Volume 9, Number 1
1/17/2005
Edited by John L. Petersen
johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org

See past issues in the Archives

In This Issue:

Future Facts - from Think Links
Think Links - The Future in the News…Today
A Final Quote

At The Arlington Institute, we believe that to understand the future, you need to have an open mind and cast a very wide net. To that end, FUTUREdition explores a cross-disciplinary palette of issues, from the frontiers of science and technology to major developments in mass media, geopolitics, the environment, and social perspectives.

FUTURE FACTS - FROM THINK LINKS
DID YOU KNOW THAT...

• A "brain", grown from 25,000 neural cells extracted from a single rat embryo, has been taught to fly an F-22 jet simulator by scientists at the University of Florida.
• More than 10 million female births in India may have been lost to abortion and sex selection in the past 20 years, according to medical research.
• A Carnegie Mellon University professor, working with industry scientists in Chile, is hoping that computer models will identify the traits of good wine, eventually helping vintners produce more of it.
• Scientists have managed to protect and regenerate the part of the brain that is damaged in Parkinson's disease by genetically engineering cells to bypass the blood-brain barrier.
• Using infrared to transmit audio and visual information, U.S. Navy sailors will soon be able to talk securely up to two miles away, just by looking at one another.

THINK LINKS – THE FUTURE IN THE NEWS...TODAY

INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

Japan Puts Its Money on E-Cash
Connoisseur Computer Tests Wine
Let's See Some ID, Please
School Laptop Decree Draws Flak

Japan Puts Its Money on E-Cash -- (Washington Post -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/11/AR2005121101097.html
A cashless society? Japan seems to be nearing this, as experts cite the rise of e-cash as a reason for a drop last July in the circulation of yen coins, the first decline since 1971. Using cell phones that transmit infrared signals, Japanese consumers are whisking through checkout lines, buying everything from sushi to furniture without ever yanking out their wallets. Similar electronic money concepts are being tried in North America and Europe. Analysts say the Japanese version requires some fine-tuning before it can be exported.

Connoisseur Computer Tests Wine -- (CNN -- December 29, 2005)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/12/29/wine.tech.ap/index.html
Distinguishing fine wine from plonk is usually left to connoisseurs and winemakers, who rely on their senses, rough chemical measurements and the whims of nature to produce an exceptional tipple. But a Carnegie Mellon University professor, working with industry scientists in Chile, is hoping that computer models will identify the traits of good wine, eventually helping vintners produce more of it.

Let's See Some ID, Please -- (MSNBC -- January 10, 2006)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10441443/
Although anonymity has been part of Internet culture since the first browser, its also a major obstacle to making the Web a safe place to conduct business: Internet fraud, identity theft, spam emails, and sexual predators all have their roots in the ease of masking ones identity in the online world. Change, however, is on the way. Already over 20 million PCs worldwide are equipped with a tiny security chip called the Trusted Platform Module, although it is as yet rarely activated. But once merchants and other online services begin to use it, the TPM will do something never before seen on the Internet: provide virtually fool-proof verification that you are who you say you are.

School Laptop Decree Draws Flak -- (L.A. Times -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-laptop27nov27,0,117261.story?coll=la-story-footer
&track=morenews
An Orange County, California, school district's efforts to integrate technology into students' lives by urging families to purchase laptop computers is creating a furor among parents who say the pricey obligation is segregating their children into the haves and have-nots. Nearly 2,000 of the Fullerton School District's 13,000 elementary and middle-school students carry laptops between class and home as part of a year-old pilot program that expanded this year to four of the district's 20 schools. It is one of the largest such efforts in the state. But some parents, already bristling at the tab of public education, from classroom supplies to sports uniforms, are incensed by the need for $1,500 laptop computers.

NEW REALITIES

Spiral Arm of Milky Way Looms Closer Than Thought
Space 'Spiders' Could Build Solar Satellites
Saturn Surprise: One Ring is Actually a Spiral
Has Tallest Tower Caused More Quakes?
Language Colors Brain
New Research into Mysterious Moon Storms
Added Ticktock of the Clock Restarts Time Debate
Is 7-Million-Year-Old Skull Really Human?

