| | | | | | | Presented By WeWork | | | | Axios Future | | By Bryan Walsh ·Sep 26, 2020 | | Welcome to Axios Future, where you'll learn that higher levels of exposure to COVID-19 media is associated with worsening mental health. Sorry about that. Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,733 words or 6 1/2 minutes. | | | | | | 1 big thing: The pain of the mental health pandemic |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | A less visible but still massive trauma caused by the coronavirus is becoming clear: our mental health is suffering with potentially long-lasting consequences. Why it matters: Mental health disorders that range from schizophrenia to depression and anxiety exert a severe cost on personal health and the economy. Addressing that challenge may require out-of-the-box solutions. What's happening: During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., there were significant increases in acute stress and depressive symptoms, according to a study published earlier this week in Science Advances. - Higher levels of exposure to COVID-19-related media worsened symptoms as well, especially if that media contained conflicting information about the coronavirus — which, of course, has largely been the case since the start of the pandemic.
Context: A deep body of scientific research shows that experiencing collective traumas like a mass shooting or a natural disaster can lead to lasting mental health damage. But what sets the pandemic apart is its global scope and its sheer length. - And the pandemic is unfolding next to ongoing protests against racial violence and deepening uncertainty about the outcome of the 2020 election.
The trauma of getting sick, seeing loved ones get sick, or losing a job will adversely affect the mental health of even the most redoubtable individual. But the unique nature of the pandemic stresses us in other ways. - Humans may exist in the present, but unlike even our closest primate cousins we largely live in the future, anticipating and planning for possibilities, as Arthur C. Brooks argues in a piece for The Atlantic.
- "Because of the pandemic," he writes, "the future feels difficult and uncertain, and few of us have much control over it. The result is a lot of unhappy monkeys."
More than almost any other condition, mental health disorders have remained stubbornly resistant to the interventions of modern medicine and, according to one estimate, are set to cost the global economy $16 trillion by 2030. - For that to change, we need to better understand what a "normal" mental state really is, argues Tara Thiagarajan, a neuroscientist and the founder of Sapien Labs.
- Thiagarajan is spearheading the Mental Health Million Project, an effort to map mental health by building a global, consistent database that attempts to draw clearer lines around the blurry picture of mental illness.
- "The major issue we face in mental health is measurement, so we can identify what aspect of the brain we really need to focus on," she says. "If we can understand what the psychology looks like, we can alter that with experimental therapies like magnetic stimulation."
What's next: That's an approach brain-interface startups like Elon Musk's Neuralink and NeuroOne are beginning to explore. - Brain stimulation interventions are already being used for motor disorders like Parkinson's and epilepsy.
- "You'll be hearing more and more about using stimulation to treat psychological disorders," says Dave Rosa, the president and CEO of NeuroOne. "If we can understand the regions of the brain that have these emotions, can we control them?"
The catch: We're still far from fully understanding the brain as well as we do other organs like the heart, and if brain interfaces are ever going to be used for more common conditions like depression, they need to be much less invasive and much more durable. The bottom line: Given the open-ended trauma of the pandemic and the general chaos of 2020, feeling depressed is more logical than pathological. But we desperately need better solutions to the lasting pandemic that is mental illness, even after COVID-19 is finally vanquished. |     | | | | | | 2. COVID-19 alters the jobs of the future |  Data: McKinsey; Table: Axios Visuals A new survey of hundreds of executives shows how the pandemic is altering the workforce of the future. The big picture: The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown millions of people out of work, and the jobs that will emerge from the carnage won't be the same. While some fields may benefit, others risk being left further behind. What's happening: Consultants at McKinsey interviewed 800 executives around the world to understand how the pandemic is poised to change the shape of work over the long term. Among the findings: - 85% of respondents reported their businesses had somewhat or greatly accelerated the implementation of digitization, including videoconferencing and e-commerce. 35% reported accelerating the digitization of supply chains.
- Nearly half of the respondents said they had accelerated the adoption of automation, with companies in the U.S. and India leading the way.
- Few executives said they are planning on remaining fully remote after the pandemic, but many were planning a hybrid future where employees could work remotely part of the time.
What's next: As companies continue retooling for the remainder of the pandemic and the years beyond, workers in AI and automation are unsurprisingly poised to benefit. - But hygiene and workplace safety were the two areas where the largest proportion of executives reported hiring increases.
- That includes less glamorous jobs in workplace management and elevator operations, in part because managing the flow and safety of workers in an increasingly hybrid environment will require new forms of expertise, says Susan Lund, a leader at McKinsey Global Institute and a co-author of the report.
The catch: Executives also reported many new jobs will be filled by freelancers and part-timers. "Left unattended, COVID-19 has the potential to worsen inequality in labor market outcomes." — Susan Lund, McKinsey Global Institute | | | | | | | | 3. The end of the ICE age |  | | | Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios | | | | Gasoline-powered cars may be going the way of the woolly mammoth, even if it will take decades to replace them and seems hard to fathom today, my Axios colleague Joann Muller reports. The big picture: Internal combustion engines (ICEs) have powered automobiles for more than 100 years. But the shift to electric vehicles, slow to materialize at first, is now accelerating due to tightening government policies, falling costs and a societal reckoning about climate change. Driving the news: California said this week it plans to phase out sales of conventional new cars by 2035 in favor of zero-emission vehicles that run on electricity. - The rest of the world is far ahead, with at least 15 countries already banning new gasoline cars and others adopting strict policies to spur EV adoption.
