News

The futures foundation first reviewed Stewart Brand’s book “The Clock of the Long Now” when it came out in 1999.  The actual clock is now being constructed in the USA. The entire article about the construction of the clock can … Continued

EARTH is observed as never before. Satellites track typhoons, monitor volcanic-ash plumes and catalogue the changing ways in which human beings use the land. The sort of high-quality imagery that, a couple of decades ago, was the preserve of spies … Continued

At the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, work is almost finished on a huge new solar plant that’s set to provide one megawatt of renewable power for the local electricity grid. The new plant sits just a hundred metres … Continued

Self-driving cars are now a regular fixture in some American cities, but they are heavily reliant on high-precision 3D maps of the roads. That means they can’t tackle the vast majority of the country that hasn’t been charted, but MIT … Continued

Coal, which fueled the world’s biggest economies for more than a century, is increasingly losing out to renewables. The latest example of how one of the dirtiest fossil fuels is being squeezed out of the market came this week in … Continued

Scientists found that neurons in mammalian brains were capable of producing photons of light, or “Biophotons”! The photons, strangely enough, appear within the visible spectrum. They range from near-infrared through violet, or between 200 and 1,300 nanometers. Scientists have an exciting suspicion that our … Continued

s it a tram, or is it a train, or even a fancy bus? The world’s first electric-powered ‘trackless train’ has been launched in China. Using virtual rail lines on the streets of Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, the new Autonomous Rail … Continued

Humanity has been fascinated by Mars since long before we stepped foot on the Moon. Our planetary neighbor has been the subject of innumerable works of sci-fi and inspired countless dreams of adventure and exploration. Now, after decades of determination, research, and scientific breakthroughs, … Continued

Vattenfall deployed the first of two Vestas 8.8-megawatt wind turbines at its European testing center. Swedish energy giant Vattenfall announced Tuesday that it successfully installed an 8.8-megawatt capacity offshore wind turbine from Vestas at the European Offshore Wind Deployment Center (EOWDC) off … Continued

Last 2016, solar power saw a resurgence — from cheaper solar panels to innovative roofing for houses and cars, to solar powered roads, and even to powering an entire island. It seems we have entered a new age in solar energy. Well, it doesn’t end there. In the … Continued

In 2016 the futures foundation re-posted an article about efforts being made to clean up the world’s oceans (https://futuresfoundation.org.au/worlds-first-ocean-cleaning-system-will-deployed-2016/ ).  We have recently been contacted by a US based not for profit organisation doing much more in this space than we … Continued

10 March 2018 The Economic, Education and Skills Committee, Inquiry into career advice activities in Victorian Schools   Dear Members of the Inquiry Panel Our reading of submissions already made to this inquiry suggests they fall into two broad groups: … Continued

The Warren Centre has published a new report, The Circular Economy: Global Trends and Future Challenges, investigating how improvements to supply chains could vastly reduce financial and environmental waste. The term “circular economy” refers to a system where resources are … Continued

The nation’s strong agricultural and mining sectors laid the foundations for 26 years of continuous economic growth, but without undertaking significant risks in innovation, this growth would not have occurred. The Brookings Institute examines why it is difficult to measure … Continued

As we adapt our cities for the next 100 years, it’s important and thrilling to remind ourselves that this is a rare moment in technology where an innovation can be designed to build community. If we play our cards right, … Continued

The trouble with the future is that it never seems to arrive. That’s why we call it the future. We consequently have this bad habit of taking the present, and all the wondrous and horrific things it has to offer, … Continued

Colouring books and crayons often have a hard time competing against smartphone games and YouTube videos, especially as children come into contact with mobile devices from a very early age. Researchers at the Game Technology Center have combined the advantages … Continued

An article under the heading “Life is a six-letter word” the 2 December 2017 edition of the Economist reports on research by Dr Floyd Romseberg and his colleagues in which they have created two chemical bases which they have proven … Continued

Sophia the robot’s recognition as a Saudi citizen made international headlines — and sparked an outcry against a country with a shoddy human rights record that has been accused of making women second-class citizens. Until recently, the most famous thing … Continued

A spin-off of an ambitious idea to refreeze the Arctic using machines is about to get a trial run in Switzerland where a team of researchers plan to add ice to a glacier in the Alps using snow machines. One … Continued