Volume 9, Number 4
03/15/2006
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

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...

• Scientists have created a laboratory version of the eerie floating ball lighting using technology taken from a common microwave oven.
• Israeli scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC, which runs on DNA.
• Engineers have developed a neural implant designed to enable a shark's brain signals to be manipulated remotely, controlling the animal's movements and perhaps even decoding what it is feeling.
• The first experimental demonstration of quantum telecloning has been achieved by scientists at the University of Tokyo.

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

INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

Scientists in Food Fight Over Soda
Kosmix Plays Politics with Search
Dog Whistle to Control Youths

Scientists in Food Fight Over Soda -- (CNN -- March 6, 2006)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/06/soured.onsoda.ap/index.html
Researchers hope to add evidence to the theory that soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks don't just go hand-in-hand with obesity, but actually cause it. Not that these drinks are the only cause -- genetics, exercise and other factors are involved -- but that they are one cause, perhaps the leading cause. A small point? In reality, proving this would be a scientific leap that could help make the case for higher taxes on soda, restrictions on how and where it is sold, maybe even a surgeon general's warning on labels.

Kosmix Plays Politics with Search -- (Wired -- March 7, 2006)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70296-0.html?tw=wn_index_19
Search engine newcomer Kosmix, which lets users look in specific topic areas, recently introduced its politics engine. For any search term, Kosmix organizes results into conservative, liberal or libertarian categories, allowing seekers to explore results associated with a certain political persuasion. Though still in its alpha version, the politics engine is fairly adept at teasing out ideological orientations on the web.

Dog Whistle to Control Youths -- (BBC -- March 15, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/4715526.stm
A high-pitched "dog whistle" device is to be used by police in north Staffordshire to stop groups of nuisance youths hanging around shops. The Mosquito sends out a pulsing 80-decibel frequency noise which can usually only be heard by teenagers and those in their early 20s. The device is fitted outside the shop and can be turned on by shopkeepers to move youths on.

NEW REALITIES

Mysterious Ball Lightning Created in the Lab
Scotland is The Center of a Gravity Revolution
New Type of Star Discovered
Giant Telescope Will Peek at Past
3D Plasma Shapes Created in Thin Air
Scientists Track Titanic Saturn Storm
Astronomers Ponder Weird Cosmic Burst
A Solid That's Light as Air
Is Our Universe About to be Mangled?

Mysterious Ball Lightning Created in the Lab -- (Live Science -- February 23, 2006)
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060223_ball_lightning.html
Ball lightning is one of the most mysterious phenomena in nature. Now scientists have created a laboratory version of the eerie floating orbs using technology taken from a common microwave oven. The work could help scientists figure out how the lightning forms in nature and lead to practical applications that harness its power.

Scotland is The Center of a Gravity Revolution -- (Scotsman News -- February 18, 2006)
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=253972006
A shockwave tore through the space-time continuum that is the global astronomical community with the news that researchers at St Andrews University have apparently rewritten the laws of physics. One of the basic tenets of astronomy - the universal force of gravity - is now under serious challenge from a radical, competing theory.

New Type of Star Discovered -- (Universe Today -- February 22, 2006)
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/jodrell_new_star.html?2222006
UK astronomers have used the Jodrell Bank Observatory to discover an entirely new class of objects. These stars are similar to pulsars, as they produce brief radio flashes which only last for a few milliseconds. Unlike pulsars, however, they stay silent for much longer periods of time, ranging from 4 minutes to 3 hours. Astronomers think these objects build up energy over hundreds of rotations, and then release it in a single burst - and then build back up again.

Giant Telescope Will Peek at Past -- (Wired -- February 17, 2006)
http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,70245-0.html?tw=wn_index_6
In the biggest joint Mexico-U.S. scientific venture ever, builders are finishing a monster telescope on top of a volcano that will let astronomers look back 13 billion years and uncover secrets about the creation of the universe. Working above cloud level, the telescope will pick up millimeter-long radio waves that have been traveling through space for nearly 13 billion years. Astronomers will use the information to plot more detailed maps of stars and galaxies as they existed shortly after the big bang.

