June 2003 Predictions

It is only forms that change, not the essence. Enjoy the changes.

[YOUR FUTURE - INVENTIONS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE]
Smart artifical arms - Scientists are developing a microchip which gives people with prosthetic arms greater control over their limbs.

British scientists are close to creating a system to keep data sent via the net secure, using quantum physics.

Japanese scientists have created a genetically modified plant that will produce decaffeinated coffee.

Five cars that run on hydrogen-powered fuel cells are expected to hit the streets of Vancouver early next year.

[HOT TRENDS]
Boating experts say some drowning deaths may have actually been caused by an invisible hazard, carbon monoxide poisoning. It's long been known that carbon monoxide from boat engines and generators can build up and prove deadly, inside a boat's cabin, but it is becoming clear that this hazard also exists outside the cabin, and people are dying after being exposed to carbon monoxide in the open air. The concentrations that are occurring at the back end of the boats are so high that it sometimes takes just a few breaths to render someone unconscious.

Public swimming pools across Australia have been advised to ban mobile telephones capable of taking photographs from changing rooms because of privacy fears.

Video games are good for you - Playing computer games can refine visual skills, such as spotting details in busy scenes, U.S. scientists find.

Unwanted messages now make up more than 50% of e-mails, according to experts.

Chlorine used to disinfect indoor swimming pools could be one of the causes behind an astonishing surge in childhood asthma in developed countries, according to a new study.


[ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS]
A comet collision with Earth around 55 million years ago may have kick-started a crucial early phase of mammal evolution. The impact could have triggered the greenhouse warming thought to have encouraged primitive mammals to disperse across the world and diversify into three important groups still with us today.

A resumption of Nasa orbiter flights could take place in December but only under new safety rules and the close eye of more launch cameras.

Strange star puzzles astronomers - Achernar is one of the most distorted stars ever observed by astronomers. It is shaped like a child's spinning top.

Work has begun at NASA defining the new generation of powerful space craft that will roam throughout the outer Solar System.

Mars, the Red Planet, is an active place with more water and ice than scientists think, latest research suggests.

Claims have re-emerged that the U.S. space agency (Nasa) did find signs of life on Mars during the historic Viking landings of 1976.

Unseasonal auroras - Solstices are usually poor times for aurora watching. Curiously, though, the weeks leading up to the June 21st solstice have been filled with Northern Lights. Since late May auroras have appeared as far south in the United States as Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin and even Virginia.

Did the explosion from a meteoroid impact convert Constantine to Christianity in AD 312 and alter the course of western history?

[BIOLOGY PREDICTIONS]
A genetic study suggests AIDS began when chimps became infected with two viruses which combined into a version of the human disease.

As many as 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises a year are dying in fishing nets, the authors of a new research study say. Nearly 1,000 die every day.

A new class of antibiotics may offer massive benefits to today's patients - but place future generations in danger, says an expert.

The mineral selenium - found in Brazil nuts - may help protect women from developing breast cancer.

Pioneering mobile phone technology is being used by doctors to view X-rays from a distance and cut waiting times.

[HEALTH PREDICTIONS]
Pregnant women carrying boys tend to eat more than those carrying girls, research has found.

New blood vessels grown from a patient's own muscle cells are a step nearer after a genetic success in a U.S. laboratory.

Cooling patients with brain injuries reduces the risk of death and serious handicap, Ottawa doctors say.

The risk of having a stroke as an adult could be determined when a person is in the womb, researchers suggest. U.S. scientists say malnourished mothers may be to blame. People who have strokes tend to have had lower birth weights.

Brain changes at or around birth may give you a shy or extrovert personality even decades later, say researchers.

Children who develop autism may do so because they have problems processing the toxic metal mercury, a study says.

People who brush their teeth too hard and for too long could be causing permanent damage, experts warn.

The number of children suffering allergic reactions to kiwi fruit has risen sharply in recent years.

A by-product of nicotine may help prevent the plaques linked to Alzheimer's disease forming.

