FUTURIST Main Page

 

About THE FUTURIST
 

Join WFS

Advertise in THE FUTURIST
 

edited by Cindy Wagner

Nanotechnology and 3-D TV

The same research under way to create invisible materials may also help bring 3-D television into tomorrow's living rooms. Mathematicians in Finland are developing "wormholes" using exotic nanomaterials that bend light around objects; the light from planar displays of pixels would travel invisibly through the cloaking wormhole tunnel to their fixed position in space, thus creating a floating 3-D image. Though such a wormhole has yet to be built, the researchers have created blueprint for such displays, which could have significant medical applications. For instance, in medical imaging, instruments could be passed through an area being imaged without causing interference to the imaging itself.

Source: Academy of Finland, Vilhonvuorenkatu 6, P.O. Box 99, 00 501, Helsinki, Finland. Web site or Academy of Finland Communications.

Making Plastic More Recyclable

Plastics are made from a vast assortment of materials, which makes it difficult to recover them for recycling or reuse. And in products like automobiles, the plastics are mixed in with metals, fabrics, and other stuff, making it even harder to sort. A new solvent removes a particular type of plastic—the polyolefins used for air filter housings and shock absorbers—from the mix of plastics recovered from vehicles so that it can be used again in dashboards and other car parts. The solvent, called CreaSolv, was developed by engineers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Engineering and Packaging IVV in Germany. "Using this technology, the overall recycling rate for end-of-life cars—metals, plastics, and textiles—can be increased to over 90%," according to project manager Martin Schlummer.

Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Hansastrasse 27C, 80686 Munich, Germany. Web site

 Carbon Absorption in an Eggshell

The collagen inside eggshells may contain one of the most effective and economical carbon-dioxide absorbers yet tested, making it a boon to hydrogen fuel production, according to chemical engineering professor L.S. Fan of Ohio State University. Calcium carbonate, which is in the lining of the shells, is one of nature's most absorbent materials, capable of capturing 78% of carbon dioxide by weight. In one hydrogen-production process, coal is gasified to produce carbon monoxide, which is then combined with water to produce hydrogen (which can be turned into fuel) and carbon dioxide (which must be absorbed). While eggshells won't by themselves create the hydrogen economy of the future, finding an environmentally friendly commercial use for them will help keep a lot of eggshells out of landfills, says Fan.

Source: Ohio State University, Research Communications, 1125 Kinnear Road, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Web site.

The Strategic Value of Giving Up

Persisting in one's effort to reach a goal often meets success, but when the goal is too difficult, tenacious pursuit of it can lead to health problems, according to a recent report in Psychological Science. Psychologists Gregory Miller and Carsten Wrosch studied teenagers over the course of a year, using an instrument they developed to distinguish between people who either persist or let go when faced with a difficult goal. They found that the less-tenacious teens had lower levels of the protein CRP, an indicator of bodily inflammation. Since inflammation has been linked with serious diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, the psychologists suggest that it may be prudent to cut one's losses in the face of insurmountable obstacles.

Source: "You've Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em: Social Disengagement and Systemic Inflammation in Adolescence" by Gregory Miller and Carsten Wrosch. Psychological Science (September 2007), Association for Psychological Science, 1010 Vermont Avenue, N.W., 11th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005. Web site.

Divorce's Environmental Impacts

A global trend toward increasing divorce rates could have a dramatic impact on the environment. As households break up and become smaller, they take up more space and use more energy and water, according to a study by Michigan State University researchers Jianguo Liu and Eunice Yu. Even in China, with its strict religious policies regarding divorce, more homes are breaking up and housing units being built to accommodate the separated families. In the United States, 38 million extra rooms were needed in 2005 to accommodate the dearly departing, with additional costs for heating and lighting. The remedy they recommend: Fall back in love. Cohabitation saves the planet by reducing urban sprawl.

Source: Michigan State University, University Relations, 403 Olds Hall, East Lansing, Michigan 48824. Web site.

Join WFS for $49 per year ($20 for students) and receive THE FUTURIST, Futurist Update, and many other benefits. Or order a print copy of the March-April 2008 issue.

COPYRIGHT © 2008 WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda, Maryland 20814. Tel. 301-656-8274. E-mail info@wfs.org. Web site http://www.wfs.org. All rights reserved.