FE Archive Volume 9, Number 13

Volume 9, Number 13
10/11/2006
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

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

The size of hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is 10.4 million square miles.
A square mile gets about 2.6 gigawatts in radiant energy from the Sun.
Wind power can now economically compete with oil at or above $40 a barrel.
CCTV cameras in Britain can now, literally, shout orders to those being watched.

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

EDITOR'S EMPHASIS: WEAK SIGNALS

Here’s a weak signal: Two sources in two days running thoughtful pieces paralleling current events in the U.S. with the beginning and end of major historical empires. The one referencing 1933 and the solidifying of Hitler’s grip on Germany is particularly noteworthy in my opinion. Hitler is so loaded with emotion that writers are very careful about linking him and that era in history with almost everything – particularly in the developed world. It seems that a threshold has been crossed in terms of how people are beginning to interpret this time in America’s story. -JLP

Pirates of the Mediterranean
Doomed to Repeat: Germany, 1993

Pirates of the Mediterranean -- (NY Times -- September 30, 2006)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/opinion/30harris.html?
ex=1317268800&en=c6ea4450122c3e93&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
A fascinating opinion piece commenting on the parallels between present U.S. circumstances and the beginning of the fall of the Roman Republic. In both instances, terrorist acts prompted laws granting large swathes of power to executive leaders -and in the latter, those laws were traced to the rise of Roman Empire and the demise of democratic traditions.

Doomed to Repeat: Germany, 1993 -- (Daily Kos -- September 28, 2006)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/28/10395/6059
Another interesting opinion piece commenting on the historical similarities between the legislation enabling the Nazi party's rise to dominance in German politics and the U.S. bill known as the 'Enabling Act', which would limit certain U.S. obligations to the Geneva Conventions.

INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

Internet Control Nears Autonomy
The X Prize's New Frontier: Genomics

Internet Control Nears Autonomy -- (BBC -- September 29, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5388648.stm
Icann, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a not-for-profit company responsible for the underlying architecture of the net, overseeing allocation of domain names and the addressing system that links domain names to the numbers computers understand. The US government announced that it will maintain oversight of the internet but with far less hands-on involvement over Icann.

The X Prize's New Frontier: Genomics -- (MIT Technology Review -- October 5, 2006)
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17582&ch=biotech
The X Prize Foundation announced a $10-million award for the first privately funded team that can sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days. The same foundation sponsored the 2004 Ansari X Prize to develop a rocket for private space travel.

NEW REALITIES

Antimatter Discovery Could Launch New Era of Physics
First Teleportation between Light and Matter
Making Water from Thin Air

Antimatter Discovery Could Launch New Era of Physics -- (Chicago Tribune -- September 25, 2006)
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/15607073.htm
The discovery that a bizarre particle travels between the real world of matter and the realm of antimatter 3 trillion times a second may open the door to a new era of physics. After 20 years of trying, scientists have now confirmed the rate, gaining more insight into how matter and energy interact to form the visible universe.

First Teleportation between Light and Matter -- (Scientific American -- October 4, 2006)
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleId=000E9691-0261-1524-826183414B7F0000
Researchers have teleported the information stored in a beam of light into a cloud of atoms - though it is a far cry from the teleportation portrayed in science fiction. More practically, the demonstration is key to eventually harnessing quantum effects for hyperpowerful computing or ultrasecure encryption systems.

Making Water from Thin Air -- (Wired -- October 6, 2006)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71898-0.html?tw=wn_index_2
Technology now exists capable of creating water out of thin air nearly anywhere in the world. The 20-foot machine can churn out 600 gallons of water a day without using or producing toxic materials and byproducts, at a cost of only 30 cents a gallon.

AUGMENTED INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTICS

Woman is Fitted With Bionic Arm
New Power Suit Amplifies Human Strength

Woman is Fitted With Bionic Arm -- (BBC -- September 15, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5348458.stm
A former US Marine has become the first woman in the world to be fitted with a "bionic" arm that she can control by her thoughts alone. Her new arm works by detecting movements of a chest muscle that has been connected to the remains of nerves that once went to her real arm.

New Power Suit Amplifies Human Strength -- (Live Science -- September 28, 2006)
http://www.livescience.com/technology/060928_power_suit.html
Engineers are perfecting a wearable power suit that amplifies human strength to help lift hospital patients or heavy objects. Driven by portable batteries, micro air pumps and small body sensors that pick up even the slightest muscle twitch, the suit is designed to help nursing home workers lift patients of up to 180 pounds while cutting the amount of strength required in half.

