NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Spy Agency Predicts Megahumans By 2030

In the year 2030, Asia will surpass North America and Europe and become the global economic powerhouse it once was during the Middle Ages. Deaths from communicable disease will drop by 40 percent. The majority of the world's population won't be poor and among them will walk bionic superhumans with neuro-pharmaceutical drugs coursing through their veins.

These are just a very small fraction of the predictions made by the soothsayers over at the National Intelligence Council (NIC), a US coalition of 17 government intelligence agencies. The NIC's prophecies were recently detailed in Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, a 140-page report that identifies "megatrends" expected to emerge over the next 18 years and radically alter the world as we know it today. The report is the fifth installment of NIC's Global Trends series, which seeks to provide a proactive framework for thinking about the future.

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"We are at a critical juncture in human history, which could lead to widely contrasting futures," writes Christopher Kojm, NIC chairman, in the report's introduction. "It is our contention that the future is not set in stone, but is malleable, the result of an interplay among megatrends, game-changers and, above all, human agency."

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Chief among the megatrends is the diffusion of power and individual empowerment. The West is set to take a back seat to Asia's economy as technology levels the playing field and other "non-Western or middle-tier states" begin to rise. The middle class is expected to expand in most countries, but won't feel secure due to the one billion workers from developing countries expected to flood the labor pool.

Global demographics are expected to shift as well. Life-expectancy rates are likely to soar, leading to an increase in global population from 7.1 billion today to around 8 billion in 2030. Much of this population will gravitate towards megacities as urbanization is set to grow by nearly 60 percent.

As population swells, so too will competition for resources. Demand for food is expected to rise 35 percent and energy 50 percent. Half the world will live in areas with severe water stress.

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You see where this is going. As the global population becomes more intelligent, more healthy and more prosperous due to positive technological developments in a wide range of fields, it's creating a promising, yet vulnerable future. That's to say nothing of game-changing scenarios like nuclear war, pandemics and bioterrorism.

"Our effort is to encourage decision-makers, whether in government or outside, to think and plan for the long term so that negative futures do not occur and positive ones have a better chance of unfolding," writes Kojm.

Who those decisions-makers will be and whether they'll lead the globe into chaos or order, feast or famine, is anyone's guess. What's crystal clear, though, is that 2030 will be beyond our wildest imagination.

"As replacement limb technology advances, people may choose to enhance their physical selves as they do with cosmetic surgery today," the report states. "Future retinal eye implants could enable night vision, and neuro-enhancements could provide superior memory recall or speed of thought."  

via RT

Credit: Digital Vision / Getty Images

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Sex Ed Hooks Up With The Internet

Why gym teachers and football coaches are routinely tapped to helm the great ship of pubescent awkwardness known as Sex Education certainly is one of God's own private mysteries. Anyone who ever remembers watching their bewhistled P.E. teacher clumsily draw fallopian tubes on a chalkboard knows that maybe a face-to-face setting might not always be the best way to teach the birds and the bees.

But rejoice blushing middle schoolers, a new study may have delivered your salvation. Researchers from the University of Toronto and Yale recently conducted a randomized and controlled trial that found Internet-based sex education effectively improved students' knowledge and attitudes toward sex.

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The study included 138 ninth graders from 69 different schools in Colombia, a country where 60 percent of young people are sexually active by the age of 18 and only 55 percent of young women reported using a condom during their first sexual experience. 

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The semester-long course, designed by Profamilia, a local nonprofit affiliated with Planned Parenthood, covered topics such as sexual rights and freedoms, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and contraception. Students could access online tutorials from school or personal computers and could email questions to remote tutors.

"The sensitive nature of this issue can create discomfort and lead students to avoid engaging with the material or participating at all," states the study's paper, written by Alberto Chong, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, Dean Karlan and Martin Valdivia. "The anonymity and privacy which are possible with computer-based learning may actually be better suited to teaching adolescents about sexual health."

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Six months after it ended, researchers found the "course showed itself effective in improving students' knowledge and attitude indicators in the short and medium term, and led to a reduction in self-reported STIs among the sexually active at baseline."

