Monthly Archives: May 2021

SALT LAKE CITY, May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Toffler Associates CEO and author, Deborah Westphal, launches her new book Convergence: Technology, Business, and the Human-Centric Future, and it's available today!

As a leader in future-focused strategy, Deborah Westphal leverages more than 30 years of experience in helpingthe world's most innovative business and government leaders to challenge biases, ignite ideas, and build connections. She delivers this rich insight with anempathetic and thought-provoking writing style to chart a path for readers. Throughout the book, personal stories and historical examples highlight convergences that span the globe, impacting everything from global supply chains to climate change, and reshaping the future of business, technology, and humanity everywhere.

Each day, we see deepening intersections of people, business, and technology. This is a historic inflection point that demands leaders rebalance the energy and focus we place on technology and humans within our organizations. Convergence alerts readers to signals of accelerating disruption and orients us to new mentalmodels, decision priorities, and the human-centric perspective we need to achieve a resilient global future.

Convergence is available for $26at all major booksellers and Amazon.com. For more information, please visit https://www.convergenceishere.com/.

About Deborah Westphal

Deborah Westphal's career spans more than 30 years, government agencies and Fortune 100 companies, and virtually every continent. In 1999, Alvin Toffler tapped her as one of the founding members of his eponymous consulting firm. A passionate humanist and life-long learner, she has guided leaders to challenge biases, ignite ideas, and build resilience for a secure future for organizations including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Marriott, U.S. Air Force, Baxter International, Bayer, Heinz, Microsoft, Koppers, PPG, DARPA, National Security Agency (NSA), Loral Space Systems, NASA, Qwest, Verizon, and Westinghouse.

Contact: Kiki Keating[emailprotected] +1-603-858-2733

SOURCE Deborah Westphal

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Futurist Deborah Westphal Releases New Book, "Convergence: Technology, Business, and the Human-Centric Future" - PRNewswire

Brain David Johnson - Futurist

Each month I feature different leaders' voices offering insights into the future of work and changes theyve seen within their industry since the pandemic. Im particularly interested in leaders that approach challenges as opportunities to create positive and lucrative business opportunities. This column profiles everyone from celebrities and business people, to community leaders and changemakers, and gives readers a peek behind the veil of different businesses and industries.

This month I interviewed Brian David Johnson (BDJ), who is a futurist, author and professor. BDJ lives, eats and breathes the future. The slightest scratch on the surface of what BDJ does will uncover a plethora of fascinating ideas, each will blow your mind open. Fasten your futuristic seatbelt, as we break down exactly what his titles mean.

As a futurist, Brian is sought after by companies and organizations to generate predictions forecasting 10 years ahead based on current culture and industry trends. Brians predictions from a decade ago have turned out to be pretty spot on, proving that futurecasting can work. BDJ doesnt always stop at the 10 year mark - with some clients he looks as far into the future as imaginable, predicting dystopia and utopian scenarios.This helps companies to plot their specific course towards the future they want, and to prepare, disrupt, mitigate and recover from the futures that they don't want. For Brian, futurecasting is not about predicting the future, but rather about taking a pragmatic approach to determine a vision of the future that companies can then work to build.

As an author, BDJ gets to creatively prototype his ideas. He has written over 10 science fiction and science fact books and has created over 20 graphic novels. His most recent science fiction book is WAR: Wizards and Robots co-authored with will.i.am. Its a story of empowerment about a young female engineer who holds the power to save the world. However, most of Brians sci-fi graphic novels arent found on the shelves of bookstores, because they are privately owned by companies that hired BDJ to visually represent his futurecasting for employees. Lastly, he writes about robots and then uses those stories to enable kids to imagine, design and build their own robots.

BDJ and Wiil.I.am publish futuristic YA novel: Wizards and Robots

As a professor at Arizona State University Brian teaches and mentors students to become applied futurists. He is also the futurist in Residence at the Center for Science and the imagination. His last appointment is as the Director of the ASU Threatcasting Lab, where they work with organizations such as the United States Military and Secret Service to imagine a range of possible and potential threats to national and economic security. From there they can plan should undesired situations occur. When participating in threat casting the dress code is mandatory casual, flip flops encouraged, because BDJ and his team have learned that if you can see someone's toes its hard to get mad at that person while discussing touchy subjects.