Spiral Arm of Milky Way Looms Closer Than Thought -- (New Scientist -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8436
One of the Milky Way's star-studded spiral arms lies twice as close to Earth as some previous estimates suggested. New research has produced the most accurate distance measurement ever made of the arm, which could help astronomers understand how our galaxy's spiral structure formed.

Space 'Spiders' Could Build Solar Satellites -- (New Scientist -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8466
A mission to determine whether spider-like robots could construct complex structures in space is set to launch in January 2006. The spider bots could build large structures by crawling over a "web" released from a larger spacecraft. The engineers behind the project hope the robots will eventually be used to construct colossal solar panels for satellites that will transmit solar energy back to Earth. The satellites could reflect and concentrate the Sun's rays to a receiving station on Earth or perhaps beam energy down in the form of microwaves.

Saturn Surprise: One Ring is Actually a Spiral -- (Space -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/051128_mystery_monday.html
Ever since Voyager 1 returned detailed images of Saturn's F ring back in 1980, astronomers have struggled to understand its bizarre features. The F ring, an outer thin wisp of icy material orbiting the giant planet, was discovered in 1979. It's been described as having clumps, strands and braids by various research groups. Turns out none of these descriptions were right, according to a new study using data and images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Has Tallest Tower Caused More Quakes? -- (CNN -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/02/taipei.tower.reut/
Seismic activity in Taipei has increased since the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, was built, raising questions over whether the Taiwan capital has become more vulnerable to earthquakes. A geologist at Taiwan's most prestigious think tank, the Academia Sinica, said seismic activity historically had been low in the Taipei basin, home to about 7 million people. But the city has experienced more micro-earthquakes (of magnitude 2.0-2.5 on the Richter scale) since construction began on the 508 meter (1,667 foot) skyscraper in 1997.

Language Colors Brain -- (Nature -- December 29, 2005)
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051219/full/051219-18.html
Our perception of colors can depend on whether we view them from the left or the right, scientists have found. They say this demonstrates how language can alter the way we see the world. Language is processed mainly in the left hemisphere of the brain, which also deals with signals from the left side of the retinas in both our eyes. Because light from objects to our right falls mainly into the left-hand area of our retinas, the researchers hypothesized that colors to the right would feel the influence of language more keenly. Conversely, objects on our left side activate the right hemisphere of the brain, so the effect of language would be minimal.

New Research into Mysterious Moon Storms -- (Space -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/051207_moon_storms.html
Every lunar morning, when the sun first peeks over the dusty soil of the moon after two weeks of frigid lunar night, a strange storm stirs the surface. Never heard of it? Few have. But scientists are increasingly confident that the storm is real. The evidence comes from an old Apollo experiment called LEAM, short for Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites. Apollo 17 astronauts installed LEAM on the moon in 1972, as it was designed to look for dust kicked up by small meteoroids hitting the moon's surface.

Added Ticktock of the Clock Restarts Time Debate -- (Washington Post -- December 29, 2005)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/25/AR2005122500496.html
Time marches on, but Earth is falling behind. The solution again this year is to add a "leap second" as 2005 ticks away, so Earth can catch up with the atomic clocks that have defined time since their unerring accuracy trumped the heavens three decades ago. This will be the first leap second in seven years, and its arrival will be closely watched by physicists and astronomers enmeshed in a prolonged debate over the future of time in a world increasingly dominated by technology.

Is 7-Million-Year-Old Skull Really Human? -- (Harvard Gazette -- January 10, 2006)
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/04.14/01-toumai.html
Who or what was Toumai? Those who found his skull in 2001 insist he is the oldest human ancestor, a small fellow who lived by an African lake some 7 million years ago. When the skull was first found, Daniel Lieberman, a professor of anthropology at Harvard, called it "one of the greatest discoveries of the past 100 years." After studying the new evidence, Lieberman stands by that statement. "The next oldest, reasonably complete humanlike skull we have is just over 3 million years old," he notes. "The Toumai fossils go back close to the time when anthropologists believe our ancestors separated from chimpanzees."

