Predictions for 2017 (or the near future)

1. Predictions for 2017 (or the near future)

2. Sports Predictions • From CNN analysts • The Patriots will win the Super Bowl • The Chicago Cubs will win the World Series

3. Politics

4. The Nobel Peace Prize 2017 • From CNN analysts • It will be awarded to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her humanitarian efforts regarding Europe’s growing refugee crisis • Or it might be the White Helmets, who save people from the bombings in Syria • Or it might be Pope Francis

5. Italy’s banks may collapse • Why should we care? • Italy is the world’s 8th largest economy • It’s also a Eurozone country, so it could bring the whole EU crashing down. • The Greek debt crisis nearly collapsed the Euro, and Greece barely edges into the top 50 global economies.

6. The Taliban • The Taliban are making a resurgence in Afghanistan • Nearly 150 of Afghanistan’s 400 districts are already totally or partially under Taliban control. • There’s fighting in 50 moredistricts • These are the highest numbers since 2001 and are being fueled by soaring Afghan military and police defections.

7. Fascist France? • Marine Le Pen’s far-right Front National party is currently leading in polls for France’s 2017 elections. • The party’s founder, (her father) Jean-Marie Le Pen, has repeatedly denied the Holocaust • If Le Pen becomes leader of France, she has promised to yank France out of the European Union. • The result—a total collapse of the EU and economic shock waves that will rock the world.

8. More terrorist attacks in Europe • With ISIS’s Iraq and Syria strongholds collapsing, Western jihadists are being sent back to Europe by the thousands, all with only one goal: to cause maximum casualties to civilians.

9. Genocide in Central African Republic • The CAR is an ethnically divided, failing state with armed gangs roaming its countryside and has been at boiling point for the last two years. • Observers are worried it will spill over into ethnic violence, if not outright genocide, any day.

10. Genocide in Myanmar • Myanmar, on the other hand, was meant to be a success story. • After the country transitioned to democracy after 60 years of dictatorship, it was supposed to become a beacon of the free world. • Instead, security forces began destroying villages belonging to the Rohingya minority and ethnically cleansing their populations. Frighteningly, all the indicators for a potential genocide to unfold in 2017 are already in place.

11. Russia at war • One former NATO deputy commander has already predicted that Moscow will annex the Baltic states in 2017, leaving the US and EU treaty-bound to protect them. • Or maybe the recent assassination of a Russian diplomat in Turkey will bring Ankara and Moscow toe-to-toe, a conflict that, once again, the US would be treaty-bound to get involved in.

12. German Elections • Angela Merkel will win a 4th term as Chancellor (there are no term limits in Germany)

13. Tech, Science

14. Delivery Drones

15. Smart Contact Lenses • They can check your blood sugar, your blood alcohol level, and other biological data

16. Internet beaming drones • Solar powered drones with wingspans of 150 feet covered in solar cells that beam out WIFI

17. The Rise of Augmented and Virtual Reality

18. Wireless Charging • A prototype of a new system (DCRS) that can wirelessly power devices up to 15 feet away. • The DCRS system achieves this using a magnetic field, and is apparently powerful enough to charge up to 40 mobile phones, and can even power larger devices, like a TV.

19. Disney and Netflix? • Disney CEO Robert Iger made his name with gutsy, big-ticket acquisitions — most notably, Pixar, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm. • He’s set to retire in mid-2018, but first, with Disney’s cable TV revenues faltering, he’s intent on finding a solid and sustainable online platform for the company’s world-beating assets. • Look for him to make one last big deal — perhaps a $60 billion-plus buyout of Netflix?

20. Watching New Movies at Home • Movies may soon be available to watch at home only 2 weeks after they debut in theaters

21. Talking to your gadgets • Your stereo system, your phone, your car, your camera: Everything will speak to you in 2017. • Devices that don’t understand your voice commands will soon seem outdated, as will getting your phone out of your pocket every time you want to google something or check an app. • Established players like Apple, Google, and Amazon, as well as voice newcomers like Facebook, will fight hard to become the voice platform of choice.

22. Assisted Driving (instead of Autonomous Driving) • Surveys show that people aren’t quite ready for Autonomous driving (your car driving itself) • But there will be more and more Assisted Driving technologies – like Automatic Braking, Car-Assisted Crash Avoidance

23. Smart Homes/Smart Speakers • Amazon’s Echo can tell you the weather, the news, play you music, control your NEST thermostat, set an alarm, set a timer, create shopping and to-do lists and can access Wikipedia articles. Echo will respond to your questions about items in your Google calendar.

24. 2-in-1 Computers Take Off • 2-in-1 = a tablet-style design with an attachable keyboard. (Think Microsoft's Surface Pro lineup.) • PC vendors will also work on "convertibles," which look more like traditional laptops but also have a touchscreen and removable keyboard. (Think Lenovo's Yoga machines.) • The PC industry's goal now is to move everyone over to 2-in-1 and convertible designs

25. The genome editing method CRISPR • This is actually revolutionary – this will change the whole healthcare industry • Researchers have already used gene-editing to create mosquitoes that are almost entirely resistant to the parasite that causes malaria. • Some scientists also believe that we will have the chance to edit our cells in our immune systems with CRISPR to improve them against cancer cells • Scientists were able to treat mice with muscular dystrophy through gene editing.

26. More on CRISPR • It works by injecting a DNA construct with three major components into a living organism. The components are the Cas9 enzyme that cuts or deletes a segment of DNA, a sequence of RNA that guides the Cas9 to the correct location to cut, and a new DNA template to repair the cut with.

27. Fitbit information = lower insurance rates? • An insurance company will launch a package where if you wear a sensor that tracks your bio information, your rate can go down if you keep active and healthy • A small insurance company, Oscar Health, started this already. Insured people can submit their Fitbit data; and if they reach their fitness goals. • In the future, smoking, drinking heavily, eating trashy food and not doing any sports might not only cost people a lot in terms of their expenses and their health on the long run, but it might also heavily burden their health insurance with extra fees.

28. 3D Printed Casts • Instead of a messy process of fitting plaster to your hurting body part, soon the doctor will just scan your arm, print out a water-proof, lightweight cast in seconds, and you’re free to go home. • At the next visit, your caregiver simply pops it open to examine the injury. • Cheaper, faster, more convenient for both patient and doctor. • The Spanish 3D printing startupExovite experimented with the technology.

29. Bioabsorbable Stents • Every year, 600,000 people have metal coronary stents put into their chests to treat coronary artery blockage. • Most of the time, that stent stays there forever • This past July, the first bioabsorbable stent was approved in the United States. • Made of a naturally dissolving polymer, the stent widens the clogged artery for two years before it is absorbed into the body in a manner similar to dissolvable sutures.

30. Cancer Diagnosis from a Blood Test • Tests known as “liquid biopsies” uncover signs of actual DNA which is shed from a tumor into the bloodstream. • These are in the clinical trial stage