Although climate change could still have devastating effects for much of the world, some regions stand to benefit immensely. Canada, Scandinavia, and even Greenland could all become economic powerhouses, making "The New North" a very attractive destination.

This is one of the central premises of respected climate scientist Laurence Smith's new book, The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future, which is published later this month. Just as the Pacific Rim has gained ever-increasing economic importance over the last half-century, melting in the polar regions will allow a similarly powerful Arctic Rim to develop, providing an unprecedented economic jolt to Canada, Russia, the northern United States, Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland.

There's no question that our sense of well-being is a significant contributor to our overall longevity. While it may or may not impact directly on aging, it most certainly influences the ways in which we engage in life and with others—and that most certainly impacts on our mental and physical health.

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Fortunately, we have more control over our happiness than we think.

Lately you may have noticed that hard SF is starting to break the rules. Writer Jason Sanford identifies this as the emerging "SciFi Strange" subgenre, and he's curated a list of free stories online that make SF a lot stranger.

Sanford says SciFi Strange reflects a multicultural world where tradition co-exists with multiple, minority perspectives on reality. He continues:

SciFi Strange also flirts with the boundaries of what is scientifically—and therefore realistically—possible, without being bounded by the rigid frames of the world as we know it today. But don't call SciFi Strange fantasy. This is pure science fiction. It's merely an updated version of the literature of ideas. A science fiction for a world where the frontiers of scientific possibility are almost philosophical in nature.