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In the health sciences...
Researchers at the Macromolecular Biochemistry
Research Centre in Montpellier, France, have used stem cells
from mice to repair damaged heart muscle in sheep. Before
they were transplanted, the cells were exposed to growth
factors that caused them to develop into heart cells, and
the sheep were given immunosuppressant drugs. The cells
colonized damaged hearts in the sheep, cardiac function
improved, and there was no sign of rejection.
An Australian scientist has created the
first vaccine against cancer. Final clinical trials showed
a 100% success rate. Experts say the drug has the potential
to save 70% of the 250,000 lives lost globally each year
to the disease. It provides immunity against the human papillomavirus
that causes the disease for about 10 years.
Scientists in the United States have reconstructed
the Spanish flu virus that killed tens of millions of people
worldwide in 1918. They used small fragments of DNA obtained
from a few rare tissue samples, taken from victims of the
disease, to put together the puzzle. They believe that the
virus originated in birds, and will use the reconstructed
virus to better understand the bird flu that is now spreading
in Southeast Asia.
Cars of the future...
The Times reports on new technologies
that will soon appear in automobiles. The 2006 Honda Legend
will include noise cancellation, to eliminate road and wind
noise. The 2006 Honda Accord will include a camera that
scans the road, anticipates changes in direction, and helps
the driver to steer. BMW and DaimlerChrysler have developed
a car-to-car networking system that relays messages about
road conditions between cars. Other technology includes
night vision, directional headlights, steering assist, electronic
headlights, electronic handbrakes, and adaptive cruise control.
Citroen has developed a car that parks itself. The new Mercedes
S-class has more than 100 buttons.
Communications and entertainment...
The Economist says it's only a matter
of time until all phone calls are free. eBay recently bought
Skype, a company that has developed software to let people
make free calls from their computer. Microsoft bought Teleo,
and Yahoo! bought Dialpad, two other Skype-like firms. And
AOL, Apple and others, the magazine says, have similar products.
The Economist says Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom's vision
is "to become the world's biggest and best platform
for all communications -- text, voice or video -- from any
internet-connected device." Residential voice-over-internet-protocol
providers -- more than a thousand in the United States alone
-- are also putting pressure on the
traditional telephone business.
Wired magazine reports on the accelerating
growth in video content -- a 36-fold increase in consumer-generated
videos accessible on the Internet this year, and 31 million
hours of video produced by industry every year that may
soon be available online. Yahoo!, it says, is positioning
to create a major competitor to the broadcast networks to
take advantage of the explosion in consumer demand. The
company is also developing new video search technology that
uses pattern-matching to index visual features.
Vanishing males...
Writer Tara Goth muses in The Suffolk
Standard on reports that there are 15% fewer male births
in the U.S. population today than there were sixty years
ago. And it appears that single women tend to give birth
to more female babies. With tongue in cheek, she speculates
on the consequences for society. The article includes links
to the original background stories.
A sea of oil...
The Lexington Herald-Leader says
Canada may have the answer to America's energy future. The
oil sands in northern Alberta, extending over more than
54,000 square miles, hold 1.7 trillion barrels of oil, and
some 176 billion barrels are already recoverable using today's
technology. Production from the oil sands will exceed 1.1
million barrels a day this year. This is expected to double
by 2010, and to reach 5 million barrels a day by 2035. Canada,
the newspaper says, has already passed Saudi Arabia as the
largest foreign supplier of crude oil and petroleum products
to the United States.
Energy police...
The Telegraph says the Deputy Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom is considering a drastic
plan to conserve energy. Homeowners would be required to
provide an annual accounting of energy used in their homes,
and defend their use of fuel. Energy wardens would audit
consumption. Britain needs to adopt a wartime mentality
to deal with its dependence on imported energy, the plan's
authors say. The security of the country might be at stake,
they say, in a world where Middle East extremists could
control production.
Ray Kurzweil...
