January-February 2009 Tomorrow in Brief

Navy Returns to Sail Power

Sails may be making a comeback on ships. Using a giant computer-controlled kite called a skysail, a cargo ship chartered by the U.S. Navy for the Military Sealift Command will move supplies and equipment around the globe. Rising 100 yards into the air, the innovative kite-sail will capture wind to help propel the 400-foot MV Beluga Skysails during long ocean transits, saving an estimated 20%–30% in fuel costs, or about $1,600 per day.

Source: U.S. European Command, www.eucom.mil.

Celebrity Trumps Beauty

Consumers make more of a connection with famous faces than beautiful ones, so marketers are looking more toward the stars to sell their products. A recent study by psychologists Carl Senior and Baldeesh Gakkal of Aston University (Birmingham, U.K.) concluded that the modern brain has become hard-wired to produce emotional reactions to celebrities and the products they endorse. Participants’ responses were measured when exposed to hypothetical ads featuring famous and nonfamous, attractive and average-looking models; fame proved more stimulating. The researchers believe that it doesn’t matter how attractive the celebrity is; consumers are simply more likely to respond to fame than to beauty.

Source: Aston University, Press Office, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, United Kingdom. Web site www.aston.ac.uk.

Space Research Leads to Depression Treatment

A self-guided depression-treatment program developed for astronauts could one day be used for Earthbound sufferers. NASA’s Virtual Space Station, a multimedia program for addressing problems that astronauts may encounter on long-term missions, includes a module to guide space crews through psychosocial challenges when no communication link to a psychologist is available. “While astronauts are not particularly prone to psychological problems, the environment is very demanding,” says project co-investigator and former astronaut Jay Buckey. The treatment program helps the user identify specific problems, set goals to solve them, and brainstorm the steps necessary to reach those goals. Developers believe the program might also benefit rural residents and others without immediate access to mental health care professionals or services.

Source: National Space Biomedical Research Institute, One Baylor Plaza, NA-425, Houston, Texas 77030. Web site www.nsbri.org.

Burials at Sea Benefit Coral Reefs

Cemetery plots are growing increasingly scarce and more people are seeking ways to maintain their eco-friendly lifestyles after they die. One option in the “green burial” movement is to contribute your remains to reef restoration. Eternal Reefs, a company founded by a pair of college roommates inspired during their diving adventures off the Florida Keys, entombs cremated remains in “reef balls” that are then used to help rehabilitate and restore dying reefs and provide new habitats for marine life.

Source: Eternal Reefs Inc., P.O. Box 2473, Decatur, Georgia 30031. Web site www.eternalreefs.com.

Microwaves May “Pump” Water on Moon

When future astronauts need water on the Moon or Mars, they’ll need to go only as far as an outpost where subsurface ice has been pumped out with microwave beams. Materials scientist William Kaukler of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, has devised a system for extracting water by shooting beams into the lunar or Martian surface at the poles, where ice has been shown to exist. The microwaves will penetrate and heat the soil; on the Moon, the vacuum environment would percolate the water vapor to the surface, where it would be collected on a plate as ice and then scraped off for human use, either as water or for conversion to hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis. The key advantage to such a system would be to avoid transporting water from Earth — an expensive proposition.

Source: University of Alabama, Huntsville, University Relations, SKH 321, Huntsville, Alabama 35899. Web site www.uah.edu/news.

July-August 2009 Tomorrow in Brief

Ice That “Burns”

Harvesting chunks of ice from the bottom of the ocean and beneath the Arctic permafrost may yield a source of burnable fuel in the future. Gas hydrates are a form of frozen natural gas that readily combusts when lit by a match, suggesting a promising source for renewable energy, according to researchers working with the U.S. Geological Survey. The gas hydrates also would leave a smaller carbon footprint than other fossil fuels. “These gas hydrates could serve as a bridge to our energy future until cleaner fuel sources, such as hydrogen and solar energy, are more fully realized,” says the study co-leader, research geologist Tim Collett.