3D Plasma Shapes Created in Thin Air -- (New Scientist -- February 27, 2006)
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/dn8778.html
The night sky could soon be lit up with gigantic three-dimensional adverts, thanks to a Japanese laser display that creates glowing images in thin air. The display utilizes an ionization effect which occurs when a beam of laser light is focused to a point in air. The laser beam itself is invisible to the human eye but, if the intensity of the laser pulse exceeds a threshold, the air breaks down into glowing plasma that emits visible light.

Scientists Track Titanic Saturn Storm -- (Fairfax Digital -- February 15, 2006)
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/saturns-titanic-storm/2006/02/15/1139890767544.html
Researchers are tracking a gigantic storm on Saturn that is unleashing lightning bolts more than 1,000 times stronger than those found on Earth. Using instruments aboard the international Cassini spacecraft, scientists first spotted the storm on January 23. But since the spacecraft was not in the right position to photograph the storm, scientists enlisted the help of amateur astronomers who confirmed a storm was raging in the ringed planet's southern hemisphere.

Astronomers Ponder Weird Cosmic Burst -- (ABC -- February 24, 2006)
http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1577501.htm
A new kind of cosmic explosion has been spotted in Earth's celestial neighborhood, scientists report. The blast seems like a gamma-ray burst, one of the most distant and powerful type of explosion known to astronomers. But when scientists first detected it with NASA's Swift satellite on 18 February, the explosion was about 25 times closer and lasted 100 times longer than a typical gamma-ray burst.

A Solid That's Light as Air -- (Wired -- March 23, 2006)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70268-0.html?tw=wn_index_3
If you wanted to catch a few particles of comet dust without damaging or destroying those particles, how would you do it? Faced with exactly this problem, scientists focused on aerogel, an extremely lightweight, porous material that is chemically identical to glass, but weighs only a little more than air. Aerogel is the lightest solid known to science. It's also one of the most insulating materials on Earth, the most porous, and it's nearly transparent. Those last two properties made it an ideal choice for catching flecks of comet and interstellar dust.

Is Our Universe About to be Mangled? -- (New Scientist -- February 23, 2006)
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn8766.html
Our universe may one day be obliterated or assimilated by a larger universe, according to a controversial new analysis. The work suggests the parallel universes proposed by some quantum theorists may not actually be parallel but could interact, and with disastrous consequences.

GENTICS/HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Birthing Wetsuit Could Protect Mothers
Surprise: Chickens Can Grow Teeth
Bacterium Found to Have Strange Magnetic Personality
Mom's Genetics Could Produce Gay Sons

Birthing Wetsuit Could Protect Mothers -- (New Scientist -- February 28, 2006)
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn8783.html
Wearing a simple garment similar to the bottom half of a wetsuit appears to reduce maternal deaths and organ damage from childbirth complications, new research suggests. The authors of the study, which was conducted in Egypt, say the suit could potentially prevent about 100,000 deaths from hemorrhaging through childbirth each year. They explain that compression on the lower body created by the outfit shunts blood toward essential core organs, helping to keep the patient alive until she can be taken to hospital to receive surgery.

Surprise: Chickens Can Grow Teeth -- (Live Science -- February 22, 2006)
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060222_chicken_teeth.html
Scientists have discovered a mutant chicken with a full set of crocodile-like chompers. The mutant chick, called Talpid, also had severe limb defects and died before hatching. It was discovered 50 years ago, but no one had ever examined its mouth until now. The researchers recently created more Talpids by tweaking the genes of normal chickens to grow teeth. "What we discovered were teeth similar to those of crocodiles - not surprising as birds are the closest living relatives of the reptile," said Mark Ferguson of the University of Manchester.

