tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75563052007-08-23T16:53:16.310-05:00Wayne R PethrickBlogger194125This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-23731766759758380242007-08-23T16:52:00.000-05:002007-08-23T16:53:16.360-05:00

From The Guardian: A new killer disease on par with HIV-Aids or ebola is likely to emerge in the next few years and threaten the lives of millions of people worldwide, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today. Potentially deadly new diseases are being identified at an "unprecedented rate", with global epidemics spreading more rapidly than ever, the United Nations agency warned in its

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_08_01_archive.html#2373176675975838024tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-81565251398528718382007-08-23T16:51:00.000-05:002007-08-23T16:52:13.987-05:00

Biofuels, particluarly those derived from ethanol, have been heralded as an ideal way to wean us off of polluting and increasingly expensive fossil fuels. While we may have no choice but to rely on biofuels in the future, some futurists are sounding the alarm about the unintended consequences of biofuel reliance. In July, the futurist think tank Global Business Network noted that crop growth for

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_08_01_archive.html#8156525139852871838tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-19117545217325052612007-08-23T16:50:00.000-05:002007-08-23T16:51:25.012-05:00

Earlier this year I was asked to write an article explaining nanotechnology and the debates surrounding it for a non-scientific audience with interests in social and policy issues. This article was published in the Summer 2007 issue of the journal Soundings. Here is the unedited version, in installments. Regular readers of the blog will be familiar with most of the arguments already, but I hope

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_08_01_archive.html#1911754521732505261tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-68944674260625975342007-04-03T13:34:00.000-05:002007-04-03T13:46:09.503-05:00

Once the realm of science fiction, bionics is slowly but surely becoming a reality. Advances in medical prostheses and computer technology are making the dream of building a bionic human a reality. Bionic Eye: The Argus II bionic eye is currently undergoing trials in 50-75 patients in the US. The system uses a spectacle mounted camera that feeds visual information to 60 electrodes implanted

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_04_01_archive.html#6894467426062597534tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-11267362053033700662007-04-03T13:31:00.000-05:002007-04-03T13:32:38.728-05:00

There are plenty of ways to become a virtual traveler in outer space. Second Life may be the simulation flavor of the week, and NASA may be carving out its own space there, but there’s a long history of virtual worlds that give you the feel of the final frontier. In the wake of last week's story about NASA's involvement in virtual worlds, I received several messages offering a second opinion

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_04_01_archive.html#1126736205303370066tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-7177960821019854152007-04-03T13:22:00.000-05:002007-04-03T13:30:54.427-05:00

10:05 03 April 2007 Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues. Zeeya Merali, London Dark energy is so befuddling that it's causing some physicists to do their science backwards. "Usually you propose your theory and then work out an experiment to test it," says Christian Beck of Queen Mary, University of London. A few years ago, however, he and his colleague

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_04_01_archive.html#717796082101985415tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-33056698161801865302007-02-20T11:05:00.000-06:002007-02-20T11:07:03.969-06:00

Researchers at MIT have designed a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that assembles itself out of microscopic materials. This could lead to ultrasmall power sources for sensors and micromachines the size of the head of a pin. It could also make it possible to pack battery materials in unused space inside electronic devices. Yet-Ming Chiang, a professor of materials science at MIT, and his

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_02_01_archive.html#3305669816180186530tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-47269342148989325032007-02-20T10:44:00.000-06:002007-02-20T11:04:29.927-06:00

Within a decade cars could start driving themselves on highways and in less than 25 years automakers may be producing vehicles "smart" enough to chauffeur passengers through city streets, Stanford computer scientist Sebastian Thrun predicted Saturday in San Francisco. [Podcast: Web site for creating, sharing digital photo slide.] Thrun, who led the winning team in a robotic car race sponsored

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_02_01_archive.html#4726934214898932503tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-24713767828979267412007-02-20T10:41:00.000-06:002007-02-20T10:47:49.343-06:00

