Promising... and worrisome news

Don't let the gloom industry get you down.  The news isn't all bad. Progress happens. For example...

The global extreme poverty rate fell below 10 percent for the first time, according to the World Bank in 2015. Extreme poverty has long been defined as subsisting below $1.25 a day, but the World Bank's adjustment now sets the line at $1.90 a day.  That leaves 702 million people in extreme poverty (or 9.6 percent of the world's population) vs 2012's 902 million people or 12.8 percent. 

Let's step further back: in 1990, 1.9 billion people lived under $1.25 a day. Twenty-five years have brought a substantial decline. Especially if the rise to 1.90 is factored in.

Okay, here's the question. Does this news encourage or enrage you? 

Pause and ponder how both the right and the left have a vested interest in gloom and destruction of our confidence. Sure fight complacency! Redouble our efforts! But that does not excuse reflexively rejecting good news.

Indeed, good news should make us confident we can earn more.

== Chipping away at problems ==

Diseases linked to open-fire cooking kill more people worldwide than HIV and malaria combined. And wood gathering destroys the land and often takes young people away from education or other opportunities. For decades innovators have been offering up "perfect" stoves for the world's poor. Now the latest move is promising. BURN manufacturing is producing clean, efficient cookstoves (made in Kenya) with low emissions that may save lives... and forests across Africa.

Polio may be eradicated worldwide by 2018 -- thanks to vaccines!

Google has launched its Person Finder tool -- which aids users in locating surviving friends and family members in the wake of natural disasters and catastrophes.

A revolution in transportation? Work is 'weeks away' from starting on a $150 million Hyperloop 5-mile test track. The first passenger tests will operate at 160 mph, with an eventual goal aiming toward 760 mph! And yet... this will be long under development.

Self-repairing infrastructure? Researchers are developing drones to autonomously monitor and -- possibly -- even repair the cities of the future.

China is pursuing a high-speed rail project that could connect Los Angeles to Las Vegas -- which would take 80 minutes in high-tech trains traveling 150 mph. And Russia has proposed constructing the world's greatest superhighway, a trans-Siberian route that would cross the Bering Sea, linking London to New York!  So why is America's crazy half reflexively opposed to building such a basic capability that always delivers huge economic benefits?  Oh, yeah.  The "crazy" part.

The future of energy: In Time Magazine's Inside the Quest for Fusion, Clean Energy's Holy Grail, Lev Grossman (author of The Magicians) takes a look at new start-ups investing in innovative approaches to fusion, including Tri Alpha Energy's prototype plasma reactors. They've raised hundreds of millions of dollars to push the frontiers of clean energy. Other companies, such as Helium Energy, are trying new approaches, fusing deuterium and Helium-3.  Meanwhile, German researchers are developing a novel, alternate approach to fusion tokamaks, the Wendelstein W7-X, an immense, supercomputer-designed 'optimized stellerator,' -- the largest ever built. This engineering marvel, under construction for 19 years, can withstand huge temperature ranges and enormous forces. It's due for a plasma trial run in November.

Heading out there... Planetary Resources received $12 million in new funding to further its hunt for resources and rare metals from mining asteroids. 

In the deserts of Nevada, a tower of molten salt will collect solar energy from a million square meters of mirrors in -- in order to store and deliver solar thermal energy after sunset. 

Japan is pushing hard, offering government subsidies,  to transform into a 'hydrogen society.' The hydrogen-fueled Mirai went on sale last year. And yet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called hydrogen-powered fuel cells "extremely silly' predicting that they will lose out against next-generation electric vehicles. Me? I totally agree with Elon. The needed infrastructure alone would be loony.  No wonder hydrogen power was a top R&D priority of the Bush Administration, over the objections of every top advisory board.

== The Future of Education ==

AI in the classroom: Meet the artificially intelligent software that is replacing the textbook... and reshaping teaching methods in the classroom. In addition, Google has invested in micro-learning -- short bursts of information on mobile devices -- to allow educational content to reach a wider audience.

Currently college students may spend as much as $4800 for textbooks during their four year education. A recent study indicates that grades did not suffer when open source free textbooks were used instead. It’s not just about money; textbook content can be upgraded, improved and customized by professors.

And yet, 27% of U.S. adults didn't read a single book last year (with a slightly smaller 20% for twenty-something year olds). Even more worrisome, eleven million Americans still lack basic literacy skills -- and are unable to read and comprehend a newspaper article or even a medical prescription. That number rises to 800 million worldwide. 

Environmental concerns and solutions: Climate scientists ponder spraying diamond or alumina nanoparticle dust high in the atmosphere as one method to cool the planet, by reflecting and scattering the sun's energy. Diamonds in the sky? Oh, but geo-engineering should be done in gradual experiments, including the one I think makes the most sense -- fast ocean current fertilization.

Switching back to gloom... Over the next twenty years, lion populations are likely to decline by half across Africa. There were probably a million lions at the beginning of the 20th century; today there may be as few as 20,000, as humans encroach on sensitive ecosystems.

Immigration and citizenship: Okay this is actually a biggie: A federal judge recently ruled that the state of Texas can continue to deny birth certificates to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. Of course I am outraged at the blatant racism. It may start us down a slippery slope. And yet… it is simple minded and dogmatic not to at least acknowledge an underlying issue that merits adult conversation, not reflex.

It is a matter we might discuss, sensibly and negotiate... once this phase of the American Civil War is over.  Till then, I can only urge you all buy blue kepi hats for next Halloween.  It will send a message to the risen confederacy.  Calm down, rediscover citizenship and join us at the adult table.