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What is the next big field in science? You could ask your friends, check with your school if you are still in school, or get it from the horse's mouth. Scientists are saying that the next big boom will be in biotechnology. They are saying that there is an enormous potential in this field and as yet it is almost untapped. So who exactly has stated that this is an up and coming field? Scientists at a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science made the prediction. I guess if anyone would know, it would be them.

Mississippi River
Photo Source: Stock.xching

There is a very large problem with a lot of the world's rivers. They are shrinking and the flow of water is in decline. This has been going on for over 50 years. About one third of the largest rivers in the world seem to be grossly affected. It has been described this way, “The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi River”. Global warming is causing just the opposite effect in the Arctic because of melting ice. Were the predictions of rising oceans wrong? Fresh water will become a tremendous problem, especially for people living in the mid to lower latitudes, causing extreme hardship for those densely populated areas.

Space junk is causing more serious problems every day for satellites and launches into space. As I write this article, the Hubble Space Telescope is being repaired by astronauts who are actually in danger of being hit by this stuff while trying to repair the telescope. It doesn't have to be a big chunk of junk to cause incredible damage. Even pieces the size of grains of sand are a danger to someone on a space walk. A nut or bolt sized object could cripple the shuttle, or space station. It is about time for the world to begin thinking about how they are going to clean up the mess, if they want to launch more satellites into space.

Passwords
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Studies have been conducted to discover what the most commonly used passwords are. I am going to show you a list of the top 50, if I were you I would never use them. Here they are:
123456, Jesus, password, love, 1234567860, Christ, Jesus1, princess, blessed, sunshine, faith, 1234567, angel, single, lovely, freedom, blessing, 12345, grace, iloveyou, 77777777, heaven, angels, shadow, 1234, tigger, summer, hope, looking, peace, mother, Michael, shalom, rotimi, football, victory, happy, purple, John316, Joshua, London, superman, church, loving, computer, mylove, praise, saved, Richard, pastor.

The U.S. Army is thinking about building the biggest aircraft ever made by man. It is called the Walrus and they have been deciding for years if they should. Now we all know how big the Boeing 747 is and the new Airbus if far bigger, but both would look meager next to the new vehicle. The idea is that this vehicle would be able to move an entire unit with all its equipment. The Walrus is an aircraft, but it is a blimp. It wouldn't need an airstrip and it would be the size of a football field. I personally think that maybe this should be rethought. When you put all of your eggs in one basket, you can lose all of your eggs. Imagine the tragedy if this blimp was shot down. The loss of life and equipment would be tremendous. There is something to be said for spreading things out.

Speaking about aircraft. Scientists are working hard to perfect a self repairing aircraft. The idea is to figure out a way that aircraft could repair themselves while still in the air or on the ground. They think that they may have found the magic bullet. A technique that mimics healing. It is found in nature. According to scientists at Bristol University who developed the technique, here is how it works. “If a tiny hole or crack appeared in an aircraft (for example, due to wear and tear, fatigue or a stone striking the plane), epoxy resin would 'bleed' from embedded vessels nearby and quickly seal it up, restoring structural integrity. By mixing dye into the resin, any 'self-mends' could be made to show as colored patches that could easily be pinpointed during subsequent ground inspections, and a full repair carried out if necessary”.

Diamond
Photo Source: Stock.xching

When the temperance movement was in high gear, some people said that alcohol was worthless and could only lead you to trouble. That may have been true for some people then, but now alcohol can actually make you rich. Scientists have just created the world's first diamonds using Tequila Blanco, which is an 80 proof drink.

It has been called the most important experiment in the world by some. Scientists are hard at work building a computer. Oh it is not just another electronic box that sorts our data, it is far more. The project is called the Blue Brain Project. The computer will hopefully be able to explore many functions of our brains. It is being designed to mirror our brain's biological functions. The machine will mathematically imitate the interactions between the individual neurons of the brain and the effects of the neurotransmitters on those cells. The amount of data is enormous and to handle it, IBM has redesigned its most powerful computer to handle the job. The computer can process over 22 trillion operations per second. I just hope that they don't find out something that we don't want to know.