WFS-January-February 2002 FUTURIST Tibs

A magazine of forecasts, trends, and ideas about the future
January-February 2002 Vol. 36, No. 1

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Top 10 Forecasts From Outlook 2002 Report

Tomorrow in Brief

Rebuilding Buddha
An international team of scientists hopes to reconstruct one of Afghanistan's giant statues of Buddha destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban regime. The New 7 Wonders Society and the Swiss-based Afghanistan Institute and Museum plan to use high-definition photogrammetric measurements of the statue taken in 1970. They will begin with a virtual 3-D construction of the Buddha, then build a one-tenth size scale model that will allow the researchers to study the materials and construction techniques needed to rebuild the full-size statue (175 feet tall) in Afghanistan. "This project will send a clear signal that in future an act of intentional destruction cannot erase the memory of those things which are valuable to humanity and its heritage," says Bernard Weber, founder of the New 7 Wonders Society and Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising cultural heritage awareness worldwide.
Source: New 7 Wonders Society and Foundation, P.O. Box 1212, CH-8034 Zurich, Switzerland. Web site www.new7wonders.org.

Safeguarding Water Supply
An "electronic sniffer"--miniature sensors in a waterproof package--could help protect critical water supplies. The monitoring system, developed by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, consists of an array of sensors that detect volatile organic compounds. The device could be placed directly underground to detect the presence of any undesirable chemicals being pumped into the water supply, sending information back on the chemicals present and thus eliminating the costly and time-consuming step of sending samples back to a lab.
Source: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185. Web site www.sandia.gov.

Electricity from Wood
New, clean-burning technologies could make wood a renewable fuel of choice for electricity generation in remote regions. Australia's Green Gasifier Generator project uses a wood-gasification process to break down wood compounds into smaller volatile compounds that can be burned cleanly, creating electricity with "near zero emissions." The process was developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Source: CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products, P.O. Box E4008, Kingston ACT 2604, Australia. Web site www.csiro.au.

Stronger Waves Batter California
Waves crashing on the coast of Southern California have increased substantially in size and intensity over the past 50 years, according to a team of oceanographers and meteorologists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Hydrologic Research Center. Using "hindcasting"--backward-looking analysis of wave patterns--the researchers found that winter waves have gotten 35% larger in Southern California in the past 50 years and that they are now coming directly from the west, suggesting that erosion is becoming increasingly severe. "We need to account for these significant changes in wave climate and its behavior in our coastal planning," the researchers conclude.
Source: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 8602 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, California 92037. Web site www.sio.ucsd.edu.

Olympic Heartbreaks
Despite possessing highly valued skills--such as discipline and the ability to perform under pressure--nearly half of Olympic athletes surveyed recently said they had trouble entering the workforce following an Olympic competition. A majority of retired Olympic athletes in their prime earning years (ages 45 to 54) claim they have yet to fulfill their career aspirations, according to a Harris Poll survey commissioned by Monster.com, the online careers site. More than two-thirds of respondents said that the time they spend preparing for competition creates unique challenges that affect their long-term career prospects, including delaying their education and avoiding planning for their post-Olympic futures. The U.S. Olympic Committee and Monster.com are developing programs to assist athletes with career planning and skills development.
Source: Monster.com, TMP Worldwide Inc., 622 Third Avenue, 39th Floor, New York, New York 10017. Web site www.monster.com or www.tmp.com.

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