t r u t h o u t - Brace for More Katrinas, Say Experts: "For all its numbing ferocity, Hurricane Katrina will not be a unique event, say scientists, who say that global warming appears to be pumping up the power of big Atlantic storms. "

CNN.com - Scientists decode chimp DNA - Aug 31, 2005: "Scientists have deciphered the DNA of the chimpanzee, the closest living relative of humankind, and made comprehensive comparisons with the human genetic blueprint."

BT's Technology Timeline predicts what the next 50 years hold :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news from: "Imagine your next holiday destination � somewhere above the earth�s surface. As beaches get more crowded and quiet corners become harder to find, by 2017 you could be taking off for a stay at a hotel in orbit, with the peace of mind that robots were tending the garden in your absence, making sure the kaleidoscopic flowers were well looked after."

Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business.: "Numerous recent and seemingly unconnected events have highlighted the emerging fulcrums of potential alliances in Asia, as well as the possible focal points of conflict. "

Methods for Studying the Future: "For all of human history people have tried to develop methods for predicting the future, from reading palms to gazing at the stars. But in recent years, primarily since World War II, scientists, sociologists, operations researchers, and others, many of whom began to call themselves futurists, have developed quantitative and qualitative methods for rationally anticipating the future. What separates futurists from the soothsayers who came before is rationality, an awareness that the future cannot be known with absolute certainty, and the recognition that many different futures are possible, depending on decisions people make in the present. "

Widening ozone hole is as big as Europe - Yahoo! News: "PARIS (AFP) - The seasonal ozone hole over Antarctica has widened sharply this year, making it the biggest hole since 2000 and the third largest on record, according to measurements reported by the European Space Agency (ESA). "

New Scientist Breaking News - Nano-material is harder than diamonds: "A material that is harder than diamond has been created in the lab, by packing together tiny 'nanorods' of carbon.
The new material, known as aggregated carbon nanorods (ACNR), was created by compressing and heating super-strong carbon molecules called buckyballs or carbon-60. These molecules consist of 60 atoms that interlock in hexagonal or pentagonal shapes and resemble tiny soccer balls."

Roberts v. the Future - New York Times: "Sketching out a hypothetical situation, Rotenberg imagined, in the near future, a young man walking around the Washington Monument for 30 minutes while waiting for a friend. Meanwhile, sophisticated biometric camera systems (which can register the details of someone's face), connected to data-mining computer programs (which link the face to a database of personal information), monitor the young man. The cameras might also detect, say, a copy of the Koran he is carrying under his arm. Taken together, this information is used to generate a ''threat index'' based on how suspicious the high-tech profiling makes him out to be. ''According to the computer algorithm, pacing around a national monument might be a suspicious activity characteristic of someone intending to commit a terrorist attack,'' Rotenberg said. ''The link between his face and his travel records and magazine subscriptions, maintained by a big commercial database, might generate a citizenship trustworthiness score that suggests further investigation.'' "

Commentary: The Next 10 Years will not be without dramatic challenges to the legal system.

Wired 13.06: The Xbox Reloaded: "J Allard is hauling ass downhill on a mountain bike when he sees the hikers. A pair of unsuspecting women strolling through the woods at sunset suddenly find themselves in the path of a mass of titanium, plastic, and taped-together skin and bone barreling toward them at 42 miles per hour. They freeze. Allard grabs the brakes, trying to remember the golden rule of skid management - keep at least 60 percent of the braking pressure on the rear wheel. He slides wide of the hikers only to have his tires lock up in the mud, sending him careening toward a trailside bench. If he hits it, he'll pinwheel over a cliff, into the trees, and back to the emergency room, a place he knows all too well. "

Commentary: a glance at how to work and prosper in the next 10 years.

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Chicken Eggs Made to Produce Human Antibodies: "Chicken Eggs Made to Produce Human Antibodies

For the past 50 years or so, chicken eggs have played a vital role in producing the flu vaccine. Now scientists report another application for the breakfast staple: manufacturing fully functional human monoclonal antibodies, molecules that mimic the immune system to fight specific invaders. "

Coffee is number one source of antioxidants: "'Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close,' says study leader Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a chemistry professor at the university. Although fruits and vegetables are generally promoted as good sources of antioxidants, the new finding is surprising because it represents the first time that coffee has been shown to be the primary source from which most Americans get their antioxidants, Vinson says. Both caffeinated and decaf versions appear to provide similar antioxidant levels, he adds."

