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| Presented By SoftBank Group |
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| Axios What's Next |
| By Jennifer A. Kingson and Joann Muller ·Mar 17, 2022 |
| Happy St. Patrick's Day — and Happy Purim! - Did you know? Up 'til the 1970s, the pubs in Ireland were closed on St. Patrick's Day, a religious holiday. Later, the country started capitalizing on the tourist appeal of the holiday and the celebrations got amped up. 🍻
- Hamantaschen — the triangular pastries traditionally eaten on Purim — now come in modern varieties like s'mores and dulce de leche.
Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,106 words ... 4 minutes. |
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| 1 big thing: Public funding for the arts is up |
 Reproduced from NASAA; Map: Axios Visuals State legislatures more than doubled the money appropriated to arts agencies this fiscal year, setting aside $820.8 million for 2022 versus $402.8 million in 2021, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), Jennifer A. Kingson writes. Why it matters: Artists have the power to lift people's spirits — an important role as we recover from the pandemic — and state arts agencies help pay for artists' work and make it more accessible to the public. - More money for arts agencies helps "stimulate the marketplace for cultural activities [and] spur local and private investment in the arts," NASAA says in a new report on state funding.
Where it stands: Connecticut spends the most per capita of any state on the arts — $9.69 per resident — and Georgia spends the least: 14 cents. - High-spending states include South Carolina, Minnesota, Hawaii and Maryland.
- Low-spending states include Arizona, Wisconsin, Iowa and Washington.
- Washington, D.C. is an arts-funding outlier, with $52.64 per person budgeted for FY 2022.
- Check out this table to see where your state ranks and how much it spends per capita. (It's the one shaped like a map of the U.S. and labeled "projected per capita legislative appropriations to state arts agencies.")
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| 2. Foldable shipping containers |
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| Photo courtesy of Staxxon |
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| A company called Staxxon in Montclair, New Jersey, is planning to sell a newfangled shipping container that's "designed to fold in an accordion-style fashion and shrink to 1/5 the size of a regular container," Jennifer writes. Why it matters: Most standard shipping containers return home empty, so if cargo ships can fit more of them on a return journey by collapsing them, it could help ease today's notorious supply chain woes. - Using Staxxon, truckers will also be able to transport five times as many empty containers, the company says.
Where it stands: Staxxon's 20-foot units are not on the market yet, but there are other foldable shipping containers out there — most notably from a Dutch company called 4Fold that says its foldable container "saves up to 37% in costs and CO₂." - "More than 15 carriers and shippers navigating 60 ports worldwide are testing the Delft, the Netherlands-based company's environmentally friendly containers that can be folded into a quarter of their volume, taking up less space on trucks, ships and docks," per Bloomberg.
- Bloomberg quoted Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of the giant shipping line A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, who called foldable containers the "dream of the shipping industry" and said that Procter & Gamble was testing them.
The bottom line: "Despite sparking hope among carriers and shippers, higher upfront costs and hesitancy to turn to a new business model have kept foldable containers from becoming mainstream," Bloomberg writes. Read the full story |
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| 3. A recipe for preserving Arctic sea ice |
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| Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios |
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| Making significant, near-term methane emissions cuts in tandem with slashing carbon emissions would dramatically improve the odds that Arctic sea ice could survive during the summertime through 2100, Andrew Freedman writes in Axios Generate, based on a new study. Why it matters: Sea ice loss is already having ramifications throughout the Arctic and beyond, affecting extreme weather events in the U.S. and Europe, altering the way of life for Indigenous populations of the Far North and posing threats to iconic species. - A seasonally ice-free Arctic, which at present emissions rates is expected to emerge as soon as the 2030s, would also present geopolitical risks as a contested region between the U.S. and Russia, among other countries.
- The findings are surprising, given the different timescales on which these greenhouse gases operate and the current downward trajectory of sea ice.
Driving the news: The study, from a trio of researchers at the Environmental Defense Fund, adds to a growing body of work showing the potential benefits of slashing methane emissions. The new work was published Tuesday in Environmental Research Letters. Read the full story |
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| A message from SoftBank Group |
| Accelerating human progress through technology |
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| At SoftBank Group, we invest in companies that accelerate human progress through technology. That's why we're proud to support the Smithsonian's FUTURES exhibit, which challenges us to envision how technology can enable a more empowered, connected world. |
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| 4. Video games as a health care tool |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| If upstart video game publisher DeepWell has its way, one day soon you'll be able to buy video games with labels about the therapeutic benefits you'd get from playing them, Stephen Totilo writes in Axios Gaming. Driving the news: DeepWell's founders are aiming to create games that can be used for health care, with a focus on mental health. Details: The company is the brainchild of medical devices executive Ryan Douglas and veteran game publisher Mike Wilson, who are assembling a team from their respective fields to push the health benefits of playing certain games. - Wilson tells Axios that its first game, set for Q1 2023, will be designed to treat mild to moderate depression, anxiety and hypertension.
- DeepWell isn't just making games — it's developing a framework to help other game makers create medically beneficial games and get FDA approval for them as over-the-counter treatments.
- Company leaders also want to identify the health benefits of playing some existing games and to get these games officially recognized and labeled. (For an idea about how that would work, consider research that suggests that playing Tetris helped survivors of car crashes process their trauma.)
The big picture: Health and gaming have been converging for some time, as researchers recognize the benefits afforded by interactive entertainment. Read the rest |
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| 5. Your thoughts on robo-dogs |
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| A robot dog goes for a walk in Chengdu, China. Photo: Gao Han/VCG via Getty Images |
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| Our story this week on how robot dogs are gaining popularity as household companions among young adults in China drew a lot of strong reactions from readers. Here's a sample — and thanks to all of you for writing! - "I wouldn't own a robo-dog. Part of what makes owning a dog special is the effort it takes to build a real relationship with your pet." — Aidan Cornelius
- "I'd be interested in a robotic pet (possibly a dog) but I have some questions. Do they need feeding (I guess charging up) daily? Can they be programmed to be nice to real live pets? How do you cuddle such a pet?" — Ivy Andrade
- "There are so many things wrong with robot dogs — expense, use of rare metals, the uncanny valley, wealth inequity — and so many things right with dogs — tens of thousands of years of co-evolution with humans, loyalty, love, mutually beneficial relationship. Watching a wealthy young couple sport their ersatz Fido on a sidewalk induces queasiness." — Roger Schulman
- "We seem to be abdicating our very humanity to technology." — Keith Bruce
- "When my now-grown children were small, they relentlessly begged for a dog. I succumbed to the pressure and took an online quiz to identify which breed fit my personality type... a notice popped up at the end politely informing me that getting a dog (any dog) wasn't in the animal's best interest at this time. It seems that finally there is a breed of dog that will fit with me." — Joan W. Buchanan
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| A message from SoftBank Group |
| Creating a more empowered, connected future |
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| SoftBank Group — a global investor in AI and transformative technology — is proud to support the Smithsonian's FUTURES exhibit, at the Arts + Industries Building through July 6. Come experience this interactive, cutting-edge technology journey, and be part of creating a better future. |
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