As you can see with a small scratch of the surface, a whole new, futuristic, world is exposed. So how did Brian develop his career and what are his views on the future of work? Read on for his insights.

What did the pandemic exemplify in your work?

The pandemic is a destabilizing event. Destabilizing events are nothing new. We see them all the time. This could be a natural disaster, power outage or a regional conflict. The key to understanding destabilizing events is to understand two things:

1. What is the nature of the destabilizing event?

2. What is the magnitude of the destabilizing event?

With COVID - the nature of the event was a virus. And the magnitude was global.

These two factors made the pandemic a great accelerator. It's sped up changes that were already in progress and pointed out flaws that already existed. We saw this play out through global supply chains, the healthcare system, financial systems and how we use technology on a day-to-day basis.

I'm the futurist for the association of supply chain managers. As you can imagine, the supply chain had a really big pandemic. Supply chain went from something that was in the back office to something that was a conversation at the dinner table. We saw a lot of things that went wrong but we also saw a lot of things that went right.

During the pandemic the association did a survey of organizations looking at those who did futures planning and those who did not. One thing that they discovered was that the organizations that actively planned for their future generally had a 2 to 6 month business advantage because they took action before their competitors. This wasn't just for pandemic planning, many organizations hadn't done pandemic planning. But it was simply the ACT and the operationalization for thinking about and planning for the future that gave them head start.

The pandemic has shown all the necessity for planning for the future. Innovation comes not from predicting the future but for exploring a range of possible and potential futures to guard against strategic surprise.

Are there any interesting projects you are currently working on?

We just wrapped up a couple of multi-year projects that examine the future of information warfare and information disorder machines.A good place to start is to define the different elements of information disorder, mis-information, dis-information, and mal-information:

Mis-information - Spreading false information, but you dont know its false - most of the time this information stems from a small sliver of truth, say 10%, and becomes 10% truth and 90% misinformation. This information is usually not shared from a place of maliciousness, but simply not knowing its false.

Dis-information - When false information is knowingly shared to cause harm.

Mal-information - Leaking information that is designed to stay private and making it public with the intention to cause harm.

We examined information disorder paired with machine learning, algorithms, and artificial intelligence; and what that might mean for free speech and the future of the United States. Looking ten years out data will be gathered not only from places such as social media, but also from things such as smart cities, autonomous cars, and Internet of Things technologies. Not only will these places be gathering data, but they can also have the ability to message you - running the risk of sending dis-information or mis-information. Information disorder would then be able to be tailored on the fly to topics you are most passionate about that would incite or enrage you to take action. Oftentimes the goal of this type of attack isnt to get you to do one specific thing, but to create chaos and disorder - typically to get you to begin to question the validity of things such as government or businesses.

The best way to combat information disorder is to interrogate the information. Ask, who is saying this? And why are they saying this?

As a society we have to have a broader conversation around how to fact check and how to understand biases and inherent biases. In 2020 we began speaking more actively about this topic. It is a conversation that needs to happen more often to help people learn to pause before reacting and apply critical thinking to the messages that we are receiving. What is great is that we are beginning to design classes for schools to teach this next generation to think more constructively.

Graphic Novel, Invisible Force created by BDJ and the Threatcasting Lab at ASU

What do you believe the future of work will look like?

The question is not, what will the future of work look like? but it is what DO YOU want the future of work to look like? We are at an interesting moment in time, especially coming out of the pandemic where we have had a global destabilization when it comes to work. We are finding new modes of being and working and the future of work is localized and up to us. We dont have to do anything in a specific way as we come out of this destabilized event. Right now we have the ability to choose.

Everybody has the ability to shape their future. The first step is to realistically ask yourself, what is the future that I want? Once you have identified what your ideal future is, then you can start breaking it down to understand the agency that you have and most importantly identifying people you should be talking to and bringing together. To shape the future and create change it takes connecting with people - this can be in work and also in your community. Having a clear articulated picture of the future you want to create has incredible power and can draw people in to help you advance your vision. You have more control than you think.