Commentary: Good news for all coffee drinkers

Nanocoating could eliminate foggy windows and lenses: "Foggy windows and lenses are a nuisance, and in the case of automobile windows, can pose a driving hazard. Now, a group of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have found a permanent solution to the problem. The team has developed a unique polymer coating � made of silica nanoparticles � that they say can create surfaces that never fog. "

Xtreme Defense: "Xtreme Defense
Lightning guns, heat rays, weapons that can make you hear the voice of God. This is what happens when the war on terror meets the entrepreneurial spirit"

Comment: Ummmm, we were saying.....

DNA buckyballs: "ITHACA, N.Y. -- DNA isn't just for storing genetic codes any more. Since DNA can polymerize -- linking many molecules together into larger structures -- scientists have been using it as a nanoscale building material, constructing geometric shapes and even working mechanical devices.

Provided
A scanning electron microscope photo of a self-assembled DNA buckyball. Click on the image for a slightly higher-resolution version (585 x 543 pixels, 139K)
Now Cornell University researchers have made DNA buckyballs -- tiny geodesic spheres that could be used for drug delivery and as containers for chemical reactions. "

Commentary: Now this is an exciting development - DNA buckyballs.

A Doll That Can Recognize Voices, Identify Objects and Show Emotion - New York Times: "Judy Shackelford, who has been in the toy industry for more than 40 years, has seen a lot of dolls. But none, she says, like her latest creation, a marvel of digital technologies, including speech-recognition and memory chips, radio frequency tags and scanners, and facial robotics. She and her team have christened it Amazing Amanda."

"Anti-Aging Hormone" Found in Mice; May Help Humans: "Researchers have dramatically increased the life spans of mice by genetically engineering them to overproduce a protein called klotho. Not surprisingly, the discovery has spurred speculation that klotho could help humans live longer. "

Commentary: Closing in on the 'holy grail' of anti-aging.

Carbon nanotube technology, closer than you think: "Recent advances in carbon nanotube materials have created a buzz in the IT industry of late. Skeptics say it's too soon, and the end product is too expensive. But there are aspects of this nanotechnology that might pay off sooner than you think.

Carbon nanotubes are a form of pure carbon that scientists grow in labs. They look like a powder or black soot, but they're actually hollow strands, thousands of times thinner than a human hair.

Researchers have predicted the material's use in manufacturing tiny, densely packed computer chips, yet that application is decades off on the horizon. But in the near future, scientists could add the materials to a polymer and use the highly conductive properties of carbon nanotubes to dissipate heat from a computer. "

Asia Times Online :: Asian news and current affairs: "Could the proposed Iranian oil bourse (IOB) become the catalyst for a significant blow to the influential position the US dollar enjoys? Manifold supply fears have driven the price of crude oil to its recent high of US$67.10 - only a notch below its highest price in inflation-adjusted dollar terms. With the world facing a daily bill of roughly $5.5 billion for crude oil at current price levels, it becomes apparent that sellers and purchasers of the black gold are looking into all ways that could lead to a financial improvement on their respective sides. "

Wired News: Cybertroops Keep War Games Real: "This month, as they have every summer for 31 years, hundreds of thousands of North Korean soldiers will pour over the border and advance on the South Korean capital of Seoul, while U.S. and South Korean troops scramble to repel them.
The invading troops, fortunately, are not real. They're the imaginary opponents in one of the world's largest war games, which the United States and the Republic of Korea hold annually. But even as the allies mobilize thousands of real soldiers for the exercise, thousands more, along with all the aircraft, will be strictly virtual. "

Commentary: This is the dark side of the Next 10 Years - technology in the service of killing. This commentator sees an emerging pattern of 'control technologies' that reveal geo-political ambitions of world domination and population control. Science fiction? Paranoia? What happens when the oil runs out, when there is not enough potable water, when food supplies dwindle, religious jihads flourish and the U.S. dollar tanks? Something to think about!

