September 14, 2022
Read time: ± 4 minutes
New here? The WC is a selection of five useful, interesting & notable insights, handpicked by our CIO Wyatt Cavalier and pumped into your inbox every Wednesday.
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Table of Contents
Immortal jellyfish could help you live forever
There’s a type of jellyfish that can revert to an adolescent when injured or stressed. So if something attacks it, and it loses a leg, it can turn itself into an adolescent jellyfish blob that will then mature (again) into an adult jellyfish.
While boring “scientists” have warned that “It’s a mistake to think we will have immortality like this jellyfish, because we are not jellyfish,” the avenue of study looks promising.
It all has to do with telomeres, the DNA sequences that protect the end of a chromosome. As humans age, our telomeres shorten, which causes all kinds of problems, including cancer and other nasty diseases.
Immortal jellyfish have mutations that preserve their telomeres.
Better understanding how these jellyfish work could help researchers develop regenerative medicines for humans.
Chaos is good for business
The global market for natural catastrophe insurance is set to grow from $35b to $48b per year through 2026, according to Swiss Re, a reinsurer.
It’s a perfect storm of global geopolitical tension (Ukraine, etc), high inflation (costs going up), and climate change (Pakistan).
Increased uncertainty and volatility are driving corporate executives to mitigate risk, and insurance companies are cashing in.
It’s a dangerous game, though, because these insurance companies have got to get it right.
Accepting long-shot insurance against the wrong thing could spell disaster, should a series of black swan events all occur in the same year.
China will lose half its population by 2100
Over the next ±75 years, China will lose 660m people – nearly half its population. And it’s not alone. South Korea and Japan, along with several European countries, are set to shed a similar percentage.
This will fundamentally change everything about the economies, culture, and way of life in many of these countries as their populations get both smaller and older.
The problem? Declining birth rates and a lack of immigrants.
China, with a population of over 1.4B humans, only has around 1m immigrants… which is good for the fifth lowest per-capita in the world.
Here’s China against a variety of countries with significant immigration:
Many of the countries that will continue to grow and thrive are among the largest recipients of immigrants. The US, for example, is composed of nearly 15% immigrants (recall China was 0.1%). Ireland is 17%.
The fellas – a niche group of superheroes
The North Atlantic Fellas Organisation is a loose collective of pro-Ukraine sh*t-posters that’s doing everything it can to combat Russian propaganda through memes, hilarity, online abuse, and dog avatars.
Its membership includes the Ukrainian minister of defence, the former president of Estonia, American congressmen, and at least one American general.
You’ve not heard of the North Atlantic Fellas Organisation?
Russian minister Mikhail Ulyanov sure has. He took them on in a Twitter exchange a few months ago and got so owned that he was forced to take a week’s break from the social platform.
NAFO’s strategy is simple:
- Wait for someone to post Russian propaganda
- Bombard the tweet with memes ridiculing Russia
- Repeat
It’s a blindingly effective strategy that the Kremlin can’t seem to combat; it’s completely declawed the invading country’s online propaganda machine and state-run media is in a tizz about it.
Want to become a member of NAFO?
It’s easy. Just pop over to saintjavelin.com – a charity supporting Ukranian efforts in the invasion – and buy some merch. Then post your receipt on Twitter with the hashtag #Fellarequest, just like this.
Kids these days (circa 400 BC)
Kids today have no respect for their elders. Whether it’s protesting the United Kingdom’s new king of failing to appreciate the genius of Rage Against the Machine, the disrespect is everywhere.
Depending on your perspective, you’ll be pleased/disappointed to learn this isn’t new. Even legendary thinker Socrates wasn’t immune to angsty lashing out.
If you’d like a refresher on the man’s philosophy, here’s a refresher:
No respect indeed.
What caught your eye this week?
Cheers,
Wyatt