- "Europe and China have woken up to the fact that [the combustion engine] is dead," Arndt Ellinghorst, automotive analyst at Bernstein Research, told the Wall Street Journal. "Now, it looks like the U.S. is waking up."
Why it matters: Climate change is here, and eliminating emissions from cars and trucks is front and center in efforts to curb CO2 emissions. - Urban planners aim to redesign cities around people, not automobiles, by investing in walkable neighborhoods instead of suburban freeways.
- Until that happens, people will keep driving, warns Brookings fellow Adie Tomer.
Where it stands: Fewer than 2% of U.S. cars today are electric (and barely 6% in California). - Even if every state followed California's lead by 2035, it would be decades before all gasoline vehicles disappeared from American roads.
- BloombergNEF sees EVs growing to 58% of new car sales worldwide by 2040, but still only 31% of all cars on the road.
Even so, investors are already amped up: Stocks of EV and renewable energy companies have been soaring, even those that haven't yet produced any vehicles. - Shares in little-known SPI Energy jumped by as much as 4,000% Wednesday after the company announced it was getting into the EV business.
Yes, but: There are serious hurdles that must be overcome before EVs are affordable and convenient for everyone, including lower-cost batteries and more widely accessible charging infrastructure. What to watch: Tesla this week laid out a road map for cheaper batteries with higher energy density and the goal of selling a $25,000 EV. But CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that milestone is still a few years off. Share this story | | | | | | | | A message from WeWork | | How to future-proof your office | | |  | | | | How can companies avoid fixed costs in a variable world? A solution: WeWork's flexible terms empower businesses with short-term commitments and workspaces that can scale to their ever-evolving needs. WeWork can help your business stay ahead. | | | | | | 4. U.S. and U.K. announce AI partnership |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | The Trump administration is set to announce that the United States and the United Kingdom have signed a new agreement to cooperate on research and development of artificial intelligence, my Axios colleague Ashley Gold reports. Why it matters: The U.S. and its allies fear China is going to surpass them in AI. The partnership shows the U.S. and U.K. think they have a better chance at beating China by linking up. Details: The partnership will include the two countries working together on research and development of AI, including on issues of explainability and fairness, an administration official told Axios. Flashback: In May 2020, the U.S. and other allies launched the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, for "like-minded nations together to encourage the development of AI in line with our shared values." - Rep. Will Hurd, a Texas Republican who's leaving Congress at the end of this term, has argued the U.S. should spend more on AI to better compete with China.
| | | | | | | | 5. Worthy of your time | | 'Aggression detection' is coming to facial recognition cameras around the world (Dave Gershgorn — OneZero) - A Russian firm plans to roll out emotion detection tools soon, in an advance I'm sure will have no negative side effects whatsoever.
Bold and fair climate mobilization looks different than WWII (Seaver Wang and Alex Smith — Breakthrough Institute) - Wartime mobilization is an attractive historical analogy for climate change activists, but the hard realities of life on the homefront should temper those hopes.
The radical history of corporate sensitivity training (Beth Blum — The New Yorker) - Corporate America's co-option of the language of social justice and activism has a longer and darker history than you might expect.
The daring plan to save the Arctic sea ice with glass (Katya Zimmer — BBC Future Planet) - An innovative new form of geoengineering involves coating sea ice with glass beads to reflect sunlight and prevent melting.
| | | | | | | | 6. 1 good thing: Beating child mortality |  Data: The World Bank; Chart: Axios Visuals New data shows the mortality rate for children under 5 is continuing to fall, as improvements in nutrition and health reduce the earliest and most tragic deaths. Why it matters: The continued decline in the youngest deaths is one of humanity's greatest victories, but the COVID-19 pandemic puts some of that progress in danger. By the numbers: Data released this month by the World Bank shows the mortality rate for children under 5 has fallen by 59% over the past 29 years. - That still means 5.2 million children under 5 died in 2019 — or more than 14,000 each day.
- But as recently as 1960, nearly 1 out of every 5 children globally died before their 5th birthday. In 1800, it was nearly 1 out of every 2.
Of note: Child mortality is increasingly concentrated in a few geographic areas, especially sub-Saharan Africa, where 1 in 13 children die before turning 5. The catch: Development experts worry COVID-19 could slow or even reverse progress on child mortality, less because of the virus itself than because the pandemic may disrupt distribution of needed medicine and food. The bottom line: It's entirely reasonable to look at the state of the world today and feel depressed. But there are millions of children alive today who will live to see their 5th birthday and many more, because they were born in 2020 and not 30 years ago. That matters, too. | | | | | | | | A message from WeWork | | The workplace of tomorrow redefined for your wellbeing | | |  | | | | WeWork is creating offices where employees can social distance with ease, helping businesses prioritize employee wellness. The details: The real estate company's offices can adjust to fit as few or as many people as needed - making social distancing in the workplace simple. Learn how. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters.
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اللباس التقليدي الحضرمي للرجال مرحبا بكم في سلسلة اللباس التقليدي الحضرمي .. لنتعرف معا على تراثنا ...وربما أن بعض هذه الملابس لم تعد مس...
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