#Mindcandy are scenario prompts designed keep you future-fit. Find out more here.
Scenario prompt 27 August 2025
The scenario prompt for today is the osmotic power. Have you heard of that before. Probably not. That is my point. It is super interesting, super optimistic and might or might not have an impact on your business in the future. Hence the need for situational awareness. There is a link to an blog I just wrote. Titled, The zebra, the lion, and the special forces, lessons in situational awareness for leaders.
The other prompts for today are you are the upgrade, sturddlefish, nostalgia, a nerve bridge, smartlet microbots, the most efficient life form, words to describe nature, solar from space, pig lung transplants (not humans), AI agents buying, quantum medicine and osmotic power.
If you want more details and the other prompts, you can visit my website or subscribe to my substack.
You are the upgrade
https://www.ronimmink.com/product/a-book-about-books-about-ai/
Data, acceleration, and the future of intelligence: Lessons from 25 core books (and links to 114 other books) about AI, technology abstraction, and consciousness.
Inside Asia’s first osmotic power plant: How Japan turns saltwater into electricity
https://interestingengineering.com/energy/asias-first-osmotic-power-plant
Osmotic power is a next-generation renewable energy source that is not affected by weather or time of day and emits no carbon dioxide, and is a step toward round-the-clock clean electricity.
Scientists Goofed and Accidentally Created a New Kind of Fish
How two different types of fish (sturgeon and paddlefish) bred to create hybrid offspring. The creation of these hybrid “sturddlefish” was accidental and occurred in a lab in Hungary.
The Great Retail Rewind: Nostalgia’s Back on the Shop Floor
Nostalgia lands when it carries emotional weight. Without it, you’re just dealing in retro aesthetics.
New 3D Printed Nerve Bridges Spark Hope For Spinal Injury Patients
https://scienceblog.com/new-3d-printed-nerve-bridges-spark-hope-for-spinal-injury-patients/
New research combines 3D printing, stem cell biology, and lab-grown tissues for possible treatments of spinal cord injuries.
Smartlet microrobots use solar cells and optical signaling to team up underwater
These “smartlets,” each just a millimeter wide, can communicate, respond to light, and coordinate with one another in water.
Scientists Say They’ve Created a New Form of Life More Perfect Than the One Nature Made
https://futurism.com/scientists-synthetic-lifeform-syn57
Scientists say they’ve engineered a bacteria whose genetic code is more efficient than any other lifeform on Earth.
The Words Humans Use to Describe Nature Are Vanishing, Study Finds
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-words-humans-use-to-describe-nature-are-vanishing-study-finds
Our connection to nature has declined by more than 60 percent in the past two centuries.
Could a Swarm of Space Mirrors Replace Much of Europe’s Solar and Wind by 2050?
The idea of beaming solar power down from space might sound like science fiction, but it’s being taken seriously by a growing number of governments. A new analysis shows it could significantly lower the cost of Europe’s 2050 net zero commitment.
Pig lung transplanted into a person in world first
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02708-2
At least half a dozen people in the United States and China have received organs from genome-edited pigs, including hearts, kidneys, livers and a thymus.
What Is Your AI Agent Buying? Evaluation, Implications and Emerging Questions for Agentic E-Commerce
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02630
Online marketplaces will be transformed by autonomous AI agents acting on behalf of consumers. Rather than humans browsing and clicking, vision-language-model (VLM) agents can parse webpages, evaluate products, and transact. This raises a fundamental question: what do AI agents buy, and why?
Can plants kick off a quantum medicine revolution
https://www.futurity.org/plants-quantum-medicine-podcast-3291252/
The team has already built quantum sensors inspired by nature’s designs, with the potential to transform how we detect disease, develop drugs, and even read neural signals. The ultimate goal? A new era of quantum medicine, powered by the weird and wonderful physics found in leaves.
The zebra, the lion, and the special forces: lessons in situational awareness for leaders
Why situational awareness is the foundation of strategy
