Most frightening and/or depressing stories:
- Coral reefs are expected to decline 70-90% by mid-century.
- The U.S. stock market is overvalued by about 40% by historic measures, and some economists think a major recession may be looming.
- About half a million people have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan since the U.S. invasions starting in 2001. This includes only people killed directly by violence, not disease, hunger, thirst, etc.
Most hopeful stories:
- Eating “organic” foods may actually reduce your cancer risk after all.
- New drugs could mean very low transmission risk of AIDS, even for people engaging in previously high-risk behavior.
- Climate change news: A serious program of ecosystem restoration could offset around a fifth of annual U.S. carbon emissions. And the children suing the U.S. government for not addressing climate change might actually have a chance.
Most interesting stories, that were not particularly frightening or hopeful, or perhaps were a mixture of both:
- New tech roundup: People in Sweden are barely using cash at all, and some are paying with microchips embedded in their fingers. New technology may allow screening of multiple airport passengers from 25 feet away with minimal disruption. This is great for airline passengers who are already expecting to be screened intrusively, but of course raises some concerns about potential uses elsewhere in the public realm. Amazon is hiring about 100,000 seasonal workers this year, compared to about 120,000 in past years, and the difference may be explained by automation. There is a new ISO standard for toilets not connected to sewers systems (and not just your grandfather’s septic tank.)
- A unidentified flying object has been spotted in our solar system, and serious scientists say there is at least a plausible, if very unlikely, chance that it is an alien spacecraft.
- People are taking micro doses of LSD on a daily basis, believing it boosts creativity, and there is some evidence for this although the science is not rigorous.