GENTICS/HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Marijuana Might Cause New Cell Growth in the Brain
Researchers Identify Human Skin Color Gene
'Trojan Cells' Treat Brain Diseases from the Inside
Sickle Cell Disease Corrected in Human Models Using Stem Cell-Based Gene Therapy
Deadly Bacterial Illness Appears to be Spreading
Will We Merge With Machines?

Marijuana Might Cause New Cell Growth in the Brain -- (New Scientist -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8155
A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be useful in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Researchers Identify Human Skin Color Gene -- (Scientific American -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=0002E7CA-F27B-13A1-
AFAA83414B7FFE9F
Ten years ago researchers embarked on a study of zebrafish, a quick breeding aquarium pet. While searching for cancer causing genes, they ended up isolating the gene that makes European skin white, thanks to the golden variant of the fish. The genetic basis for human skin color has eluded scientists for years, with previous studies pointing to more than 100 different genes involved in the production of melanin, the pigment responsible for skin color and a natural sunblock. Researchers determined that the golden zebrafish, a lighter version of its "wild" cousin, has a genetic mutation that cuts short a protein critical to the production of melanin.

'Trojan Cells' Treat Brain Diseases from the Inside -- (New Scientist -- January 10, 2006)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8468
Scientists have managed to protect and regenerate the part of the brain that is damaged in Parkinson's disease, by genetically engineering cells to bypass the blood-brain barrier. The study was conducted in animals, but the approach could one day be used to treat brain conditions in humans, the researchers say. The blood-brain barrier protects the brain from harmful substances, but also prevents drugs from entering, so experimental treatments have involved injecting drugs directly into the brain.

Sickle Cell Disease Corrected in Human Models Using Stem Cell-Based Gene Therapy -- (Eureka Alert -- December 29, 2005)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-12/mscc-scd122305.php
Scientists have devised a novel strategy that uses stem cell-based gene therapy and RNA interference to genetically reverse sickle cell disease (SCD) in human cells. This research is the first to demonstrate a way to genetically correct this debilitating blood disease using RNA interference technology.

Deadly Bacterial Illness Appears to be Spreading -- (CNN -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/12/02/deadly.bacteria.ap/index.html
A deadly bacterial illness commonly seen in people on antibiotics appears to be growing more common, even in patients not taking such drugs, according to a report published in a federal health journal. In another article, health officials said samples of the same bacterium taken from eight U.S. hospitals show it is mutating to become even more resistant to antibiotics.

Will We Merge With Machines? -- (Popular Science -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/futurebody/879d9371b1d75010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
The pattern is familiar: Researchers develop a technology or drug to aid the ailing. Soon thereafter, healthy people co-opt it to make themselves stronger, faster or smarter. Follow this trend far enough, and we reach the augmented human. Popular Science has scoured the most promising research under way in bioengineering laboratories worldwide to take an informed look at how technology will enter and alter our bodies over the coming decades.

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Scientists Question Possible Nanotech Risks
Gold's Glitter Not the Same at the Nanoscale

Scientists Question Possible Nanotech Risks -- (CNN -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/12/13/nanotech.health.ap/index.html
Scientists manipulating matter at the molecular level have improved on hundreds of everyday products in recent years and are promising dramatic breakthroughs in medicine and other industries as billions of dollars a year are pumped into the nascent sector. But relatively little is known about the potential health and environmental effects of the tiny particles, just atoms wide and small enough to easily penetrate cells in lungs, brains and other organs.

Gold's Glitter Not the Same at the Nanoscale -- (Argonne National Laboratory -- January 10, 2006)
http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/2006/news060103.html
Researchers have found that gold "shines" in a different way at the nanoscale, and the insights may lead to new optical chips for computers or for switches and routers in fiber networks. Researchers examined the characteristics of photoluminescence, the emission of light when electrons are stimulated in gold nanorods, and found that they could control the wavelength of the light emitted by the material, making it possible to use as a light source inside an optical chip, allowing transmission of information through light.