Student were given condom vouchers six months after the course ended. Researchers found that "treated students" -- those who participated in the course -- redeemed their vouchers at a rate 10 percent higher than those in the control group.

Researchers also found "strong indication that effects of the course were reinforced when treated individuals had larger percentages of their friend networks in treatment classrooms."

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Anything that improves sexual health knowledge and awareness, I'm all for. However, I'm a bit wary of face-to-face interaction being replaced entirely with online telecommunication, especially when it comes to education. A subject such as sex is already taboo enough. Is retreating behind an online veil of privacy really the best way to promote an open and honest dialogue?

I'm not sure. I could argue both sides of that debate, which makes it an interesting question. However, as a former educator, I've witnessed too many teachers and mentors take the easy way out by sticking a kid in front of a computer screen -- to the point where logging in really meant tuning out.

Besides, everyone needs to witness a jittery football coach unroll a condom on a banana at least once in their life.

Credit: Fabio Cardoso/Corbis

via Coexist

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Robot Prostitutes, the Future of Sex Tourism

Let's cut to the chase. Would you pay to have sex with a robot prostitute?

Ian Yeoman and Michelle Mars think someone will. Yeoman is a futurist with an interest in tourism, and Mars is a sexologist at the University of Wellington's Victoria Management School in New Zealand. The duo just co-authored a paper entitled "Robots, Men and Sex Tourism" for the current issue of Futures.

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In their paper, they envision a future where robotic prostitutes are the solution to the sex industry's most glaring problems, such as human trafficking, human degradation and the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

Playing off the "Yab-Yum," once one of Amsterdam's most exclusive brothels before its closure in 2008, Yeoman and Mars imagine what the red-light district will look like in the year 2050:

The Yub-Yum is Amsterdam's top sex club for business travelers located beside a 17th century canal house on the Singel. It is modern and gleaming with about 100 scantily clad blondes and brunettes parading around in exotic G-strings and lingerie. Entry costs $10,000 for an all inclusive service. The club offers a full range of sexual services from massages, lap dancing and intercourse in plush surroundings. The Yub-Yum is a unique bordello licensed by the city council, staffed not by humans but by androids. This situation came about due to an increase in human trafficking in the sex industry in the 2040s which was becoming unsustainable, combined with an increase in incurable STI's in the city especially HIV which over the last decade has mutated and is resistant to many vaccines and preventive medicines. Amsterdam's tourist industry is built on an image of sex and drugs. The council was worried that if the red light district were to close, it would have a detrimental effect on the city's brand and tourism industry, as it seemed unimaginable for the city not to have a sex industry. Sex tourism is a key driver for stag parties and the convention industry.

The Yub-Yum offers a range of sexual gods and goddesses of different ethnicities, body shapes, ages, languages and sexual features. The club is often rated highly by punters on www.punternet.com and for the fifth year in a row, in 2049 was voted the world's best massage parlor by the UN World Tourism Organization. The club has won numerous technology and innovation awards including the prestigious ISO iRobotSEX award. The most popular model is Irina, a tall, blonde, Russian exotic species who is popular with Middle Eastern businessmen. The tourists who use the services of Yub-Yum are guaranteed a wonderful and thrilling experience, as all the androids are programmed to perform every service and satisfy every desire.

All androids are made of bacteria resistant fiber and are flushed for human fluids, therefore guaranteeing no Sexual Transmitted Disease's are transferred between consumers. The impact of Yub-Yum club and similar establishments in Amsterdam has transformed the sex industry alleviating all health and human trafficking problems. The only social issues surrounding the club is the resistance from human sex workers who say they can't compete on price and quality, therefore forcing many of them to close their shop windows. All in all, the regeneration of Amsterdam's sex industry has been about the success of the new breed of sex worker. Even clients feel guilt free as they actually haven't had sex with a real person and therefore don't have to lie to their partner.