Bacterium Found to Have Strange Magnetic Personality -- (MIT -- March 6, 2006)
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/bacteria.html
Researchers have discovered a bacterium that is a magnetic misfit of sorts. Magnetotactic bacteria contain chains of magnetic iron minerals that allow them to orient in the Earth's magnetic field, like living compass needles. These bacteria have long been observed to respond to high oxygen levels in the lab by swimming toward geomagnetic north in the Northern Hemisphere and geomagnetic south in the Southern Hemisphere. But now researchers have found a bacterium in New England that does just the opposite: a Northern Hemisphere creature that swims south.

Mom's Genetics Could Produce Gay Sons -- (Medicine Net -- February 21, 2006)
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=59960
New research adds a twist to the debate on the origins of sexual orientation, suggesting that the genetics of mothers of multiple gay sons act differently than those of other women. Scientists found that almost one fourth of the mothers who had more than one gay son processed X chromosomes in their bodies in the same way. Normally, women randomly process the chromosomes in one of two ways -half go one way, half go the other.

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Nanotube Networks Conjured on Crystals
Scientists Confirm Role of Nano-Hairs in Self-Cleaning Lotus Leaf

Nanotube Networks Conjured on Crystals -- (New Scientist -- March 1, 2006)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?hbxmail=nl&id=dn8789
The key to instantly assembling intricate networks of nanotubes has been discovered by scientists armed with some of the most sophisticated microscopes in the world. The phenomenon may one-day help create tiny nano-circuits that let electrons pass through nano-pipes instead of along silicon wires.

Scientists Confirm Role of Nano-Hairs in Self-Cleaning Lotus Leaf -- (Phys Org -- February 17, 2006)
http://www.physorg.com/news10964.html
In recent years, scientists have developed theoretical models of the underlying mechanisms of the lotus leaf's self-cleaning properties. A new study marks the first time that the effect of the nano-hairs has been isolated from the microstructure and chemical composition of the leaf. The results verify the importance of the nano-structure on the lotus leaf's self-cleaning ability, an essential understanding for inventors designing self-cleaning products in the future.

GLOBAL EPIDEMIC

Avian Flu Infects Swans in Poland, Cats in Austria -- (CIDRAP -- March 6, 2006)
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/mar0606birds.html
The European expansion of H5N1 avian influenza continued with discovery of the virus in two swans in Poland, while three cats in an Austrian animal shelter tested positive for the virus as well. Testing of cats in the shelter began after German officials announced the discovery of a dead cat infected with H5N1 on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Quantum Telecloning: Captain Kirk's Clone and The Eavesdropper
Do You Know Where Your Identity Is?
IBM's Chip-Shrinking Secret
Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes

Quantum Telecloning: Captain Kirk's Clone and The Eavesdropper -- (Phys Org -- February 16, 2006)
http://www.physorg.com/news10924.html
Quantum cryptographic protocols are so secure that they can not only discover tapping but also where and how much information is leaking out. Now, using telecloning, the identity and location of the eavesdropper can be concealed. The first experimental demonstration of quantum telecloning has been achieved by scientists at the University of Tokyo.

Do You Know Where Your Identity Is? -- (Popular Mechanics -- March 6, 2006)
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/computers/2311036.html
Global identity thieves may know their way around your computer better than you do. Welcome to the scary new world of zombies, RATs, Trojan horses and evil twins. The explosive growth in Internet commerce and the spread of broadband connections have given hackers new opportunities to target the unaware. Online theft costs American victims some $265 million a year.

IBM's Chip-Shrinking Secret -- (Technology Revie -- February 27, 2006)
http://www.techreview.com/BizTech-R&D/wtr_16425,295,p1.html
A novel chip-making strategy forged by IBM researchers could break through previous constraints, allowing semiconductor makers to use their same basic tools to continue shrinking chip features. If the strategy pans out, it would enable more advances in computing speed and power, without requiring a long-feared multi-billion-dollar industrial retooling.

Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes -- (National Geographic -- February 24, 2006)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0224_030224_DNAcomputer.html
Israeli scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC. The secret: It runs on DNA. The design is considered a giant step in DNA computing. The Guinness World Records last week recognized the computer as "the smallest biological computing device" ever constructed. DNA computing is in its infancy, and its implications are only beginning to be explored. But it could transform the future of computers, especially in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SHIFTS

The CIA's Pain Project -- (AlterNet -- February 24, 2006)
http://www.alternet.org/story/32638/
Alfred McCoy exposes how the Bush administration gave the CIA an opportunity to perfect its research on psychological torture. This is an edited transcript of an interview between Amy Goodman and Alfred McCoy from Democracy Now! It originally aired on February 17, and is available for download from DemocracyNow.org

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

North Pole Meets South Pole: Earth Is Melting at Both Ends
Explorers Discover Huge Cave and New Poison Frogs
Marine Life Treasure Trove Found
Stanford Professor Explains Earthquake Mystery
Stopping the Next Extinction Wave

North Pole Meets South Pole: Earth Is Melting at Both Ends -- (ABC -- March 2, 2006)
http://reference.aol.com/article?id=20060302121809990001
For the first time, scientists have confirmed Earth is melting at both ends, which could have disastrous effects for coastal cities and villages. Antarctica has been called "a slumbering giant" by a climate scientist who predicts that if all the ice melted, sea levels would rise by 200 feet. Other scientists believe that such a thing won't happen, but new studies show that the slumbering giant has started to stir.

Explorers Discover Huge Cave and New Poison Frogs -- (New Scientist -- February 21, 2006)
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060221_ghost_cave.html
A cave so huge helicopters can fly into it has just been discovered deep in the hills of a South American jungle paradise. Actually, "Cueva del Fantasma", Spanish for "Cave of the Ghost", is so vast that two helicopters can comfortably fly into it and land next to a towering waterfall. It was found in the slopes of Aprada tepui in southern Venezuela, one of the most inaccessible and unexplored regions of the world. The area, known as the Venezuelan Guayana, is one of the most biologically rich, geologically ancient and unspoiled parts of the world.

Marine Life Treasure Trove Found -- (BBC -- March 14, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4709594.stm
An underwater mountain with some of the richest diversity of marine life in the Caribbean has been found by scientists. During a two-week dive researchers discovered scores more species of fish than previously known in the region and vast beds of "seaweed cities". But the team says the biodiversity hotspot is in danger: oil tankers in the area threaten the fragile reefs.

Stanford Professor Explains Earthquake Mystery -- (Bay City News Wire -- February 20, 2006)
http://www.cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2006/02/20
/n/HeadlineNews/EARTHQUAKE-HISTORY/resources_bcn_html
A Stanford University geophysicist has started to unravel a tectonic mystery - the cause of several powerful earthquakes in New Madrid, Miss., almost a century ago that could strike the region again. Between December 1811 and February 1812, the frontier outpost New Madrid was shaken by three quakes so powerful that church bells in Boston reportedly began to ring and the course of the Mississippi River was altered.

Stopping the Next Extinction Wave -- (BBC -- March 7, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4780876.stm
A scientific study pinpoints 20 areas in the world where animals are not at immediate risk of extinction, but where the risk is likely to arise soon. The regions include Greenland and the Siberian tundra, Caribbean islands and parts of South East Asia. The London-based research team believes its work will help conservationists prevent extinctions through early intervention - prevention, not cure.

TERRORISM AND THE FUTURE OF WARFARE

Stealth Sharks to Patrol the High Seas
Cashing In on Virtual Humans

Stealth Sharks to Patrol the High Seas -- (New Scientist -- March 1, 2006)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?hbxmail=nl&id=mg18925416.300
Imagine getting inside the mind of a shark: swimming silently through the ocean, sensing faint electrical fields, homing in on the trace of a scent, and navigating through the featureless depths for hour after hour. We may soon be able to do just that via electrical probes in the shark's brain. Engineers funded by the US military have created a neural implant designed to enable a shark's brain signals to be manipulated remotely, controlling the animal's movements, and perhaps even decoding what it is feeling.