GLOBAL EPIDEMIC

Bird Flu More Widespread But Less Deadly
The Battle to Stop Bird Flu
Lab-Resurrected Spanish Flu Virus an Accident Waiting to Happen?
Chips That Alert about the Avian Flu

Bird Flu More Widespread But Less Deadly -- (The Australian -- January 11, 2006)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17787401%255E2703,00.html
Avian flu infections may be much more common in human patients than previously believed, a study in Vietnam has indicated. So far, only the cases that have ended up being treated in hospital have been counted, whereas other more minor infections have mostly gone unreported. This means it is difficult both to calculate how easy it is to contract avian flu from sick birds and to determine how lethal the infection is, once caught. Figures from Asia have suggested a death rate as high as 50 per cent.

The Battle to Stop Bird Flu -- (Wired -- December 29, 2005)
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/birdflu.html
With the specter of an actual flu epidemic looming, are we any better equipped today? H5N1, the strain of avian influenza currently festering in Asia, has yet to pull off the mutation that would customize it for human-to-human transmission. But we know it's an especially lethal virus; most health experts expect it will make that jump soon enough. So the task for experts is to devise a plan that pinpoints how the virus might spread through the US population. Thirty years on, a new science of epidemiology is at hand. It's based on sophisticated computer models that can get ahead of a virus and, in a sometimes dazzling demonstration of computer science, provide exacting prescriptions for health care policy rather than best guesses. It's an approach pioneered not by physicians but by physicists. And it owes a lot to the nuclear bomb.

Lab-Resurrected Spanish Flu Virus an Accident Waiting to Happen? -- (Canada Free Press -- January 10, 2006)
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover101105.htm
Is there a clear and present danger in a batch of resurrected virus, labeled a select agent in the laboratory at 1600 Clifton Road in Atlanta, Georgia? That's the address of the U.S. Governments Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where scientists have resurrected a replica of the 1918 Spanish flu virus, 90 years after it left an estimated 50 million people dead in all corners of the globe. Researchers assert that their work from the resurrection will significantly improve protection against natural flu viruses. Critics caution there is a real danger the real virus will escape, with potentially deadly consequences.

Chips That Alert about the Avian Flu -- (Rediff -- December 28, 2005)
http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2005/dec/09chip.htm
In what may serve as a major relief to governments and poultry owners the world over, biothermal RFID (radio frequency identification) chips now promise to alert them about avian flu. Currently, the only crude methods of identifying avian flu include looking out for discoloration of the beak, sneezing, diarrhea, or sudden death. US-based Digital Angel Corporation has introduced a biothermal chip and an RFID reader to alert poultry farmers to rising temperatures in the flock, a vital sign of the flu.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

This Text Message Will Self-Destruct in 40 Seconds
Farming the Monsters
Talking Heads May Replace Texts

This Text Message Will Self-Destruct in 40 Seconds -- (New Scientist -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8459
Incriminating text messages need not cause embarrassment for long, thanks to a service that causes awkward notes to "self-destruct" shortly after being read. But so far, the StealthText service from UK company Staellium is only available in the UK. Users must download and install a small software application and must also have a phone capable of accessing WAP internet content.

Farming the Monsters -- (The Australian -- December 28, 2005)
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,17445722%5E15400%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
About 20 million people around the world are spending time in so-called massively multiplayer online role-playing games. These online spaces are not only adding users, but are growing economies that interact with the real world. One game, Second Life, has its own currency, convertible to US dollars at a fluctuating exchange rate, and users can buy the virtual currency with credit cards or sell it for real dollars by check or PayPal transfers. Its 60,000 users trade $US2 million monthly, making its economy about the same size as that of South Pacific island nation Tuvalu.