Source: American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. Web site www.acs.org .

Sunny—with a 50% Chance of Migraine!

Allergy sufferers already can obtain warnings for oncoming sneezes and itches from weather forecasts during pollen season. Now, meteorologists can also help predict the likelihood of migraine headaches, asthma attacks, arthritis flare-ups, and other chronic conditions. A new, free service called MediClim.com tracks weather patterns to identify when health-impacting events may occur. The service sends an e-mail alert to a subscriber to warn if the weather is likely to trigger a problem, such as changes in barometric pressure or humidity, which can exacerbate arthritis. Armed with the weather-health predictions, patients can consult their doctors to find ways to minimize the weather’s impacts on their chronic conditions.

Source: MediClim, www.mediclim.com

Rising Sea Levels Will Threaten New York

New York City is only a few feet above sea level, so the rising sea levels predicted by climate modelers should give the city and other parts of the northeastern U.S. coast cause for urgent concern. Sea-level rise is now expected to occur twice as fast in the twenty-first century as it did in the twentieth, bringing a greater risk of hurricanes and winter storm surges, according to a study by the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies at Florida State University. By 2100, thermal expansion and a slowing of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation could increase sea levels in this region by as much as 18 inches, Yin predicts. Aside from potential flooding, other potential problems include beach erosion, loss of wetlands, and increased salinity of estuaries. The good news is that a cut in greenhouse gas emissions—by 70% this century—could diminish this threat, according to the latest report by the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Sources: Florida State University, Media Relations, 114 Westcott Building, Tallahassee, Florida 32306. Web site http://unicomm.fsu.edu .

WordBuzz: Open Dictionary

Trend watchers watching trends in language in order to identify trends in culture may want to check out Merriam-Webster’s Open Dictionary.

The latest-submissions page offers a frequently amusing glimpse into the minds of the word-centric, as well as new social norms. Among the new terms offered recently:

• Unfriending: the act of removing a person from one’s social-networking site. (See also "unfollow" for Twitter, specifically unfollow Thursday.)

• Podference: a podcast of a conference call.

• Textaholic: one who compulsively sends text messages.

• Geekanese: jargon used by geeks, especially technical language showing specific knowledge.

Source: Open Dictionary, http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/

Trouble Ahead for Suburbanites?

Rising poverty rates in the United States may hit suburbs especially hard, warns a study by the University of Illinois, Chicago. A big yard and a quiet neighborhood away from the hustle and bustle of the city may be part of the suburban dream, but in economic hard times, many suburbanites may be left wondering where the nearest soup kitchen, emergency clinic, or shelter is. The study reports that the number of poor living in suburbs has been increasing since 1990—well before the current recession—and many suburban townships have reduced or eliminated services. Researchers recommend decentralizing services from state governments, along with better coordination of social services among different levels of government and across public and private sectors.

Source: University of Illinois, Chicago, Office of Public Affairs, 601 South Morgan Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607. Web site www.news.uic.edu .

March-April 2009 Tomorrow in Brief

Capturing Energy Under the Sea

Slow-moving ocean and river currents may be a new source of reliable and affordable power. Most of the world’s water currents move slowly (under three knots), but to capture energy, turbines and water mills require currents at nearly twice that speed to operate efficiently. A machine called VIVACE (Vortex-Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy), developed by University of Michigan marine engineer Michael Bernitsas, enhances the slow currents by creating vortices, then capturing their power. The device works much like the way fish use each other’s wake to propel themselves through water. Besides providing renewable energy, the device would also be less likely to harm marine life than dams and water turbines, says Bernitsas.

Source: University of Michigan, News Service, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109. Web site www.ns.umich.edu.

Liquid-Wood Toys

A bioplastic made of renewable “liquid wood” rather than petrochemicals could be an ideal component for toys. No matter how roughly a child treats the toy, it releases no heavy metals or other ingredients that would cause harm. The material, known as Arbofoam, was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Germany. Though bioplastics using cellulose from wood have been used in other products, they have been unsuitable for toys because of additives such as sulfur. Arboform’s sulfur content was reduced by 90%; the next challenge was to find suitable additives that keep the bioplastics from dissolving in water—a big problem since children tend to suck on their toys or leave them out in the rain.

Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology, Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Strasse 7, 76327 Pfinztal, Berghausen, Germany. Web site www.ict.fraunhofer.de.

Hospitals and Patients Seek Alternatives

More than one-third of American adults and 12% of children use some form of complementary or alternative medicine, such as herbal and dietary supplements, according to a report from the National Institutes of Health. Therapies showing significant increases in popularity in the past five years are deep-breathing exercises, meditation, massage therapy, and yoga. Hospitals are responding to increased patient demand for these services, reports the American Hospital Association. More than 37% of hospitals surveyed indicated that they are integrating complementary and alternative services with conventional treatments, largely due to patient demand.

Sources: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, www.nih.gov. American Hospital Association, www.aha.org .

Toward a More Multilingual Military

The U.S. military needs to improve its foreign-language and cultural skills to operate more effectively, according to Congressman Vic Snyder (Democrat-Arizona), chairman of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee. “In today’s and tomorrow’s national security environment, the demand for these skill sets may be even greater, given the range of missions our military personnel can be called on to perform,” he says. “Language and cultural skills can save lives and even prevent conflict.” The Subcommittee’s report calls for increased support for foreign language study in the U.S. educational system, though it did not make clear how schools are to predict where future military interests may be.

Source: U.S. House of Representatives, House Armed Services Committee, 2120 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. Web site http://armedservices.house.gov .

Word Watch: Pre-vivor

New words often offer clues to new trends. The term pre-vivor—meaning an individual who takes extreme preventive measures to ensure survival—suggests a new, more extreme level of proactivism or initiative. As used by Baylor Medical Center breast surgeon Valerie Gorman, the term refers specifically to women at risk of developing breast cancer who opt for preemptive bilateral mastectomies, or those who have developed cancer in one breast choosing to remove the remaining healthy breast as well.

Comment: Becoming a pre-vivor may seem extreme, but as change accelerates and complexity grows in all areas of life, risk assessment is becoming more and more imperative. The sooner that a risk is identified and acted upon, the more likely survival becomes.

Source: Baylor Health Care System, Marketing and Public Relations, 2001 Bryan Street, Suite 750, Dallas, Texas 75201. Web site www.baylorhealth.com .

May-June 2009 Tomorrow in Brief

Raising Saltwater Fish Far from Oceans

Two of the ocean’s tastiest saltwater fishes, cobia and pompano, may be raised hundreds of miles away from the ocean, thanks to improved aquaculture systems that clean and recirculate water. U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of RAS (recirculating aquaculture system) tanks for raising the saltwater fish. The reused water has salinity levels of just five parts per thousand, compared with 35 parts per thousand in ocean water. Further development of the RAS tanks could produce a highly desirable source of fish while reducing fish-farm effluent; fish wastes and unused food could be recycled as compost.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, www.ars.usda.gov .

Word Watch: Ecoflation

Coined by the World Resources Institute, ecoflation refers to a future scenario in which resource scarcity dramatically raises the prices of vital commodities.

These forces add environmental costs to other costs of doing business. The report warns that companies could see their earnings drop by up to 31% by 2013 and by 47% by 2018 if they fail to develop strategies to mitigate these risks.

“We believe that in order to adapt to these challenges, companies will need to implement real structural changes, such as product innovation and restructured value chains, which will affect both the company and millions of existing and new customers,” the report concludes.

Source: World Resources Institute, www.wri.org .