Some things we can expect with the future of work does involve things such as automation and robotics. As we have learned from the pandemic, there are places where it is safer to not have humans doing specific tasks. If a robot or machine took your job, your job probably wasnt that great because it was turning YOU into a robot or machine. The industrial age turned human beings into machines. As we move into the future, the constellation of all the emerging technologies allows for us to be more human. We of course will have to remap the labor force and create wages for people to live comfortably.

People have asked me how they can future proof their career when it comes to the future work in the face of coming atomization. I tell them to be human! Thats the one thing the machines cant do. Everything we do is about humans. It begins with humans and ends with humans. There might be a lot of technology, businesses, processes and procedures in between but its always about people.

What does the future of technology look like?

Over the next 5 to 10 years a constellation of technologies will fundamentally remap the future of work. This includes artificial intelligence, smart cities, The Internet of Things, robotics, autonomy in land, sea and air as well as digital autonomy and increasing availability of computational intelligence and connectivity.

I have written about this and called it the coming age of Sentient Tools: technology that is aware, can think and is social with people. It will know us as individuals. Imagine working in a sentient office that is constantly using all of these technologies to make you safe, sustainable, productive but also is there to make your life better. Maybe even, your sentient elevator tells you a joke on Monday because you hate Mondays. The idea is that we keep human beings at the center of the technology tools we develop, not productivity or profit (although also important), but that ultimately everything we develop is to enhance the human experience. If we have the vision of what we want the future of technology to be then we can design ways in which technology can enhance and amplify humanity.

If you were to design the future or society what would it look like?

A society that keeps humans at the center. Everything we do is about humans. It begins with humans and ends with humans. There might be a lot of technology, businesses, processes and procedures in between but its always about people.

I always think back to Carl Sagan who used to tell people that our place in the universe is small and inconsequential. We arent even at the center of the universe, Earth is in the suburbs. We have to remember on this scale - that humans are not the central actor in this drama. We are bit players.

All we have is each other on this precious blue planet. It is important to also honor the world in which we live and realize that we are all interconnected.

Any final thoughts to add about the future?

The future isnt some fixed point on the horizon that we are all running towards helpless to take action. The future is built by people and organizations (run by people). The first step is to ask yourself or your organization:

From there you can start to take action.

The way that you change the future is you change the story that people tell themselves about the future that they will live in. If you can get yourself and others to see the future differently, then you can change the future. This is not just a nice thing to say, it is the truth of what I have seen over the last 25 years time and time again with people and organizations.

Remember that you need to be an active participant in your future. Never let someone else build your future for you...that never ends well.

Stay up to day on what BDJ is up to on Twitter @bdjfuturist

Continue reading here:
Influential Voices On The Future Of Work: Brian David Johnson, Futurist - Forbes

My name is Johannes Koski and Im the UI/UX Director of Returnal here at Housemarque. My role in the project has been both taking part in the design and overseeing and supporting the work done by the team. Ive had the privilege to work with a diverse multi-disciplinary group of amazing designers, artists, programmers, and audio specialists. Weve just launched a game that has been my ultimate dream project since I was a little kid, so Im super excited to be able to share something about our games UX!

The goal of a games UI is pretty straightforward: it guides the player and supports the game. In other words it gives the player all the necessary information and tools they need to understand and enjoy the games mechanics and at the same time it supports the games artistic core and storytelling with aesthetic means. In practice this unravels to hundreds of hours of planning, user interface design, concepting, usability studies, artistic choices, motion design, audio development, optimization, programming, player onboarding, and tutorial design to name a few areas.

Our core design principle is gameplay first. When designing the overall UX, one of our main goals was to remove all possible distractions from the second-to-second gameplay. We wanted to keep all the menus as clean and as minimal as possible. We even made the decision to not have a title screen or main menu at all and take the player always directly to the action.

