Resources. (Outlook 2003).

* Good news, bad news for water in Africa. Enormous amounts of pure water exist below the deserts of Africa, which could help avert a future water crisis. But the underground aquifers cross international boundaries, raising the specter of future water wars as populations increase and competition

Sep-Oct 2002, p. 2

* Electricity from trees? A gasification process for turning wood into a fuel for electricity could provide cleaner power to remote areas of the world. The wood-gasification generator breaks down wood into smaller volatile compounds that can be burned cleanly.

Jan-Feb 2002, p. 2

* Hydrogen may replace fossil fuels in the near future. Automakers such as DaimlerChrysler and Toyota are developing fuel-cell-powered cars that convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, with plans to put them on roads by 2010.

Jan-Feb 2002, p. 8

* Soybean power could make air transportation cleaner, safer. Using jet fuel blended with soybean oil rather than petroleum-based diesel fuels could reduce harmful exhaust emissions. A bonus benefit: Soy-based biodiesel fuel is nonflammable, making it safer than traditional jet fuels.

Nov-Dec 2001, p. 2

* Chicken feathers may rescue forests. Using chicken-feather fiber instead of wood pulp for insulation, filters, and other paper products

could dramatically reduce demand for trees. And since feather fiber is finer than wood pulp, it could serve as a better air filter for homes and offices, collecting more spores, dust, dander, and other particles.

July-Aug 2002, p. 2

* World oil production will begin declining by 2010, as new technologies lose effectiveness in finding and recovering any more of the planet's limited supplies of petroleum. The result will be higher energy prices and global economic disturbances, according to Princeton University geologist Kenneth S. Deffeyes, author of Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage.

May-June 2002, p. 14

* In the future, we'll wear real power suits. Tiny new solar cells placed directly on extremely flexible plastics and embedded in our clothes could be used to power up small personal radios, computers, and other electronic devices.

July-Aug 2002, p. 6

* Food will be plentiful. Improved agricultural productivity will keep food supply more than adequate for meeting future food demand. Improved diets of developing nation populations may keep global food demand increasing for the foreseeable future, but demand may be checked by negative population growth, expected to be achieved by the end of the twenty-first century.

Tweeten and Zulauf, Sep-Oct 2002, p. 54