Does America Risk Global Decline?

We are so used to thinking of the US as the "leader of the free world" and "the world's only superpower" that we may fail to heed warning signs pointing to a loss of America's global edge. In a recent essay, Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria compares America's current world position with that of Great Britain in the 1890's -- a time when few imagined that any entity other than the British Empire could dominate the globe:

Well, Americans have replaced Britons atop the world, and we are now worried that history is happening to us. History has arrived in the form of "Three Billion New Capitalists," as Clyde Prestowitz's recent book puts it, people from countries like China, India and the former Soviet Union, which all once scorned the global market economy but are now enthusiastic and increasingly sophisticated participants in it. They are poorer, hungrier and in some cases well trained, and will inevitably compete with Americans and America for a slice of the pie. A Goldman Sachs study concludes that by 2045, China will be the largest economy in the world, replacing the United States.

Zakaria doesn't think America's decline is inevitable -- in fact, he cites many areas of unparalleled US leadership and excellence -- he warns that our continued neglect of our infrastructure, combined with losses in technical and manufacturing expertise, could very well compromise America's position on the world stage in the coming years.

RELATED: Seed magazine asks a damn good question: "How come scientists are famous in Asia, and we get Kevin Federline?"

Can Play-Doh and Gummi Bears Fool Fingerprint Scanners?

Fingerprint scanners have typically been considered one of the more dependable (and therefore popular) security technologies -- reliable, intuitive and largely foolproof.  Recently, though, cryptographers have experimented with materials that can simulate a human thumb and bear a bogus fingerprint that a scanner might accept. 

The results have been sobering enough for some information security experts to recommend a complete rethinking of fingerprint technology.  Materials as common as Play-Doh and Gummi Bears have been shown to retain forged fingerprints that scanners then read as authentic.  In one test run by a Japanese cryptographer, a false finger made from Gummi Bears fooled a fingerprint scanner 80% of the time!

Source: RealTechNews

Building Computers with Vision

As smart as computers are these days, they still have crummy eyesight. Electronic eyes cannot readily distinguish different shapes, let alone add context to what they see. Humans, on the other hand, take it for granted that we can not only instantly tell a cat apart from a dog, but can identify faces of individuals on sight.

Now, a team at MIT's Center for Biological and Computational Learning is seeking to develop software that could help electronic cameras understand more of what they see, and act on it instantly. For instance, such software could be added to surveillance cameras to allow them to instantly identify an intruder and sound an alarm. Or, it could help a robot more clearly navigate visually.

Of course, this is no mean feat, as humans use as much as 40% of their brain function for interpreting what they see. Moreover, we don't fully understand how the brain works in this area. The software developers are seeking to replicate this action by helping computers analyze images pixel by pixel, and identifying differences among pixel positions and colors.

Source: MIT Technology Review

Where Mind Meets Machine

Scientists are making huge strides in developing computing devices that interface directly with the human mind. CNET profiles several such experiments, including:

• BrainGate, a computer that allows those with spinal cord injuries and other immobilizing conditions to control electronic devices through their thoughts.


• BioBricks, an open source library of DNA sequences and other biological components for synthetic organisms (or "genetically engineered machines").


• DARPA's "BioCOMP" biocomputation project, which strives to use DNA for storage and computation (perhaps the ultimate man-machine interface).

Social Networking Technology in the Classroom

Teachers whose students have a comfort level with social networking technologies can leverage those systems in classroom instruction. An article in the online education journal Innovate explains how wikis and systems such as MySpace and Facebook can serve as a "secondary orality," combining the immediacy and interactivity of oral communication with the permanence of print. Of course, this is not new in academia, but today's generation of tools, as well as students' preferences, make it more practical than ever before.

MTV Produces TV Series for Mobile Phones

Its influential, tech-savvy audience have made MTV's productions -- Beavis and Butt-Head, Jackass and The Osbournes -- trendsetters. If its latest TV series, Sway's Hip-Hop Owner's Manual, is a similar trailblazer, it'll be with a difference -- the series is being produced especially for video-capable cell phones.

Each episode, which will explain words and phrases associated with hip-hop, will be approximately three minutes long, and will be scaled for the very small screen. And while TV shows for cell phones have been produced in Europe and Asia for some time, this is the first effort targeting 18-24-year-old Americans (the trend setters that MTV calls the "cred kids").

MTV is banking on being on the forefront of a market that could grow to $27 billion by the end of the decade, according to one estimate. However, mobile video is so new that there's no agreement on what audiences really want, or how it will make money. How, for instance, will viewers respond to ads, and what type will work? Will the "cred kids" really welcome top-down content, or are they searching for grass-roots material from their peers? And how exactly are people using mobile video? Those who examine this market note the phenomenon of "video snacking" -- watching mobile videos during brief break periods.

Source: New York Times

Americans Wary of Nuclear Power

Those who advocate nuclear power as a solution to America's future energy challenges have an uphill battle convincing the public. When asked about the feasibility of various alternative energy sources, a majority of Americans displayed deep skepticism about the use of nuclear power, believing that conservation and other alternative sources were better near-term solutions.

Concerns about nuclear power centered on cost and time rather than safety. The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Civil Society Institute, found that 61% of those surveyed believed that America couldn't afford to wait for nuclear power if "building more nuclear power plants will take a decade or more in the US and cost tens of billions of dollars." The responses remained consistent across the political spectrum, with both conservatives and liberals in remarkable agreement.

The respondents overwhelmingly agreed (88%) that conservation should be the first step toward reducing energy dependence and emissions, followed by harnessing wind and solar power. Even if building new nuclear power plants was considered an option, most respondents said, "Not in my backyard!" Of those surveyed, 81% said the did not want "to have a nuclear power plant reactor constructed next to or otherwise close" to their home.