Instructify

It occurred to me the other night, as I was sending tweets via my cell phone about a documentary regarding life on the Canadian prairie in the 19th century on YouTube, that I often feel the dichotomy between an older, simpler life and one that today moves at the speed of bits and bytes.

And while some may pine for the Luddite charms of a pre-digital age, Live Science shows us how new technologies enrich our lives in this ever-changing world. They have compiled a list of the top-ten emerging environmental technologies that are geared to improving our way of life.

Many of us are already familiar with some of these improvements, including the hydrogen fuel cells that power the many hybrid cars that we now see on the road. But how many of us have imagined using the same, re-useable electronic paper for both the morning newspaper and our evening mystery novel or desalinating seawater as a way of counteracting global water supply shortfalls?

The Live Science list tells us all this and more, providing budding scientists new and exciting options as they consider future career paths, which is good news for Luddites: this new generation of technologists may save the planet after all! – DAVID BARGER

Top-ten emerging environmental technologies

Photo Credit: http://lugar.senate.gov/graphics/energy/alternatives/hybrid.jpg