Previous Columns
9:00 AM EST Monday, May 26, 2008: Today is Memorial Day. It is a U.S. Federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May to commemorate U.S. men and women who perished while in military service. Many people see summer as beginning on the Memorial day weekend and ending on the Labor Day week in September. Financial markets are closed today.

I'm 127 miles north of New York City at our country place. The weather is gorgeous. We've seen a lot of our friends, who are happily moving along school plans, wedding plans, career plans (including several enlistments in the Marines). Playing tennis has been great, watching it even better. The French Open has started. (See below for TV schedule.) Let's skip the gloom and doom and look positively.

How MIT scientists will save us: MIT writes:

As the economy appears to falter and as more Americans fear that the country is on the wrong track, here's something to keep in mind: There is hope on the horizon. History is filled with examples of how technology helped usher in new eras of prosperity. The rise of the Internet is a good case in point: Few people who experienced the economic recession of the early 1990s could have foreseen how the Web and related information technologies would improve their lives and unleash whole new industries within a few short years.

To help build the case for optimism, the MIT News Office asked a collection of MIT faculty and researchers for their thoughts on the potentially life-altering technologies that lie just around the corner. Here's a sample of what they said:

Biosolar cells. Shuguang Zhang, Associate Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering

Among the most pressing challenges to civilization, nothing is greater than securing our energy future.

A low-cost and flexible biosolar energy nanodevice is one of the long-term solutions. Currently, solar cells are expensive and not affordable—even for the most-developed nations. Radical solutions must be found. Nature has already made efficient photosynthesis molecular nanomachines in thermophilic photosynthetic bacteria, algae and plants. We can isolate or emulate them to stabilize them in extended time onto inexpensive semiconducting nanostructured surface in extremely high density to directly harvest photons. This process must be simple, easy to follow and affordable even for developing nations. Our laboratory is developing the process for a decentralized or individualized system for a very low cost photovoltaic device: biosolar cells.

Digital Fabrication. Neil Gershenfeld, Director, Center for Bits and Atoms

The most significant coming technology is the digitization of fabrication, the impact of which will be analogous to the digitization of communication and computation. Like those earlier revolutions, the consequence will be personalization, in this case, allowing anyone to make almost anything, anywhere. Coupled with digital video and digital libraries, this means that the formerly scarce resources (facilities, books, people) of advanced technical institutions (such as MIT) can become much more widely accessible.

Education. Eric Klopfer, Scheller Career Development Professor of Science Education and Educational Technology

The economy of tomorrow will be determined by the students today. As we begin to realize that strict standards-based education has squeezed out much of what makes the U.S. education system unique, new solutions will be required. Solutions that emphasize creativity and innovation, qualities that have become the envy of the rest of the world, will be required. Look for schools to embrace systems that emphasize and enhance these characteristics, including games, media, collaboration and social networking. These products will bridge the widening gap between what students do in and out of school. Solutions such as these, which incorporate both services and software, could be the next frontier for schools, providing business opportunities and preparing for future innovation

Electrochemical Energy. Paula Hammond, Bayer Professor of Chemical Engineering

Long-standing efforts to manipulate materials on the nanometer scale are coming to fruition in some areas. One of those areas is electrochemical energy — devices such as solar cells, capacitors and supercapacitors, fuel cells and batteries. Electrochemical energy involves the reduction and oxidation of materials to either generate energy or to store it. A number of the challenges in achieving high storage capacity and being able to generate power in a highly efficient manner involves manipulating the interfaces between organic and inorganic material systems and facilitating the pathways of charge in devices. In recent years, there has really been an explosion in the number of methods and the level of control over which we can do that. This could mean we’re on the cusp of very real achievement in this area — leading to new, more-efficient photovoltaic devices, batteries and fuel cells.

Embedded Electronics. Michael S. Strano, Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering

One transformation on the near term horizon is the embedding of low-cost electronics into almost every object that we encounter on a day-to-day basis. A pair of sunglasses may have the ability to project a visual display accessing the Internet, have an embedded cell phone and actuate other devices as one glances at them. The technology for this already exists. Flexible electronic paper and electronic clothing will change the way information is projected and harnessed at a personal level. Everyday objects may sense, detect and constantly adjust to our environment, controlling temperature, lighting, noise level, etc.

