The Futurist back issues from November 2009:
Making personal data Vanish.(TOMORROW IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Denizens of online social-networking sites have long been warned about leaving unflattering (or even incriminating) information about themselves where it could later be found and used against them by future employers, loved ones, or voters. Even deleting posts does not eradicate them from ...
Smart cane will help visually impaired.(TOMORROW IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... More freedom of mobility may be ahead for people whose vision is impaired. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is now being embedded in the traditional white cane used by people with little or no vision. The new Smart Cane will help users get around more safely and ...
WordBuzz: complexipacity.(TOMORROW IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... How well can you or your organization handle complexity? Coined in 2008 by designer Tom Snyder, brother of futurist consultant David Pearce Snyder, the term "complexipacity" refers to the capacity to "assimilate complex ideas, systems, problems, situations, interactions, or relationships." ...
Portable food tester.(TOMORROW IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... New sensing technologies developed by researchers at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute may enable food suppliers to determine the right time for bringing produce to market for purchase by consumers. The system, based on metal-oxide sensors, checks the emission of volatile gases that reveal ...
Cancer mortality rates are declining.(TOMORROW IN BRIEF)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Incidence continues to rise across many types of cancers; however, deaths caused by cancer have declined steadily over the past three decades, particularly among younger patients, reports the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the United States, the youngest ...
Job seekers must evolve with the new economy.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
Nov 01, 2009; ... I enjoyed reading "Finding a Job in the 21st Century" (John A. Challenger, September-October 2009). Challenger offered good advice when he suggested that job seekers should consider changing industries while continuing to pursue jobs that correspond to their core competency. ...
Landscape designers versus landscape architects.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
Nov 01, 2009; ... Regarding the sidebar "Green Jobs Under Your Nose" (September-October 2009), which mentioned Landscape Architect as a job title and the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) as a resource, we would like to point out that APLD's 1,300 members focus on residential and garden ...
Libertarian viewpoint fairly represented.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
Nov 01, 2009; ... Kudos to THE FUTURIST for "Assessing Global Trends for 2025" (Patrick Tucker, July-August 2009). I was delighted to see Peter Schiff's comments, in that they represent a Libertarian view. It may be disquieting and a minority view, but it does portray an ...
"Waste heat" a potential threat to the climate: researchers reveal a culprit other than greenhouse gases.(Environment)
Nov 01, 2009; ... A new paper argues that cutting greenhouse gas emissions, switching to nuclear or geo-thermal power, and even sequestering carbon in the earth won't stave off massively disruptive climate change. Greenhouse gases are less a threat to stable climate than is the excess heat produced when ...
Oceans' dead zones on the rise.(Environment)
Nov 01, 2009; ... A predicted global increase in food consumption is likely to create an environmental crisis where it's least expected. Studies link a rise in industrial food production to an increase in the already large number of so-called "dead zones" in coastal waters. Dead zones are so ...
Coming soon: a smarter Internet: less Web searching, more Web finding.(Technology)
Nov 01, 2009; ... The founders of a new U.S. start-up called SemanticV have come up with a new weapon in the war against information overload: a search engine that actually learns the meaning of words for which it's searching. In June 2009, Americans conducted 14 billion Internet searches; about ...
Closing the gender gap in online gaming: time-management differences may help explain the gaming gender gap.(Society)
Nov 01, 2009; ... Computer games can serve as a gateway to the fields of technology and science. Technology's more entertaining aspects awaken youth interest and encourage careers in the field. If the gender gap in these predominantly male professions is going to close, then gaming may provide a solid means ...
Recession's impacts on lifestyles.(Society)
Nov 01, 2009 ... One of the beneficial effects to society of dealing with a recession is that individuals learn to budget themselves, their organizations, and their families. Around the world, people are making painful choices on ways to save money, and in the process revealing much about their values and ...
U.S. deploys unmanned vehicles: combat robots garner enthusiasm and skepticism.(Government)
Nov 01, 2009; ... In August 2009, the U.S. military announced that Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a missile fired from an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV. The CIA hailed the hit as a major success for U.S. attack-drone capabilities. According to the U.S. Air Force, the number of unmanned ...
Debunking the "depression gene": depression's causes continue to defy definitive answers.(Demography)
Nov 01, 2009 ... In 2003, researchers reported to great excitement that they had identified what could be called a "depression gene"--a genetic link to the risk of major depression. But new analysis of the groundbreaking study now disputes this conclusion. The new analysis, conducted by researchers at the ...
