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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:
Flies Get 'Mind-Control Sex Swap' - [BBC] Scientists have been able to take control of flies' brains to make females behave just like males. Researchers genetically modified the insects so that a group of brain cells that control sexual behaviour could be "switched on" by a pulse of light.
Cloning Technology Could be Used on Humans - [PhysOrg] A U.S. researcher said a new cloning technique could be used by unethical scientists to develop a way to create designer babies.
TECHNOLOGY
Top Stories:
Microsoft Introduces Downloadable Office Software - [CBC] Microsoft Corp. on Friday announced a downloadable, subscription-based version of its Office suite, which has been code-named "Albany." The software suite, which is available to people who have signed up for the "beta" test version since March, will offer users Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, with the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. It will also include the Microsoft Office Live Workspace connector on the Microsoft Office toolbar, where users will be able to save documents online and share them with others, as well as security and backup services.
US Army Develops Robotic Suits - [BBC] On the big screen, films like Robocop, Universal Soldier and forthcoming release Iron Man show man-machines with superhuman powers. But in Utah they are turning science fiction into reality.
BUSINESS
Top Stories:
Skype to Sell Unlimited International Calls for $9.95 a Month - [Mercury News] Skype, the Internet calling subsidiary of eBay Inc., is introducing its first plan for unlimited calls to overseas phones. The plan will allow unlimited calls to land-line phones in 34 countries for $9.95 per month, said Don Albert, vice president and general manager for Skype North America.
Hormones 'May Fuel Market Crises' - [BBC] Hormone surges among City traders could be partly responsible for driving "boom and bust" economics, say researchers. A Cambridge University team found testosterone levels were directly linked to the profit they made.
SOCIETY
Top Stories:
Internet's Wikipedia to go Print in Germany - [PhysOrg] Until now, Wikipedia was best known for compiling writing on thousands of subjects and putting it on the Internet for free and easy access. A spokeswoman for the Bertelsmann Lexicon Institute told AFP the German-language volume would hit the market in September and includes the 50,000 most commonly used search terms of the last two years and abbreviated entries on them.
Crisis Changes American Consumers - [International Herald Tribune] The formerly unsinkable American consumer is taking on water, hit by high prices for food and energy, rising unemployment and fewer assets to sell or refinance. And with the household sector accounting for about three-quarters of the U.S. gross domestic product, an end to American shoppers' remarkable run will have a big and self-reinforcing effect.
GLOBAL POLITICS
Top Stories:
How Scientific Gains Abroad Pay Off in the U.S. - [New York Times] Americans have long profited from low-cost manufactured goods, especially from Asia. The cost of those material “inputs” is now rising. But because of growing numbers of scientists in China, India and other lower-wage countries, “the cost of producing a new scientific discovery is dropping around the world,” says Christopher T. Hill, a professor of public policy and technology at George Mason University.
Asian Food Crisis has Political and Civil Implications - [International Herald Tribune] Asia's food crisis is spreading beyond the specter of empty stomachs. Politicians are facing the wrath of angry voters, government budgets are being stretched to pay for increased food subsidies and the potential for civil unrest looms, especially if the cost of essential items like cooking oil and rice continues to climb.
ENVIRONMENT
Top Stories:
Wild Bee Decline 'Catastrophic' - [BBC] Wild bee populations around the UK are experiencing "catastrophic declines," the Bumblebee Conservation Trust has warned.
Changing Jet Streams May Alter Paths of Storms and Hurricanes - [PhysOrg] The Earth’s jet streams, the high-altitude bands of fast winds that strongly influence the paths of storms and other weather systems, are shifting -- possibly in response to global warming. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution determined that over a 23-year span from 1979 to 2001 the jet streams in both hemispheres have risen in altitude and shifted toward the poles.
THE FUTURE
Running Out of Planet - [International Herald Tribune] It's not just oil that has defied the complacency of a few years back. Food prices have also soared, as have the prices of basic metals. And the global surge in commodity prices is reviving a question we haven't heard much since the 1970s: Will limited supplies of natural resources pose an obstacle to future world economic growth?
Global Food System 'Must Change' - [BBC] The global agriculture system will have to change radically if the world is to avoid future environmental and social problems, a report has warned.
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