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Bill Gates Warns We Should Be Preparing for a Deadly Global Pandemic but the Trump Administration Is Blowing Him Off
With all the talk of President Trump’s nuclear button, deadly extreme weather and even humanoid robots taking over the world, it’s easy these days to imagine any number of doomsday scenarios that could wipe out the human race.
According to Microsoft-founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates, however, the most pressing threat is something much less dramatic but also highly plausible: A global pandemic akin to the 1918 influenza breakout, which could kill more than 30 million people in just six months.
Newly Released Video Shows Bill Gates Openly Mocking Donald Trump, and the President Won't Like It One Bit
The acronym HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, while HPV stands for Human PapillomaVirus. We may not all know the exact words associated with each acronym, but most know the difference between the medical conditions associated with the two.
As any parent who’s held down a screaming toddler in a pediatrician’s office can attest, childhood immunizations — while necessary — can be difficult. With up to five pokes required at a single visit, multiple boosters for a single vaccine, and a flu shot recommended each year, it can be difficult for even the most organized caregiver to keep up.
Luckily, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have just invented a new method that could allow all immunizations to be condensed into a single jab. The procedure was outlined in a September paper published in Science.
[DIGEST: The Seattle Times, Quartz, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes]
For humans, nothing is certain except death and taxes. Lucky for them, robots needn’t worry about either. That is, unless Bill Gates has his way—then taxes will become a certainty for them, too. (Death they can still avoid.)
Bill Gates and a Group of Billionaires Launch Fund to Save the Earth
Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced he will head the Breakthrough Energy Ventures Fund, a more than $1 billion fund focused on fighting climate change. Joining him are some of the world's most successful business leaders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists, including John Doerr, chairman of venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla, Laura and John Arnold Foundation co-chair and former energy hedge fund manager John Arnold, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, and SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner. They hope that the BEV will become an instrumental force in the quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero.
To do so, the BEV will invest in the commercialization of technologies that already aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in areas such as electricity generation and storage, transportation, agriculture, and energy system efficiency. The 20-year fund will invest money in startups at their earliest stages and continue all the way to companies that have reached commercialization. Additionally, BEV will collaborate with investors, governments, research institutions, and corporate partners to foster a fund of internal scientific expertise.
[DIGEST: CNN, Science Alert, Fortune, Slate]
Bill Gates is investing in clean energy. He’s joining up with nearly 30 other billionaires, from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to Virgin Group’s Richard Branson, to form a new clean energy investment group. Their goal: a world where clean energy is not more expensive than today’s hydrocarbon energy.