Averting a crisis in health-care costs: communication and collaboration are key to efficient care.(Economics)
Nov 01, 2009; ... Health-care costs will reach unsustainable levels unless patients, insurers, hospitals, public officials, doctors, and other practitioners learn to act more collaboratively, warns the Iowa Committee for Value in Healthcare. The committee, a group of health advisers, ...
Why the world may turn to nuclear power: demand for fossil fuels may decline, but demand for electric power will soar. Nuclear power, resisted by many, may provide a long-term solution, and it has come a long way since Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
Nov 01, 2009; ... Within the next 10 years, the world's major economies will choose nuclear power as the clean, high-capacity baseload (i.e., primary) electricity. Nuclear power is experiencing a worldwide rebirth, with 12 countries building 45 new reactors. Nuclear power currently generates 16% of the ...
Second thoughts on nuclear power: cancer, toxic spills, and damage to ecosystems from mining might come with nuclear energy production.
Nov 01, 2009; ... What kinds of energy systems are we going to need? And what kinds are going to be sustainable? The answer to both questions is something other than nuclear energy. It poses too many dangers to humans and their environment. Here is a breakdown: * Mining. The Navajo tribe in the ...
The politics of climate change.
Nov 01, 2009; ... Many experts argue that a complex, global problem like climate change can only be solved with global cooperation. But an alternative scenario might see more-advanced nations using their access to climate data as a weapon against rivals, in a new form of information "haves" versus ...
Future workers will earn the same anywhere in the world.(BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Future workers will earn the same anywhere in the world. Companies will likely cast broader nets in hiring. European firms, for instance, are increasingly strained to find qualified job applicants, according to Karlheinz Steinmueller, ...
Medical tourism could be a boon for global health care, already a $40-billion business with 780 million patients.(BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Medical tourism could be a boon for global health care, already a $40-billion business with 780 million patients. Michael Zey, author of Ageless Nation, says that a $400,000 bone marrow transplant in the United States would cost only ...
The future smells like marketing.(BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The future smells like marketing. Aromas travel directly to the brain's emotional centers, according to scientists. Perceptions registered by other centers travel through interpretive brain centers first and then arrive at the emotional centers. "Our relatively ...
Runaway inflation could lead to barter economies.(BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Runaway inflation could lead to barter economies. In Zimbabwe, the inflation rate has climbed more than 2 million percent, causing Zimbabweans to use ...
The world's lender nations must learn to borrow.(BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The world economy is out of balance, according to economist Martin Wolf. If the global community wants to avoid future recessions, it will have to move from having a few large-scale debtor ...
Ammonia may become the fuel of choice for cars by 2020.(ENERGY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Ammonia may become the fuel of choice for cars by 2020. As a candidate source for hydrogen used in fuel cells, ammonia (comprising one nitrogen and three hydrogen atoms) is plentiful, easier to liquefy ...
Engines running on compressed air may cut energy costs.(ENERGY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Engines running on compressed air may cut energy costs. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories say that compressed air energy storage facilities (CAES) could help relieve the world's ...
The next big trend in car design will be the solar roof.(ENERGY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The next big trend in car design will be the solar roof. Solar-powered cars never really caught on, but solar cells on the tops of cars, working in conjunction with fuel cells, may be the next big thing to hit the automotive showroom. Already the ...
Your lights may run on trash.(ENERGY)(bacteria turns garbage into hydrogen fuel)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Your lights may run on trash. Bacteria could convert trash into hydrogen fuel if scientists at the University of Birmingham have their way. Under certain circumstances, microorganisms can release hydrogen into the environment. According to futurist Garry ...
Practical, affordable--and colorful--solar energy could be on the market within three years.(ENERGY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Practical, affordable--and colorful--solar energy could be on the market within three years. Most large-scale solar-power operations use rotating mirrors to follow the path of the sun and channel it into solar cells. An MIT team believes they've found a more efficient solution: dyed ...
Powered by sea water.(ENERGY)(VIVACE by Michael Bernitsas)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Powered by sea water. Affordable and reliable electricity from the ocean might be possible with the VIVACE, a new machine built by University of Michigan engineer Michael Bernitsas. This system, which ...
No more oil to export?(ENERGY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... No more oil to export? The five nations responsible for half the world's oil supply--Iran, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates--are projected to be near net-zero exports--i.e., no more oil to sell--by 2031. Oil exports from all ...
Outlook extra: extreme measures to save the environment?(OUTLOOK 2010)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Radical methods may be the only way to prevent the worst effects of global climate change, according to growing numbers of futurists. For example, saving species whose habitats have become uninhabitable may require hands-on approaches such as direct relocation. Natural evolution ...