We spent a considerable amount of time finessing all the HUD communications so that the player is always aware of critical gameplay information during intense bullet hell combat. We iterated a lot to find the perfect animation timings, intuitive color coding systems, and optimal information hierarchy to support various gameplay scenarios, etc.

The most crucial information needs to be communicated at the players immediate visual focus point in and near the reticle. Some critical guidance can be shown diegetically in and around the player character model and the actual game world. The content that is not essential for second-to-second survival can be shown in the periphery of the HUD.

Then we have the most important scenarios like near-death, low-health situations, where we throw everything we have at the players senses: HUD visor glass cracks and digital glitch animations, threatening vignettes, flashing warning icons, diegetic warning lights in players space suit, game world post-processing, health gauge color coding, player character animation, voice-over, VFX, emergency audio signals, and engaging haptic feedback.

Were especially happy how our unique 3D map and HUD minimap turned out. Theres a lot of verticality in our levels so a compass or a traditional 2D map wasnt enough. It was challenging to create a map system for randomly generated levels that was precise, looked good stylistically and wouldnt cause a performance hit. The map will be very helpful for both player guidance and planning combat flow.

Were using a wide variety of 3D Audio, DualSense wireless controller audio, and haptics to keep the player aware of their situation and surroundings even though their visual focus would be in combat and player survival. For example we implemented a rising charge-up UI sound that telegraphs the charge level of the alternative weapon fire, resolving in a distinct UI audio cue and haptics pulse once its fully charged. The haptics for this feature get prioritized in gameplay to give the player feedback on the most important combat cues.

Malignant items emit a heartbeat-like haptics pulse when nearby the player. This heightens the sense of risk and reward associated with these special items and helps in differentiating them from other pickups.

Parasites are another feature that received bespoke audio and haptics. Once you pick one of these up and it becomes attached to your suit, distinct haptic textures and audio cues of the parasite are used to remind the player they picked one up and that its active on the suit, potentially causing damage.

The hologram projections appearing while scanning a new item have been complimented by both haptics and sound effects, providing a granular sense of the scanner sweeping through the object as well as adding tactile weight to the interaction experience. Sending these sounds through the controller speaker as well made the whole scanning experience a lot more physical and real for the player.

For Returnals UI art direction, the main direction came from who Selene was, the company she worked for, and the technology she would have available to her. Strictly industrial and functional. This technology is also susceptible to damage and glitch errors because of the devices its displayed on: CRT monitors, tactile wrist computer displays, etc.

Theres a great correlation between the dated 70s aesthetic and good sci-fi horror. This could be because many of us grew up watching these movies and so they stay with us because of that sense of nostalgia. Our primary UI/HUD color is a haunting shade of teal that partly originates from the early monochrome cathode-ray tube computer monitors and tactical night-vision gear. The usage of this particular ghostly color also creates an eerie sense of looming horror.

(Concept art from Returnal, Mighty Canvas)

Looking at old consoles used in traditional industries, there is dedicated space for each component, most of the options are binary and there are no fancy gradients, transitions or effects. Its chunky and clunky, with little attention to visual flourishes.

We took this idea and limited the effects that we would use. So there is little to no directional motion. Everything flickers on and off. We chose to not create any layers. So no pop-ups over the screen UIs, as this felt too technically developed. The color palette was strict and the only effects and ambient animations are the ones we use to replicate the CRT aesthetic.

For the controls customization we wanted to make it as intuitive as possible and designed it so that the controller map is the very first thing you see when entering the options menu. From there we wanted to draw you in to trying out a different controller preset or create your own to fit your play style.

We put a lot of focus on making the remapping process easy to understand and use. Allowing you to quickly get an overview of where the actions are mapped, using a dynamic graphic on the right, we show where on the controller the action is currently mapped and if deciding to swap, showing which input you swap with.

While moving around actions and changing the layout of the DualSense wireless controller, we made sure you could easily see an overview of all of your changes directly from the remapping. A simple button press will bring up the full controller map so you can view your custom setup at any time.

This approach to previewing your changes was carried forward to use for other settings to make it easy to see your changes without having to return to gameplay for each change. When using a custom preset and you have rotated the whole controller for example, the preview on the right hand column will dynamically update to reflect that.If you are changing the deadzone on the right stick, we highlight the stick in the preview to make it clear which one you are changing.