Saving South America’s Vicuña

A traditional, capture-and-release approach to managing wildlife may have helped bring the South American Vicuña back from the brink of extinction. A relative of the llama, Vicuña were once abundant in the Andes. Rising global demand for their high-quality fleece led to sharply dropping numbers in the 1960s; a 1969 moratorium on sales helped populations begin recovering. In 1987, community-based conservation policies were enacted, reinstating ancient Incan methods of “capture-shear-release” of wild populations that are now credited for saving the species. Australian researcher Iain Gordon believes the Vicuña’s success story provides lessons for wildlife management in Australia, where nearly half of the world’s mammal extinctions of the last two centuries have occurred.

Source: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, www.csiro.au . See also The Vicuña: The Theory and Practice of Community Based Wildlife Management by Iain Gordon (Springer, 2008).

Producing Artificial Skin, Factory-Style

A factory-like approach to tissue engineering may help produce artificial skin, cartilage, and other body parts quickly and in large quantities, thanks to research at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biology. The team aims to break down and automate many of the labor-intensive procedures, such working with biopsied material, preparing cells for stimulating growth, and cryopreserving or packaging the new tissue for shipment. The result could mean improved treatment for burn victims using skin grown in laboratories, as well as the creation of tissue that is suitable for chemical testing, thus avoiding experiments on animals.

Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Facial Engineering and Biotechnology, IGB, www.igb.fraunhofer.de.

Nano-sized Additive Strengthens Concrete

A nanomaterial additive for concrete could slow down the deterioration of roads and bridges, thus reducing maintenance costs as well as the possibility of catastrophic failures. Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a nano-sized additive that thwarts the penetration of chloride and sulfate ions from road salt, seawater, and soils into concrete. The engineers were reportedly inspired by additives in food processing that thicken foods like salad dressings and give ice cream its texture. Their additive for concrete increases the viscosity, so the damaging chemicals that the concrete is exposed to cannot penetrate it so quickly.

Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology, www.nist.gov .

November-December 2008 Tomorrow in Brief

Biological Brains for Robots

Robots may learn how to find their way around their environments and avoid obstacles, thanks to biological brains developed by researchers at the University of Reading in Britain. Cultured neurons are placed onto a multi-electrode array, which picks up signals generated by the cells. The signals drive the movement of the robot; as the robot approaches an object, signals stimulate the brain, and the brain’s output moves the robot, with no input from humans. The researchers hope that the work will lead not only to robots that learn, but also to improved understanding of neurological diseases and disorders of humans.

Source: University of Reading, Research Publicity, Whiteknights, P.O. Box 217, Reading RG6 6AH, United Kingdom. Web site www.rdg.ac.uk.

Alcohol Consumption Declines

Beer guzzling is on the way out in the United States. Alcohol consumption over the past 50 years has declined, particularly beer consumption, and more people say that they are nondrinkers, reports a team of researchers led by Yuqing Zhang of the Boston University School of Medicine. The researchers attribute the long-term decline to medical studies noting the health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption, which has been linked to improved cardiovascular health and other positive effects, as well as studies noting the ill effects of heavy consumption.

Source: “Secular Trends in Alcohol Consumption over 50 Years: The Framingham Study” by Yuqing Zhang et al., The American Journal of Medicine (August 2008), published by Elsevier, Radarweg 29, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Web site www.elsevier.com .

Ivory Poaching Imperils Elephants

The elephant death rate in Africa has reached 8% a year, a level that surpasses the 7.4% annual death rate that led to urgent measures to save the species by banning the trade of ivory. The African elephant population is now less than 470,000, down from more than 1 million when the ban was first enacted in the late 1980s, reports University of Washington biology professor Samuel Wasser. “If the trend continues, there won’t be any elephants except in fenced areas with a lot of enforcement to protect them,” he says. His research indicates that most remaining large groups of African elephants will be extinct by 2020 unless a renewed international effort is launched to halt poaching.

Source: University of Washington, Office of News and Information, Box 351207, Seattle, Washington 98195. Web site http://uwnews.org.