Talking Heads May Replace Texts -- (New Scientist -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18625045.900
Seestorm, a Russian company based in Moscow, has devised a way to allow phone owners to take a picture of themselves using a cell phone camera, and then attach a voice or text message to the file. The person they are calling receives an animated version of the picture in which the caller's eyes and mouth move as they appear to speak the message. The company uses software on its servers to slice up the message into its component phonemes and then match these to mouth and eye movements in its library.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Broken Ice Dam Blamed for 300 Year Chill
Critical Danger Warning on Fish
Population Size Green Priority

Broken Ice Dam Blamed for 300 Year Chill -- (New Scientist -- January 10, 2006)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8558
A three-century-long cold spell that chilled Europe 8200 years ago was probably caused by the bursting of a Canadian ice dam, which released a colossal flood of glacial meltwater into the Atlantic Ocean. Two new papers, using different computer models, show that the massive freshwater flood accounts for evidence of the sudden climate change, which cooled Greenland by an average of 7.4C, and Europe by about 1C. It was the most abrupt and widespread cool spell in the last 10,000 years.

Critical Danger Warning on Fish -- (BBC -- January 10, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4581428.stm
Deep sea fish species in the northern Atlantic are on the brink of extinction, new research suggests. Scientists studied five deep water species including hake and eel. Writing in the journal Nature, they say that some populations have plummeted by 98% in a generation, meeting the definition of 'critically endangered'. Scientists and conservation bodies are pressing for a global moratorium on deep-sea fishing which they regard as particularly destructive.

Population Size Green Priority -- (BBC -- January 10, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4585920.stm
Solving the Earth's environmental problems means addressing the size of its human population, says the head of the UK's Antarctic research agency. Professor Chris Rapley argues that the current global population of six billion is unsustainably high. He says population is the "Cinderella" issue of the environmental movement. But unless it is addressed, the welfare and quality of life of future generations will suffer.

TERRORISM AND THE FUTURE OF WARFARE

Blogs Offer Taste of War in Iraq
Navy Tests Look-to-Talk Device

Blogs Offer Taste of War in Iraq -- (BBC -- December 29, 2005)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4555590.stm
The war in Vietnam is often referred to as the first war on television, and the wars in Afghanistan and now in Iraq will be known as the first wars to be blogged. A new generation of soldier bloggers in the US, known as milbloggers, are both fighting in the field and writing about their experiences. It is opening up a new window on modern warfare and is creating a new genre of war-time writing.

Navy Tests Look-to-Talk Device -- (Wired -- January 11, 2006)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,69996-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_4
The U.S. Navy is field-testing a new short-range communications device called LightSpeed that could soon let sailors talk securely up to two miles away, just by looking at each other. The device uses infrared, similar to that of a television remote control, to transmit audio and visual information. To overcome range limits, LightSpeed connects to ordinary binoculars and uses the optical lenses to amplify the signals. Then soldiers on either end can simply plug headphones and a microphone into their binoculars to talk to one another.

AUGMENTED INTELLIGENCE

Why This Brain Flies on Rat Cunning
Legal Applications of Artificial Intelligence

Why This Brain Flies on Rat Cunning -- (The Age Company Ltd. -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/12/06/1102182227308.html
It sounds like science fiction: a brain nurtured in a Petri dish learns to pilot a fighter plane as scientists develop a new breed of "living" computer. But in groundbreaking experiments in a Florida laboratory that is exactly what is happening. The "brain", grown from 25,000 neural cells extracted from a single rat embryo, has been taught to fly an F-22 jet simulator by scientists at the University of Florida. They hope their research into neural computation will help them develop sophisticated hybrid computers, with a thinking biological component.

Legal Applications of Artificial Intelligence -- (University of Texas -- January 10, 2006)
http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~palmquis/courses/project98/ailaw/ailaw.htm
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology develops, the creation of computers that can autonomously reason with the law to determine legal solutions is slowly becoming a reality. Expert systems will one day be able to predict the outcome of litigation with a good degree of accuracy. An important attribute of expert systems is their ability to explain why a particular analysis or recommendation was produced. The process usually involves the assignation of numerical "weights" in relation to case facts. This website is a great starting point for those interested in the future of law and AI.

