CLAY'S POWER TO HEAL
Clay has long been used in fashionable spas for
cleansing masks, but now researchers believe clay has antibacterial
properties that may give it more than merely cosmetic value.
In an unusual pairing of mineralogy and
medicine, geochemist Lynda Williams and microbiologist Shelley Haydel of
Arizona State University are studying smectite (liquidy, soaplike) clays and
their effects on microbes.
Two such clays mined in France have been used
to treat Buruli ulcer, a flesh-eating bacterial disease that the World
Health Organization has declared an emerging public health threat. NIH's
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine recently awarded
Williams and Haydel a grant to study clay's potential as an alternative to
antibiotics in treating Buruli ulcer.
Clay has also been used as a folk remedy to
soothe nausea and stomach ailments; a mineral found in some clays, kaolinite,
is a major ingredient for Kaopectate.
"People are interested in natural cures and I
think that there is a lot of nature that we don't understand yet," says
Williams. If the antimicrobial activity of the clays can be isolated, the
result would be a new form of treatment that exceeds the abilities of
today's antibiotics, she believes. "And they could be produced and
distributed cheaply."
SOURCE: Arizona State University,
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
http://clas.asu.edu/newsevents/newsreleases/2006/WilliamsHaydelResearch_11012006.htm
PERSONALIZED ADVERTISING
An interactive electronic billboard will one
day let you download only the advertisements that interest you, and never
bore you with repeats.
The BluScreen, developed by computer engineers
at the University of Southampton, is a 58-centimeter (23-inch) screen that
uses sensors to detect the signals of Bluetooth-enabled devices carried by
passersby. The screen displays a range of advertisements or contact
information that individuals may download to their devices to view later,
much like taking a salesman's business card.
The scientists are also developing systems to
enable them to build profiles of the users and to start matching those
profiles with markets, according to lead researcher Terry Payne.
"There has been a lot of talk over the past few
years about using smart tags to track the whereabouts of individuals," says
Payne. "The thinking behind BluScreen is that everybody has a phone these
days, so why not use this instead."
Payne claims the device won't invade
individuals' privacy, since it won't collect information from people's
phones. Those who do not wish to receive the information will simply switch
off their Bluetooth functionality, he says.
SOURCE: University of Southampton,
School of Electronics and Computer Science,
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/research/projects/BluScreen
|
HOPE AND VISION FOR
TOMORROW
The World Future Society's 2007
conference, "WorldFuture 2007: Fostering Hope and Vision for the
21st Century," will be held July 29-31 at the Hilton Minneapolis and
Towers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Join 1,000 forward-looking men and
women from around the world to discuss new technologies, social
innovation, sustainable development, health, education, and many
other issues vital to a hopeful future.
Among the confirmed speakers are Tsvi
Bisk, author of FUTURIZING THE JEWS; Rom Gayoso of Intel
Corporation; Stephen Millett of Battelle; Claire A. Nelson of the
Inter-American Development Bank; Gregory Stock, author of
REDESIGNING HUMANS; and Mariann Zanardo of RegRelief International.
REGISTER by December 29 and save $200 off the on-site
registration fee:
https://www.wfs.org/2007regform.htm
LEARN MORE:
http://www.wfs.org/2007main.htm |
WILL TIGER FARMING SAVE THE TIGERS?
Global demand for tiger skins and body parts,
such as for use in traditional medicines, is so high that conservationists
fear tigers may soon be hunted into extinction.
One controversial solution is to farm tigers
specifically for the international market. Flooding the market with cheaper
tiger parts makes it uneconomical to hunt them in the wild, the theory goes.
Chinese farms already rear about 4,000 tigers.
The law currently forbids these animals to be killed, forcing breeders to
wait for the animals to die naturally before selling their parts, but China
may be preparing to lift these restrictions, according to NEW SCIENTIST
magazine.
