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There certainly is a lot of buzz about big changes in manned spaceflight in the news. From space hero-pioneer Elon Musk ruminating about self-sustaining colonies of 80,000 people on Mars... to a startup called Golden Spike that seeks to purchase government and commercial vehicles to offer flights - and even landings - on the Moon (two tickets to the moon, yours for $1.5 billion). Then there's Mars One, a Dutch company that hopes to launch a series of robotic missions to Mars that will construct outposts on the surface. Humans will follow by 2023. Part of the funding may come from reality media -- filming the astronaut training and interactions. Big Brother on Mars?

Don't leave 2012 without watching "A Conversation with my 12-Year-Old Self," a viral video that has struck a chord with nine million people so far.

This infographic, provided by Cisco, shows just how quickly the Internet of things has grown since 1988, when Xerox PARC chief technologist Marc D. Weiser first conceived of ubiquitous computing. Weiser saw a future populated by smart objects, a web of sensors on everyday items better connecting us to our environment and our environment to the Internet. Today, Cisco says that more than 13 billion devices are net-connected and there will be 50 billion by 2020.

This is what the Internet of Things looks like today.

In the last week four reports have made the headlines with human induced climate change playing a principal role in each.

In the 16 years since I founded The Futures Lab, Inc., I have been frequently quoted as saying: “My role is not about knowing the future, but creating it.” I am sure I am not the first person to articulate this concept, but it has proved to be the guiding premise on which my practice, expertise, and development as a futurist have been based.

Today's EVs require the purchaser to find places to recharge their vehicles. The problem -- there is little in the way of infrastructure out there, at least nothing even close to what is available for diesel or gasoline-fueled vehicles. That means EV purchasers must install special recharging stations in their home garages.

I was recently asked a question that I hear all too often:

You have been studying today's most favored methods of working for many years. What are the big headlines about that? Just where are we going? Or rather, are we all going to stay home and work from there all the time ?

No, we’re not all going to “cocoon” and never leave our home offices! That would be insane.

The indicators that 2012 was a troubled year are many and manifold. The following is a telling sample:

December is a natural time of year for both reflecting on the past and looking ahead to the new year.

As I think about the challenge of "futureproofing" an organization, I--like many other futurists--have come to believe in scenario planning as a powerful tool for helping to anticipate, and prepare for, the future. However, I also know that the value of any scenario depends critically on an organization's ability to imagine what the future could be like--to "think outside the box" and beyond the obvious trends.

And organizational imagination in turn depends on the collective wisdom and insights of a large and diverse group of thoughtful individuals who are willing to share their perspectives and to learn from each other. In short, the only way to develop meaningful scenarios of future possibilities is to engage in rich, extended conversations.

Harvesting algae cost-effectively has been a real challenge for those who are seeking alternative sources for biofuel production. Identified challenges include:

1. The volume of water required to get harvestable algae. Conventional methods for getting the water out of the biomass are energy intensive and usually involve chemical additives.