We feature Ray Kurzweil's long-awaited book
this week -- The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend
Biology. A work of great depth and breadth, the book
explores a fast-approaching future where boundaries blur
between man and machine. Its predictions are at the same
time fascinating and disturbing, and, if Ray Kurzweil's
track record is any guide, likely to come true.
David Forrest
we welcome your comments and feedback at mail@innovationwatch.com
SCIENCE
Birthplace
of Famous Mars Meteorite Pinpointed - [New Scientist]
The original home of the world's most famous space rock,
the Allen Hills Martian meteorite, has now been identified,
thanks to data from the orbiting spacecraft Mars Global
Surveyor and Mars Odyssey and a better understanding of
cratering dynamics.
Embryonic
Stem Cells Repair Broken Hearts - [New Scientist] Embryonic
stem cells from mice can patch up damaged heart muscle in
sheep. With hopes of using less controversial, adult-derived
stem cells now appearing shaky, the results could pave the
way for effective treatments for heart disease in people.
Asteroids
Caused The Early Inner Solar System Cataclysm - [Space
Daily] University of Arizona and Japanese scientists are
convinced that evidence at last settles decades-long arguments
about what objects bombarded the early inner solar system
in a cataclysm 3.9 billion years ago.
Aussie
Cure for Cervical Cancer - [Courier-Mail] AN Australian
scientist has developed the world's first cancer vaccine
-- a drug with the potential to save the lives of tens of
thousands of women each year by preventing cervical cancer.
The vaccine -- based on work started 15 years ago by Ian
Frazer, director of the Centre for Immunology and Cancer
Research at the University of Queensland -- received a huge
boost when researchers reported a 100 per cent success rate
in final trials.
Birds
Led to 1918 Flu Pandemic - Say Scientists Who Re-Created
the Virus - [Red Nova] It sounds like a sci-fi thriller.
For the first time, scientists have made from scratch the
Spanish flu virus that killed millions of people in 1918.
Common
Brain Test May Predict Future Dementia - [newKerala.com]
A common brain test of people appears to be able to predict
whether they will develop dementia in future, says a study.
How
Small is Too Small? Scientists Set Limit - [Hindustan
Times] There's a limit to how tiny gadgets, devices and
machines can get, scientists have claimed.
TECHNOLOGY
The
Dream Factory - [Wired] From design to delivery, custom
manufacturing is coming soon to a desktop near you. Writer
Clive Thompson joins the fab Lab" revolution.
TV
to Become Web-Like - [The Register] TV that's beamed
over the net - is set to become the next big thing for boggle-eyed
couch potatoes everywhere.
South
Korea Invents Universal Game Engine - [kotaku.com] South
Korea may be on the cusp of the next big thing in video
games. The country claims to have come up with a new piece
of software that will allow the same computer game to be
played on a variety of devices.
Vending
Machines - The Koban of the Future? - [asahi.com] Up
to an estimated 5 million vending machines dot the nation,
humming their little hum, dispensing drinks and cigarettes.
Now imagine those innocuous machines harnessed to do good:
to fight crime, to stand sentinel where no security guard
goes.
NASA
Develops Humanoid Robots for Future Space Missions -
[Christian Science Monitor] NASA is developing sophisticated
humanistic robotic machines -- akin to R2D2 of "Star
Wars" fame -- that can do almost any kind of work a
human can do, the director of the Johnson Space Center robotics
division told a conference audience.
This
is the Future, and it's Sneaking into Cars Today - [Times
Online] A high tide of new technology is about to transform
the motoring world.
Biometric
ATMs, the Future? - [rediff.com] Colombia is one of
the few places in the world where banks are using fingerprint
biometrics, which verify people's identities based on their
unique physical characteristics. Scanning fingerprints or
irises to verify an ATM customer's identity has yet to penetrate
the US banking market because of concerns about expense
and privacy.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Sizing
Up The Future Of Air Travel - [Space Daily] From private
cabins with designer fabrics and en suite bathrooms in first
class to on-screen virtual air attendants taking orders
in economy, the future of air travel is going high-tech
and high-style.
