The 18th century produced the steam engine. The
19th yielded the light bulb. The 20th gave us television and the Internet.
So what's ahead in the 21st? Here are a few upcoming innovations that
historians may—or may not notice 100 years from now.
18世纪制造了蒸汽机，19世纪发明了电灯泡，20世纪给我们带来了电视和因特网。那么21世纪等着我们的是什么呢？以下就是即将出现的一些新事物，不知道100年后的历史学家们是否会注意到它们。
| ●Crops of corpuscles. You
can't get blood from a turnip, but how about from corn? Tests at
the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research indicate
that artificial blood for human use can be made by implanting the
hemoglobin-making gene into stalks of corn or leaves of tobacco.
Due date:2003. |
●含有血球的庄稼 从萝卜里提取不出血液，但是玉米呢？法国国家健康医药研究所进行的一项试验表明：只要将制造血红蛋白的基因植入玉米的茎杆或者烟草的叶子中，就能得到可以用在人类身上的人造血液。实现日期：2003年
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| ● Bionic nurse. Space travel
is just one of the roles envisioned for a robot that scientist Joseph
Engelberger is helping NASA develop. Engelberger, who sold General
Motors its first industrial robot for assembly-line work in 1961,
wants the space agency's two-armed, voice-controlled machine to
serve also as a health aide to the elderly. It would fetch sundries,
assist with walking, and communicate with doctors. Engelberger even
hopes it will detect changes in a depressed person's voice. "Talk
to me about it," the robot would say. Due date: 2005. |
●仿生护士 进行太空探索只是科学家约瑟夫·艾格博格正在为美国航空航天局（NASA）研制的机器人的功能之一。通用汽车公司第一个操作生产线的工业机器人就是艾格博格于1961年出售给他们的。现在他希望为航天局研制的有着双手的声控机器人也能护理老年人。他希望机器人能够帮老年人拿取各种物品，协助他们行走，并帮他们与医生交流。艾格博格甚至希望机器人能够凭借探测到的声音变化觉察出一个人心情沮丧，并对他说：“跟我说说烦心事吧。”实现日期：2005年 |
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| ●Drive the friendly skies.
Highway traffic won't go down, so the only way to go is up. Moller
International of Davis, Calif., expects its M400 Skycar to take
off and land like a helicpoter and cruise at 350 mph like an airplane.
It would get 15 miles per gallon of fuel and, at $100,000, cost
not a great deal more than some luxury automobiles. Due date: 2010. |
●空中行驶 公路交通不可能再向地下发展，惟一的办法是向天上拓展。加州戴维斯的Moller国际公司期望他们所生产的M400空中汽车能够像直升机一样起飞和降落，并且像飞机一样时速达到350英里。这种新型交通工具每15英里耗燃料一加仑，售价十万美金，比某些豪华汽车高不了多少。实现日期：2010年 |
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| ●Dr. Loo. In 1910, at the
Pennsylvania Railroad depot, the first pay toilet was installed.
It took your money. Now in the works is a high-tech toilet. It will
take your temperature. Sensors on the commode also will monitor
body weight and blood pressure and check the levels of sugar and
protein in the urine of kidney disease and diabetes patients. The
toilet, from Japanese electronics giant Matsushita, then will transmit
the data to a physician. Due date: 2003. |
●厕所博士 1910年，宾夕法尼亚火车站里安装了第一个收费厕所，它会向你收钱。而现在研制的是一种高科技厕所，它会测量你的体温。马桶上的传感器能够监控你的体重和血压，并且检测出肾病和糖尿病患者尿液中的糖份和蛋白质的含量。然后，这个由日本电子业巨头松下公司生产的厕所将会把这些数据传送到医生那里。实现日期：2003年 |
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| ●Virtual Dilbert*. Virtual
reality guru Jaron Lanier is leading a four-campus effort to create
"Telecubicles," work spaces that can be linked electronically.
Cubicle walls become screens onto which distant colleagues are projected,
and the worker's desk becomes part of a shared worktable across
which virtual memos may be passed. Due date: 2005. |
●虚拟办公 虚拟现实专家加伦·拉尼尔正领导四个大学共同组成的研究小组创建“远距离工作室”，即工作空间实现电子化连接。工作间的隔板变成了屏幕，相距很远的同事可以通过屏幕交流，而每个人的办公桌则成了共同工作台的一部分，在上面虚拟文件可以相互传送。实现日期：2005年 |
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| ●Smog cutter. Auto mechanics
of the future likely will be raising the hood to look at the "Plasmatron.?That's
what MIT researchers call a device aimed at dramatically cutting
emissions of nitrogen oxide, the main component in smog. Their invention,
the size of a wine bottle, uses a mix of electronically charged
particles, called "Plasma," to help turn gasoline into
a more efficient fuel, one that's rich in hydrogen. Due date: 2005. |
●烟雾消除剂 未来的汽车修理工在拉开汽车发动机罩时，看到的是一个“等离子体发生器”。这是麻省理工学院研究者给他们发明的装置取的名字。该装置能够奇迹般地消除汽车废气的主要成份——氮氧化物。他们发明的装置只有酒瓶大小，用电解产生的微粒混合物，即“等离子体”，让汽油变成富含氢气的更加高效能的燃料。实现日期：2005年 |
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| ●Stiffing thugs. A device
being developed in San Diego gives new meaning to the police command
"Freeze!?HSV Technologies Inc. says its "Phaser weapon?emits
a laser beam that painlessly and harmlessly immobilizes a suspect
by causing his muscles to contract. The challenge now is to make
the briefcase-size device as small as a handgun. Due date: undetermined. |
●束手就擒 正在圣地亚哥研制的一种装置让警察的那句“不许动！”有了新的含义。HSV技术公司解释说，他们研制的“相位武器”能发射一道激光束，使嫌疑犯的肌肉收缩继而全身僵硬，整个过程无痛无害。目前面临的问题是怎样把公文包大小的装置改造成手枪大小。实现日期：未定 |
