WFS - July-August 2002 FUTURIST Tibs

A magazine of forecasts, trends, and ideas about the future
July-August 2002 Vol. 36, No. 4

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Tomorrow in Brief

Invisible Fences for Cows
Electronic fences will allow herders to control cows on mountain pastures without interfering with other uses of the land--such as skiing. A new technology, similar to containment systems developed for dogs, uses battery or solar-powered wire to delineate the boundaries of the pasture, and a generator creates a magnetic field that is picked up by a receiver in the cows' collars, warning them with an audible signal when they near the boundary. The system, developed by a French agricultural research organization, is self-contained and requires no stakes so it can remain in place during winter, when skiers replace Holsteins on the slopes.
Source: French Technology Press Office, One East Wacker Drive, Suite 3740, Chicago, Illinois 60601. Telephone 1-312-222-1235; Web site www.infotechfrance.com/ftpousa.

Listening to Volcanoes
For half a day in April 1999, Shishaldin Volcano in the Aleutians hummed. When the humming stopped, the ground shook, and the volcano blew its stack, sending ash 10 miles into the sky, according to Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a researcher at the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Fairbanks. She and other researchers are now analyzing recordings of various volcanic noises--wheezes, belches, and groans--to determine whether the humming could become a reliable predictor of an eruption. Industrial microphones that capture clean sound waves through the air may provide more-accurate information about underlying volcanic activity than the data collected from seismometers, which measure waves traveling through different earth materials that create more-complicated patterns.
Source: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 903 Koyukuk Drive, P.O. Box 757320, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775. Telephone 1-907-474-7558; Web site www.gi.alaska.edu.

Cold Virus May Fight Cancer
The cold virus could one day become an ally in the war against cancer, according to researchers at Stanford University's medical center. Terminally ill cancer patients infected with a modified cold virus got sick, as expected, but survived longer than their doctors anticipated. Many of their tumors also shrank and stopped producing tumor-associated proteins, reports Daniel Sze, M.D., an assistant professor of radiology. He believes the introduction of the modified virus near a tumor may stimulate the patient's immune system into fighting the tumor.
Source: Stanford University, Office of News and Public Affairs, 701 Welch Road, Palo Alto, California 94304. Telephone 1-650-723-6911; Web site mednews.stanford.edu.

New Uses for Chicken Feathers
Chicken feathers could help save trees by taking the place of wood pulp in air filters, paper products, and other uses, according to chemist Walter Schmidt of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service. Replacing half the wood-pulp content of composite paper with chicken feathers means only half as many trees are needed, Schmidt says. Feather fiber is finer than wood pulp and could collect more spores, dust, dander, and other particles, thus dramatically improving the air in homes and offices. Feathers could also be used to make strong, less-dense plastic composites for car dashboards, boat exteriors, and similar products.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Beltsville, Maryland 20705. Telephone 1-301-504-1638; Web site www.ars.usda.gov/is.

Killing Anthrax at Home
Home owners may soon have their own weapon against terrorists: a small, wall-mounted device that destroys anthrax and other pathogens. The device, called AiroCide Ti02, contains fans that draw in spores, which are then exposed to hydroxyl radicals that attack and kill the pathogens. Any remaining spores are destroyed by high-energy ultraviolet photons, thus eliminating the need to change an anthrax-laden air filter, notes John Hayman, president of KES Science and Technology Inc., the company manufacturing the device. The technology emerged from NASA research to build miniature greenhouses for the International Space Station and has already been used by florists and grocers to remove ethylene from vegetables, fruits, and flowers, extending their growing time.
Source: NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 35812. Web site www.msfc.nasa.gov/news.

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