GENTICS/HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Cloning Without Stem Cells
An Artificial Heart that Doesn't Beat

Cloning Without Stem Cells -- (BBC -- October 2, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5391220.stm
Scientists say stem cells are not necessary for cloning and other cells may even be better candidates. As proof, two baby mice were created from a fully matured blood cell that itself is incapable of making more of its own kind

An Artificial Heart that Doesn't Beat -- (MIT Technology Review -- September 21, 2006)
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17523&ch=biotech
New artificial hearts are being developed with the potential to be more compact, durable and longer lasting than their predecessors. There is only one catch: the proposed 'continuous flow' machines would work without pumping - their users, while quite alive, would lack a pulse.

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Toward Terahertz Detectors on a Single, Conventional Chip
Method Could Help Carbon Nanotubes Become Commercially Viable
Cell-Like Nano Particles for Attacking Disease
Nanotube Scaffolds for Neural Implants

Toward Terahertz Detectors on a Single, Conventional Chip -- (Physorg -- October 6, 2006)
http://www.physorg.com/news79366010.html
Sensors and detectors that would work in the terahertz range of the electromagnetic spectrum promise a range of tantalizing properties, from precise identification of concealed weapons to the ability to distinguish between different tissue types for disease screening.

Method Could Help Carbon Nanotubes Become Commercially Viable -- (Physorg -- October 4, 2006)
http://www.physorg.com/news79190869.html
Current methods for synthesizing carbon nanotubes produce mixtures of tubes that differ in their diameter and twist. Variations in electronic properties arise from these structural differences, resulting in carbon nanotubes that are unsuitable for most proposed applications. A new method has just been created that can sort according to diameter, twist and electronic structure.

Cell-Like Nano Particles for Attacking Disease -- (MIT Technology Review -- October 4, 2006)
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17578&ch=nanotech
Using parts of living cells in a smart nanotechnology-based system, researchers have demonstrated a "nanocarrier" that can target specific types of cells and light up in response to conditions in their immediate environment. The furthers work into developing nano devices that can circulate in the bloodstream, slip stealthily past the body's immune system, attach to cancer cells and deliver a deadly drug payload-destroying diseases without the debilitating side effects that accompany chemotherapy.

Nanotube Scaffolds for Neural Implants -- (MIT Technology Review -- September 22, 2006)
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17525&ch=biotech
Scientists are working on using nanotubes as medical scaffolds, helping stem cells stay rooted to diseased areas and perhaps even aiding in turning stem cells into neurons. Just how this works isn't clear, but the researchers say their initial results could someday be engineered into a stem cell delivery device for stroke therapy./p>

GLOBAL EPIDEMIC

Protecting Virus Offers Instant Flu Protection -- (Physorg -- October 4, 2006)
http://www.physorg.com/news79191177.html
The 'protecting virus' provides instant protection, and completely prevents flu symptoms developing by slowing influenza infection rates to such an extent that the harmful infection becomes a vaccine against that very form of influenza. It can also counter an actual infection and offer protection if given up to 24 hours after first infection (and possibly longer).

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

All-Optical Modulator Paves the Way to Ultrafast Communications and Computing
Google Boss Warns Politicians about Internet Power

All-Optical Modulator Paves the Way to Ultrafast Communications and Computing -- (Physorg -- October 6, 2006)
http://www.physorg.com/news79362889.html
Scientists are designing ultrafast computing and communications devices that use photons of light, instead of electrons, to transmit information and perform computations - allowing them to manipulate light signals using light, at speeds almost 100 times as fast as conventional electron-based optical modulators.

Google Boss Warns Politicians about Internet Power -- (Reuters -- October 3, 2006)
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyid
=2006-10-04T005803Z_01_L03419567_RTRUKOC_0_US-GOOGLE-POLITICIANS.xml&src=rss
It is predicted that "truth predictor" software could exist within five years that would be capable of "holding politicians to account." People would be able to use programs to check seemingly factual statements against historical data to see to see if they were correct, easily and in real time.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Kew Spreads Climate Change Word
Hole in Ozone Layer Will Shrink
Extreme Droughts May Spread
India Digs Deeper, but Wells Are Drying Up
Snowball Effect Fuels Arctic Meltdown
Novarupta
Study Warns of Stark Costs of Failing to Counter Climate Change

Kew Spreads Climate Change Word -- (BBC -- September 11, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5336458.stm
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew has issued a "position paper" saying that man-made global warming is changing the outlook for plants and trees worldwide. It says species on its own lands are flowering earlier each year.

Hole in Ozone Layer Will Shrink -- (The Guardian -- September 29, 2006)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1883749,00.html
Scientists have predicted that the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica could be healed within 70 years. The prediction comes days after the hole reached its maximum size for this year, breaking previous records for late September.