Cashing In on Virtual Humans -- (John Hudson -- February 22, 2006)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70253-0.html?tw=wn_index_3
Digital humans. The very words conjure images of the polygon personas created for the next blockbuster by production houses like Industrial Light and Magic or Pixar Animation. But there is more to this technology than big-screen eye candy. When the U.S. Army needs new designs of combat-ready body armor and other protective gear, it too turns to digital human technology.

ENERGY REVOLUTION

Kids Build Soybean-Fueled Car
South African Solar Research Eclipses Rest of the World

Kids Build Soybean-Fueled Car -- (CBS News -- February 17, 2006)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/17/eveningnews/main1329941.shtml
The star at the recent Philadelphia Auto Show wasn't a sports car or an economy car. It was a sports-economy car, one that combines performance and practicality under one hood. Five kids, along with a handful of schoolmates, built the soybean-fueled car as an after-school project. It took them more than a year, rummaging for parts, configuring wires and learning as they went.

South African Solar Research Eclipses Rest of the World -- (Independent Online -- February 11, 2006)
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=116&art_id=vn20060211110132138C184427
In a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun. This means high electricity bills and frequent power failures could soon be a thing of the past. The unique South African-developed solar panels will make it possible for houses to become completely self-sufficient for energy supplies.

CONTACT

Red Rain Could Prove That Aliens Have Landed
Looking for Other Earths? Here's a List

Red Rain Could Prove That Aliens Have Landed -- (Guardian Unlimited -- March 5, 2006)
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1723913,00.html
On 25 July, 2001, blood-red rain fell over the Kerala district of western India. These rain bursts continued for the next two months. Investigations suggested the rain was red because winds had swept up dust from Arabia and dumped it on Kerala. But some researchers now say that the rain was made up of bacteria-like material that had been swept to Earth from a passing comet.

Looking for Other Earths? Here's a List -- (MSNBC -- February 19, 2006)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11427824/
An astronomer involved in a NASA mission to look for Earthlike planets beyond our solar system has winnowed through thousands of stars to come up with a top-10 list that includes some of the favorite haunts for science-fiction aliens. It is broken down into two top-five lists: one for the radio-based search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, and the other for the NASA mission, known as the Terrestrial Planet Finder.

DEMOGRAPHICS AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Bronze Age Sky Disc Deciphered
Altruism In-Built in Humans
Retirement Age Should Reach 85

Bronze Age Sky Disc Deciphered -- (Deutsche Welle -- February 27, 2006)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1915398,00.html
A group of German scientists has deciphered the meaning of one of the most spectacular archeological discoveries in recent years: The mystery-shrouded sky disc of Nebra was used as an advanced astronomical clock. Scholars who studied this archaeological gem have discovered evidence which suggests that the disc was used as a complex astronomical clock for the harmonization of solar and lunar calendars.

Altruism In-Built in Humans -- (BBC -- March 3, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4766490.stm
Infants as young as 18 months show altruistic behavior, suggesting humans have a natural tendency to be helpful, German researchers have discovered. In experiments reported in the journal Science, toddlers helped strangers complete tasks such as stacking books. Young chimps did the same, providing the first direct evidence of altruism in non-human primates.

Retirement Age Should Reach 85 -- (BBC -- February 17, 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4726300.stm
The age of retirement should be raised to 85 by 2050 because of trends in life expectancy, a US biologist has said. Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University says anti-ageing advances could raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades. That would put a strain on economies around the world if current retirement ages are maintained, he warned.

A FINAL QUOTE...

So often do the spirits of great events stride on before the events. And in today already walks tomorrow. --Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A special thanks to Bernard Calil, Humera Khan, KurzweilAI, Sher Patterson-Black, Diane Peterson, John C. Peterson, 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