Fusion. Leslie Bromberg, Principal Research Engineer, Plasma Science and Fusion Center

At the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, our largest projects involve fusion energy research, which has great potential benefit for the long term, but not for the immediate future. However, other developing plasma technologies and spin-off technologies could have a more immediate benefit. Imagine using garden, forest and household wastes to make energy. Using plasma to convert waste to fuel could make a substantial difference in our lives. The hydrocarbons from waste could be turned into hydrogen-rich gas, which could be passed through catalysts to create liquid fuel. Although the process could increase the cost of fuel, it is CO2-neutral and would provide energy security (i.e., independence from fuel provided by unstable governments). The question is: Can we make it small enough so that fuel can be generated in a distributed manner? And will the fuel be stable and have the characteristics necessary for use in internal combustion engines?

Life Extension. Mehmet Fatih Yanik, Asst. Professor of Electrical Engineering

Significant extension of the human lifespan by disease-preventive and tissue-regenerative technologies within the next one to two decades will dramatically impact the world economy. These technologies will probably span everything from small molecule therapies and nano- and microscale devices to whole organ replacement technologies using stem cells. Beyond the scientific and technological hurdles, temporary challenges will include the cost versus benefit of these technologies, legal and ethical concerns, and regulations and strategic investment choices among various options. The current economic slowdown may delay this revolution, but I strongly believe it is unstoppable, and hopefully it will take place within most of our lifetimes.

Problem solving. Ed Boyden, Benesse Career Development Professor, Asst. Professor, MIT Media Lab & Dept. of Biological Engineering

We humans are terrible at taking future problems seriously and solving them, especially those that present consequences more than a few days off. A great need is the ability to effectively solve problems when they are small, or at least before they become enormous threats. This problem is present at the personal, the community and the global level—whether it’s dealing with personal diet and exercise and diabetes, or global climate change. Why are we so bad at anticipating, deciding and acting upon the prevention of problems in the future? One possibility is that we need to use our knowledge of the mind to engineer better information-handling tools and software, for visualizing, understanding and figuring out how to fix problems. We need to understand data and deal with problems at a higher level: Information, by itself, is not enough.

Robots. Rodney Brooks, Panasonic Professor of Robotics

As the baby boomers age, the demographics of Europe, North America, East Asia and Australia will demand that the productivity of all aspects of manual work increase dramatically. Fortunately, robots are just now maturing to the point where they can help with real productivity at practical prices. From virtually no mobile robots deployed anywhere in the world six years ago we now have thousands on active duty in the U.S. military and millions cleaning the floors of American homes. This is the lead-up to a classic hockey-stick growth curve. Just as computers we interact with personally (e.g., desktops, laptops, PDAs, cellphones) transformed our lives over the last 25 years, so, too, will robots transform our lives over the coming 25.

Sustainable cities. William J. Mitchell, Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences

The building and rebuilding of our cities in “smart” sustainable form will produce the next big improvement in our lives. This is an essential task, and a massive one that has the potential to generate a long-term economic boom. As with the Internet, the revolution will not result from a single technology, but from the timely convergence of multiple streams of technological development.

One part of it will be the replacement of the clunky, inefficient, dangerous gasoline-powered automobile with personal mobility systems based upon fleets of lightweight, “smart,” wirelessly networked electric vehicles. A second part will be the emergence of clean, efficient, geographically distributed systems for electricity generation, storage and distribution. A third part will be the embedding of networking capability and intelligence in buildings and products of all kinds. And finally, ubiquitous networking will — like a nervous system — tie all this together so that cities respond, like intelligent organisms, to dynamic changes in their environments and the needs of their inhabitants.

Mexican Oysters
A big Texan stopped at a local restaurant following a day roaming around in Mexico. While sipping his tequila, he noticed a sizzling, scrumptious looking platter being served at the next table. Not only did it look good, the smell was wonderful. He asked the waiter, "What is that you just served?

The waiter replied, "Ah senor, you have excellent taste! Those are called Cojones de Toro, bull's testicles, from the bull fight this morning. A delicacy!"

The cowboy said, "What the heck, bring me an order."

The waiter replied, "I am so sorry senor. There is only one serving per day because there is only one bull fight each morning. If you come early and place your order, we will be sure to save you this delicacy."

The next morning, the cowboy returned, placed his order, and that evening was served the one and only special delicacy of the day.

After a few bites, inspecting his platter, he called to the waiter and said, "These are delicious, but they are much, much smaller than the ones I saw you serve yesterday."

The waiter shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Si, Senor. Sometimes the bull wins."

This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address is . You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing the Google ads on this site. Thus I cannot endorse, though some look interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Michael's business school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click here and here.
Go back.