 | |
Future Pages: The bookmark collection... frequently updated links to other websites on trends, innovation and the future.
|
 | |
Signs of the Future: The news archive... past postings of items from world media on emerging trends.
|
SCIENCE
Top Stories:
Test Can Find Tiny Tumor Level in Blood - [Boston Globe] Boston researchers have developed a test that can identify minute amounts of tumor cells floating in the blood of cancer patients, a discovery that could lead to better treatments with fewer side effects.
New Map IDs the Core of the Human Brain - [PhysOrg] An international team of researchers has created the first complete high-resolution map of how millions of neural fibers in the human cerebral cortex -- the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher level thinking -- connect and communicate. Their groundbreaking work identified a single network core, or hub, that may be key to the workings of both hemispheres of the brain.
TECHNOLOGY
Top Stories:
Scientists to Develop Morphing "Chemical Robots" - [Newswise] Scientists at Tufts University have received a $3.3 million contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop chemical robots that will be so soft and squishy that they will be able to squeeze into spaces as tiny as 1 centimeter, then morph back into something 10 times larger, and ultimately biodegrade.
The advantages of using unmanned devices to conduct dangerous or difficult operations are clear, and the U.S. has invested in such devices for years. But today's rigid robots, constructed mostly of hard materials, are unable to navigate complex environments with openings of arbitrary size and shape.
Control a Wheelchair or Computer Just with Your Tongue - [Geek.com] A new invention promises mobility for even the most severe spinal cord injuries or neuromuscular diseases. Researchers in the U.S. have discovered that the tongue is the perfect mechanism to control a powered wheelchair or control a computer. The new invention uses a tiny magnet the size of a grain of rice which is implanted under the tongue.
BUSINESS
Top Stories:
Heavy Industries Join Stampede to Raise Prices - [International Herald Tribune] A new round of price increases hit the global economy as some of the world's largest industrial companies moved to pass rising raw materials costs more quickly to customers. Dow Chemical, the biggest U.S. chemical maker, said it would raise prices by up to 25 percent in July - the largest increase in its history - as its chief executive warned of a "relentless" rise in energy and raw materials costs.
Doing Business Virtually -- Have Your Avatar Call My Avatar - [PC World] What do Xerox printers, Fenway Park, green creatures and an executive zipping around with a personal jetpack have in common? Are you stumped? You might not be if you had an avatar. For those who don't, here's the answer: Xerox Corp. workers, customers and analysts all came together for a meeting and product launch held simultaneously at Boston's legendary baseball park and at Xerox Inspiration Island in Second Life. Several virtual participants were, in fact, green, and Xerox Chief Technology Officer Sophie Vanderbroek made a spectacular crash-landing entrance via her virtual jetpack.
SOCIETY
Top Stories:
How English Is Evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand - [Wired] Thanks to globalization, the Allied victories in World War II, and American leadership in science and technology, English has become so successful across the world that it's escaping the boundaries of what we think it should be. In part, this is because there are fewer of us: By 2020, native speakers will make up only 15 percent of the estimated 2 billion people who will be using or learning the language. Already, most conversations in English are between nonnative speakers who use it as a lingua franca.
Big Labor Goes Global - [TIME] Think of mergers and you typically imagine captains of industry egged on by big bankers. But this week's most significant consolidation is happening on the other side of the working world: between labor unions. The United Steelworkers (USW), America's largest private-sector union, is joining up with Unite, Britain's largest national union, to form the world's first transatlantic union.
GLOBAL POLITICS
Top Stories:
Cost of a Meal Driven Higher by Hoarding Nations - [International Herald Tribune] At least 29 countries have sharply curbed food exports in recent months, to ensure that their own people have enough to eat, at affordable prices. The restrictions are making it harder for impoverished importing countries to afford the food they need. The export limits are forcing some of the most vulnerable people, those who rely on relief agencies, to go hungry.
Interconnected We Prosper - [International Herald Tribune] The World Bank recently revisited its "dollar a day" global poverty yardstick and came to a startling conclusion: It was wrong when it said some 250 million people in China had escaped from severe poverty between 1990 and 2004. Instead, by its latest count, some 407 million Chinese citizens rose out of poverty during those 14 years - roughly one-third of the entire population of the most populous country on the planet!
ENVIRONMENT
Top Stories:
Major Cities Can Take Climate Change Lead - [Reuters] The world's major cities are also among the planet's worst polluters but they have the solutions to most of their problems at their fingertips, a leading environmental consultancy said. To make the case more compelling, consultancy McKinsey said that most of the available solutions would save more than they cost so made economic sense while the remainder still made environmental sense despite their higher cost.
Abandoned Farmlands are Key to Sustainable Bioenergy - [PhysOrg] Biofuels can be a sustainable part of the world's energy future, especially if bioenergy agriculture is developed on currently abandoned or degraded agricultural lands, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University. Using these lands for energy crops, instead of converting existing croplands or clearing new land, avoids competition with food production and preserves carbon-storing forests needed to mitigate climate change. Sustainable bioenergy is likely to satisfy no more than 10% of the demand in the energy-intensive economies of North America, Europe, and Asia. But for some developing countries, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa, the potential exists to supply many times their current energy needs without compromising food supply or destroying forests.
THE FUTURE
Global Energy Demand to Grow 50%, U.S. Agency Predicts - [International Herald Tribune] Global energy demand will grow by 50 percent over the next two decades with continued heavy reliance on environmentally troublesome fossil fuels, especially coal and oil, the U.S. government predicted.
The Future of Agriculture: Value or Volume? - [Scoop] With the need to produce more volume as well as more value from our agriculture sector, and to reduce the sector’s environmental impact as we do so, the stage is set for an important discussion – should the agriculture sector’s emphasis be on value or on volume?
| 
