In this issue: TOY STORY KEEPING CALM SELFIES And much, much more... ------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ____ ___ _____ ____ ______ ______ * / __ )/ __ \/ | / _/ | / / |/ / | / _/ / / __ / /_/ / /| | / // |/ / /|_/ / /| | / // / / /_/ / _ _/ ___ |_/ // /| / / / / ___ |_/ // /___ /_____/_/ |_/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/_/ /_/_/ |_/___/_____/ *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail email issue 87 ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 > Angry toys Research looking at the facial expressions of 6,000 Lego figures has found that smiles were ubiquitous until 1989, at which point faces started to feature angry expressions. Moreover, the percentage of happy faces on Lego figures started to decline at around the same time. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) > Anger management A study conducted by Naomi Ziv at the College of Management in Rishon LeZion (Israel) suggests that playing piped music in school playgrounds can reduce the amount of bullying. Similar schemes in the UK have involved playing classical music on railway platforms late at night in order to deter vandalism. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) > Facebook frustration According to two German researchers at Berlin's Humbolt University, one in three people feel worse about themselves after visiting Facebook. The study looked at the behaviour of 600 Facebook users and found that feelings of frustration and anger were especially prevalent when users looked at the holiday photographs of other people. Ref: Time (US) > Soothing social media A study by Dr Alice Good at the University of Portsmouth's School of Computing (UK) says that around 90% of Facebook users studied look at their older posts and around 75% did so when they were feeling down or depressed. The survey, which looked at 144 users with an average age of 34, of which around 39% had mental health issues, claims that looking at oneself can have a soothing effect, especially if one is feeling low. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) > Social shyness Historically, around 40% of people claim to have difficulty in social situations. However, a Harvard Business School psychologist (Robin Abrahams) says that in studies this figure is now 50% and that individuals are becoming more insular. The reason is likely to be the insulating effects of digital communications, especially the way in which mobiles allow people to opt out of social situations either physically or virtually. Ref: Sunday Telegraph (Aus) > Technology foresight Using old data to predict new things is notoriously difficult, but Peter Erdi at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has developed software that plots the frequency of patents and how they relate to other patents, which in theory means that clusters of emerging technologies can be spotted earlier. Of course, if everyone is using the same source, or raw data, everyone will tend towards spotting the same idea, unless competitive advantage lies in the analysis of the data. Ref: New Scientist (UK) > Tea and sympathy A study by researchers at Washington University (US) has found that the relations of patients that die in intensive care in hospital are happier with the hospital than the relations of the patients that survive. The reason put forward is that people whose relations die receive more attention and sympathy. Ref: The Times (UK) > Cash is still king Despite credit cards, contactless payments, micro-payments, embedded value and private currencies (PayPal et al), 54% of all retail transactions in the UK are still cash. Interestingly, it is cheaper for retailers to take cash than cards. For example, it costs less then 4 pence to deal with a 20-pound transaction, whereas with a 20-pound credit card transaction the sum is typically 17 pence. Ref: British Retail Consortium > Criminal minds The idea that criminality could be linked to nature, rather than nurture, has a controversial history. However, following on from the sequencing of the human genome, serious scientists are returning to the subject. Of course, if a 'crime gene' were ever identified, a plethora of difficult questions would arise. For instance, if a genetic disposition was shown to exist, how would this impact on sentencing? If the gene could be found early, should individuals be identified and should intervention take place prior to any actual crime being committed? Interestingly, work by John H. Laub (National Institute of Justice) and Robert Sampson (Harvard) says that one of the largest factors influencing criminality is relationship status (Facebook take note). If people (especially males) are married they tend to invest time in the relationship, not in competitive behaviour. Ref: New York Times (US) ------------------------------------------------------------ : THE NUMBERS The world has consumed more food than it has produced in 7 of the last 8 years. Ref: National Intelligence Council: 2030 Report (US) 10% of UK families never eat a meal together during the week. Ref: Business Life (UK) It takes two bottles of water to make the bottle for one bottle of water. Ref: Harper's (US) The urge to check a mobile phone hits us, on average, 150 times per day, or every 6 minutes based upon a 16-hour waking day, according to a study by Nokia. Ref: Sunday Times (UK) Medical identity theft now impacts around 1.5 million people in the US and costs US authorities around $41 billion annually. Ref: Bloomberg/Ponemon Institute (US) In 1977, 369,000 motor vehicles were stolen in the UK. Last year (2012) it was 94,000. Reasons? Vehicle immobilisers, tracking and improved vehicle security. Ref: The Economist (UK) Since 1985, two Americans have been killed by sharks. Over the same period, 20 have been killed by pit bull dogs. Ref: Harper's (US) Over 53% of dogs in the USA are obese. Ref: Holland Herald (Netherlands) The amount of urban construction in the developing world (primarily Asia) over the next 40 years is likely to equal the amount to date in world history. Ref: National Intelligence Council: 2030 Report (US) According to McKinsey & Company, basic 'bread and butter' banking (i.e. simple transactional services) represent around 50% of a typical bank's revenue. Ref: Economist (UK) The size of the illegal (untaxed) economy in the United States is estimated to be approximately $222,000,000,000. Ref: Harper's (US) The website Alibaba accounts for 60% of all parcel post in China. Ref: The Economist (UK) 'Selfies' (photographs taken by a photographer of themselves) now account for 30% of all pictures taken by 18-24-year-olds. Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------ : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "Regret is insight that comes a day too late." - Unknown ------------------------------------------------------------ : PREDICTION OF THE MONTH "By 2020 there will be 50 billion things connected to the internet." - Cisco ------------------------------------------------------------ : BOOK(S) OF THE MONTH "The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution will Create Better Healthcare" by Eric Topol ...although I'm tempted by: "Time Reborn: From the Crisis of Physics to the Future of the Universe" by Lee Smolin BTW, if you'd like a free bit of my latest book (Future Vision) here's a link to download the first 40 pages: http://nowandnext.com/PDF/Futurevision%20Book%20Sample.pdf ------------------------------------------------------------ : WORD DETECTIVE Cli-Fi: Literary fiction or movie genre featuring apocalyptic climate change. Ref: Wordspy.com ------------------------------------------------------------ : WEB SIGHT OF THE MONTH A series of postcards showing what London could look like as a result of significant environmental change: www.postcardsfromthefuture.co.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.