May 2003 Predictions
"...everything here apparently needs us, this fleeting world, which in some strange way keeps calling to us. Us, the most fleeting of all."
-Rainer Maria Rilke
[YOUR FUTURE - INVENTIONS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE]
A team of Canadian scientists say they've developed a way to prevent
genetically modified crops from spreading their genes to nearby fields - plant 'birth control'.
Blind patients given a pioneering retinal implant manage to receive pictures sent from a video camera.
Environmentalists have expressed the concern that self-replicating nano-machines, 'grey goo', might escape from a laboratory to infect and destroy all life on the planet. A grey goo catastrophe is the subject of a recent fiction book by the best-selling author Michael Crichton. By carefully controlling particle sizes, it is possible, for example, to make "superplastic" ceramics that stretch like chewing gum and liquids that are magnetic.
The U.S. military's research into nonlethal arms produces stunning examples of futuristic weapons that won't kill.
Planes and spacecraft might be able to carry out self-repairs mid-flight within 50 years thanks to Australian scientists.
[HOT TRENDS]
Sci-fi writer and visionary Sir Arthur C Clarke predicts that eventually everyone in the world will be on e-mail.
A study of the spread of the Sars virus in Hong Kong discovers the death rate is much higher than previously estimated.
[ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS]
As robot landers get set to explore Mars, BBC News Online peers into the heavens to find out more about the extra-terrestrial conditions they can expect to find.
The Muses-C space probe from Japan has set off on a difficult mission to collect the first samples from an asteroid and return them to Earth.
Evidence the Earth experienced a massive meteoroid bombardment 480 million years ago is found in Swedish limestones.
Three probes will blast off to Mars this June and NASA scientists are confident they'll have better luck reaching the planet this time.
[BIOLOGY PREDICTIONS]
Genetic and fossil studies indicate that army ants have defied evolution and have not changed since the days of the dinosaurs. Army ants, these days dispersed across the world, all came from a single source over 100 million years ago on the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana.
Wake-up call on extinction wave - The world has no idea just how fast species are vanishing, say British scientists.
Some whales and dolphins are now so endangered they may not survive another 10 years, cetacean experts say.
About 90% of large predator fish have been cleared from the seas by industrial trawlers and may go extinct like the dinosaurs, a report says.
Scientists are working to adapt common plants to be able to signal the presence of bioweapons.
[HEALTH PREDICTIONS]
Scientists in the U.S. warn that some forms of gene therapy may cause patients to develop cancer.
An experimental drug has produced remarkable results when tested on a wide range of cancers.
Three out of four young people who go to clubs or concerts regularly are risking permanent hearing damage, research suggests.
Scientists are developing a viral smart bomb which destroys brain cancer cells without damaging surrounding healthy tissue.
Super cells - The discovery of a molecule that allows stem cells to multiply without limit could lead to many new treatments.
Experts warn SARS could be "worse than AIDS".
Two British microbiologists say SARS may have come from space, riding on a comet.
The mounting death toll exacted by SARS in China has triggered speculation that the virus could ultimately be traced back to a leak from military bio-weapon programs.
The deadly Ebola virus could one day be used to help cure patients with cystic fibrosis, scientists believe.
Smart hospitals - Hospitals could soon have beds that monitor patients and drugs that prevent you taking the wrong pill.
SARS may have come from space, according to a novel theory aired by a trio of astrobiologists in Britain and India. A small amount of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus may have entered the atmosphere east of the Himalayas, where the stratosphere is thinnest, and then been deposited in southern China.
The World Health Organization warns summer rains could escalate the Sars virus in China.
People who try to give up smoking may experience a slower sense of time passing, according to a study. People who attempt to kick the habit lose their perception of time.
The phenomenon may be linked to the effects of nicotine withdrawal on the brain.
West Nile virus has experts worried this year - With the SARS scare still fresh, experts in this mosquito-borne virus are already seeing disturbing trends around the United States this year.
[LONG-TERM CLIMATE PREDICTIONS]
The world is losing the battle against extinctions and the threat
of mass extinctions will only be averted when the world finds a
fairer way to share resources, a US scientist says.
[ODDITIES]
A healthy baby has been born after developing in its mother's liver instead of in the womb.
People's perceptions of ghosts can be put down to the way they react to their surroundings, a study suggests.
Researchers believe there may be a connection between magnetic fields and reported sightings of ghosts.
The Chinese are turning to the occult to fight SARS - using sorcerers, prophecy, potions and firecrackers. SARS has killed at least 262 people on China's mainland. More than 5,000 others are infected.
[POLITICAL PREDICTIONS]
Unmanned aerial drones similar to ones used in the war on Iraq could be patrolling U.S. borders by the end of the year to help stem illegal immigration and increase security.
Could Saddam have a new face? Plastic surgeons say if Saddam Hussein changed his look to evade capture, he could be nearly healed by now.
New York will "reclaim its skyline" by 2006, five years after the 11 September attacks, the state's governor says.
[SPIRITUAL PREDICTIONS]
U.S. scientists say Buddhists really are happier and calmer than other people. Researchers have found the practise of meditation can tame the amygdala, an area of the brain which is the hub of fear memory.