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PhysOrg.com reports on work by Jiali Li,
an assistant professor of physics at the University of Arkansas,
on the nano-frontier. With her research colleagues, she
is fine-tuning a new imaging device -- the nanopore detector
-- that is capable of looking at single molecules, and measuring
the interactions between molecules.
The BBC reports on new developments in our
ability to augment human capabilities. U.S. researchers
have created strap-on robotic legs that will allow people
to carry heavy loads over long distances. Sensors and hydraulic
mechanisms distribute the weight. Funded by the U.S. Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the bionic device
has been designed for infantry soldiers. It may also be
used by firefighters and rescue crews. In a second article,
the BBC reports on a new implant that could help stroke
patients regain control of their arms.
The commercialization of space is another
rapidly approaching frontier. British entrepreneur Richard
Branson lost little time launching a new venture after the
successful suborbital flights of SpaceShipOne. Virgin Galactic
has ordered five next-generation vehicles capable of carrying
five to eight passengers into space. The anticipated cost
per passenger will be around $200,000.
In society, we will
test other limits. The New York Times says population
experts believe increasing life expectancies will further
erode the financial viability of the U.S. Social Security
system. Social Security trustees project that life expectancy
in America will increase to 83 in 2075, while the Census
Bureau expects this milestone will be achieved 25 years
sooner. The International Herald Tribune reports
on a growing trend towards "active retirement,"
as more people extend their working life.
Foreign Policy examines the hidden
costs of restrictions on the free movement of people and
goods, in the global fight against terrorism. New barriers,
it says, will have wide-ranging impacts on our interconnected
world.
Even physical frontiers are changing. The
BBC reports that permafrost is thawing in Alaska, northern
Canada and Siberia, and at higher elevations in the Alps
and Tibet. Monitoring programs like the Global Terrestrial
Network for Permafrost (GTNP) show ground temperatures are
warming throughout the permafrost zone. Houses and buildings
are leaning in some areas of Fairbanks, Alaska, as the ground
melts underneath them. Changes to the city's building codes
will be required if the thaw continues.
In the closing section of this newsletter,
we link to a report published by the First Committee of
United Nations General Assembly, titled Converging Technologies:
The Future of the Global Information Society. Chair
Christopher Altman, writes about the convergence of information
technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology; the growing
threat of information warfare; and future consequences for
world security.
David Forrest
we welcome your comments and feedback at mail@innovationwatch.com
SCIENCE
Device
to Probe Limits of Physics - [BBC] UK physicists have
completed the first crucial element of an experimental device
designed to probe the forces that shape our Universe.
A
Rain Forest Debate: Could It Have Been Home to Complex Societies?
- [Boston Globe] For much of the last half-century, archeologists
have viewed the South American rain forest as a ''counterfeit
paradise" whose inhospitable environment precluded
the development of complex societies. But new research suggests
that prehistoric people found ways to overcome the jungle's
natural limitations and thrive in large numbers.
Researchers
Discovered that Humans are a ’Privileged’ Evolutionary
Lineage - [Innovations Report] The genes that regulate
brain development and function evolved much more rapidly
in humans than in nonhuman primates and other mammals because
of natural selection processes unique to the human lineage.
First
Americans May Have Come From Australia - [Discover]
Scientists believed the Siberian forebears of Native Americans
arrived 9,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age.
But Peñon Woman III could help prove that the first
Americans came from Australia much earlier.
Geographer
of the Male Genome - [Scientific American] The notion
of the Y sex chromosome as a genetic wasteland still entices
biologists. David C. Page has spent a good part of his career
knocking down that myth.
Sightings
of "Newborn" Galaxies Reveal a Fecund Universe
- [Scientific American] The first data returned by NASA's
Galaxy Evolution Explorer spacecraft (GALEX) suggests that
our Universe is still quite fertile. Observations of newborn
galaxies indicate that the universe is still alive with
youth and not suffering from as big a decline in its galactic
birthrate as previously believed.
Tiny
Holes Offer Giant Glimpse into Future
- [PhysOrg] Miniscule holes in a single molecule detector
being developed at the University of Arkansas may hold the
key to enormous advancements in the medical and biological
sciences.