Sci-Tech Today - Innovation - Nano Diamonds Serve as Circuitry-Writing Pens: "Diamond slivers only nanometers wide soon could help serve as pens that help print advanced circuitry and DNA sequencing devices. "

ScienCentral: DNA Printer: "Researchers have developed a way to print DNA. As this ScienCentral News video explains, that might one day make genetic testing as cheap and as accessible as a blood test."

MercuryNews.com | 08/22/2005 | China's bumpy drive toward tech progress: "Perhaps as soon as October, a Long March rocket will thrust a spaceship into Earth orbit carrying two Chinese astronauts for a five-day mission."

Aspirin 'cuts bowel cancer risk': "Taking aspirin regularly for over 10 years does reduce the risk of bowel cancer, a study which looked at almost 83,000 women has suggested.
Those who had taken two or more aspirin - or similar painkillers - a week had significantly cut their risk, it found. "

The UK team at Imperial College London took human embryonic stem cells and encouraged them to grow into cells found in adult lungs. "

Research: Latin America Provides Lowest Offshore Call-Center Costs - Yahoo! News: "Enterprises that choose to outsource their contact centers to offshore locations are looking to save costs and infrastructure expenses. And according to new information gathered by Datamonitor, Latin America offers companies looking to establish offshore contact-center operations the lowest price per agent. "

Low cost call centers is the reason online sportsbooks are concentrated in Latin America.

Wired 13.09: The Super Network: "Every major cable company is making investments to allow TV to be distributed over the Internet, giving you access to each one of those 31 million hours. And then there's this year's 36-fold explosion in consumer-generated video on the Internet. "

Reuters AlertNet - World running out of time for oil alternatives: "PETTEN, Netherlands, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The world could run out of time to develop cleaner alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels before depletion drives prices through the roof, a leading Dutch energy researcher said on Thursday.
Ton Hoff, manager of the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, said it could take decades to make alternatives affordable to the point where they can be used widely, although high oil prices were already stimulating such research."

KurzweilAI.net: "What exactly is 'artificial intelligence' (AI)? Stanford University Professor of Computer Science Dr. John McCarthy, a pioneer in AI, answers this question in depth for beginners."

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Daisy has all the digital answers to life on Earth: "Scientists have unveiled plans to create a digital library of all life on Earth. They say that the Digital Automated Identification System (Daisy), which harnesses the latest advances in artificial intelligence and computer vision, will have an enormous impact on research into biodiversity and evolution."

Remote-Controlled Humans - Forbes.com: "LOS ANGELES - Smiling nervously, the young woman walks forward in a straight line. Suddenly, she veers to the right. She stumbles and stops, attempting to regain her balance, and continues to walk forward. And then she veers off to the left. "

[print version] Japan project aims to create 3D TV by 2020 | CNET News.com: "Imagine watching a football game on a TV that not only shows the players in three dimensions but also lets you experience the smells of the stadium and maybe even pat a goal scorer on the back.
Japan plans to make this futuristic television a commercial reality by 2020 as part of a broad national project that will bring together researchers from the government, technology companies and academia.

The targeted 'virtual reality' television would allow people to view high-definition images in 3D from any angle, in addition to being able to touch and smell the objects being projected upwards from a screen parallel to the floor."

Scientists send skin cell back to embryo stage - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. researchers said on Monday they have created a new human embryonic stem cell by fusing an embryonic stem cell to an ordinary skin cell.

They hope their method could someday provide a way to create tailor-made medical treatments without having to start from scratch using cloning technology."

Wired News: You Say You Want a Web Revolution: "Software experts say recent innovations in web design are ushering in a new era for internet-based software applications, some of the best of which already rival desktop applications in power and efficiency. That�s giving software developers a wide open platform for creating new programs that have no relation to the underlying operating system that runs a PC. "

Wired News: Antibiotics From Crocodile Blood?: "SYDNEY -- Scientists in Australia's tropical north are collecting blood from crocodiles in the hope of developing a powerful antibiotic for humans, after tests showed that the reptile's immune system kills the HIV virus.
The crocodile's immune system is much more powerful than that of humans, preventing life-threatening infections after savage territorial fights which often leave the animals with gaping wounds and missing limbs."