With the wide availability of Internet pornography, online escort services and such things as the Fleshlight iPad case, it's obvious the Digital Age has revolutionized the sex industry. More so, as sex dolls morph into more sentient sexbots, Yeoman and Mars question whether attitudes toward sexual taboos will change. For example, would society be more open-minded toward robotic prostitution, as opposed to human prostitution?

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What's your opinion? Are you repulsed, turned on or not interested? Would robot sex help eliminate the hazard and menace of sex tourism or just add another level of sleaze?

via io9

Credit: Digital Vision / Getty Images

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Has The Fountain of Youth Been Discovered?

The fountain of youth has long been a common trope of pop culture. Over the years, literature, film and even tourist attractions have all been built on the foundation that taking a sip from the fountain will provide rejuvenation if not eternal life.

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For all the fiction and false promise the fountain has given us, new research has shown the reservoir of youth might be less fantastical than we think.

It all has to do with Buckminsterfullerene, a molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms, bonded together in the shape of a geodesic sphere. The substance has potential medical applications in the treatment of cancer and HIV, and even in the creation of body armor.

But could Buckminsterfullerene -- also known as buckyballs -- be used make us live longer? Some new research out of the Université Paris-Sud suggests so. 

In a clinical trial, three groups of rats were fed different substances. The first was given a control, the second was fed olive oil and the third was fed a combination of olive oil and Buckminsterfullerene. The control group had a lifespan of only 22 months while the strictly olive oil group lived an average of 26 months.

However, researchers got quite a surprise with the olive oil/buckeyball group. Rats that ingested that mixture lived an astounding 42 months.

No research has been done on humans yet, but as the crow's feet start to carve their way into the corners of my eyes, a man can dream can't he?

The researchers published their findings in the April 10 edition of Biomaterials. According to thier findings, Buckminsterfullerene works by reducing the oxidative stress that causes aging.

"These results of importance in the fields of medicine and toxicology should open the way for the many possible applications of fullerene, including cancer therapy, neurodegenerative disorders and ageing," the article explains.

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Whatever cup you use to drink from the fountain of youth, above all, make sure you choose wisely.

via Yahoo News

Photo: Corbis

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Engineered Viruses Could Kill Cancer

The last thing you need is a dangerous viral infection -- unless you have cancer.

Cancer cells divide like mad, crowding out their neighbors and causing tumors, the complications from which eventually kill. But the vigor has a price: cancer cells aren't as good at fighting off viral infections, and theoretically a virus could kill cancer cells without harming the patient.

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A great article in The New York Times by Rachel Nuwer describes medical efforts to commandeer viruses in the fight against cancer.

Those efforts date to 1951 when a 4-year-old child with leukemia caught chicken pox. The cancer went into remission. Unfortunately the moment the chicken pox went away, the leukemia came back and the child died.

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There were some attempts to use this phenomenon to benefit patients. Those early efforts ended in failure and by the 1960s the research focus shifted to other treatments.

But a lot has happened since then. Medical science has made strides in understanding the genetics and mechanisms of viruses and cancer both, and it may be that soon, tailored viruses could cure some cancers.

Dr. Robert Martuza, chief neurosurgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, started looking at herpes simplex virus, or HSV-1, as a cancer fighting tool back in 1991. Dr. Martuza took out a few genes from the virus and injected it into mice with brain cancer. Although the cancer went into remission most of the mice died of encephalitis.

Meanwhile, in 1990, Bernard Roizman, a virologist at the University of Chicago, found a gene in the herpes virus that when removed, makes it unable to get past the defenses of healthy cells -- but not cancer. That slowed the growth of cancer cells, though it didn't kill them.

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Six years later, Dr. Ian Mohr, a virologist at New York University, found a way of altering the virus that Roizman engineered. The virus evades the immune system and is better at killing cancer cells.

Herpes isn't the only virus being recruited for anti-cancer duty. Vaccinia was the virus used to protect against smallpox and it's now being tested against liver cancer. Thus far the results are promising, extending survival times in one group of patients. Others are bring used against melanoma, bladder cancer and head and neck cancers.

