Teens see gas cars going away before CDs

Thirty three percent of teens surveyed in the Lemelson-MIT Invention Index predicted the demise of gasoline powered cars by 2015. Only 26 percent, however, expected compact disks to become obsolete in the next decade.

Teens were also somewhat optimistic that technology could ameliorate many of the world's pending environmental problems. 91 percent thought tech could tackle the issue of clean water while 89 percent were optimistic about solving world hunger. 84 percent felt that technology could provide answers for pollution reduction.

"Perhaps more than any preceding generation, today's young people are completely comfortable with rapid technological change," Lemelson-MIT Program Director Merton Flemings said in a prepared statement. "The rate of innovation, as reflected in U.S. patent applications, has more than doubled during their lifetime."

Opinion Research conducted the survey on behalf of the Lemelson-MIT program. It surveyed 500 teens.

The Lemelson-MIT Program is dedicated to advancing scientific education and gives out large cash grants to independent inventors and students. It is funded by the Lemelson Foundation, which was created out of the estate of Jerome Lemelson, one of the more polarizing figures in the technology world. Proponents hailed him as a prolific inventor. Others say he merely exploited patent law to amass a fortune.