Information: the ultimate frontier

Although long-term forecasting is best left to science fiction writers, scientists can illumine basic technological trends, as in the 100-year scenario presented here. Computers will continue the "small is beautiful" trend, but they are not likely to follow the semilog trail because extrapolation from the current base would lead to absurdities such as a computer cost of 3/100 of a cent. To achieve inexpensive high speed and Lilliputian size, new techniques are likely to replace silicon technology. The ultimate computer might be biological and patterned on DNA. Future computers will reacquire information when needed rather than store it, and we will see personalized products at mass production prices. Light wave communication will broaden communications exchange, but software that is more friendly to human users will be needed. By taking over knowledge distribution, electronic information systems will let universities concentrate on new knowledge. More importantly, they will expand everyone's right to information and free expression through the existing media system and to protection from misuse of information by others.     

Methylene: a paradigm for computational quantum chemistry

The year 1970 has been suggested as a starting date for the "third age of quantum chemistry," in which theory takes on not only qualitative but also quantitative value. In fact, each of the years 1960, 1970, 1972, and 1977 is of historical value in the unraveling of the structure and energetics of the CH(2) molecule, methylene. What took place for methylene, namely the establishment of credibility for theory, has subsequently taken place for many other molecules. Three important roles for quantitative theory are outlined: (i) theory precedes experiment; (ii) theory overturns experiment, as resolved by later experiments; and (iii) theory and experiment work together to gain insight that is afforded independently to neither. Several examples from each of the three classes are given.     

Lunar surface chemistry: a new imaging technique

Detailed chemical maps of the lunar surface have been constructed by applying a new weighted-filter imaging technique to Apollo 15 and Apollo 16 x-ray fluorescence data. The data quality improvement is amply demonstrated by (i) modes in the frequency distribution, representing highland and mare soil suites, which are not evident before data filtering and (ii) numerous examples of chemical variations which are correlated with small-scale (about 15 kilometer) lunar topographic features.