When it comes to predicting how Earth would look like hundreds of years from now, there are two schools of thought dominating the field of science. First are the conservatives who believe global warming, exhaustion of fuel cells, and destruction of the environment will ultimately lead to our extinction. The second group is the liberals, who think that Homo Sapiens are far too advanced to let these things end their existence - they maintain that we'll be able to come up with scientific methods to clear pollution, produce alternatives for energy, or if all else fails, create a colony of our own outer space.

We're neither fans of human extinction nor are we narcissistic fools, but this latest technological wonder from Netherlands can further fan the flames of that debate.

The folks over at the Delft University of Technology has come up with a solar-powered mouse (not live ones silly, we're talking about computer peripherals here). According to the press release they issued, Sole Mio was designed to be used by anyone with access to sunlight, or even artificial light. The technology behind this product enables it to charge power from sources of light, making it available for the owner's usage. Here's a text from the press release:

With solar energy, under ideal circumstances charging can occur a factor of five times quicker than in the current situation. Over time it is estimated that several hundred million batteries could be saved annually on a global scale. The net environmental benefit is still restricted by the high energy content of current PV cells. However the introduction of new types of cheap and energy-extensive PV cells, on which TU Delft and partners are working, would eventually yield an even higher environmental gain.

So they're looking into making this more environment friendly in the long run. Is this then the first step towards what the liberal wing in science believes as the next stage of man's evolution? Can humans actually create ways to destroy the planet and save itself at the same time?

Wake me up from cryostasis when a solar-powered race is in charge of the planet.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has plans to launch Automated Transfer Vehicles or ATVs to the International Space Station. These vehicles will bring supplies to the station such as food, water and fuel as well as equipment and additional experiments.

The first one of these ATVs is named Jules Verne. The other day, the ATV finally began the journey to its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana after a thorough final testing at the European Space and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Jules Verne is expected to launch around early 2008. Aside from the above-mentioned supplies, Jules Verne will also be carrying an MP3 player for the space station crew loaded by songs from the winner of a recent ESA contest.

The ATV is not just a normal transport vehicle, too. It's also capable of boosting the space station's orbit through its engines. When it leaves the International Space Station six months after, it will be carrying a cargo of waste and will finally burn up in the atmosphere.

Rumors about KFC chicken being artificial may have been debunked, but man-made animal food products aren't impossible to produce. Some researchers from the Netherlands believe that killing a lot of animals isn't good for the environment, and meat created through scientific methods is more efficient.

Only thin layers of cells have been produced by these Dutch scientists so far, but success would mean a lot to Mother Earth.

Everything involved in the process of slaughtering animals and sending them to retailers have a negative effect to the world. If artificial meat was created, methane produced by animals will be reduced, as well as other harmful materials expelled into the air.

Meanwhile, the US is doing their own research: NASA is trying to figure out a way to make meat for astronauts. The question is, even if this becomes successful, will people actually eat artificial meat? The scientists believe that some would definitely avoid unnatural food, but the demand will be high enough.

It has been said many times before that we, as a race, should look for alternative energy sources. When it comes to diesel fuel, the world currently is relying mostly on gasoline and ethanol. However, there's a problem here because most of our ethanol resource come from corn plantations.

While most countries are still looking into this crop, (which we should have been using as a source for food if we may add) the farmers of China, Brazil, and India are trying to tap the potential of jatropha. Many experts believe that the plant is the most viable and promising source of biodiesel.

As a matter of fact, tens of thousands of acres for the cultivation of jatropha have been set aside in the above mentioned countries. China, for example, is planning to have 80,000 acres of jatropha plantation by 2010 in one province alone. However, Fuels from Agriculture in Communal Technology's (FACT) Kees Daey Ouwens in The Netherlands cautions,

Nations and corporations have acted rashly coming to the idea that it is the final answer for many problems. Jatropha is very promising. But there is not enough information to start on such large scales. If they are patient enough, they will find some buyers very soon, because the message is getting out.

The good thing about producing jatropha oil is that it only has one conversion stage. All one has to do is use a hydraulic press to squeeze the oil from the seeds and a chemical solution to create and filter the fuel. It really is much more economical for most nations, not to mention more environment-friendly.

Ideally, one hectare of of jatropha produces 1,892 liters of fuel. But as mentioned, there is still only few available information about the plant that scientists are still considering several factors like ideal conditions for growth, susceptibility to disease, or expected yields per acre.

American and European studies have shown that people with the inclination to believe in the supernatural, such as reincarnation and alien abductions, are more likely to have memory problems than their non-believing counterparts.

Scientists say that the reason behind this may very well be the dilution of memories as those who believe in past lives are more often endowed with the ability to create "false memories" because they have above-average imagery skills. When they get caught up with the fantasies, they have trouble stopping themselves from convincing their own psyche that things aren't always deja vu.

Separate studies in the Haamstricht University in The Netherlands and Harvard University proved the theory by testing respondents in two phases designed to simulate how they would perform normally in everyday activities that require short-term memory.

First, the respondent would be treated with hypnosis, then made to read a list of 20 names which was divided into two subsets. First was a list of popular people's names while the other half was a list of non-popular people's names. After reading the names, the respondents were asked to read the same list again, which was shuffled randomly along with ten new non-popular names.

The task for the respondents was now to classify the names into three - the popular names, the non-popular names they already read and the non-popular names which were added late. The results revealed that the group that had beliefs in reincarnation was twice as likely to make mistakes.

"We suspect that this might be kind of a psychological buffering mechanism against the fear of death," says Richard McNally of Harvard. McNally, a clinical psychologist, also said that the people who have this type of belief sets were also more likely to be depressed and suffer from insomnia. That compounds the problem as sleep loss has been considered a factor in memory loss.

We all know that junk foods are so not good for us, in fact, eating too much of that stuff may even cause various mental illnesses. Now new studies have shown that folic acid, the vitamin prescribed to pregnant women could set back effects of brain aging by five years.

In a study conducted by scientists at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, they found out that people who took high dose of supplements of folic acid did significantly better in tests of memory and cognitive performance.

All of the participants had above average levels of a naturally occurring enzyme called homocysteine, which is over-produced due to low folate levels. High homocysteine levels increase the risk of heart disease and have been associated with atrophy of the hippocampus. This is the part of the brain which plays a pivotal part in memory consolidation.

The 818 study participants, aged 50 to 70, were given 800 micrograms of folic acid daily for three years. Tests showed that their performance on memory and speed of thinking tasks could be comparable to that of people five years younger. However, cognitive functions such as word fluency didn't benefit from the supplements.

That study sure gives us more reasons to eat them green leafy vegetables, beans, and liver, right?