From Our Weekly Note and More
On Resilience, Knowledge of the Future, a Typhoon and a Fragile Success
Comments by Angela Merkel (German Chancellor), Madeleine Albright (former US Secretary of State), Charlie Munger (vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway) and Howard Marks (co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management).
To Inspire, Educate and Entertain
During this profoundly uncertain period, we share links to: 1) an insightful discussion about public health, 2) a streaming video about gene-editing and 3) music by Sting, Jimmy Fallon and others - and a distributed performance of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".
On Telehealth Innovation, Economic Impacts and the Pandemic
Comments from World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Federal Communications Commission.
Thoughts, Prayers, Data - and the Virus
Comments by Dr. Fauci (CDC), Bill Gates, Pope Francis and John Chambers (former Cisco Systems CEO); along with top 20 countries impacted and the spread among US counties.
On Books, Mushrooms and a Cow-Milking parody of Queen's "We Will Rock You"
Amid global uncertainty, this week we recommend two books to inspire, a film about mushrooms to enlighten and milk-focused parody based on “We Will Rock You” to entertain.
A Wake-up Call - But There Were Warnings in the Past
As the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic - with comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Brookings Institute, Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence (2019), Community”, "Climate Change Impacts in the United States" report (2014) and more.
On Innovations in Gene-Editing, Addressing Blindness and More
Last week, CRISPR gene-editing was used for the first time to edit a person’s DNA while it was still in their body. The project is a collaboration between Oregon Health & Science University (Portland, OR), Editas Medicine (Cambridge, MA) and Allergan (Dublin, Ireland)
On Market Volatility, Viruses, Sporting Events and More
As Covid-19 virus infects over 86,000 people, markets declined, events/travel are cancelled, supply chains are disrupted and more. Our note shares comments from the Center for Disease Control, World Health Organization and Bill Gates’ New England Journal of Medicine article “Responding to Covid-19 — A Once-in-a-Century Pandemic?”
Amazon, Walmart and "Healthcare as a Service"
Changes in the industry will include the entry of new players, new pricing models, new delivery approaches and services that are more data driven and virtual.
On AI, the Human Microbiome, Aging, Stress and more
An Oxford University study links individual personality traits and gut microbiome composition and work by IBM and UC- San Diego believe AI can predict your age based on your microbiome.
On "Human Nature", CRISPR, Cancer, Reshaping the Biosphere and more
CRISPR-Cas9 and other advances in gene-editing will impact all life sciences (biology, agriculture, farming, etc.) and change the role of legacy pharmaceutical companies
On the Spreading Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)
This note shares information from the US Center for Disease Control, World Health Organization and other sources on what the virus is, approaches for treatment, its geographic reach, and economic impact.
On Memphis Meats, $161 Million Funding, and the Future of Food
As Memphis Meats, a firm focused on developing cell-based meat, raises a $161 million funding round to build a pilot production facility …
NASA, Blackrock, McKinsey, World Economic Forum - and the Environment
As global leaders and influencers meet at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, here are notes on potential impacts and more.