Dispatches from a student-run clean-car campaign | Grist Magazine | Dispatches | 19 Aug 2005: "We know you know about fuel-efficient cars. You may even own one. Peak oil, the rising price at the pump, and new car technology have made headlines from coast to coast and back again; you've probably even considered naming your first born 'Prius.' This summer, a group of student organizers have taken to the road in an attempt to build and strengthen the growing clean-car movement around a word that you probably don't often think of: Detroit. "

The Earth Simulator Center: "
The holistic simulation is the simulation with the tremendously excellent accuracy that calculates the physics of several hundred kilo-meters, while calculating that of extremely small scale. We succeeded in the world's first aurora simulation using this algorithm. An aurora is the luminous phenomena that happen when an earth drugs solar wind into its atmosphere. The holistic simulation algorithm is being developed for understanding the complex physical process such as plasma phenomenon, atmospheric phenomenon, and rupture phenomenon of internal earth, and is expected to contribute to sciences of many fields."

TOP500 List 06/2005

TOP500 SUPERCOMPUTER SITES

The 500 most powerful computers on planet Earth.

TOP500 Supercomputer Sites: "TOP500 SUPERCOMPUTER SITES
The TOP500 project was started in 1993 to provide a reliable basis for tracking and detecting trends in high-performance computing. Twice a year, a list of the sites operating the 500 most powerful computer systems is assembled and released. The best performance on the Linpack benchmark is used as performance measure for ranking the computer systems. The list contains a variety of information including the system specifications and its major application areas. "

A New Arms Race to Build the World's Mightiest Computer - New York Times: "SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18 - A global race is under way to reach the next milestone in supercomputer performance, many times the speed of today's most powerful machines."

news @ nature.com�-�Nanotube sheets come of age�-�Clear, conductive sheets produced at high speed.: "They're soft, strong, and very, very long.

Large, transparent sheets of carbon nanotubes can now be produced at lightning speed. The new technique should allow the nanotubes to be used in commercial devices from heated car windows to flexible television screens.

'Rarely is a processing advance so elegantly simple that rapid commercialization seems possible,' says Ray Baughman, a chemist from the University of Texas at Dallas, whose team unveils the ribbon in this week's Science1."

Wired News: Startup Sees Promise in Virus: "When describing the business plan of his biotech startup, Cambrios Technologies, Mike Knapp is accustomed to seeing raised eyebrows.
The firm's current research projects involve using microscopic viruses to create artificial proteins to manufacture electronic devices. Knapp concedes that might sound more like science fiction than modern lab technique. "

New Scientist Breaking News - Virtual world fits on a smartphone: "It will soon be possible to inhabit a virtual world, even while out and about in the real one.
US computer game company Artificial Life has announced that it will launch a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for third generation (3G) phones before the end of 2005.
Currently untitled, the game will let players assume a virtual persona and travel through a futuristic cityscape, the company says. They will be able to chat and interact with computer-controlled characters as well as other human players and tackle puzzles that can be solved more easily through cooperation."

TOP500 Supercomputer Sites: "TOP500 SUPERCOMPUTER SITES
The TOP500 project was started in 1993 to provide a reliable basis for tracking and detecting trends in high-performance computing. Twice a year, a list of the sites operating the 500 most powerful computer systems is assembled and released. The best performance on the Linpack benchmark is used as performance measure for ranking the computer systems. The list contains a variety of information including the system specifications and its major application areas. "

Researchers Creating Life From Scratch - Yahoo! News: "BERKELEY, Calif. - They're called 'synthetic biologists' and they boldly claim the ability to make never-before-seen living things, one genetic molecule at a time.
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They're mixing, matching and stacking DNA's chemical components like microscopic Lego blocks in an effort to make biologically based computers, medicines and alternative energy sources. The rapidly expanding field is confounding the taxonomists' centuries-old system of classifying species and raising concerns about the new technology's potential for misuse."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Scientists aim for lab-grown meat

Chicago Tribune | Futurists look beyond, and it's not mere sci-fi: "Futurists look beyond, and it's not mere sci-fi"