Extreme Droughts May Spread -- (The Guardian -- October 4, 2006)
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/water/story/0,,1887060,00.html
Nearly a third of the world's land surface may be at risk of extreme drought by the end of the century, potentially wreaking havoc on farmland and water resources and leading to mass migrations of "environmental refugees".

India Digs Deeper, but Wells Are Drying Up -- (NY Times -- September 30, 2006)
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2006/09/30/
india_digs_deeper_but_wells_are_drying_up_and_a_farming_crisis_looms/
With the population soaring past one billion and with a driving need to boost agricultural production, Indians are tapping their groundwater faster than nature can replenish it, so fast that they are hitting deposits formed at the time of the dinosaurs.

Snowball Effect Fuels Arctic Meltdown -- (Live Science -- October 4, 2006)
http://www.livescience.com/environment/061004_arctic_warming.html
A pair of studies out this week along with other recent evidence suggests the current meltdown of Arctic ice is snowballing into a situation that could leave the North Pole ice-free during summer in just a few decades. A rapid annual retreat of ice is exposing the darker ocean, which absorbs more of the sun's energy and fuels increased melting of ice.

Novarupta -- (NASA -- October 3, 2006)
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/03oct_novarupta.htm?list750202
In 1912 Novarupta - one of a chain of volcanoes on the Alaska Peninsula - erupted in what was the largest blast of the twentieth century. It was so powerful that it drained magma from under another volcano, Mount Katmai, six miles east, causing the summit of Katmai to collapse. Novarupta also expelled three cubic miles of magma and ash into the air, which fell to cover an area of 3,000 square miles more than a foot deep - and climate researchers are now giving it serious attention.

Study Warns of Stark Costs of Failing to Counter Climate Change -- (The Guardian -- October 4, 2006)
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1887096,00.html
The world may face multi-trillion pound economic costs if it does not move urgently to act on climate change, far in excess of current estimations of what it would cost to prevent such change to begin with.

ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS

Plant Power Can Solve Fuel Problem
Silicon vs. CIGS: With Solar Energy, the Issue is Material
Floating Ocean Windmills Designed to Generate More Power
Fuel Cells: (almost) Perfect Mobile Energy
Power from Not-So-Hot Geothermal
The Ascent of Wind Power

Plant Power Can Solve Fuel Problem-- (Al Jazeera -- September 24, 2006)
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7BA3239F-
7D00-464D-8640-1494E54F68B1.htm
A car fuelled by plant oil, which backers hope will reduce Indonesia's spending on subsidizing fuel for the population, has completed a 3,200 km trip across the country. Indonesia is trying to reduce the cost of providing subsidized fuel to the population, which has risen to an estimated $6.86 billion this year

Silicon vs. CIGS: With Solar Energy, the Issue is Material -- (C-Net -- October 2, 2006)
http://news.com.com/Silicon+vs.+CIGS+With+solar+energy%
2C+the+issue+is+material/2100-1008_3-6121488.html?tag=cd.top
The booming solar industry is in the midst of an argument over which material will become dominant in the future for harvesting sunlight and turning it into electricity. New panels that harvest energy with CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) cost far less to make and install than silicon cells. The material can be sprayed onto foil, plastic or glass or incorporated into cement and other building materials. Conceivably, the entire exterior of a house or building could become a solar generator.

Floating Ocean Windmills Designed to Generate More Power -- (Live Science -- September 18, 2006)
http://www.livescience.com/technology/060918_floating_windmills.html
New floater-mounted turbines could work in water depths ranging from about 100 to 650 feet, far exceeding the current operating depth limit of 50 feet. In some areas, the new turbines could be placed about 30 to 100 miles out at sea. Because winds are stronger farther offshore, the floating windmills could also generate more energy - 5.0 megawatts (MW), compared to 1.5 MW for onshore units and 3.5 MW for conventional offshore setups.

Fuel Cells: (almost) Perfect Mobile Energy -- (ABC -- October 3, 2006)
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ZDM/story?id=2526212
Work is being done to make fuel cells the new standard for small batteries. Current lithium ions will produce, on average, around 0.2 to 0.3 watts per cubic centimeter. Fuel cells, by contrast, provide around 1.3 watts per cc.

Power from Not-So-Hot Geothermal -- (MIT Technology Review -- September, 2006)
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17524&ch=energy
Current geothermal plants require temperatures of around 300°F to function well. Engineers say they have developed a low-cost system that can utilize low-temperature geothermal resources, converting temperatures as low as 165°F into electricity.

The Ascent of Wind Power -- (NY Times -- September 6, 2006)
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20060928/ZNYT01/609282002/1004/News04
With fuel prices continuing to rise and turbine efficiency continuing to lower the cost of wind power, the demand for wind turbines is surging in large developing countries: in India, installations rose 48% last year; in China, they rose 65%.

