How scared should you be of bird flu?

by Jennifer B. Nuzzo in The New York Times….No one knows whether H5N1, if left unchecked, will become the deadly pandemic that public health experts like me worry it could. Many of us have been watching H5N1 with alarm for more than 20 years.

Here’s what is wrong with the national academies’ long COVID definition

by Leonard Jason in MedPage Today…Because a large percentageopens in a new tab or window of primary care patients have unexplained symptoms, healthcare workers often do not know what is causing their symptoms or how to help them. Physicians might feel better providing a nebulous diagnosis like the proposed National Academies long COVID definition, but in the long-run, I doubt this helps patients.

Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic

by Chris Bing and Joel Schectman in Reuters….The U.S. military launched a clandestine program amid the COVID crisis to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation – payback for Beijing’s efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic. One target: the Filipino public. Health experts say the gambit was indefensible and put innocent lives at risk.

Canada’s big worry: A US civil war

by Alexander Burns in Politico…Justin Trudeau probably won’t ask Joe Biden if the U.S. is headed for a war between the states. But a report from within his government says it’s time for Canada to get ready.

Are we doomed? Here’s how to think about it

by Rivka Galchen in The New Yorker…..Climate change, artificial intelligence, nuclear annihilation, biological warfare—the field of existential risk is a way to reason through the dizzying, terrifying headlines.

The case for hope

by NICHOLAS KRISTOF in The New York Times…The truth is that if you had to pick a time to be alive in the past few hundred thousand years of human history, it would probably be now.

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Jul 06 2023

Global polycrisis: The causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement

by Dr. Michael Lawrence at The Cascade Institute….. In this framework, a global crisis arises when one or more fast-moving trigger events combines with...
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After Spaceship Earth

An expansive look at the contemporary artists confronting, challenging, and reimagining R. Buckminster Fuller's techno-utopianism to envision sustainable futures...
Mar 24 2025

Playing with time: Introducing a foresight practice to build hopeful futures through transformative stewardship

by Cat Tully in School of International Futures…I want to help us unstick from this present, apply a practical set of approaches to help our communities navigate...
Mar 24 2025

Future Signals – what we’re watching for in 2025

From Nesta…Our annual series about the trends and developments that are set to shape the coming year

Mar 21 2025

The militia and the mole

by Joshua Kaplan in Propublica…A Freelance Vigilante: A wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover, climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t...
Mar 20 2025

The turbulent world of resilience: 2 Interpretations and themes for transdisciplinary dialogue

by Susanne Moser, et al. in Climatic Change…In this paper we have tried to delineate – from a workshop and a literature review – fundamental differences in...
Mar 19 2025

Zero-problem philanthropy

by Christian Seelos in SSIR…Moving away from endless problem-solving and toward creating healthy context.

Mar 18 2025

Octavia Butler on creativity, the power of our obsessions, and how we become who we are

by Maria Popova in The Pocket…“Love quiets fear. And a sweet and powerful positive obsession blunts pain, diverts rage, and engages each of us in the greatest,...
Mar 17 2025

Strategy 2030 mid-term review and forecast

From IFRC Solferino Academy…As we reach the midpoint of Strategy 2030, we are entering a new humanitarian era. A complex mass of emerging trends is changing the...
Mar 17 2025

Looking Forward

by Steven Ascher in his film Looking Forward…“W.H. Auden called the postwar era, ‘The Age of Anxiety.’ It seems we’re in another one now.”

Mar 14 2025

Empowering residents to drive the redevelopment of a trailer park

from Habitat for Humanity Cost of Home report…Rosensweig adds that Southwood has the potential to be a model for sustainable and equitable redevelopment of both...