That doesn't mean it's time to break out the champagne. As the liver cancer trial shows, improving survival isn't the same as a cure, and every cancer is different. A magic bullet that works on every type is unlikely. Gary Hayward, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Herpesvirus Research Program, told the New York Times that progress is likely to be incremental -- much as it has been for decades.

At the same time, another tool against cancer is always welcome, and it's another step in making cancer a survivable disease.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Centers for Disease Control

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Bar-Coded Condoms Track Where You Have Sex

Who would have thought, in this day and age, that our national conversation on sex -- and for that matter, women's reproductive rights -- could be so stunted that it's enough to make 2012 feel downright feudal? Need proof? How about the recent U.S. congressional hearing on birth control whose panel included absolutely no women.

Call me a feminist -- no really, I prefer you do -- but when the opposition gives a thumbs down to health insurance covering contraceptives for women and a thumbs up to Viagra being covered, forgive me if I say that kind of logic sounds a little...cockeyed.

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So here's a story to remind us all that, yes indeed, it is actually the 21st Century: Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest (PPGNW) recently distributed 55,000 condoms with QR codes that track, through their website, WhereDidYouWearIt.com, when and where people have had sex.

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"Condoms are an essential tool in preventing unintended pregnancy and stopping the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV,” PPGNW New Media Coordinator, Nathan Engebretson, said in a press release. “We hope the site promotes discussions within relationships about condoms and helps to remove perceived stigmas that some people may have about condom use. "Where Did You Wear It" attempts to create some fun around making responsible decisions."

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Distributed around community colleges and universities, the condom's bar code can be scanned by smart phones that connect users to the website and allows them to upload their location, along with general details and anonymous reviews of their sexual experience. Users can rate their rolls in the hay on a scale from "things can only improve from here" to "ah-maz-ing -- rainbows exploded and mountains trembled."

PPGNW compares the application to Foursquare and Facebook places, saying their site allows people to anonymously "check-in" their safe sexual activity.

"Planned Parenthood wants users to be part of the solution and to be smart, sexy and responsible -- not just during National Condom Week -- but every week," added Engebretson.

(via GizMag)

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Vapor Disinfects Hospitals, Kills Bed Bugs

An infectious disease expert from Queen's University has helped develop a disinfection system that could revolutionize methods for sterilizing hospitals all over the world.

“This is the future, because many hospital deaths are preventable with better cleaning methods,” said Quinte Health Care’s new Chief of Staff, Dr. Dick Zoutman, in a university press release. “It has been reported that more than 100,000 people in North America die every year due to hospital-acquired infections at a cost of $30 billion. That’s 100,000 people every year who are dying from largely preventable infections.”

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Zoutman's new method involves pumping a vapor mixture of ozone and hydrogen peroxide into a room to completely sterilize it. Everything from the floors, walls and drapes to mattresses, chairs and other surfaces are left disinfected.

The technique was inspired by how Mother Nature kills bacteria in humans. For example, when an antibody attacks a germ, it produces an ozone and a small amount of hydrogen peroxide, generating a highly reactive compound that kills bacteria, viruses and mold.

“It works well for Mother Nature and is working very well for us,” said Dr. Zoutman.

Besides being more effective than simply wiping down a hospital room, this new technology has other advantages, too. It can be used to sterilize instruments, it leaves behind a pleasant smell and the whole process takes less than one hour.

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On top of that, Dr. Zoutman also demonstrated the technique effectively kills bed bugs. As well, he says the technology could also be used to disinfect areas of food preparation, processing plants and cruise ships.

Dr. Zoutman collaborated with Dr. Michael Shannon of Medizone International at Queen's University laboratories. Medizone is commercializing the new technology, with first deliveries scheduled for early 2012.

[Via Science Daily]

Credit: Dana Neely/Getty Images

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Top 10 Accidental Inventions

A chest x-ray of a person with a pacemaker. (Source: Don Farrall/Getty Images)

In honor of the show "JUNKies" the Science Channel is celebrating the other side of science –- the, um, not so scientific kind –- the unplanned kind. They've counted down the Top 10 Accidental Inventions of all time. It's a good reminder of the cruel world of scientific invention, but also a good reminder that life-changing science can happen to any of us, anytime, anywhere.