Returnal has many different settings for controls, gameplay, audio, and video, and within these categories are features developed for accessibility. We worked from the ethos of these not being separated out to an accessibility category because there is such a wide range of players with different needs and these features can be used by everyone who wants them ensuring that we include rather than exclude players.

We also gave the player a larger range of choices for color blind mode. We added a slider for intensity so you can try it out and select what works for you. In addition we created three alternative color palettes for certain colors in the UI. The colors were selected based on their visibility and clarity for the three main color blind types: Deuteranopia, Protanopia, and Tritanopia. These options were added for players to try them out and use them if they found they helped increase clarity and visibility of HUD elements and text. We did the same for the collectible item beam colors, offering alternative options for players that wanted them.

We wanted to give you multiple options to play with when customizing the text. Adjusting the size, color, language, adding speaker names and background opacity were all added to make subtitles easier to read. All the changes can be previewed in the options menu, making their choice instantly clear to the player in the menu negating the need to exit and see the changes in-game.

Thanks for taking the time to learn about Returnals UI/UX art direction, and to all the players who have joined us on this journey. Returnal is out now on PS5.

Continue reading here:
Unpacking Returnals UX design: Gameplay-first UI, retro-futuristic tech, and accessibility - PlayStation.Blog

A trampoline room, an estimated $130 million market value and a size rivaling that of the White House are some of the unique features of the fortress-like Washington compound of the soon-to-be-divorced Bill and Melinda Gates.

But the suburban Seattle property, should it ever be up for grabs, could be a very tough sell.

Were all fascinated with this story for the obvious reasonsthe unfathomable wealth, these are both respected people on the world platform, said Ernie Carswell of Douglas Elliman, a Los Angeles-based agent with upward of 25 years of experience selling some of the citys most lavish and big-name properties.

They have an incredible home, but now, if it has to be sold, it's not going to be wham bam thank you maam, he said.

Dubbed Xanadu 2.0.but listed in property records as the more straight-laced Gates Residencethe ex-couples main home on the edge of Lake Washington near Seattle, is perhaps the jewel in the crown of a hefty property portfolio that has seen hundreds of millions of dollars invested across the U.S. in the form of beachfront mansions, equestrian estates and vast swaths of farmland, property records show.

I have a nice house, the Microsoft boss, whos worth an estimated $124 billion, said on Reddit in 2019. It includes a trampoline room which seems kind of over the top but my kids love using it to work off their excess energy. I am not sure how guilty I should feel about being in a great house.

Details of the home are scarce, but glimpses of what lies behind its walls have been revealed over the years, many in an account from a Microsoft intern who visited in 2007 and wrote about the experience in a blog post.

Going down Bills driveway is like arriving at Jurassic Park, the intern, Robert Smith, wrote, referring to the film. The driveway is long, windy, goes steeply down, and is just covered in plant life.

He also revealed the existence of a movie theater and a room that looked to be completely filled with couches and pillows.

We checked out his dock, his beach (with sand imported from Hawaii), hot tub and boat. Hes also got this area of his house where a stream runs down from under the house into Lake Washington, the intern wrote. We also saw the indoor/outdoor pool that has an underwater grate that allows you to swim between the two sections.

Such a degree of customization within a private residence doesnt make a home more valuable, though it does garner attention, according to Mr. Carswell.

It gets some great PR, a sound bite, Mr. Carswell said. I don't think it adds value, but it gives great recognition.

But the Gates trampoline room is probably going to become the next owners bowling alley, he said.

Spanning a reported 66,000 square feet, the compoundwhich property records indicate has a value of $130.8 milliondwarfs anything else on the market in Washington state currently.

A custom home built much larger and more lavishly than any property in the area can lead to difficulties when selling, Mansion Global previously reported.

The Chicago-area mansion of former NBA star Michael Jordan is a prime example.

Spanning 56,000 square feet, Mr. Jordans home is three times as large as the next largest mansion in the area and the house is loaded with custom amenities, including a regulation-size basketball court and a round infinity pool with a grassy island at its center.

