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 2003 Report |
Tomorrow
in Brief
edited by Cindy Wagner
Pictures You Can Walk Through
A unique new projection platform--fog--will allow viewers to walk through images on
display. The fog screen, developed by researchers at Tampere University of Technology in
Finland, injects digital data into a laminar, nonturbulent airflow, creating a thin and
swiftly flowing wall that viewers can simply walk through. The fog screen could find wide
applications in advertising, science museum displays, public presentations, training, and
gaming.
Source: Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 553, 33101 Tampere, Finland. Web
site www.cs.tut.fi.
|
Mona Lisa in a fog: Viewer can walk
through the famous smile, projected on the fog wall. |
Saving the Banana
Bananas may become extinct within the next decade if fungal diseases such as black
Sigatoka and a strain of Fusarium wilt known as the Panama disease take hold. The
plantation-produced bananas most popular in the world's supermarkets are hybrids and bred
asexually, so the lack of genetic diversity makes entire crops vulnerable to pests and
disease, according to researchers at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Biotechnology could come to the rescue, however. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization
has called on researchers to develop breeds of bananas with stronger resistance--and on
commercial and small-scale farmers around the world to develop more diversity in bananas
grown for export.
Sources: University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, 600 South 43rd Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104. Web site www.usip.edu.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Media Relations Office, Information Division,
V. delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Web site www.fao.org.
Airline Seats That Say "Get Up"
Long-distance air travel could become safer thanks to sensors in seats. Passengers on
extended flights are at risk of deep vein thrombosis--blood clots that develop in the legs
when people sit still too long. The clots can break loose, lodge in the heart or lungs,
and kill the passenger. Now, a smart airline chair developed in Britain can sense when
someone's been sitting too long and issue a "get-up-and-move-around" warning.
Source: QinetiQ, Cody Technology Park, Ively Road, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 0LX,
United Kingdom.
Aromatherapy Fights Dementia
Sensory stimulation may ease the behavioral problems of people with dementia, according to
a team of British geriatric psychiatrists. Many older persons with dementia become
agitated, depressed, or delusional or exhibit other behavioral problems, such as
wandering, aggression, and sleep disturbance. The researchers conducted trials of
aromatherapy treatments of lemon balm and lavender oil, which patients either inhaled or
used on the skin. They report that the treatments significantly reduced agitation compared
with the placebos and did not produce the side effects that come with the use of sedatives
and other drugs. "Quality of life significantly improved with aromatherapy,"
they write in the British Medical Journal. The researchers also report success with
bright-light treatment.
Source: "Sensory Stimulation in Dementia" by Alistair Burns, Jane Byrne,
et al., British Medical Journal (December 7, 2002). Web site www.bmj.com.
Contact Alistair Burns at University of Manchester, Department of Psychiatry, Wythenshawe
Hospital, Manchester M23 9LT, United Kingdom.
Nanotechnology Could Bring CFCs Back to Earth
Nanotechnology could one day help remove ozone-depleting chemicals from the
stratosphere. A team of German chemists at the University of Ulm was working with
perfluorodecalin, a liquid used in the production of synthetic blood and that has
properties similar to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). They were surprised to observe the
chemical being taken up by a water-based suspension of nanoscopic polystyrene particles,
providing a possible model for removing CFCs. The Ulm team believes that aerosol
particle-carrying water droplets in clouds may be able to collect CFCs and return them
harmlessly to Earth as rain or snow. Since nanoscale aerosols are also blamed for
suppressing rain, using them to increase rain and reduce ozone-destroying chemicals could
be a boon to the environment. Their work appears in the journal Nano Letters.
Sources: "Nanotechnology Could Save the Ozone Layer" by Liz Kalaugher,
Nanotechweb.org (January 30, 2003).
Andrei P. Sommer and Ralf-Peter Franke, Department of Biomaterials/ENSOMA-Laboratory,
Central Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany. aster@wfs.org
To order the print edition of the May-June 2003 issue
of THE FUTURIST ($4.95 plus $3 postage and handling) or to become a member of the World
Future Society ($45 per year).
COPYRIGHT © 2003 WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda,
Maryland 20814. Tel. 301-656-8274. E-mail info@wfs.org. Send comments about our web pages
to: webmaster@wfs.org.
All rights reserved. |