The oceans may rise 75 meters (246 feet) by the end of the century, putting coastal cities like New York at risk.(ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The oceans may rise 75 meters (246 feet) by the end of the century, putting coastal cities like New York at risk. Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center, predicts that the earth's temperature could easily increase as much as ...
African elephants may become extinct by 2020.(ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... African elephants may become extinct by 2020. The African elephant population is now less than 470,000, down from more than 1 million when ivory trading was first banned in the late 1980s. But poaching continues, ...
Iceless Arctic summers will be the norm by 2040.(ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Iceless Arctic summers will be the norm by 2040. The ice extent in the ocean will shrink to 1 million square kilometers (620,000 square miles) from 4.6 million square kilometers today. The new ...
One rare greenhouse gas is becoming more common.(ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... One rare greenhouse gas is becoming more common. Solar energy has one environmental downside, according to University of California-San Diego geochemistry professor Ray Weiss: It is a source of nitrogen trifluoride, or [NF.sub.3], a greenhouse gas 17,000 times more ...
Resource scarcity will likely cause vital commodities to become more expensive.(ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... * Resource scarcity will likely cause vital commodities to become more expensive. The World Resources Institute refers to this as ecoflation and warns that companies ...
Small governments will eclipse big governments as a threat to privacy/liberty.(GOVERNMENT)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Small governments will eclipse big governments as a threat to privacy/liberty. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there are close to 90,000 local governments in the United States (school districts, ...
Power and influence will shift away from the United States and toward Asia by 2025.(GOVERNMENT)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Power and influence will shift away from the United States and toward Asia by 2025. The National Intelligence Council forecasts that U.S. influence will wane in the next two decades as China, Russia, and other Asian ...
Consumption of goods in the United States will return to historically normal levels as the millennial generation comes of age.(GOVERNMENT)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Consumption of goods in the United States will return to historically normal levels as the millennial generation comes of age. While the short-term forecast for the consumer-led U.S. economy is slow-to-flat growth, normal consumption ...
The United States will likely experience hyperinflation, resulting in social upheavals.(GOVERNMENT)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The United States will likely experience hyperinflation, resulting in social upheavals. When the U.S. government can't sell U.S. debt to anyone but its own Federal Reserve banks, hyperinflation will destroy the U.S. bond ...
Suburbanites will feel economic downturns hardest.(HABITATS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Suburbanites will feel economic downturns hardest. In hard economic times, suburbanites may feel especially removed from essential city services. They may not know how to find the nearest clinic or food center. A new study from the University ...
Improved urban design could create not only healthier environments, but also healthier inhabitants.(HABITATS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Improved urban design could create not only healthier environments, but also healthier inhabitants. As city populations grow around the world, models for improving the quality of life will be based on integrating ...
The number of artificial islands will increase, some as extensions of existing countries, others to create new micronations.(HABITATS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The number of artificial islands will increase, some as extensions of existing countries, others to create new micronations. Currently, the most technologically advanced artificial island projects are found in Dubai. However, a few farsighted ...
Artificial-island micronations will dramatically shift the face of global politics.(HABITATS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Artificial-island micronations will dramatically shift the face of global politics. New forms of government and unusual political models will begin to emerge, including corporate nation-states, religious states, tax-free zones, single-function ...
Future cities could be car-free.(HABITATS)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Future cities could be car-free. Cities around the world are employing car taxes, innovative urban design, and new alternative transportation plans to decrease car traffic. Highly populated Singapore mandates that cars carry electronic sensors and then charges ...
Devices that monitor your health will upload data about your activities to the Internet.(HEALTH AND MEDICINE)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Devices that monitor your health will upload data about your activities to the Internet. A small device called FitBit tracks how fast you're walking, your heart rate, even how well you're sleeping and then uploads that information directly to a publicly viewable database. The ...
Nanotechnology will allow us to fix our ailing organs from the inside out.(HEALTH AND MEDICINE)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Nanotechnology will allow us to fix our ailing organs from the inside out. Nanotechnology, or the manipulation of objects smaller than a billionth of a meter in size, will allow ...
Alternative medicine will become mainstream.(HEALTH AND MEDICINE)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Alternative medicine will become mainstream. Rising numbers of patients are supplementing--or replacing--their conventional medical treatments with herbal supplements, meditation, yoga, and other forms ...
