Another great artifact from Institute for the Future. This time focusing on the use of genetics to create predator species capable of limiting the growth of problem species - ocean species in this scene.

It raises some good questions and brings together a few current trends: genetic engineering, failure of ecosystems as important species are wiped out to provide food (whether they are the food species or depend on disappearing habitat), and using prize money to crowd-source innovations.

Chemical sensors are capable of detecting and analyzing gases in order to alert us to airborn pollutants from industrial processes, smog, natural events such as volcanic eruption and even terrorist activities (hopefully before they occur). These devices can be arranged wherever we require an awareness of what the air is carrying. US embassies use air quality units to release air quality measurements, sometimes in real time - or not at all.

When there is a major event, awareness of risk conditions for first-responder units is key. This week, Popular Science covered a Connecticut fire department using a drone to identify risk conditions for fire fighters at a quarry. While there isn't much new in using remote controlled devices to minimize the risk to human lives - bomb squads and SWAT teams have used robots for some time to get a look at situations before sending in humans - the drone provided a very different look from the air.

Cities are dense life centers offering a greater range of opportunities and services than those typically present in rural settings. While this offers a strong draw to people looking to take advantage of the wealth and income cities offer, organic growth of urban areas can decrease efficiency and home values when the settings become too complex and disorganized to remain inviting. Urban decay then leads to increases in crime and can be connected with shifts towards suburban settings, which in turn increase air pollution. It's a complex problem that has largely been met with middling results. Can new trends in urban planning help reclaim urban zones?

The World Health Organization forecasts that 60% of humans will live in a city by 2030 and the number will rise to 70% by 2050. Bigger, higher, denser - the characteristics of cities around the world involve a lot of words ending with '-er' - such as dirtier as air pollution increases along the population curve.

The Japanese lingerie manufacturer Ravijour has a new product out they call the True Love Tester bra. You can watch the video linked off the Popular Science article for their presentation of how it works, but the truly interesting detail is the graph of heart rate responses to varying stimuli - and how a company looking to market a new product uses our data.

If I understand this correctly, the bra senses the wearer's heart rate and when it "exceeds a certain value, the bra hook is unlocked automatically." A situation where a biological response can act as a trigger may be a bit part of our wearable future, but is it something we can trust or simply a gizmo to play with?

While the novelty isn't world-changing, it is an example of how our biodata can be used in different ways and how wearables can impact the world around us using our biology as a key.