NewsFusion | 020

NewsFusion for March 2016

Science...

• Math professor solves 300 year old Fermat's Last Theorem, wins $700,000
• 17 year old student to join Mars Desert Research Station project in Utah to try out life on Mars | Brown Daily Herald
• Pluto just keeps getting more interesting | NBC News

Design...

• José Neves' Farfetch may be future of fashion | Financial Times
• Finland's fabulous modern wood architecture | Metropolis Magazine
• Graphic designers display their thoughts on Trump | Fast Company Design

Culture...

• Its not JUST a party, sophisticated ways to celebrate St. Patricks Day | Wall Street Journal Blog
• Even in Detroit, Irish culture and traditions going strong | The Detroit News
• The inside scoop on leprechauns, Ireland's mythic fairies | Mental Floss

Fast Company Names Seattle as 2013 Smartest City in North America

Fast Company's Co.Exist site, the company's sub-site that focuses on world-changing ideas and innovation, just named Seattle #1 on its 10 Smartest Cities in North America list. According to Fast Company, Seattle was the clear winner in the Smart Economy and Smart Government rankings and came in second behind Washington, D.C. in the Smart People category.

Fast Company called out that many of Seattle's sustainability and innovation accolades in their reasons for the high ranking, including the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Sustainable Seattle, and Climate Solutions. The list author, Boyd Cohen, specifically called out The Happiness Initiative, incubated in Sustainable Seattle, which aims to measure the level of local happiness, stating that it is "something I consider to be a core objective of smart city programs."

Congrats to the great city of Seattle! Future-ish is proud to call Seattle home!!!

Innovation Uncensored 2012

Fast Company is gearing up for the 2nd Innovation Uncensored event in NYC on April 18, 2012. The 2011 San Francisco event was a game changer for innovative thinkers and doers and NYC is poised for even more big ideas.

The Flexible and Faceted Generation Flux

In his Fast Company article "This Is Generation Flux: Meet The Pioneers Of The New (And Chaotic) Frontier Of Business", Robert Safian re-defines generation labels in one fell swoop. Safian's Generation Flux has no decade range like Baby Boomers, GenX, or Millennials. Rather, it defines a state of mind and an ability to cope with the ever-changing bleeps on the economic, social, and political radar. In his own words, "GenFlux is a mind-set that embraces instability, that tolerates--and even enjoys--recalibrating careers, business models, and assumptions" and goes on to say that "the most important skill is the ability to acquire new skills". We say...bravo Mr. Safian, BRAVO!

SeanChron - "Future Shock" video with dramatic Orson Welles and 70s disco soundtrack

I seem to be crushing on Future Shock these days so I was psyched to run across part 1 of this fabulous 1972 documentary of Future Shock (via Greg Linday's fastcompany.com article). Orson Wells does a fantastic job of delivering a theatrical narrative and the future-ambient soundtrack is over the top. But...once again, the content and message were completely avant-garde at the time and remain so today. You can find parts 2-5 of the full documentary on YouTube.

Fast Company's 2010 Masters of Design raise the do-gooder bar

In their Ocotber 2010 issue, Fast Company released their 2010 Masters of Design (MOD) and this year's list has more on their mind than new graphics or gadgets. As you'll see in the magazine and the online content, they are out to save the world.

SeanChron - The Invisible Force of Future Shock

I finished reading Alvin Toffler's 1970 book "Future Shock" on Wednesday, October 13th, 2010. I penciled in a last note to myself on the last page, pondered the profundity of it all, and then had a good nights sleep. Later the next day, while catching up on all my favorite blogs and such I ran across this...Greg Lindsay's article on fastcompany.com, "Future Shock at 40: The Tofflers Stir Up "Cyberdust" With New Scenarios". Timely, no? Needless to say, the book, the recent article, and all the references to the Alvin and Heidi Toffler's visionary ideas are endlessly fascinating to me and their influence on how we perceive, predict, and plan for the future can be seen everywhere from the slow food movement to social networking. The Toffler's consulting firm, Toffler Associates may come across as a little stuffy/corporate, but its good to know that world leaders, IBM, and global nonprofits are are taking advice from experts who have chronicled the many ways the future may be coming at us a little too quickly.

Healthy hospitals

First, Do No Harm, a recent article in Fast Company magazine by Kate Rockwood and Erica Westly, explores how hospitals of the future will be healthier...both for people and the environment.

Infographic by Golden Section Graphics via Fast Company.

Design Idol & Sceleb | Neri Oxman

Gracing the June 2009 cover of Fast Company Magazine as one of their 100 Most Creative People in Business is modern science and design diva, Neri Oxman. Although her early studies were in medicine and technology, after a degree in architecture she's now focused her keen mind on the science and design of materials and processes in what she describes as 'materialecology'. When she's not busy as a Presidential Fellow at the MIT Media Lab you might find her preparing for an opening of her artwork at MoMA, chatting with Vogue and Interview for upcoming articles, or lecturing at another major university somewhere in the world. Best of all, her work to improve industrial materials and processes is inspired by nature and ecology which explains why she wins awards in both design and sustainability. A scientist as cover girl leads us at Future-ish to propose two hypotheses: 1. smart is sexy and 2. smart is the new black. Watch out Tyra and Cindy, the era of glamour geeks has arrived.