The basketball legend first listed the mansion in 2012 for $29 million, and it remains on the market today asking $14.8 million.

In the case of the Gates house, the size isnt a detractor, but it's only going to appeal to a very limited number of buyers who come with their staff, Mr. Carswell said. You have the privilege and the responsibility of maintaining 60,000-70,000 square feet. Whos going to be dusting that?

Encompassing a more than five-acre waterfront parcel, the Gates Residencewhich came with $1.13 million property tax bill last year, public records showis in the upmarket Seattle suburb of Medina, where the most expensive home currently on the market is asking $22.5 million, according to listing records.

The likelihood of the residence ever hitting the market thoughand exact details of the split that was announced Monday have yet to be laid outis slim, according to local Medina agent Tere Foster, of Team Foster at Compass.

Firstly, they just have no need, said Ms. Foster, who is the listing agent on the aforementioned $22.5 million home. When I talk to clients in these categories they say we don't sell real estate, we acquire real estate.

So it would be unlikely. Are there buyers out here that can afford it? There are. There's a lot of local money and a lot of money outside of this market, she said. But its hard for me to imagine it would ever be sold.

And secondly, if the sprawling estate were ever going to change hands, its unlikely to be exchanged on the open market.

If the family wanted to sell, it would be marketed in a quiet way. They know all the people that could write the checks, Ms. Foster said.

The property is somewhat of a local landmark in Medina. I can tell you when we get people in from out of the country, buyers say, we want to live as close to the Gates compound as possible. You have people who move to Medina because Bill Gates lives there, she added. They're very good neighbors.

See the article here:
The Opulent, Futuristic Megamansion of Bill and Melinda Gates Could Be a Hard Sell - Mansion Global

The fact that Toyota started to build its own 175-acre city of the future its already yesterdays news. It is happening and its going to be a society of the future, fully automated, sustainable and interconnected using AI technology. But what we didnt know up until now was how theyre planning to power the entire ecosystem. Turns out theyre going to use hydrogen energy.

Toyota and ENEOS are going to test the hydrogen-based supply chain in and around Woven City, from the production phase to delivery and usage. The Japanese carmaker sees hydrogen as one of the cleanest energy sources available and tries to explore and implement the hydrogen and fuel cell technology as much as it can.

Woven City starts as a small-scale project, with a community of roughly 360 residents, but will eventually reach over 2,000 individuals, including Toyota employees. It will serve as a live-in laboratory for present and future Toyota technology and inventions.

The futuristic town will have three types of streets, each with its specific purpose: one for pedestrian use, another one for automated driving and the third one for pedestrians with personal mobility vehicles. The goal is to create a sustainable urban environment that promotes carbon neutrality in everyday mobility.

ENEOS is in fact a petroleum company that is now focusing on hydrogen production. The company operates 45 commercial hydrogen refueling stations in Japan and promotes a low-carbon use of energy.

Woven City will be located at the base of Mount Fiji, in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture. It was designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, whose portfolio includes among others the LEGO House in Denmark, the two World Trade Center buildings in NYC, and Googles Mountain View and London HQ buildings.

See more here:
Toyota's Futuristic Woven City Will Be Powered by Hydrogen - autoevolution

An experimental treatment gives kids with the genetic condition Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Syndrome (SCID), better known as bubble baby disease, a chance to go about life without the risk of constant infection and sickness.

SCID can be caused by a wide variety of genetic mutations that essentially disable a patients immune system. That makes everyday pathogens deadly to them, and kids with the condition constantly take antibiotics to try and manage the disease that otherwise tends to kill within a year or two of life, according to the Associated Press.

But those antibiotics are a short-term fix researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles decided instead to try to switch the immune system back on. In doing so, they discovered a seemingly counterintuitive trick: turning HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, into a delivery system that helped ferry a healthier version of the relevant genes and replace the mutated ones.

And it seems to work all 50 kids who received the experimental treatment are still alive and seem healthy years later, according to a study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine that followed up on the patients two and three years after treatment.

