Contents of the Current Issue

Back Issues

Online Indexes:
Author Index A-L
Author Index M-Z
Index of News Articles

Reprints/ Permissions

Writer's Guidelines

Send a Letter to the Editor

Top 10 Forecasts From Outlook 2004 Report

Current Forecasts

Special to Web visitors, here are a few of the editors' favorite forecasts from the current issue of THE FUTURIST:

The fish (prices) are jumping. The world's appetite for fish is increasing even as fish catches have leveled off and overfishing imperils future supplies. The inevitable result of growing demand and dwindling supplies is higher prices. By 2020, prices will rise by 18% for fishmeal and fish oil, making them 20% more expensive than poultry. (World Trends & Forecasts, Economics)

Smart underwear will monitor your health. Biosensors stitched into bras and T-shirts will collect and store data such as your heart activity; when there's an abnormality, the sensors will trigger an alarm and call your doctor. (World Trends & Forecasts, Technology)

The world's megacities may disappear--and possibly save tens of millions of lives. The mass movement of people into cities has set up the potential for disaster as these megacities become targets for terrorists and expose more people to hazards such as earthquakes and epidemics. Satellites and other telecommunications technologies could help us reverse the urbanization trend by replacing megacities with telecities. (Joseph N. Pelton, "The Rise of Telecities")

Solar forecast: Calmer sun, less global warming. The next century will see a decline in solar activity (sun spots, geomagnetic storms and the like), which means the sun will not exacerbate global warming here on Earth. But look for solar activity (and Earthly climate impacts) to increase again by the year 2200. (Tomorrow in Brief)

To order the print edition of the January-February 2004 issue of THE FUTURIST ($4.95 plus $3 postage and handling) or to become a member of the World Future Society ($45 per year).

Send comments about our web pages to: webmaster@wfs.org
COPYRIGHT© 2004  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.