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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:
Homo erectus Extinctus - [Times] Is nature determined to make men extinct? Senior scientists believe that women may evolve as humanity’s sole representatives -- and social and political trends are lending weight to their theories.
Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life Forms - [Washington Post] It has been 50 years since scientists first created DNA in a test tube, stitching ordinary chemical ingredients together to make life's most extraordinary molecule. Until recently, however, even the most sophisticated laboratories could make only small snippets of DNA -- an extra gene or two to be inserted into corn plants, for example, to help the plants ward off insects or tolerate drought. Now researchers are poised to cross a dramatic barrier: the creation of life forms driven by completely artificial DNA.
TECHNOLOGY
Top Stories:
"Smart" Tires Can Warn of Impending Flat - [Boston Globe] An experimental tire can sense damage and warn drivers of a potential flat, U.S. researchers said, offering the latest advance in "smart" car technology. Manufacturers already make tires that can warn drivers when tire pressure is too low but researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, have found a way to make the whole tire into a type of sensor.
Tiny Living Machines - [Technology Review] Eventually, patches of twitching tissue could be used as actuators for tiny robotic devices implanted in the body. The muscle cells would be fueled by sugar in the bloodstream and maintained by the same repair mechanisms that keep the heart pumping. Parker says the muscle-coated film could also be used to regenerate tissue damaged in heart attacks. But such applications are quite a way off, he says. In the nearer term, the devices could be used to help researchers monitor how experimental medicines change the behavior of heart muscle.
BUSINESS
Top Stories:
Google's Ad Reach May Be Unrivaled - [Washington Post]
The $3.1 billion merger between Web search king Google and online ad giant DoubleClick approved by U.S. regulators may create an advertising powerhouse of unrivaled reach and knowledge of Internet users' lives, desires and interests. The acquisition of DoubleClick combined with Google's search function and the data it collects from people as they use the Internet could result in Web surfers seeing more advertising that corresponds to their online activities. The trade-off, some say, is that users would lose control over more of their private information to Google.
Cashed-Up China Set to Hunt Down More US Bargains - [AFP] China's sovereign wealth fund created global headlines on Wednesday when it seized on Morgan Stanley's credit problems and grabbed a 9.9-percent stake in one of Wall Street's oldest and most storied investment firms. It was the second high-profile foray in the United States by the newly created China Investment Corporation, Beijing's 200-billion-dollar behemoth whose orders are to cruise global markets in search of sweet investment deals.
SOCIETY
Top Stories:
Googling for Your Grade - [International Herald Tribune]
It's the week before finals, and Jamie Wilkinson's students are getting nervous. No matter how many videos they post, how many blogs they subscribe to, how many friends they sign up, it just isn't working. They aren't reaching enough people; they still aren't famous enough. And no, they aren't goofing off. On the contrary, becoming famous is the main point of Wilkinson's class, organized through Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. All semester long his students have monitored their own progress, fully aware that a piece of Internet-scouring software, not their teacher, will be issuing the final grades.
Chasm Widens Between Rich and Poor in U.S. - [International Herald Tribune] The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office show. The poorest fifth of households had total income of $383.4 billion in 2005, while just the increase in income for the top 1 percent came to $524.8 billion, a figure 37 percent higher.
GLOBAL POLITICS
Top Stories:
China on Rise in Central Asian 'Great Game' - [USA Today]
In recent years, China and Russia have forged a strategic alliance, as part of a group called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to squeeze the United States out of Central Asia, after the U.S. established military bases here. They have largely succeeded. However, friction is developing between the two neighboring giants. And given China's 1.3 billion people and its economic strength, it seems certain that Russia, with its dwindling population and economy based narrowly on energy, will increasingly be on the defensive.
As Euro Climbs, European Automakers Consider Building U.S. Factories - [International Herald Tribune] The dollar's falling value is making European automakers eager to build more vehicles in the United States, even as American car companies continue to shift production to lower-cost countries.
ENVIRONMENT
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EU Cap On Air Emissions from 2012 - [BBC] EU ministers have agreed to impose carbon emissions quotas on airlines in an attempt to fight climate change. The Environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, said a strong signal had to be sent, although MEPs had wanted carriers to be included in the EU emissions trading scheme in 2011, not 2012. The United States opposes the idea and has threatened legal action. And the airline industry fears the cost of the carbon trading scheme could force some carriers out of business.
Congress Proposes a Giant Leap to Ethanol for Auto Fuel - [International Herald Tribune] The U.S. Congress has written into law one of the most ambitious dictates ever issued to American business: to create, from scratch, a huge new industry capable of converting agricultural wastes and other plant material into automotive fuel. The potential benefits include reducing U.S. dependence on oil and the emissions of gases that contribute to global warming. But the goals of Congress are so sweeping, analysts say, that it is not clear they can be achieved.
THE FUTURE
Top Stories:
IBM Reveals Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives Over the Next Five Years - [PhysOrg] The second annual "IBM Next Five in Five" is a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years. The list is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM’s Labs around the world that could make these innovations possible.
The Climate Wars - [Mail & Guardian] Climate wars are coming and Southern Africa will be one of the areas most at risk. As environmental resources dwindle because of global warming, people will begin fighting over scarce resources, particularly water and agricultural land. These predictions are contained in a report titled Climate Change as a Security Risk, which was specially tabled in Bali to urge policymakers at the conference to reach a settlement to cut down emissions.
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