CEO Futures Briefing: Fertility Crisis and Lab Grown Caviar

Each week Nikolas Badminton curates a weekly list of insights and learnings for progressive executives, world leaders and foresight practitioners – CEO Futures Briefing: Fertility Crisis and Lab Grown Caviar.

This week we look at how plummeting sperm counts could be caused by everyday products, beaming solar power from space to Earth, lab grown caviar, capitalist carousels, and UFOs.

Also featured is an insightful interview on the Exponential Minds Podcast with Natalie Nixon talks about hacking creativity and the power in being a clumsy student.

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If you have questions about these things we’re sharing, or a challenge with seeing the futures for you and your organization? Reach out to speak with Nikolas today to arrange a time to talk.

Three articles to read

Brink of a fertility crisis: Scientist says plummeting sperm counts caused by everyday products

A 40-year-long study showed sperm counts have dropped by nearly half. Dr. Shanna Swan hypothesizes men will no longer produce sperm by 2045.

Swan hypothesizes other factors that we aren’t tracking are leading to an eventual fertility crisis. She said, “While you can ask people how much they smoke or what drugs they take, you can’t do that with environmental exposures.”

Swan believes chemicals from plastics are getting into our bodies, impacting our hormones and ultimately interfering with our reproductive functions. Phthalates are the culprit. Remember that word. Phthalates are chemicals in plastics that lower the bodies’ testosterone.

Read more at KSDK

The US Air Force wants to beam solar power to Earth from space

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is developing a project called SSPIDR (“Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research”), which aims to mature the technology needed to harvest solar energy in space and beam it down for use on Earth.

“Ground-based solar, while seemingly an attractive solution, is limited by area, the size of collectors required and climate,” the narrator adds. “But if the solar panels were in orbit, they could have unfettered access to the sun’s rays, providing an uninterrupted supply of energy.”

The AFRL envisions sunlight-harvesting satellites equipped with innovative “sandwich tiles,” which will convert solar energy into radio frequency (RF) power and beam it to Earth. Down here, receiving antennas will transform that RF energy into usable power.

Read more at Space

Soon we’ll all be sitting in the lab of luxury, with lab grown caviar

Exmoor Caviar in Devon, England, produces sustainable sturgeon caviar, and has been working on a lab-grown version with leading scientists from UK universities. Kenneth Benning, the chief executive of Exmoor Caviar, said, “We’re using biotech to grow cells using proteins and lipids derived from the fish. We’re now at the point where we have a cell bank, a bit like a resource of frozen eggs. If and when we need to, we can take a portion out and grow them in a bioreactor.” You know this is serious when they’re whipping out the bioreactor.

Exmoor operates as a farm and utilizes the fish in its entirety, including the meat. But Benning says that other fisheries, despite also being considered humane, aren’t so humane in practice.

Read more at The Takeout

Three videos to watch

This is why we can’t have nice things

This video is about stuff: light bulbs, printers, phones and why they aren’t better. Planned obsolescence is just the worst part of modern capitalism and product design – this video does a great job of looking at the Phoebus Cartel and the legacy of making money vs. delivering product excellence.https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/j5v8D-alAKE?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

Retired US Navy Chief explains tech witnessed in UFO aircraft sighting

CNN’s Chris Cuomo talks to Sean Cahil, retired US Navy Chief Master-at-Arms, and Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, about the forthcoming government report on UFO sightings.https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/azZ4XAZuVk4?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

A conversation that counts

Each week we dig into the archives of all of the interviews Nikolas has undertaken with the insightful and entertaining Exponential Minds Podcast. This week we feature Natalie Nixon talks about hacking creativity and the power in being a clumsy student.https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/5gcOTPaKM1pBMEMqj5wFWC

The last word…

It doesn’t matter how strong your opinion are. If you don’t use your power for positive change, you are indeed part of the problem.

Coretta Scott King

About Nikolas Badminton

Nikolas Badminton is the Chief Futurist at futurist.com and a world-renowned futurist speaker, consultant, researcher, and media producer. He helps trillion-dollar companies, progressive governments and the media shift their mindset from “what is” to “WHAT IF…” The result is empowered employees, new innovative products and incredible growth that leads to more revenues and a more resilient future.

Nikolas advised Robert Downey Jr.’s team for the ‘Age of A.I.’ documentary series, starred in ‘SMART DRUGS – a Futurist’s journey into biohacking’, and features on CTV, Global News, Sirius XM regularly. His mind-expanding research and opinion can be found on BBC, VICE, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Techcrunch, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Forbes, Sputnik and Venturebeat. 

Nikolas provides the opening chapter – ‘Start with Dystopia’ in a new book – ‘The Future Starts Now: Expert Insights into the Future of Business, Technology and Society’ for Bloomsbury. He is currently researching and writing a new book that equips executives and world leaders with insights and foresight tools to imagine disruption, strengthen strategic planning, and see unforeseen risks.

Nikolas is a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – The RSA. The organization has been at the forefront of significant social impact for over 260 years with notable past fellows including Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Nelson Mandela, and Tim Berners-Lee.