TECHNOLOGY
China
Launches Next-Generation Internet - [CIO Today] China
says it will launch the first Internet Protocol Version
6 network. CERNET2 initially links 25 universities in 20
cities, with plans to expand to 100 universities. IPv6 greatly
expands the number of available IP addresses, overcoming
a potential shortcoming of current Internet technology.
Japan's
'Smart' Transport Systems Taking the Slow Road - [Boston
Globe] Japan has some of the most congested, confusing,
and cramped streets in the world. It also boasts some of
the latest technology in zapping computerized data to millions
of cars, delivering what may be the world's smartest way
to drive.
Eyeing
the Future of Ubiquitous Computing - [PhysOrg] A future
in which computers become pervasive, unobtrusive and almost
invisible is being brought a step closer by EYES, an IST
programme-funded project addressing many of the challenges
of creating the sensor networks needed to make ubiquitous
computing an everyday reality.
GPS
Goes Down on the Farm - [MSNBC] Aided by a computer
and a Global Positioning System -- a constellation of Earth-orbiting
satellites -- a farmer's tractor can now drive itself.
Sensor
Network Mimics Synchronized Calling By Frogs, Cicadas
- [Science Daily] The modern world is filled with the uncoordinated
beeping and buzzing of countless electronic devices. So
it was only a matter of time before someone designed an
electronic network with the ability to synchronize dozens
of tiny buzzers, in much the same way that frogs and cicadas
coordinate their night-time choruses.
Bionic
Legs Give Soldiers a Boost - [BBC] US researchers have
developed strap-on robotic legs to allow people to carry
heavy loads over long distances.
Tests
of Bionic Arm Implant Start - [BBC] A tiny electrical
implant which could help stroke patients to regain control
of their arms is to be tested in humans for the first time.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Can
a Beer from Brazil Go Global? - [International Herald
Tribune] InBev, formed in the merger this year of Interbrew
of Belgium and AmBev of Brazil, is drawing up plans to turn
Brahma, a popular Brazilian beer, into something that doesn't
exist yet in the beer industry: a truly global brand.
New
Emerging Trends in India, China - [The Economic Times]
The transformation of India Inc and China Inc is happening
simultaneously, and at a time when both the India story
and China story are fast gaining currency in the world of
business as countries to watch out for.
Calls
Grow to Tax Airlines for Pollution - [Deutsche Welle]
Air travel has increased five fold since 1970, with much
of that growth taking place in the last few years due to
the exploding popularity of budget airlines. Germany's green
lobby has little doubt that the no-frills travel boom is
the country's number one climate killer.
China's
Big Deals: Should We Worry? - [Business Week] There's
a worldwide yard sale going on. Multinational corporations
are starting to sell off big-name brands to Chinese companies.
A
Hurting Dollar Pains the World - [Business Week] The
problem of America's huge deficit in its balance of payments
(which measures the country's economic transactions with
the rest of the world, including both goods and services)
is growing. Moreover, prospects for quick improvement are
bleak. The usual market cure for a large deficit is a currency
decline.
Shaping
the Future of Manufacturing -
[Industry Week] A tour through manufacturing's recent history
reveals clues of what's to come.
Virgin
Soars Towards New Frontier - [BBC] The partnership that
built SpaceShipOne, Mojave Aerospace Ventures, has its first
paying customer: Sir Richard Branson. The British tycoon
and flamboyant chief of the Virgin Group in London has ordered
a fleet of spaceliners to carry passengers beyond the atmosphere.
SOCIETY
Muslims,
Europe Search for Balance - [Detroit Free Press] For
the first time in history, Muslims are building large and
growing minorities across the secular Western world -- nowhere
more visibly than in Western Europe, where their numbers
have more than doubled in the past two decades.
Social
Security Underestimates Future Life Spans, Critics Say
- [The Ledger] When the federal government assesses the
long-term financial problems of Social Security, it assumes
that increases in life expectancy will be slow and measured.
But many population experts say they believe that Americans'
life expectancy will increase rapidly in the 21st century,
making the program's financial problems even worse.
The
New Military and the Gaming Generation - [Globe and
Mail] Soon after the battle for Fallujah ended in November,
US Marines brought their Xbox consoles, Gameboys and laptops
forward and started fighting the Covenant hordes in Halo,
Mario and Luigi's worst enemies and those irksome roommates
from The Sims.