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) convened a meeting with a number of prominent writers and activists in Zurich earlier this year. Participants considered humanity’s progress towards sustainability and the global challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. The results of their conversation have been captured in a new thought provoking paper by Professor William Adams entitled The

dwoodgatehttp://futures-lab.com/2007_02_01_archive.html#2471376782897926741tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1164095514315120072006-11-19T13:47:00.000-06:002006-11-22T02:48:08.676-06:00

via Tech Review Adaptive, sensor-laden garments could provide a new way for quadriplegics to control their wheelchairs. The system, which is still in an early stage of development, identifies the ideal set of movements that can be employed as control commands for each individual user. The garment is printed with 52 flexible, piezoresistive sensors developed at the University of Pisa. These

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_11_01_archive.html#116409551431512007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1160974619955829952006-10-13T23:49:00.000-05:002006-10-16T00:37:48.823-05:00

via PhysOrg In a very interesting example "Small Comfort" as well as the fusion of the non-living with the living, scientists in Japan have invented the first motor to be powered by bacteria. The micro-motor relies on bacteria gliding along a silicon track to spin a silicon dioxide rotor. Moving at speeds of up to 5 micrometers per second, the bacteria can power the 20 micrometer diameter

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_10_01_archive.html#116097461995582995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1160026126777056442006-10-05T00:22:00.000-05:002006-10-05T00:29:19.456-05:00

Wayne Pethrick, senior futurist with The Futures Lab, is featured in the latest podcast episode from FringeHog, talking about the trend of "Small Comfort". In case you haven't already had the pleasure, FringeHog is a media project exploring how ideas about the future emerge, migrate and interact in society and business to catalyze change. They've got some cool things going on and it's well worth

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_10_01_archive.html#116002612677705644tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1158118095523367662006-09-12T21:26:00.000-05:002006-09-12T22:28:15.523-05:00

via PhysOrg In the future, it might be perfectly normal to wear suits and dresses made of chicken feathers or rice straw. But don’t worry: These clothes won’t resemble fluffy plumage or hairy door mats. Scientists at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln plan to develop these agricultural waste products into conventional-looking fabrics as a way to reduce the use of petroleum-based synthetic

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_09_01_archive.html#115811809552336766tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1158117581498617572006-09-07T11:14:00.000-05:002006-09-12T22:19:41.500-05:00

via Rice University Physicists at Rice University have decoded the three-dimensional structure of a tornado-like magnetic vortex no larger than a red blood cell. This development could also allow breakthroughs in the design of nanostructures for ultra-high-density hard disk media, non-volatile magnetic random access memory and novel magnetic logic gates that could replace volatile

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_09_01_archive.html#115811758149861757tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1158117193895422502006-09-02T10:06:00.000-05:002006-09-12T22:13:13.910-05:00

via BBC Two men have been cleared of deadly skin cancer using genetically modified versions of their own immune cells. Immune cells can now be modified to attack breast, liver and lung cancers. Tests showed the genetically modified T cells used in the new treatment became specialised tumour fighters. Although only two of the 17 people with advanced melanoma who received the treatment were

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_09_01_archive.html#115811719389542250tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1156913852025936462006-08-19T11:41:00.000-05:002006-08-29T23:57:32.036-05:00

via CNN If you have heard The Futures Lab's Wayne Pethrick speak over the last two or three years, you can probably recall him talking about the trend of "Small Comfort." Small Comfort is us becoming comfortable with things that we cannot see. This excerpt from a piece on CNN is a decent example of how we are slowly gaining an appreciation for the tiny and working leverage microscopic organisms

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_08_01_archive.html#115691385202593646tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1156914032444997542006-08-15T22:59:00.000-05:002006-08-30T00:00:32.446-05:00

via BBC There are now more overweight people across the world than hungry ones, according to experts. Researchers told the International Association of Agricultural Economists the number of overweight people had topped 1 billion, compared with 800 million undernourished. Obesity is rapidly spreading, while hunger is only slowly declining among the world's 6.5 billion population.

