January 2003 Predictions

"Ever since there have been men, man has given himself over to too little joy. That alone, my brothers, is our original sin. I should believe only in a God who understood how to dance."
- Henri Matisse

[YOUR FUTURE - INVENTIONS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE]
Scientists in New Zealand produce cloned cows giving genetically altered milk, a development they say will revolutionise cheese-making.

Microsoft shows how devices - from wristwatches to sewing machines - will all connect to the Net someday.

New gadgets for your home - A no-flip pancake grill and a motion detecting soap dispenser are among the latest gadgets at the International Housewares Show in Chicago.

Coming to a salon near you, an inkjet printer that paints colorful computer images on your fingernails.

Food of the future - healthier, safer, tastier?

[HOT TRENDS]
MessageLabs, the e-mail filtering company, has warned of a dramatic rise in the amount of spam clogging in-boxes. It says the amount of spam will exceed normal e-mails by around July of this year. 2002 was a bumper year for these messages and now 30% of all mail flying around the net is thought to be spam.

Study finds that car crashes, injuries - even traffic fatalities - are up in the hours after the Super Bowl telecast. Car crashes spike by 40 percent.

As the recession wears on, the number of repossessions and foreclosures is on the rise, with costly consequences for both consumers and lenders.

Trends in consumer electronics for 2003 - New digital capabilities won't be the only thing that "wows" consumers shopping for electronics this year.

Japan registered a record low number of births in 2002, which also saw a decline in marriages and an all-time high number of divorces.

Figures from MessageLabs show that one in every 212 e-mails contained a virus in 2002. In 2001, MessageLabs counted one in every 380 e-mails, while in 2000 the figure was as low as one in every 790.

The increasing popularity of skiing and changes to equipment are leading to a rise in injuries.


[ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS]
Scientists say a spate of UFO sightings were actually sun-observing spacecraft. The folks who run the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft say that over the years there's been a number of people who've claimed to have seen flying saucers and other suspected UFOs, all of which the NASA and ESA scientists say are, instead, artifacts, natural objects or other explainable things.

The start of a new space race? China's latest successful mission means it will put a man in space soon, and India says it wants to put a man on the Moon in the next 15 years.

Outburst predicted this summer from nearby supernova - An explosive star in the Southern Hemisphere called Eta Carinae, which is at least 100 times more massive than our Sun, appears actually to be two stars working in concert. Proof may come this summer when the star is expected to act up again.

A cosmic message in a bottle - An inscription of Genesis in 1,000 languages is being taken into space on the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission.

[BIOLOGY PREDICTIONS]
Alert issued over vanishing sharks - Populations of several shark species in part of the Atlantic have plummeted by more than 75% in the last 15 years.

A chimp who has grown up among humans may have developed the ability to talk, claims a research team from the US.

Bananas reportedly face extinction within 10 years unless new varieties resistant to blight are developed.

[HEALTH PREDICTIONS]
The key to predicting your susceptibility to high blood pressure may be in your kidneys.

A substance in the saliva of vampire bats could prove to be a potent new treatment for blood clots caused from strokes.

A protein-rich genetically modified potato could help combat malnutrition in India, scientists say.

There are predictions as many as 70 million people in North America could be infected by a Norwalk-like virus this year.

Deaths from the flu have increased substantially in the last 20 years. The disease now surpasses AIDS as a killer in the United States, according to government statistics.

Finnish researchers have discovered an association between osteoarthritis in even a single finger joint in men and the likelihood they will die of cardiovascular disease.

[LONG-TERM CLIMATE PREDICTIONS]
The polar bear could be driven to extinction within 100 years by global warming, warns an ecology expert.

Hundreds of wild species are showing a consistent pattern by migrating to cooler habitats to escape climate change, US scientists say.

One of the world's biggest glaciers in Antarctica may slip faster into the ocean than previously thought, Chilean scientists report.

[MOVIES AND TV]
Don't look for any official announcements just yet, but insiders at both NBC and Paramount TV confirm it's now highly likely the 2003-04 season will be the last for Frasier.

Fears of terrorism and recession send the biggest crowds into US cinemas for more than 40 years, spending $9 billion on tickets.

In US cinema lobbies, movie posters which talk at passers-by are emerging as the latest invention to spice up the evening's entertainment.

[ODDITIES]
A group of high-tech scientists are seeking the answers behind those strange airborne lights and shapes called UFOs. For some unknown reason, for the last 50 years, continuously, there've been literally hundreds of sightings over a small area of Utah.

Mystery grows around hole in lake - While locals theorize over alien and volcanic activity, scientists can't explain lake's black hole which refuses to freeze.

A French sailor claims a giant squid - one of the legendary monsters of the sea - latched on to his boat during a round-the-world race.

[POLITICAL PREDICTIONS]
Is it possible to judge whether someone is guilty before a crime is committed? Doubts have been raised about a new Defense Department program to hunt out potential terrorists.

The London Times predicts Britain will follow the U.S. lead and send combat troops to the Gulf. It says war could start as early as the middle of next month.

After pulling out of a global treaty that bars it from making nuclear weapons, North Korea sent shock waves around the globe as it warned of a "Third World War" if anyone tries attacking it.

[SEASONAL WEATHER PREDICTIONS]
El Niņo's disruption of the weather is expected to last for at least another four months.

Unusually high levels of ice persisted in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, despite the advancing summer season. Seasonal sea ice is blocking the route used by re-supply ships bound for McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundation's research hub on Antarctica. When winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere, summer begins in Antarctica. Normally, seasonal sea ice dramatically retreats from Antarctic coastal waters, making it the perfect time to bring in supplies and fuel.

The odd weather in Europe this winter has left parts of the Alps without snow because of unseasonably warm temperatures while leaving northern Europe shivering from a cold snap not experienced for decades.

[STOCK MARKET PREDICTIONS]
Now that the mini skirts are among the hot items for spring, does that mean the economy is going to skyrocket as well? Not necessarily, say experts.

Nearly 20,000 firms went bankrupt in Japan during 2002, and experts predict that it will get worse.

Consumer confidence in the US slumped in December, making the outlook for the US economy even more gloomy.

California's triple crisis: money, crime and water - With a deficit bigger than the entire budget of Ireland and as the newly crowned "murder capital" of the nation, is the sun setting on California? And will it drag the rest of the nation down, too?