People ask us, is it a cure? Who knows long term, but at least up to three years, these children are doing well, Stephen Gottschalk of the St Jude Childrens Research Hospital, who didnt contribute to the new study but worked on similar projects in the past, told the AP. The immune function seems stable over time so I think it looks very, very encouraging.

Cure is often considered a loaded term, especially when talking about experimental treatments that havent seen mainstream use yet, but the limited study and the 50 tentative success stories offer a reason to suspect that gene-editing technology may be able to manage a notoriously dangerous disease down the road.

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Scientists Turned HIV Into a Life-Saving Gene Therapy - Futurism

Its the perfect headline: in a new paper, a group of scientists laid out evidence for why they think NASAs rovers and Mars orbiters have already collected photographic evidence of fungi on Mars. Could those bubble-shaped rocks really be puffball-like growths, basking in the radiation battering down on the desolate Martian surface?

Think again, experts say.

The conditions on Mars are so extreme that youre not going to see fungi or any kind of life growing at that sort of speed under conditions like coldness and low air pressure, Jonathan Clarke, president of Mars Society Australia,told the South China Morning Post. Life can barely survive, let alone thrive.

Clarke also took issue with the paper claiming that mushrooms were actually growing on Mars.

Its just like if you go to a beach and there are shells, he told the newspaper. If the wind blows, the sand moves and exposes more shells. But we wont say the shells are growing there, its just that they become visible.

The paper did have some fairly impressive credentialing, with authors listed from the Smithsonian Institute and George Mason University. But as it turns out, the lead author of the paper was Rhawn Gabriel Joseph, a fringe researcher known for dubious and unscientific claims about life on other planets.

Joseph has a lengthy track record of attempting to get his research published in reputable scientific journals. At one point, he even started his own renegade journal.

Joseph did break through and get a paper published in the journal Astrophysics & Space Science in November 2019, as Ryan points out but it was promptly retracted after finding the paper proffers insufficient critical assessment of the material presented and literature cited, and fails to provide a solid underpinning for the speculative statements made in the article which, in their view, invalidates the conclusions drawn.

In other words, the journal realized its mistake, and seemingly laughed him out of the room.

Josephs latest paper was published in the journal Advances in Microbiology, a journal headquartered in China thats been criticized for republishing existing articles, as Nature reported back in 2010.

And so here we are yet again,with the latest paper being shredded by the scientific community.

Claiming that mushrooms are sprouting all over Mars is an extraordinary claim that requires better evidence than an analysis of photographic morphology by a known crank who has claimed, on the basis of the same kind of analysis, that he has seen fields of skulls on Mars, University of Minnesota, Morris, developmental biologist Paul Myers told CNET.

In short, we have a mountain of evidence that Mars is extremely unhospitable to life as we know it on Earth. And photographic evidence is simply not nearly enough, experts say.

We have more than photos, records, instruments that tell us what these materials are made of, David Flannery, lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology who is a member of NASAs Mars 2020 mission science team, told SCMP. And we have models for the features we see around us.

Robots are sending back huge amounts of data, he added. We have plenty of information but its just that no one is interpreting the features that we see as something like fungi. Theres zero evidence for that.

This paper, which is really not credible, will be ignored by the scientific community, Flannery said.

Advances in Microbiologyhas remained quiet, failing to respond to Ryans requests for comment.

The journals managing editor Zoey Yang did tell SCMP that the paper was accepted with revisions as we received four review results from different reviewers after peer review. They all suggest that we accept it after some revisions.

Its an admittedly enjoyable daydream: the prospect of mushrooms growing on Mars would be a tremendous breakthrough in our understanding of our Solar System and humanitys place in the universe.

But without backing up such claims with extensive evidence and compelling support from academic peers the findings should be treated with a grain of salt.

READ MORE: No, NASA photos are not evidence of fungus growing on Mars, sorry [CNET]

More on Joseph: Extremely Dubious Scientist Believes Theres Mushrooms and Lichen on Mars

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Originally posted here:
Experts Shred Paper Claiming to Identify Mushrooms on Mars - Futurism