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_08_01_archive.html#115691403244499754tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1153846868715744152006-07-24T11:44:00.000-05:002006-07-25T12:05:21.826-05:00

via People's Daily Online courtesy of Fast Future China's "artificial sun" will finish its first engineering adjustment around August 15 2006. The plasma discharge test on China's experimental advanced superconducting Tokamak (EAST), or the so-called "artificial sun", will be conducted at the Science Island in Hefei, in east China's Anhui Province. Once the test succeeds, it will mean that the

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115384686871574415tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1153847384083956242006-07-08T22:50:00.000-05:002006-07-25T12:09:44.083-05:00

via Excite With 90% of all college students possessing mobile phones, campuses are ripping out money-losing land-line phone jacks in dorms and in some cases providing students with free or subsidized cell phones. At some campuses, students can get real-time alerts about class assignments, cafeteria menus, and shuttle schedules. Some also provide GPS-enabled mobile phones that, among other

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_07_01_archive.html#115384738408395624tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1153847635200065862006-06-25T14:11:00.000-05:002006-07-25T12:16:24.986-05:00

via We Make Money Not Art Matthew Irvine Brown's Rehearsal Joypads began as a response to the marketing of entry-level music software, such as Apple's Garageband, sold using slogans such as "don’t worry about your musical talent — or lack thereof". However, natural aptitude is only one contributing factor to being good at music; others being dedication, patience, stamina, dexterity, etc.

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_06_01_archive.html#115384763520006586tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1150858264815165802006-06-19T21:38:00.000-05:002006-06-20T21:51:04.830-05:00

via FutureWire Research unveiled at the 22nd annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague gives hope to women who want to freeze their eggs for later fertilization, perhaps decades down the road. Using the new technique, called Cryotop, eggs have a 90% survival rate, yield a pregnancy rate of 42%. The process prevents formation of ice crystals that can

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_06_01_archive.html#115085826481516580tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1150446473206747722006-06-14T15:09:00.000-05:002006-06-16T03:27:53.220-05:00

Inspired by the Namib Desert beetle, which inhabits one of the driest regions in the world, MIT researchers have produced a new material that can capture and control tiny amounts of water. The material combines a superhydrophobic (water-repelling) surface with superhydrophilic (water-attracting) bumps that trap water droplets and control water flow. Potential applications for the new material

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_06_01_archive.html#115044647320674772tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1148368005497818992006-05-22T14:02:00.000-05:002006-05-23T02:06:45.526-05:00

A few of us at The Futures Lab had the pleasure to meet Neurotechnology expert Zack Lynch a few years ago. Technology Review has a nice interview with Lynch where he explains the new field and tells us what the future holds for treating brain disorders. From the article: Neuroscience is now moving from a science to an industry. What we're really looking at is an evolution: researchers are now

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_05_01_archive.html#114836800549781899tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1147930883139827882006-05-16T12:31:00.000-05:002006-05-18T00:45:39.400-05:00

via Discovery Channel The Intelligent Scarecrow, designed by computer science and engineering students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, uses a computer, Internet camera and imaging software to detect birds around fish ponds. In response, the Scarecrow issues loud noises or powerful bursts of water to scare the birds away. The helmet conceals an Internet-enabled video camera that

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_05_01_archive.html#114793088313982788tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7556305.post-1147096051715683682006-05-08T08:38:00.000-05:002006-05-08T09:02:41.860-05:00

whisper (wearable, handheld, intimate, sensory, personal, expressive, responsive system) is a real-time interactive media installation, based on small wearable devices, wireless computer communication, and handheld technologies embedded in evocative and playful garments worn by the participants. The whisper devices, worn on or close to the skin and in garments, are wearable body architectures

Wayne R Pethrickhttp://futures-lab.com/2006_05_01_archive.html#114709605171568368