The levels of two chemicals in the spinal fluid may give doctors clues about the presence of psychopathic personality traits.

Dancing, playing musical instruments and reading can all reduce the risks of developing Alzheimer's, a study suggests.

Living in a high-rise building could be one of the worst choices for a hayfever sufferer, according to new research.

SARS mutation worries health officials - Signs that milder forms of SARS are turning up may make fighting the infection a lot harder, according to a Canadian expert.

More research has linked low sperm count with pesticides, herbicides and insecticides. Researchers find teenagers' brains are underdeveloped when it comes to signaling restraint, and this makes them more vulnerable to drug and alcohol addiction.

A new study finds a majority of Americans are only getting half the health care they need.

The gender of the children born to a woman may be influenced by how much food she has to eat, with famine linked to births of girls.

First it was the West Nile virus, then it was SARS, and now it's monkeypox. Scientists say most emerging diseases are spread to humans from the animal kingdom.

Women who have many children sacrifice longevity in the process. Researchers believe that bearing children uses up valuable energy, which would otherwise be used to repair cells and slow down the aging process - the so-called "disposable soma" theory. There is also an apparent disadvantage to having children early.

Millions of Americans taking popular antioxidants in the hope of preventing heart disease may be putting themselves at risk.

A cure for SARS is unlikely in the near future because of a lack of infected people to test it on as the spread of the disease ebbs, a World Health Organisation official says.

The failure to locate the source of Sars will make it difficult to eradicate the virus, UN health officials warn.

Partygoers who pop ecstasy pills could cause an avalanche of future Alzheimer's patients.

[LONG-TERM CLIMATE PREDICTIONS]
Climate changes may be disastrous for birds that migrate large distances to and from Europe.

Pollution from St Petersburg, Russia, will render the Baltic Sea lifeless unless urgent action is taken, environmentalists warn.

Chinese authorities are ready to fill the reservoir for what will eventually be the largest hydroelectric project in the world, and possibly one of the largest ecological disasters.

[MOVIES AND TV]
Gamers in the United Kingdom are being challenged to design a virtual warrior for a BBC program called FightBox.

[ODDITIES]
Look back at Canada's fascination with UFOs, crop circles and alien abductions.

[POLITICAL PREDICTIONS]
Some kite flyers in Pakistan use metallic strings or coat them with glass shards to take part in "dog fights" where the objective is to cut their opponent's string. Several people have died this year when their throats were cut by the strings. The kites pose a particular threat to motorcyclists and pedestrians in busy residential areas and have also been known to cause power cuts by interfering with electricity lines. Some of the victims were young children.

The family of a man believed to be the pilot of a Boeing 727 that disappeared from Angola last month fears he was hijacked and worries about his fate. U.S. authorities fear the mysteriously missing plane could be used for a terrorist attack Workers at Luanda Airport in Angola watched dumbfounded on May 25 as the Boeing 727 taxied down the runway and took off — without permission. The plane — which was refitted to haul diesel fuel tanks, making it a potential flying bomb — has not been seen since.

[SEASONAL WEATHER PREDICTIONS]
Worst grasshoppier infestation ever - Prairie farmers are facing a grasshopper infestation the likes of which might never have been seen in Western Canada. It's the last kick from a drought that devastated crops last year.

[SPIRITUAL PREDICTIONS]
Politics and personal vendettas may have confused the case of a bone box that supposedly belonged to Jesus' brother. And the debate is hardly over.

Bosses that people perceive to be unfair not only make your working life a misery - they can also pose a significant threat to your health.

Humans may have come close to extinction about 70,000 years ago, according to the latest genetic research. At one point there may have been only 2,000 individuals alive as our species teetered on the brink

Tens of thousands of people have flocked to a U.S. hospital in Massachusetts where it is claimed an image of a robed Madonna has appeared in a window.

[STOCK MARKET PREDICTIONS]
Wireless broadband will be the next dot.com crash - Hopes of a profit bonanza from setting up wireless broadband networks will be dashed, a technology consultancy warns.