Living online is changing our brains, by Susan Greenfield

Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield cited evidence that digital technology is having an impact on our brains: Microstructure abnormalities in adolescents with internet addiction disorder, in the journal PLoS (free access). Increase in people with autistic spectrum disorders. The rise in the appeal of Twitter. (...) Know more at http://goo.gl/fMMUo.

2011 State of the Future

The Millennium Project’s 2011 State of the Future Report, due out August 1, finds that while people are getting richer, healthier, better educated, and living longer, and the world is more peaceful and better connected, half of the world is potentially unstable.

Food prices are rising, water tables are falling, corruption and organized crime is increasing, environmental viability for life support is diminishing, debt and economic insecurity are increasing, climate change continues, and the gap between the rich and poor is widening dangerously. People voting in elections, corruption, people killed or injured in terrorist attacks, and refugees and displaced persons are also identified as key problems. The world is in a race between implementing ever-increasing ways to improve the human condition and the seemingly ever-increasing complexity and scale of global problems. (...) Know more at http://goo.gl/3oN8q.

Where we are winning. An international Delphi panel selected more than 100 indicators of progress or regress for the 15 Global Challenges. Indicators were then chosen that had at least 20 years of reliable historical data and later, where possible, were matched with variables used in the International Futures model. The resulting 28 variables were integrated into the State of the Future Index with a 10-year projection. (Credit: The Millennium Project)

Where we are losing (credit: The Millennium Project)

The world’s deadliest distinction: why aren’t the oldest living people getting any older?

Raising the upper bounds of the human lifespan is turning out to be trickier than increasing the average person’s life expectancy. In the past, the global count of supercentenarians — people 110 and older — has leveled off at about 80. (...) Just 7 people whose ages could be fully verified by the Gerontology Research Group have ever made it past 115. The inventor Ray Kurzweil estimated in 2005 that, within 20 years, advances in medical technology would enable humans to extend their lifespans indefinitely. With 6 years gone and 14 to go, his prophecy doesn’t seem that much closer to coming true. (...) Know more at http://goo.gl/wK5qC.

Jeanne Calment, the longest-living person ever, died at age 122