ENERGY REVOLUTION

The Hydrogen Gold Rush is On
Power Could Cost More Than Servers, Google Warns
Cut Emissions and Pump More Oil

The Hydrogen Gold Rush is On -- (Wired -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69709,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
Todd Livingstone has a plan to solve the energy crisis by capturing huge amounts of energy from lightning. The idea itself is not new. But Livingstone has added a unique twist. Using lasers to capture lightning bolts, he wants to channel them through a large tank of water, producing near-limitless amounts of hydrogen. The implications, says Livingstone, are "mind-boggling." Put up a network of lasers in a lightning-prone area like Florida, he says, convert that energy into hydrogen, "and we could create more energy than the world needs."

Power Could Cost More Than Servers, Google Warns -- (CNET -- December 28, 2005)
http://news.com.com/Power+could+cost+more+than+servers,+Google+warns/2100-1010_
3-5988090.html
A Google engineer has warned that if the performance per watt of today's computers doesn't improve, the electrical costs of running them could end up far greater than the initial hardware price tag. That situation that wouldn't bode well for Google, which relies on thousands of its own servers. The possibility of computer equipment power consumption spiraling out of control could have serious consequences for the overall affordability of computing, not to mention the overall health of the planet.

Cut Emissions and Pump More Oil -- (Wired -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2782,69711,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_4
The energy industry has found a new way to dispose of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide: pump it back into the underground oil reservoirs from whence much of it came. Five million tons of CO2 has been successfully pumped underground into an oil field in a pilot project in Saskatchewan, Canada. The CO2 is piped from a giant "gasification" plant near Beulah, North Dakota. Not only does the project dispose of the nasty CO2, the pressure from the gas helps to extract more oil. The field's oil-recovery rate has been doubled, and its life extended for another 20 years.

CONTACT

Engineering Aliens
Look Out for Giant Triangles in Space

Engineering Aliens -- (Astrobiology Magazine -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1772
&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
What would you call an alien if you encountered it on the street tomorrow? What if that alien didn't come from another world but rather was created in a laboratory right here on Earth and functioned differently from other Earth life? Either way, Peter Ward has the beginnings of an answer. In a new book, the University of Washington paleontologist puts forth an expanded "tree of life," or biological classification system, to account for a variety of life forms that would not fit in the current system.

Look Out for Giant Triangles in Space -- (New Scientist -- December 28, 2005)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624944.800
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) could be taking the wrong approach. Instead of listening for alien radio broadcasts, a better strategy may be to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars by alien civilizations. Artificial structures may be the best way for an advanced extraterrestrial civilization to signal its presence to an emerging technology like ours, says one expert. And he believes that the generation of space-based telescopes now being designed will be able to spot them.

DEMOGRAPHICS AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Post-Tsunami Baby Boom on the Horizon
India Loses 10 Million Female Births

Post-Tsunami Baby Boom on the Horizon -- (MSNBC -- January 10, 2006)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10371953/
No one has counted all the pregnant women in Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Aceh province, but many UNICEF officials say they don't need statistics to know what's coming: a baby boom. UNICEF estimates more than a third of the 216,000 dead or missing in 12 Indian Ocean countries were children, too weak to run, swim or simply hang on.

India Loses 10 Million Female Births -- (BBC -- January 10, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4592890.stm
More than 10 million female births in India may have been lost to abortion and sex selection in the past 20 years, according to medical research. Researchers in India and Canada said prenatal selection and selective abortion was causing the loss of 500,000 girls a year. Their research was based on a national survey of 1.1m households in 1998.

A FINAL QUOTE...

"It is appallingly obvious that our technology exceeds our humanity." --Albert Einstein

A special thanks to Bernard Calil, Humera Khan, Deanna Korda, KurzweilAI, Sher Patterson-Black, Diane Petersen, John C. Petersen, the Schwartzreport, Joel Snell, Ken Dabkowski, Hanna Adeyema, Jin Zhu, and Richard May, our contributors to this issue. If you see something we should know about, do send it along - thanks.
johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org