People will improve mental health through video games.(HEALTH AND MEDICINE)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... People will improve mental health through video games. If you suffer from low self-esteem, reprogramming yourself through video-game play may come to the rescue. A set of online games developed by McGill University psychologist Mark ...
Your doctor will give you constant, online checkups.(HEALTH AND MEDICINE)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Your doctor will give you constant, online checkups. Faster Internet speeds will allow doctors to monitor their patients around the clock in their patients' homes. The Outpatient Health Monitoring System uses ...
The Internet will put hard-to-reach medical specialists in the palm of your hand (or in your chest).(HEALTH AND MEDICINE)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The Internet will put hard-to-reach medical specialists in the palm of your hand (or in your chest). Benjamin Berg, a Hawaiian heart doctor, dictated a complicated heart surgery over an Internet feed for a man ...
New artificial skin could be produced rapidly using factorylike techniques.(HEALTH AND MEDICINE)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... New artificial skin could be produced rapidly using factorylike techniques. Tissue engineering may help produce artificial skin, cartilage, and other body parts quickly and in large quantities, thanks to research at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial ...
Outlook extra: wild cards.(OUTLOOK 2010)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Wild cards are high-impact, low-probability events that would have dramatic consequences (for better or for worse) if they actually occurred. Here is a short selection of reader-submitted wild cards, so think about how best to prepare for them. * Artificial intelligence ...
Your phone will tell you when you're in love.(INFORMATION SOCIETY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Your phone will tell you when you're in love. Mobile devices are enabling new spontaneous connections in real-world settings, including love connections. One day soon, your phone will play matchmaker, recommending that you introduce yourself to someone ...
Sensors, digital maps, and new information technology breakthroughs will enhance our view of everyday reality.(INFORMATION SOCIETY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Sensors, digital maps, and new information technology breakthroughs will enhance our view of everyday reality. Google Earth pictures of a given neighborhood, combined with real-time RFID data of what the people in that neighborhood are buying, could reveal important details of that ...
Lifelogging technologies will ensure that every moment of existence is recorded.(INFORMATION SOCIETY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Lifelogging technologies will ensure that every moment of existence is recorded. New systems to record the life histories of objects and users will enhance observations, recall, and communication. One example is a Georgia Institute of Technology "smart home," which watches you cook so you ...
Japan and its neighbors will dominate the next phase in Internet growth.(INFORMATION SOCIETY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Japan and its neighbors will dominate the next phase in Internet growth. Median download speed in the United States was 5 megabits per second (Mbps) in 2007. Median speeds were 49 Mbps in South Korea and 63 Mbps in Japan. Experts contend ...
As the number of mobile phones increases, new programs and services will help us make sense of our environment.(INFORMATION SOCIETY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... As the number of mobile phones increases, new programs and services will help us make sense of our environment. Globally, mobile phone penetration is expected to reach 75% by 2011. As mobile phones replace the PC as the primary device for ...
With your eyeglasses as a dashboard, more data will be available at a glance.(INFORMATION SOCIETY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... With your eyeglasses as a dashboard, more data will be available at a glance. An interactive chip in the lens will display data and respond to your commands ....
The number of U.S. jobs filled by telecommuters could grow nearly fourfold to 19 million by 2012.(INFORMATION SOCIETY)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The number of U.S. jobs filled by telecommuters could grow nearly fourfold to 19 million by 2012. Wider broadband will bring the office home, giving workers and employers more flexibility. Research shows that if all Americans improved their ...
Outlook extra: algae futures.(OUTLOOK 2010)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Futurists' attention is increasingly being drawn to the slimy world of microalgae. Here's why: Algae might be the antidote to our dependence on oil. These microorganisms can potentially produce 5,000 gallons of fuel per acre, which could meet perhaps 30%-60% of U.S. oil needs, ...
Young people will read more, and the old will play more video games.(LIFESTYLES AND VALUES)(Survey)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Young people will read more, and the old will play more video games. The 2007 American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed some surprising findings. In 2007, adults aged 75 and older spent nearly twice as much time playing ...
Only two-thirds of American households will own cars in the decades ahead, down from seven-eighths today.(LIFESTYLES AND VALUES)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... Only two-thirds of American households will own cars in the decades ahead, down from seven-eighths today. In the post-Great Recession era, most new housing will be built in conjunction with ...
The population boom to watch now: centenarians.(LIFESTYLES AND VALUES)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2009 ... The population boom to watch now: centenarians. For the first time in history, adults aged 100 or older are a fast-growing population group. Most industrialized countries now average one centenarian per 10,000 residents, but the figure is moving toward one in 5,000. ...