The
Super Network - [Wired] A household with 300 cable or
satellite channels has access to 7,000 hours of programming
a day, almost 3 million per year. That's a lot, but it's
only a fraction of the 31 million hours of total annual
programming. Every major cable company is making investments
to allow TV to be distributed over the Internet, giving
you access to each one of those 31 million hours. And then
there's this year's 36-fold explosion in consumer-generated
video on the Internet.
The
Meaning of Free Speech - [The Economist] The acquisition
by eBay of Skype is a helpful reminder to the world's trillion-dollar
telecoms industry that all phone calls will eventually be
free.
Legal
Outsourcing: The Next Big Thing - [Economic Times] The
US legal market size was in the region of $200 bn in 2004.
By end of 2004, over 12,000 legal jobs were expected to
shift to low-cost countries, mainly India, according to
Forrester Research.
Japanese
Call Supersonic Jetliner Test a Success - [International
Herald Tribune] Deep in the Australian outback, a Japanese
team took a small step forward in its plan to build a supersonic
commercial jet. The engineers, backed by the Japanese government
and several companies, flew a small unmanned model of a
supersonic jetliner in Woomera, South Australia
New
Muscles in the Marketplace - [BBC] Brazil, Russia, India
and China, the so-called Brics, are predicted to emerge
as major world players by 2050.
Auto
Industry Facing Uncertain Future - [WoodTV.com] It could
be a chilly fall for the auto industry. Now that General
Motors has ended it popular employee discount sales promotion,
and with Ford and Chrysler scheduled to end theirs, the
companies face what analyst's call a "sales hangover."
Analysts predict General Motors' sales could fall as much
as 30 percent. And Ford and Chrysler are likely to experience
declines as well.
SOCIETY
Activists
Bring the Digital Frontier to New Communities - [New
Standard] A laptop and an antenna might not signify political
activism to most, but in the Digital Age, they might soon
become indispensable vehicles for social change.
Brothers
Only Want to Change the World - [London Free Press]
A few years ago Aaron and his older brother, Dev, were motivated
by a family trip to India to start taking action to create
social change. They didn't care that they were young or
that they didn't have a lot of apparent resources -- they
were inspired by what they saw and wanted to do something
about it.
Today's
Youth are Best-Educated, U.N. Says - [Seattle Times]
Today's youth are the best-educated generation in history
even though 130 million are still illiterate, according
to a new UN report that urges greater investment to ensure
universal primary schooling.
Aging
World Population Presents Challenge for Future Young
- [VOA News] The world population is growing, and it's also
growing older. Researchers say birth and death rates are
gradually falling worldwide, increasing the number and overall
proportion of older people. For many societies, caring for
all those aging citizens could be difficult.
Witness
Blasts School District's Evolution Policy - [MSNBC]
A school district is undermining science education by raising
false doubts about evolution and offering “intelligent
design” as an alternative explanation for life’s
origins, a biologist testified at the start of a landmark
trial.
Writers
Sue Google Print Over Copyright - [Guardian] A writers'
group representing more than 8,000 authors is suing Google
for "massive copyright infringement" over its
fledgling programme of digitising library books.
A
World with Fewer Men - [Suffolk Standard] On June 21,
2005, National Public Radio aired a Consumer Health News
segment titled “Fewer Boys Being Born in America”
by Richard Knox. The piece addressed the increasing trend
of female births over the past sixty years. Statistically,
there are fifteen percent less men in today’s population,
and as Knox pointed out -- 850,000 fewer men than if the
rate stayed the same.
GLOBAL POLITICS
NASA
Seeks Clearance to Buy Russian Technology - [Washington
Post] America's crippled human spaceflight program, unable
to count on flying the space shuttle, could lose the use
of Russian spacecraft as well within a few weeks, forcing
US astronauts to abandon the international space station
and effectively grounding them for the foreseeable future.
