are flourishing. What's a micro-pub? The answer is somewhere terribly tiny and very local that sells real ale (not lager), doesn't serve food and tends not to allow slot machines or mobiles either. Ref: Sunday Times (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : THE NUMBERS 31% of people aged over 18 spend, on average, 5 hours per day on a computer, tablet or smartphone. Ref: New York Times (US) According to the British Retail Consortium, an average cash transaction in the UK costs 1.7 pence in transportation and banking costs, while a credit card transaction costs 37.1 pence. Ref: Financial Times (UK) In 1800, 40% of the world's trade passed through the port of Liverpool. Ref: The Economist (UK) Between 2003 and 2004, 253 million books were borrowed from public libraries in the UK. By 2008-2009 this figure had fallen to 215 million. Ref: Financial Times (UK) By 2050, between 15% and 37% of species will be "committed to extinction." Ref: New Scientist (UK) McKinsey & Company claims more than a fifth of the world's population live in 600 cities, while generating half of the world's output. Some 75% of the world will be in cities by 2050. Ref: Financial Times (UK) A 2007 study in LA found drivers within a 15-block district drove 1.5 billion kilometres each year looking for somewhere to park. That's equivalent to 38 trips around the Earth, 178,000 litres of fuel, and 662 tonnes of CO2. Ref: New Scientist (UK) In America, 14.5% of families suffer from "food insecurity" while 4.4 million people are fed by the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Ref: Financial Times (UK) Between 1984 and 2005, advertising sales halved at American newspapers. Ref: Newspaper Association of America (US) By 2020, 75% of TV channels will be accessed via the Internet (currently, 75% of video content is accessed via conventional television). Ref: YouTube (US) 70% of app users do not read the terms and conditions before agreeing to them. Ref: YouGov (UK) Facebook accounts for 1 in 7 minutes spent online globally. Ref: The Economist (UK) A report by Booz & Company, a firm of management consultants, says that s-commerce (social commerce conducted via contacts on social networks) was worth $5 billion in 2011. Ref: The Economist (UK) Around 3 billion people are expected to be online by 2016, almost double the number online in 2010 (1.6 billion). Ref: Boston Consulting (US) 95% of posts to brands' pages on Facebook go unanswered. Ref: Facebook (US) In the early 1900s, farming employed around 50% of Americans. Today the figure is around 3%. Ref: The Futurist (US) 36% of Italian children are now overweight. Ref: The Week (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : BOOK OF THE MONTH Something a little different this month: "Michel De Montaigne, The Complete Essays" (translation by M.A. Screech) ...or you could try something else old: "The Growth Illusion" by Richard Douthwaite ------------------------------------------------------------ : WEB SIGHT OF THE MONTH www.postsecret.com ------------------------------------------------------------ : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "The finest fury is the most controlled." - Christopher Hitchens, in the Boston Globe (US) ------------------------------------------------------------ : PREDICTION OF THE MONTH According to Forrester Research, 50% of US households will have Wi-Fi enabled devices on their TVs by 2016. Ref: Sunday Times (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : STILL HUNGRY? Not a lot of people know this, but brainmail is put together using some of the leftover bits from the What's Next trends report. So if this snack-sized newsletter is leaving you a bit hungry, go to nowandnext.com for something more substantial (and that's free too). ------------------------------------------------------------ : BRAINMAIL LIVE If you are considering a future focused speaker for your next conference, workshop, or other event ask your speaker agency about Richard Watson or contact him direct via nowandnext.com. Richard is the creator of brainmail (along with Matt and Phil). ------------------------------------------------------------ : SMALL PRINT The material appearing in brainmail is sourced from a variety of usually reliable publications worldwide. However, we cannot guarantee the truthfulness of stories and a degree of commonsense should be applied before quoting or using any material in a commercial context. If something appears to be too good to be true it probably is.