Forget the inventors who spend their entire lives experimenting, tinkering and building contraptions. They methodically pour over data and test hypotheses. They work in goggles and lab coats.  They dedicate their lives to a scientific pursuit. Then there are the other guys…

Isn't it time we celebrated the scientists that won the invention lottery?

While some of us forget to wash our hands before dinner and then get E. coli, these are the inventors who forget to wash their hands at dinner and discover the key to artificial sweeteners.

Not to say that some of these inventors didn't work hard, but for some of them laziness -- or unfortunate accidents -- actually made them a fortune.

And while the Science Channel calls these "accidental inventions," perhaps it's not giving enough credit where credit is due.  Louis Pasteur was certainly not referring to accidental inventions when he said, "Did you ever observe to whom the accidents happen? Chance favors only the prepared mind." But in this context, perhaps the "mind" -- prepared or not -- should still be given credit for making the best of the "accident."

It's just so much more fun, though, to think of it as pure accident, that it could happen to any of us. So the next time you accidentally explode your homework or feel too lazy to clean up your lab, remember it’s not the end of the world. In fact, you may have just cured cancer -- by accident.

See the entire list of Top 10 Accidental Inventions here.

Sickweather Maps the Health of Your Friends

One of the most recurring complaints about social media is that people use it to advertise mundane facts about themselves that nobody really cares about. But this accumulation of seemingly useless information can be quite valuable when gathered and analyzed in mass.

Sickweather, a Baltimore startup, is in the process of creating a system that tracks social media sites like Facebook and Twitter for public references to "sickness." The system then attempts to create a sickness map that warns people of outbreaks to help them avoid catching the bugs.

The company hopes to establish its own social network eventually, through which users will be able to log in to track the health assessments in their community. For now, however, Sickweather's founders are moving to build a reporting tool on the shoulders of other more established online communities.

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Graham Dodge, the CEO of Sickweather, anticipates the system will be particularly appealing to young families with vulnerable children and tells Technology Review that "they can decide, 'Maybe I won't take my kids to that birthday party.' " It’s not difficult to imagine the awkward social dynamics that this might lead to and the many "un-friendings" that could ensue.

Other companies, such as HealthMap, have tried this idea on a wider scale. They have been rummaging through search engines and news stories to create a map of notable epidemics across the globe in an effort to alert the public and help them visualize this information. Sickweather is hoping that by applying the same approach at a local level, and using micro-blogging sites instead of news sources, they can give the public an even more personal health tool.

Credit: Ghislain & Marie David de Lossy/cultura/Corbis

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Rainbow Poo Coming to a Toilet Bowl Near You

Though its certainly not filled with gold, turns out there is a pot at the end of the rainbow, and it's made of porcelain.

For years, sagely, health-conscious individuals have read the contents of toilet bowls, seeking oracles of good or bad health. But never before has this practice been more colorful.

Scientists have genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to work safely as a biosensor that can detect the presence of toxins and secret an indicator pigment. The synthetically engineered bacteria (which has had its bad bacteria parts removed) could be used to test water or air samples for pollutants such as arsenic or carbon dioxide. Arsenic in the water, the sample turn blue, for example. But that's not all.

By the year 2039, the scientists -- who hail from Cambridge University --think that their so-called E. Chromi could be mixed in with a special probiotic yogurt, which when eaten, would colonize the bowels and release pigments in the presence of diseases such as cancer, stomach ulcers and salmonella. If your poo was green, for example, you might have an ulcer, or if it turned orange, you may want to get tested for colon cancer.

The scientists designed E. Chomi using standardized sequences of DNA, known as BioBricks, and inserted them into E. coli bacteria. In 2009, they won the Grand Prize at the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM). Since then, the original team from Cambridge University in the UK has joined with designers Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King to explore the possibilities of their technology.

If E.Chromi's vision of future pans out, can you imagine the Double Rainbow guy's reaction?

E. chromi from Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg on Vimeo.

 

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