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Future Pages: The bookmark collection... frequently updated links to other websites on trends, innovation and the future.
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Signs of the Future: The news archive... past postings of items from world media on emerging trends.
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SCIENCE
Top Stories:
Human-Animal Cybrids - [Technology Review] Over the past year, a major ethical debate has raged in the United Kingdom over whether scientists should be allowed to use animal eggs in their attempts to create cloned human embryonic stem cells.
I Am Creating Artificial Life, Declares US Gene Pioneer - [Mail and Guardian] Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.
TECHNOLOGY
Top Stories:
Flying Car About to Take Off? - [Technology Review] An aeronautic startup looks to complete a prototype of its roadworthy aircraft within a year.
Shopping Cart Goes High-Tech - [Reuters] Supermarket shoppers may soon be cruising the aisles with "intelligent" shopping carts that warn them if they're buying too much junk food, technology experts say.
BUSINESS
Top Stories:
Why Google Wants Your Genes - [Telegraph]
Many people think of Google simply as a really fast search engine, but its stated mission has long been to organise all the information in the world: see David A Vise's book The Google Story (2005) for more on this. So its interest in the human genome is a natural extension of its original goal, with the extra spice that computing and genetics are both industries growing exponentially.
CEOs Worried By New Generation of Managers - [Management Issues] A shortage of good quality, talented managers is becoming a growing concern for American CEOs, with many particularly worried about who is going to take over from them when it comes to passing on the reins, a new report has suggested.
SOCIETY
Top Stories:
More Internet Users Getting a Virtual Life - [San Francisco Chronicle]
Estimates vary on how popular virtual worlds will become. Technology research firm Gartner forecast this year that by 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users will have a "second life" in some sort of virtual world. Another research company, eMarketer, predicted last month that more than half of U.S. children and teens who use the Internet -- about 20 million people -- will visit virtual worlds by 2011.
Are You a Helicopter Parent? Get Help! - [MSNBC] The term “helicopter parent” came into vogue a few years ago among college administrators to define the growing trend of parents who seem just a bit too involved in their child’s day-to-day lives at school. It turns out that we overprotective moms and dads come from all walks of life, but we have one thing in common: hovering over our children and being willing to swoop down to intervene at every setback.
GLOBAL POLITICS
Top Stories:
Survey Finds Erosion of Support for Globalization's Side Effects - [International Herald Tribune]
Both buoyed and battered by globalization, people around the world strongly view international trade as a good thing but harbor growing concerns about its side effects: threats to their cultures, damage to the environment and challenges posed by immigration, according to a new survey.
Asia Could Win Next 'Space Race', US Scientists Fear - [Business Week] Fifty years after the launch of Sputnik left the United States scrambling to play catch-up in the first Space Race, US scientists fear history may be repeating itself as Asia emerges as the rising force in space exploration. While the achievements of space programs run by China, Japan and India are modest in comparison to the milestones set by the United States and former Soviet Union, experts at a recent conference in Pasadena believe it is only a matter of time before Asia leads the field.
ENVIRONMENT
Top Stories:
Quest for New Energy Supplies is Becoming Tougher - [International Herald Tribune] For a quarter-century, energy executives were tantalized by vast quantities of natural gas in one of the world's most inhospitable places - off Norway's northern coast, beneath the Arctic Ocean. Bitter winds and fierce snowstorms lash the region, located 90 miles, or 145 kilometers, from the country's shoreline. The sun disappears for two months a year. No oil company knew how to operate in such a harsh environment. But Norway has finally solved the problem.
Global Warming Hits Cereal Production - [Rediff India]
Global warming is taking a heavy toll on cereal crops. A new study on the impact of global warming on global food production by researchers of a US university says that in 20 years since 1981, there had been an annual loss of about $5 billion for the major cereal crops in the world.
THE FUTURE
Top Stories:
Could Vertical Farming Be the Future? - [MSNBC] Vertical farms, where staple crops could be grown in environmentally friendly skyscrapers, exist today only in futuristic designs and on optimistic Web sites. Despite concerns over sky-high costs, however, an environmental health expert in New York is convinced the world has the know-how to make the concept a reality — and the imperative to do so quickly.
Could the Exploitation of Space Solve the Earth's Environmental Crises? - [Science Daily] Political scientist Rasmus Karlsson suggests that space could provide us with a sustainable future not possible from an earthbound only perspective.
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