In this issue: TURNING RIGHT IN TRAFFIC PHONEY FACE CHARITY IS HEART-SHAPED And much, much more... --------------------------------- BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 --------------------------------- Issue 90 --------------------------------- 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 & IDEAS > Seeds of cooperation This is a beauty. A survey in China that asked people to draw diagrams of their social networks found that people from rice growing regions drew themselves as smaller than their friends. In contrast, people from wheat farming regions drew themselves as larger. The explanation is that rice growing requires group cooperation, whereas wheat growing does not. Ref: The Atlantic (US) > Turning right in traffic Around 90% of turns made by UPS delivery trucks in the US are right turns and this has been deliberately designed. Sitting in traffic, waiting for a left turn, can waste time and consume fuel. Left turns (where people drive on the right) are also 3 times more likely to result in a pedestrian fatality than right turns. Ref: Washington Post (US) > Home alone The number of single person households in the UK has almost doubled over the last 40 years according to research commissioned by Liverpool Victoria (an insurance company). The study also suggests that young people will spend 50% more time living alone than previous generations. According to somewhat different government data, the number of single households has risen from 3.8 million in 1974 to 8.7 million (a 129% increase). Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) > Open sourced wine Tesco, the UK supermarket, is using its Facebook fans to pick the grapes (the variety, not the actual grapes), design the wine label and come up with a name for a new wine. Perhaps they should be asked to price it too. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) > Phoney face Psychologists at Essex University (UK) say that leaving a mobile phone on a table at dinner triggers thoughts of "wider social networks" and this can result in the creation of "emotional distance" between two people sharing the same physical space. Meanwhile, 33% of Americans say that they would rather give up sex for a week than give up their cell phone for a similar period. Ref: The Week (UK)/Daily Tech (US) > An unlikely cure for cancer Biochemists at La Trobe University (Australia) have suggested that tobacco plants might contain a substance that attacks cancer cells and cures cancer. Ref: The Conversation (UK) > QR codes A while back the Thai government invested in Thai restaurants in an attempt to encourage tourists to visit Thailand. Now Ecuador, one of the world's biggest exporters of bananas, is using QR codes on its bananas to advertise their country as a tourist destination. Ref: Yahoo! (US) > The sound of playful cooperation A 3-week experiment using 11- and 12-year-old students at an elementary school in Israel found that playing relaxing music from a CD called 'The Spirit of Yoga' during recess resulted in a significant reduction in antisocial behaviour. BTW, see web sight of the month below. Ref: Pacific Standard (US) > Charity is heart-shaped Requests for humanitarian aid are more successful if a flyer is heart-shaped rather than rectangular, according to researchers at the University de Bretagne-Sud (France). Ref: Harvard Business Review (Daily Stat) > Low-cost aircraft inspection? Easyjet, the low-cost airline, is said to be working with scientists at Bristol Robotics Laboratory (UK) to establish whether robotic drones (UAVs) could be used to inspect and repair passenger aircraft. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) > Wi-Fi cold spots The Grenoble Institute of Technology, working alongside the Centre Technique du Paper, has created rolls of wallpaper that block Wi-Fi and mobile phone signals. Emergency television and radio signals are unaffected. Meanwhile, Think Big Factory, a design firm, is developing a way to make every surface in a building a computer interface using a combination of projectors, webcams and kinetic sensors. Other coming attractions include 'magic carpets' that can detect if a person has fallen down and doesn't get up again. Ref: Financial Times (UK) --------------------------------- : THE NUMBERS Scientists at Princeton University (US) claim that Facebook has grown - and will die - at a speed roughly approximate to the spread of bubonic plague. This means that Facebook will lose 80% of its users by 2017. Ref: The Big Issue (UK) 25% of adults in the UK would rather eat a meal in front of a television set than eat with their partner at a table. Ref: Business Life (UK) In 2012, the median pay for a CEO in the USA was $14 million, whereas US worker salaries averaged $45,230. Ref: New York Times (US) Per capita GDP in India and China has doubled in 16 and 12 years respectively. In Britain this took 153 years. Ref: Financial Times (UK) People who describe themselves as "white British" in the UK have fallen from 88% of the population in 2001 to 81% in 2012. Meanwhile, people saying they have "no religion" has risen from around 15% in 1981 to about 25% in 2014. Ref: Economist (UK) Among the 34 member nations of the OECD, populations aged 65 and above are expected to increase by 67% by 2050. Ref: Financial Times (UK) There were 44 million cyber attacks in the UK during 2011. Ref: Sunday Telegraph (UK) US population is forecast to rise by 27% to 400 million by 2050 (9% less than predicted back in 2008). The number of individuals aged 65+ is expected to grow to 22% of the population by 2060, while individuals of working age are predicted to decline from 63% of the population to 57% over the same period. Ref: Economist (UK) There are 84,000 communication towers in the US and it's estimated that they kill 6.8 million birds each year, largely because the birds fly into the cables. Ref: Financial Times (UK) A Portuguese study says that access to broadband in middle schools in Portugal led to a decline of 0.78 of a standard deviation in academic grades between 2005-2009. A key factor is whether or not schools allow access to YouTube. Ref: Harvard Business Review/Daily Stat (US) 95% of kids (presumably in the US) 12 to 15 years of age own at least one smartphone, tablet or other media device and have, on average, 78 Facebook friends that they've never met in person. Ref: Mashable (thanks Matt) Over the last 30 years the percentage of national income going to the lowest 50% of earners in the UK has fallen by 25%, while the share going to the top 1% has risen by 50%. Meanwhile, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations says that charitable giving fell by 20% during 2013. Ref: Financial Times (UK) One in ten workers have been disciplined or sacked for misbehaving at an office party. 52% of men and 44% of women have had an affair with a work colleague. Ref: The Week (UK) The minimum age to apply for a firearms certificate in Minnesota (US) is 11. Ref: Independent on Sunday (UK) There are more possible iterations of a game of chess than there are atoms in the known universe. Ref: Victor Allis --------------------------------- : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "The nation will find it very difficult to look up to leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground." - Winston Churchill --------------------------------- : PREDICTION OF THE MONTH It is estimated that 27 billion condoms will be used in 2015. Ref: New Scientist --------------------------------- : BOOK OF THE MONTH Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon by Buzz Aldrin --------------------------------- : WORD DETECTIVE Sapiosexual: A person attracted to people with brains. (via Wordspy) --------------------------------- : WEB SIGHT OF THE MONTH www.calm.com (Or you could just switch your screen off and listen to some relaxing music instead.) --------------------------------- : 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.