US
Energy Future Rests with Development of Canadian Oil Sands
- [Lexington Herald-Leader] Along a giant patch of Canada's
Far North, where moose outnumber people, a vital part of
America's energy future seeps out of riverbanks and is hidden
below soft prairie grass. These Canadian oil sands will
help keep American SUVs running in the years to come.
S.
Korea Wants Wartime Command Back From United States
- [Korea Times] South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun renewed
his determination to make the nation’s military forces
more self-reliant, saying they should get wartime military
command back from its ally, the United States, sometime
in the near future.
Massive
Recovery Plan Likely to Deepen US Debt - [Seattle Times]
The proposed record reconstruction spending in the wake
of Hurricane Katrina, estimated as high as $200 billion,
is all but certain to add to a mushrooming national debt
that already has the country dependent on foreign investors.
US
Tempers its View of Victory in Iraq - [Christian Science
Monitor] From the earliest battle plans, which called for
the quick return home of tens of thousands of troops, to
the campaign in Fallujah and national elections that followed,
the Pentagon had hoped it could largely eliminate lingering
unrest before turning security over to Iraqis. The increasingly
bracing tone from the White House and Pentagon, however,
points to a new calculus.
India
Likely to Overtake Japan Economy by 2030 - [Hindustan
Times] Asia's economy will overtake that of the 15 pre-enlargement
European Union members within 15 years and by 2025 will
be larger than the combined economy of the United States,
Canada and Mexico, South Korea's Central Bank said.
Two
Towers of the New World Order - [Asia Media] An admittedly
general but perhaps not insignificant consensus in America
on the necessary future direction of US foreign policy appears
finally to be emerging -- and not a moment too soon. The
new foreign-policy consensus might be called "Global
Getting-Along."
ENVIRONMENT
Changes
to 'Roof of the World' Threaten Millions - [People and
Planet] The mountains of Asia, including the mighty Himalayas,
are facing accelerating threats from a rapid rise in roads,settlements,
overgrazing and deforestation, experts warn in a new report.
The 2050, they predict, most of China's glaciers will have
disappeared.
Will
Katrina Kill Sports Utility Vehicles? - [Sify News]
Even before Hurricane Katrina tore through the southern
United States, hampering a big chunk of the US oil industry,
consumers were having second thoughts about gas-guzzling
sport utility vehicles. Katrina could now hasten the demise
of the SUV, at least in its current guise, after years in
which it has ruled the roost over the world's biggest auto
market, analysts believe.
India
Faces Turbulent Water Future: World Bank - [Webindia123.com]
The World Bank said it would step up funding for India's
water projects to $900 million per annum from $200 million,
saying the country faces a "turbulent" future
without dramatic changes in water policy.
There's
No Disguising It - Global Warming's No Put-On - [San
Francisco Chronicle] Mounting evidence has forced an end
to any serious scientific debate on whether humans are causing
global warming. This is an event of historical significance,
but one obscured from public view by the arcane technical
literature and the noise generated by perpetual partisans.
The
'Energy Police' Are Coming! - [Green Building] 'Energy
wardens' will police homes and offices to ensure that they
do not waste gas and electricity under a radical plan being
considered by John Prescott. An extraordinary blueprint
being studied by the Deputy Prime Minister suggests conserving
energy by monitoring the habits of home owners in the same
way that air raid wardens made people turn off their lights
during the Blitz.
Middle
East and North Africa 'Ideal for Solar Power' - [Science
and Development Network] The Middle East and North Africa
are perfectly placed to play a leading role in the lucrative
future solar power industry, says a report.
Solving
Global Warming Architecturally - [Tufts Daily] The people
who will design, plan and construct the future of Boston
are brainstorming ideas that will eventually shape the look
of the city.
THE FUTURE
The
Future Needs Futurists - [Wired] As companies and government
agencies grapple with the seemingly scorching rate of technological
innovation and change, more are engaging the services of
self-described futurists for advice on how to adapt.
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