New Jersey Future is a model of state-level futurism, with "original research, policy analysis, public education, and advocacy" all built around the theme of smart growth. 

From Real Simple, a complete guide to recycling pretty much anything, from crayons to old electronics. Via BNET.

From the trendspotting site Springwise: "Supercool School is an education platform that lets anyone create and monetize an online school of their very own. For USD 15 per month, users of San Francisco-based Supercool School can create real-time classes and make them available to an unlimited number of students from all around the world." Can the same technology be used to create and monetize online museums (or at least online exhibits and programs)?

According to University of Michigan researchers, in the future super computers might be based on cat brains. "A cat can recognize a face faster and more efficiently than a supercomputer. That's one reason a feline brain is the model for a biologically-inspired computer project involving the University." This is serious computer science, and without any direct application to museums that we can see, but too cool not to share. It reminds us that the future may be a radically different place from the present. (It also reminds us of a creepy science fiction story by Cordwainer Smith involving a real cat brain and interstellar warfare.) Reported by Science Daily.

Go back to the future as science fiction legend Isaac Asimov predicts the future from 1977. His assignment was to think about advertising in the year 2000 (the article was commissioned by the trade journal Advertising Age), but Asimov touched on "the seeds of many advances in current use: opt-in advertising, e-readers, 3-D technology and 'private TV channels,' which one might consider a private YouTube channel or a Facebook profile today. And his theory of 'advertology' might well be analogous to the current movement toward cause and purpose-driven marketing." Some of his predictions, like solar-power generating space stations, are still to come. But his projection of "increased personalization of advertising" (and other forms of culture) was prescient. 

The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future is a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project and Elon University. "By an overwhelming margin, technology experts and stakeholders participating in [a survey for this report] ... believe that innovative forms of online cooperation could result in more efficient and responsive for-profit firms, non-profit organizations and government agencies by the year 2020. ... While their overall assessment anticipates that humans' use of the internet will prompt institutional change, many elaborated with written explanations that expressed significant concerns over organization's resistance to change." Download the full report. 

New York University—the largest private, not-for-profit university in the country, with 55,000 students, faculty and staff—has promised to become "climate positive" by 2040 (i.e., a step beyond zero emissions or carbon-neutral). NYU plans "to achieve this feat through cleaner energy production, carbon emission offsets and a change in energy usage habits." Will large museums take up the same challenge?

A review of the latest Horizon Report on emerging technologies for the K-12 classroom reminds us that the line between formal and informal education is becoming thinner all the time. The report looks at six emerging technologies that are also shaping museum practice: Cloud Computing, Collaborative Environments, Game-Based Learning, Mobiles, Augmented Reality, and Flexible Displays.

From the Economist comes a report on social mobility and inequality, which notes that economic inequality in the United States was on the rise even before the current recession. Social mobility may also be on the rocks, though the social scientists have not fully figured out the connection between inequality and mobility. "Compared with people in other rich countries, Americans tend to accept relatively high levels of income inequality because they believe they may move up over time. The evidence is that America does offer opportunity; but not nearly as much as its citizens believe." Moreover, "parental income is a better predictor of a child's future in America than in much of Europe, implying that social mobility is less powerful." This presents at least two challenges for museums: Given the correlation between wealth and museum-going in the United States, will a growing gap between rich and middle-income (and poor) Americans mean fewer avid visitors in the future? And do museums have a necessary role to play in promoting social mobility?  

What is the future of race in the United States? Historian Nell Irvin Painter argues that "we'll always believe in race (and witches)," at least in America. Watch or read an interview with her at BigThink.

According to the Times of India, there is a looming population crisis as world turns its back on parenthood. "For decades, demographers have warned of a reproductive Armageddon, painting a picture of an over-crowded planet choking on its own population. The statistics seemed to bear them out. In 1950, there were 2.5 billion people on earth. Just four decades later, in 1990, the number crossed 5 billion. Currently, the world’s population is estimated at about 6.9 billion. What has gone unnoticed is a silent change of far-reaching consequences that has taken place in the last decades of the 20th century: total fertility has fallen from an average of 4.7 children per woman in 1970-1975 to 2.6 children per woman in 2005-2010. This has not only defused the demographic time bomb by slowing the growth rate of population, it has brought with it an unavoidable corollary—an aging population."

Cultural Realms is a blog devoted to cultural tourism. In a recent post, Rossitza Ohridska-Olson discussed "the ultimate form" of cultural tourism: "experiencing the creation of cultural values [via] creative tourism [which] continues to be a big trend in destination marketing. The focus is on local arts, crafts, gastronomy, wine culture, and everything that a place can offer. Combined with the brand war between similar places to show their uniqueness, the main element of the tourism product for creative tourism is the local focus."  

From internet research expert Marcus P. Zillman comes a comprehensive list of Internet Demographics Resources and Sites. You might want to start by reading the results of a new study on generational attitudes towards privacy on the internet, which shows that younger Americans (18-24) value their online privacy just as much as older Americans do, despite rumors to the contrary in the popular press and elsewhere.

Now available: the latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the UNESCO World Heritage Center and National Geographic Maps. Can be purchased for a small fee or viewed online gratis.

The ever-popular Malcolm Gladwell on Social Media: "If you follow me on Twitter, I do not own your heart. I may own your pocketbook momentarily. And I may own your attention for five seconds, but that’s it."

2009 Art Museum Education Programs Survey Report (link will download full report) from Museum-Ed. Includes information from nearly a hundred art museums on nine topics: "tours; informal gallery learning; libraries in museums; community, adult and family programs; classes and other public programs; partnerships with other organizations; school programs; online educational resources; and social media."

New evidence that men with beards are more trustworthy from a study in the Journal of Marketing Communications.

India to Create Museum of Statistics. Good news for those who love both museums and numbers (like the American Statistical Association, source of this clipping).

The Robots Among Us—a collection of robots interacting with people in everyday settings from grocery stores to battlefields, courtesy of the New York Times. There are even more robots (less functional but "utterly irresistible" and "snuggly") at Dark Roasted Blend. And a student-created wok robot that can cook 600 Chinese dishes at Popular Science.

The Paint by Number Museum.

From Time Magazine, a photo-essay on Curious Collections: Offbeat Museums Around the World.

Ptak asks, "[Was] the telephone answering machine the greatest non-transportation contributor to expanding human motion and time in the 1850-1950 century?"