However, tiger farms and legalized trade may
actually encourage more hunting and make illegal trade harder to police,
because wild tiger parts would become more valuable than farmed specimens,
according to the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
SOURCE: NEW SCIENTIST (November 18,
2006), http://www.newscientist.com
CLICK
OF THE
MONTH:
BUILD A
FUTURES INSTITUTE
http://www.aacc.edu/future/editorpage.cfm
Steve Steele of the Institute for the Future at
Anne Arundel Community College has begun a "how-to" manual for anyone
interested in starting a similar institute. The document will be free and
available online to anyone around the world.
Steele has now posted the first draft and
invites you to "Please Help Me Edit." Sections cover defining the
organization's culture and mission, understanding the organization's
assumptions about itself and the future, clarifying the institute's vision
and mission, and designing the organizational structure to implement the
work that the institute wishes to conduct.
Revisions, suggestions, and
other comments may be sent to Steele directly,
mailto:sfsteele@aacc.edu.
BONUS CLICKS: For information on
credit and noncredit professional courses offered at the Institute for the
Future, visit
http://www.aacc.edu/future. The Institute also offers a free syllabus
for creating your own future course:
http://www.aacc.edu/future/coresyllabus.cfm
**********************************************************
ATTENTION NONMEMBERS: NEW OFFER FROM WFS
FUTURIST UPDATE is just a small sampling of
what's available from the World Future Society. To see what else awaits
you, please take this opportunity to browse our special bulletin,
FORECASTS FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS, where you'll discover ...
- 10 Social and Technological Forecasts
for the Next 25 Years...
- The Outlook for Hydrogen Energy...
- Nanotechnology Breakthroughs for the
Next 15 years...
- How to Spot Trends Ahead of the
Crowd... and more.
You'll also receive a special offer to join
the World Future Society and receive a subscription to THE FUTURIST
magazine. This special offer includes up to six exclusive special
reports free with a no-risk introductory membership.
GET DETAILS AND RECEIVE FREE
SPECIAL REPORT:
http://www.wfs.org/tomorrow/
**********************************************************
NEWS FROM THE FUTURIST COMMUNITY
- ROGER HERMAN: The World
Future Society sadly reports the passing of Roger Herman, the workplace
and workforce contributing editor for THE FUTURIST, who died November 6.
Roger was the founder of The Herman Group and the co-author (with his
wife and partner, Joyce Gioia) of IMPENDING CRISIS (2003) on coming
worker deficits. DETAILS:
http://www.hermangroup.com.
- NEWS FROM WFS: The World
Future Society warmly welcomes new Board member Jay McIntosh of Ernst &
Young and Global Advisory Council members Raj Bawa of Bawa Biotechnology
Consulting and Peter Hayward of Swinburne University of Technology. The
Society also expresses its sincere gratitude for the contributions of
departing Board members Clement Bezold, Victor Ferkiss, and Dennis
Pirages.
FUTURIST UPDATE: News & Previews from
the World Future Society is an e-mail newsletter published monthly as a
supplement to THE FUTURIST magazine.
Copyright © 2006, World Future Society,
7910 Woodmont
Avenue, Suite 450,
Bethesda,
MD
20814,
USA. Telephone 1-301-656-8274;
e-mail mailto:info@wfs.org; Web site
http://www.wfs.org.
Editor: Cindy
Wagner
Assistant Editor:
Patrick Tucker
Network Administrator:
Jeff Cornish
Webmaster:
Sarah Warner
Vice President, Membership/Conference Operations:
Susan
Echard
To subscribe, send an e-mail message to
mailto:majordomo@wfs.org with
"subscribe futurist-update" in the BODY of the message.
To unsubscribe or change your e-mail address, send message to
Jeff Cornish, mailto:jcornish@wfs.org.
Submit feedback at
http://www.wfs.org/fbdec06.htm.
The
WORLD
FUTURE SOCIETY is a nonprofit, nonpartisan scientific and educational
association with a global membership. Regular membership in the Society,
including a subscription to THE FUTURIST, is $49 per year, or $20 for
full-time students under age 25. Professional and Institutional membership
programs are also offered; contact Society headquarters for details:
http://www.wfs.org
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