Compressed Air May Cut Energy Costs

The concept of storing compressed air underground for use in generating electricity may be an idea whose time has come. Sandia National Laboratories researcher Georgianne Peek believe it could offer a solution to high energy costs. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) facilities would function like batteries; air is driven into an underground geological formation during low-demand times; when it’s needed, the electricity is generated from the compressed air used in modified combustion engines. CAES storage facilities are being considered by several U.S. utilities to store the abundant wind generated in Iowa and other places.

Source: Sandia National Laboratories, News Room, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-0165.

Bartering with Fuel

With runaway inflation making it nearly impossible to pay for food, rent, and other necessities with local money, Zimbabweans have turned to bartering and using innovative alternative forms of currency, such as gasoline coupons. The coupons are obtained from fuel stations in exchange for foreign currency, offering a more stable money system in a country where inflation is officially estimated at 2.2 million percent a year and more than 15 million percent according to independent economists, according to the UN’s Integrated Regional Information Networks. The fuel coupons and their use as a “clever type of barter trade” have become the norm in Zimbabwe, according to economic analyst John Robertson.

Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Web site www.irinnews.org .

Sept-October 2009 Tomorrow in Brief

From the September-October 2009 issue of THE FUTURIST magazine.

"Smart" Turbine Boosts Wind Power

Wind energy may become more-efficient, economical, and reliable thanks to "smart" turbines under development at Purdue University and Sandia National Laboratories. Sensors embedded in the blades monitor the forces exerted on their surface, signaling changes in wind conditions. The blades' built-in flaps—similar to the wings of an airplane—enable the turbines to be adjusted for optimal performance. The system will also send feedback to operators in order to prevent damage from sudden, potentially catastrophic winds, as well as track the blades' conditions—vital for predicting fatigue and enabling engineers to develop more-resilient turbines.

Source: Purdue University, www.purdue.edu .

Soap Sniffer Monitors Hygiene

The same type of sensors that tell the cops you're tipsy could also tattle on you if you fail to wash your hands in the restroom. Hand washing is vital for avoiding the spread of germs and is particularly critical in hospitals, restaurants, and other places with "hands-on" workers. A monitoring device developed at the University of Florida detects sanitizer or soap fumes given off from people's hands, offering real-time monitoring of hygiene compliance. The mere presence of the soap-sniffer could improve compliance by being a compelling reminder to workers to wash their hands.

Source: University of Florida, www.ufl.edu .

WordBuzz: Fewer Dirty Words in Movies

Profanity in teen movies is on a long-term decline, report researchers at Brigham Young University. In fact, teens attending popular G, PG, and PG-13 rated movies now will encounter less than half as many swear words as their parents did 25 years ago.

Films directed to the teen market in the 1980s averaged 35 instances of profanity, compared with 25 in the 1990s and 16 in the 2000s.

The researchers do not offer an explanation for the trend but suggest that the influence of media watchdogs and parent groups may have succeeded in pressuring filmmakers to keep it clean for the kids.

Source: Brigham Young University, www.byu.edu .

Contracts for Family Caregivers

Many older people anticipate that their adult children will eventually provide some sort of care for them, financially or otherwise. But when the time comes, the adult children are often unaware of this expectation and unprepared to fulfill it. Now, more families are turning to caregiver agreements—financial contracts to care for sick or aging relatives, according to University of Illinois law professor Richard L. Kaplan. Though many people may bristle at the idea of formalizing family responsibilities, precedents may be seen in such phenomena as prenuptial agreements. As costs rapidly deplete life savings, it is becoming more critical to plan for each generation’s financial and health needs and to resolve potential problems in advance, says Kaplan.

Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, www.illinois.edu .

Eyeglasses as Data Dashboard

An interactive chip on the lens of your eyeglasses will not only display information for you, but also track your eye movements and interpret commands such as “scroll” or “next.” Because the image is actually projected on your retina, it appears to be several feet in front of you, so you won’t go cross-eyed trying to read what’s on the lens. Developed by researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems, the data eyeglasses could offer a lightweight alternative to bulky head-mounted displays and data goggles for hands-free interactivity.

Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems, www.ipms.fraunhofer.de .