TOP 10 FORECASTS FROM OUTLOOK 2006

The editors of "The Futurist" have cited the following items as the top 10 forecasts from Outlook 2006:

1. Nanotechnology will be used in each and every field from the military to environmental applications such as transforming waste into edible material and even in the world of medicine.

2. U.S. public education will face an uphill battle for survival. The National Education Association has estimated that a staggering $322 billion dollars is needed to repair ailing school facilities or build new facilities, and equip schools with modern technology.

3. Wind and tidal power will grow considerably in the next five years. Researchers have projected 5,800 megawatts of offshore renewable capacity will be installed between 2004 and 2008, of which 99 percent will be in the form of offshore wind farms. Worldwide, the offshore wind market will grow to $3 billion a year by 2008.

4. More doctors and hospitals will use wireless technologies such as wearable computers and mattresses embedded with sensors to help care for patients facilitating constant and more reliable monitoring of patients’ vital signs.

5. Digital electronic assistant programs will surf the Net on our behalf and enable us to amass entire digital libraries on a given subject by doing nothing more than setting a few key search guidelines.

6. As life spans increase, more people will be affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

7. Death by global warming. Taking into account climate changes and population growth compounded with projected growth in greenhouse gases, it is estimated that the ozone death toll could increase by a shocking 60%.Also, urban heat waves will get hotter and last upto 9 days longer.

8. Science in Latin America will rise considerably. The surge of science scholarship here is considered an indicator of nations’ growing commitment to investing in the latest technology

9. Look out for a job boom in solar industries, with some 42,000 new U.S. jobs by 2015. In the next decade, the U.S. solar industry is expected to generate more than $34 billion. By 2025, Solar power can save U.S. consumers approximately $64 billion.

10. The open-source phenomenon will transform employment as radically as blogging has changed the fields of media and journalism.

("Top 10 Forecasts from Outlook 2006")

http://www.wfs.org/forecasts.htm

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