Emerging Ideas Short Takes

Staff Utne Reader

The UK's DNA Dungeon
The United Kingdom's National DNA Database, which began in 1995 as a catalog of convicted criminals, now includes permanently retained DNA collected from people who were charged but acquitted, and those who were arrested and never charged. Volunteers who give their DNA during an investigation-even crime victims-may also find their DNA on permanent record. The database now includes DNA from 3.5 million people, about 700,000 of them children. Despite the steady expansion of the database, though, the number of crimes solved by using the genetic material has not increased, reports GeneWatch (Nov./Dec. 2006). Moreover, concerns about misuse of the samples are growing. The database is routinely used for research without consent, sometimes for controversial projects, such as studies of the Y chromosome to predict ethnicity. This is particularly alarming, GeneWatch explains, because such predictions are uncertain and could either mislead police or reinforce prejudices about who may have committed a crime.

Big Brother Bush
In an October move that garnered little public reaction, President Bush signed into law a provision making it easier for presidents to declare martial law. According to the Asheville Global Report (Nov. 2-8, 2006), the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 allows the president to 'suppress public disorder' by declaring a 'public emergency,' station troops anywhere in the country, and take control of state-based National Guard units-all without the agreement of state and local authorities. The law also allows military police to round up and detain protesters, 'illegal aliens,' 'potential terrorists,' and other 'undesirables.' Democratic senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont provided the lone voice of opposition, pointing out that using the military for law enforcement runs counter to main tenets of our democracy.

The War Games, They Are a-Changin'
We were fascinated when we read Andy Tompkins and Andrew Sheerin discuss their creation War on Terror-the Boardgame, in Red Pepper (Nov. 2006). With critics skewering the game as 'sick,' 'dangerous,' and 'insensitive,' we had to see it (and play it) ourselves. Fans of the game Risk will recognize its complicated global-domination theme, but there are fresh satirical twists: You can fund terrorist cells if you want to bring down your opponents. You can even become the terrorists if you run out of money. The ultimate goal of the game? To 'liberate' the world, earn as much oil money as you can, and ruffle a few feathers.

Ecofriendly Fire
Soldiers may always return from war nursing gunshot wounds, but they no longer need to worry that bullets lodged in their bodies are loaded with lead. The London-based Sunday Times (Sept. 17, 2006) reports that BAE Systems, one of the world's biggest arms producers, is working on a new arsenal of ecofriendly weapons, including lead-free bullets.

The British company is also developing explosives that can be composted, armored cars with reduced carbon emissions, and weaponry with fewer volatile organic compounds (those wily carcinogenic compounds that also contribute to global warming).

While some activists find the idea of a mass weapons producer going green ludicrous, the company insists that its commitment to minimizing war's collateral damage is an earnest one. According to BBC News online (Oct. 26, 2006), BAE director of corporate responsibility Deborah Allen told the BBC World Service program Culture Shock, 'We all have a duty of care to ensure that from cradle to grave products are being used appropriately and do not do lasting harm.' She may have missed the irony.

Urban Planning 2.0
MIT researchers have teamed up with city officials in Zaragoza to bring a storied streetscape in one of Spain's oldest cities into the digital age. The Digital Mile project, led by Dennis Frenchman and William J. Mitchell, will offer free wireless Internet that allows the public access to information (historical notes, directions to the train station) via cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), reports Places (18.2). Also proposed are intelligent street and building lights that could change color or intensity, depending on the time of day and number of users in the area. Still other elements include digital facades, moveable physical elements that provide shade, and a 'waterwall' that reacts to human interaction. The idea is that such 'digital places' would respond to individual users and help them form personal associations with this new type of urban environment.

Phoning It In
Imagine spotting a cafe across the street, pointing your phone at it, and having the day's menu pop up on the screen. Nokia researchers have developed a prototype phone that accesses this 'augmented reality,' where information from computers or the Internet is superimposed on the real world. According to Technology Review (Nov. 20, 2006), the 'souped-up' phone uses various sensors to identify a user's location. The phone then reviews a database of objects visible to its camera and provides information or hyperlinks about them. It could even link to the blog of a person walking by. But challenges abound, including the phone's considerable power needs and privacy issues.

[word watch]
Ubiquitous City
noun: An urban environment built on an expansive communications infrastructure that links the virtual and real worlds. Municipal World (Dec. 2006) explains that in the 'U City' your lawn sprinkler could check the weather report online and activate itself if needed. A 'smartcard' could pay for your taxi-and serve as your house key. It's not just science fiction: South Korean planners are spending $25 billion to build New Songdo City, the world's first ubiquitous city, by 2010.