TERRORISM, SECURITY AND THE FUTURE OF WARFARE

Big Brother is Shouting at You
Guard Families Cope in Two Dimensions
What are We Becoming
Plane Flies on Power of Five Light Bulbs

Big Brother is Shouting at You -- (UK Daily Mail -- September 16, 2006)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/
news.html?in_article_id=405477&in_page_id=1770
Big Brother is not only watching you - now he's barking orders too. Britain's first 'talking' close-circuit television cameras have arrived, publicly berating bad behavior and shaming offenders into acting more responsibly.

Guard Families Cope in Two Dimensions -- (The Boston Globe -- August 30, 2006)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/
08/30/guard_families_cope_in_two_dimensions/
Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home. The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.

What are We Becoming -- (CNN -- September 28, 2006)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MoRjbIQMXGQ
An opinion piece, covering U.S. House legislation regarding the treatment of detainees and cooperation with the Geneva Conventions. The bill also contains a curious provision granting retroactive immunity to all Bush administration officials and government employees involved in formulating and enacting policies in the War on Terror, leading to questions of what congressional behavior should be considered acceptable.

Plane Flies on Power of Five Light Bulbs -- (Live Science -- August 29, 2006)
http://www.livescience.com/technology/060829_hydrogen_vehicle.html
One of the largest unmanned aircraft to rely solely on compressed hydrogen fuel has flown successfully during tests. The plane, with a 22-foot-wingspan, is powered by a fuel-cell system that generates 500-watts - equal to five bright light bulbs.

GLOBAL FINANCIAL SHOCK

Potential Catalyst: Real Estate -- (Comstock -- September 22, 2006)
http://www.comstockfunds.com/index.cfm/MenuItemID/183.htm
An interesting financial market analysis, making the case for real estate concerns driving a deflationary environment in the near future. This would be the result of the tremendous demand for real estate since the mid 1990s, which drive valuations through the roof. A combination of lax lending and the demand from homeowners to continue to borrow against the equity in their homes has placed real estate in a potentially vulnerable position, which threatens the entirety of current U.S. economic growth.

CONTACT AND THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE

Milky Way's Formation Theory Questioned
Researchers Find New Information about Earth's Origins
Galactic Birth Control
French Test Zero-Gravity Surgery

Milky Way's Formation Theory Questioned -- (Space -- October 2, 2006)
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060918_galactic_bulge.html
The Milky Way might not have formed through the merger of several smaller galaxies as previously thought, but by some other, as yet unknown process.

Researchers Find New Information about Earth's Origins -- (Physorg -- October 5, 2006)
http://www.physorg.com/news79283050.html
Scientists have found evidence that more than one dying star, or supernova, contributed to the makeup of the solar nebula, which in turn, provides insights into the evolution of planets and asteroids soon after their birth some 4,500 million years ago.

Galactic Birth Control -- (Space -- October 02, 2006)
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/061002_mystery_monday.html
Scientists think black holes in early galaxies’ centers may have prevented stellar formation. As these dense masses devour all the matter around them, they emit powerful jets of energy into space. These jets might heat the galaxy’s gases, preventing them from condensing and forming stars – a sort of stellar birth control.

French Test Zero-Gravity Surgery -- (International Herald Tribune -- September 27, 2006)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/27/news/space.php
French doctors carried out the world's first ever operation on a human in zero gravity, using a specially adapted aircraft to simulate conditions in space. The experiment was part of a program backed by the European Space Agency to develop techniques for performing robotic surgery aboard the International Space Station or at a future Moon base.

JUST FOR FUN

Coming Soon: Sneeze-proof Cats
Teen Repellant Takes Ig Nobel Peace Prize

Coming Soon: Sneeze-proof Cats -- (International Herald Tribune -- October 5, 2006)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/05/news/cats.php
A small biotech company says it has successfully found the Holy Grail of the $35 billion pet industry: a hypoallergenic cat. At the start of next year, the first kittens will be delivered to eager owners who have been carefully screened and on a waiting list for more than two years.

Teen Repellant Takes Ig Nobel Peace Prize -- (CNet -- October 6, 2006)
http://news.com.com/Teen+repellant+takes+Ig+Nobel+Peace+Prize/
2100-1026_3-6123388.html?tag=nefd.top
Howard Stapleton won the 2006 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for his "electromechanical teenager repellant," a device that produces a sound audible only to those 30 or younger and has been employed in anti-youth sirens.

A FINAL QUOTE...

Never let a computer know you're in a hurry. - Anonymous

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

Publication Date:

10/11/2006

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