As the world's reserves of oil and gas run out over the coming decades, the birth-rates of societies are likely to fall considerably, a US scientist says.

World oil production will peak within this decade, or, in the best-case scenarios, sometime in the next decade, according to the author of a new book, The End of the Age of Oil. He reviews existing alternative fuels but argues that ''the best, most conservative bet for ameliorating the coming fuel crisis is the gradual improvement of existing technologies''.

A U.S. company is building a demonstration plant for a revolutionary process that could convert any organic matter into fuel oil.

Researchers have developed an efficient process to convert organic solids into liquid fuel. The process, thermal depolymerization process, is designed to take almost any waste product imaginable and turn it into one of three products, all valuable and environmentally benign: high-quality oil, clean-burning gas, and purified minerals that can be used as fuels, fertilizers, or specialty chemicals for manufacturing.

World-class contrarian Thomas Gold has a theory about life on the planet: It\'s pumping out of the Earth\'s crust - and it\'s swimming in oil.