Life in the Rubble
Sri Lanka's Yala National Park is making great strides in recovering from the devastating 2004 tsunami-without any help from humans. According to Discover (Dec. 2006), biologist Prithiviraj Fernando convinced the Department of Wildlife Conservation to postpone cleanup efforts in the preserve in order to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity to study the little-understood impact of tsunamis on ecosystems. His team found that grasses and herbs that drowned in salt water had quickly begun to recover. So had trees and bushes that were damaged, but not entirely uprooted, by the force of the wave. The impact on animals was harder to assess: Only a small number of large mammals were caught in the wave, though many small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians probably drowned. Areas not swamped by water provided ample opportunity for recolonization, and the masses of vegetative debris left in damaged areas could prove useful as nesting sites.

Bird's-Eye View
The Fujifilm Blimp is pulling double duty these days, hawking the company's wares to fans at Yankee Stadium and helping activists track the movement of migratory wading birds. According to Audubon (Nov./Dec. 2006), about seven islands in the tidal waterways around New Jersey and New York are colonized by wading birds every year. Local Audubon volunteers have surveyed these bird populations on foot for a quarter century. The blimp can actually follow the birds in flight, allowing researchers to identify key wetlands for acquisition and restoration to protect the egrets, herons, and ibis that make their summer homes there.

The Giving Tree
Mass urban tree plantings may not just beautify cities but also save them money, reports High Country News (Nov. 13, 2006). According to the Center for Urban Forest Research in Davis, California, each dollar spent on a tree in Los Angeles recoups benefits worth $2.80. Trees suck carbon dioxide from the air; shade buildings, lowering air-conditioning costs; and reduce stormwater runoff by slowing rainfall and absorbing water that would otherwise hit the pavement. But not all trees are urban ecowarriors. Researchers at the State University of New York at Syracuse note that some trees sequester more carbon than others, OnEarth (Winter 2007) explains. And while trees do emit some volatile organic compounds, which contribute to the formation of ozone and lower air quality, some species are worse offenders than others.

Preserving Suburbia
'Suburban historical landmark' may sound like an oxymoron, but as the cookie-cutter subdivisions developed after World War II turn 50, many of the ramblers lining their streets are becoming eligible for historic preservation. Governing (Oct. 2006) reports that architecture historians are struggling with the idea of what elements, if any, should indeed be protected. Some preservationists consider the suburban tracts of ranch houses antiurban and antipedestrian, and therefore unworthy of historic designation. Others argue that examples of the style, even if they aren't beautiful, should be preserved for future generations. But first, historians need to figure out what actually constitutes a good example of post-World War II architecture and planning; then they need to sort through the sheer magnitude of ramblers built in that era to figure out what to preserve.

Roadkill: It's What's for Dinner
Along America's highways and railroad tracks, there's an often-ignored food supply: roadkill. Among the many benefits of this accidental cuisine, the San Francisco Chronicle (Dec. 3, 2006) notes, is using it to feed the needy.

Food Bank of Alaska has an agreement with Alaska Railroad to retrieve moose killed on railroad tracks and process the animals into one-pound packages of ground meat. Amy Stevens, communications manager for the Anchorage-based outfit, tells Utne Reader that the packages are distributed to 300 agencies across the state. Last fall, the food bank signed an agreement with the Division of Alaska State Troopers to retrieve and process moose killed by cars in the Anchorage area.

In Spokane, Washington, volunteers with the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council's roadkill recovery committee work with the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife and local and state law enforcement agencies to retrieve deer, elk, and moose that are killed or injured on Spokane-area roads. Every year, says committee head Jim Kujala, the program collects about 5,000 pounds of meat, which is donated to the Union Gospel Mission in Spokane. Only the freshest roadkill will do: 'If you wouldn't eat it yourself, don't take it to the mission,' Kujala says.

Test-Tube Meat
Forget Tang. How about a nice steak dinner for the astronauts? NASA scientists trying to boost cosmic menus hit upon the idea of sending cells from farm animals into space to be cloned for food. VegNews (Jan./Feb. 2006) reports that their concept of lab-grown meat may spread to the earthbound. With a single cell, university researchers say, it's theoretically possible to produce the world's yearly meat supply-in a way that's cheaper, cleaner, and more humane than the current factory-farm model. There would be no manure or slaughter to deal with, nor any E. coli, salmonella, or mad cow disease. And no pesky animal rights activists.