California
Must Keep Its Edge: Higher Education Needs Active Support
- [San Francisco Chronicle] California has cut funding and
raised fees at its state universities for four straight
years, making it difficult for UC to compete for the best
students both in the United States and abroad.
Working
Longer, Whether You Like It or Not - [International
Herald Tribune] As societies grapple with how to maintain
financing for retirement amid slumping markets and shrinking
savings, one solution is gaining favor: having people work
longer, either by extending the retirement age or by creating
meaningful work for retirees.
Rich
College, Poor College - [Business Week] With an endowment
of $3.6 billion under his control and a faculty that boasts
seven Nobel laureates, University of Chicago President Don
M. Randel should feel on top of the world. But from his
office in the heart of Chicago's neo-gothic campus, Randel
spends a lot of his time fretting about the university's
future.
Nordic
Family Ties Don't Mean Tying the Knot - [USA Today]
In Norway, half of all children are now born to unmarried
mothers... 82% of couples have their first child out of
wedlock. The numbers are similarly high for Sweden and Denmark.
While many couples marry after having the first or second
child, it's clear marriage in parts of Scandinavia is dying.
GLOBAL POLITICS
A
Time of Testing for Global Democracy -
[Christian Science Monitor] Votes this month could mark
advances in the Middle East, but history shows that democracy
requires time, commitment.
Russia,
China Plan Military Drills - [London Free Press] Russia
and China will hold unprecedented joint military manoeuvres
on Chinese territory next year involving both nations' air
forces and navies, Russia's defence minister said.
Democracy
in the Former Soviet Union: 1991-2004 - [Eurasianet]
Over the last decade and a half, an unprecedented initiative
has taken place in the Former Soviet Union (F.S.U.). In
all 15 republics that made up the U.S.S.R., the introduction
of Western-style liberal democracy and its principles became
the dominant political modus operandi since 1991.
The
Cost of Living Dangerously - [Foreign Policy] Can the
global economy absorb the expenses of fighting terrorism?
Magic,
or Realism? - [The Economist] China and Latin America
can help each other, though some claims made for the “China
effect” are more fantasy than fact.
The
Democratization of Europe - [Project Syndicate] Although
Europe is more a space governed by a shared rule of law
than an expression of a unitary political will, it is currently
becoming the greatest economic power in the world.
A
Reluctant Embrace - [YaleGlobal] After expansion from
15 to 25 states this year, Europe's embrace of Turkey will
mark a key turning point in the evolution of the Union from
a wealthy and exclusively Christian club into a vast and
diverse multi-religious bloc stretching to the frontiers
of Iraq and Syria.
ENVIRONMENT
Wolves'
Genetic Diversity Worryingly Low - [New Scientist] Wolf
eradication in the US has had a far more devastating impact
on the genetic diversity of remaining populations than previously
thought, a new study reveals.
Earth's
Permafrost Starts to Squelch - [BBC] In addition to
northern Alaska, the permafrost zone includes most other
Arctic land, such as northern Canada and much of Siberia,
as well as the higher reaches of mountainous regions such
as the Alps and Tibet. All report permafrost thaw.
The
Hydrogen Economy - [Physics Today] If the fuel cell
is to become the modern steam engine, basic research must
provide breakthroughs in understanding, materials, and design
to make a hydrogen-based energy system a vibrant and competitive
force.
Steam
Engines Could Be Eco Hope - [BBC] Steam-powered vehicles
are not usually deemed as being parked at the cutting edge
of transport technology.
Better
Homes and Garbage - [Sierra] In Bill Dunster's London-area
housing development, residents tread lightly without even
trying.
Clean
the Ganges - [EcoWorld] Religion and science join forces
to save the greatest river on earth.
Pollutants
Feared to Suppress Male Characteristics - [India News]
Pollutants such as DDT and dioxins are feared to have caused
sex ratio alterations in Italy and Russia through suppression
of male characteristics, a US scientist said.
THE FUTURE
Converging
Technologies: The Future of the Global Information Society
- [Christopher Altman, Chairman, UNISCA
First Committee on Disarmament and International Security]
The complex web of the global information grid will undergo
explosive changes over coming decades. As advances in science
and technology converge, a myriad array of discoveries in
biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology
will produce unpredictable effects that must be accounted
for in any estimate of what the world will look like in
this future. A strategically important feature of this world
will be the emerging trend of information warfare.
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