"To slash America’s R&D capability in the name of fiscal responsibility would be akin to seeking greater efficiency for an aircraft by jettisoning the engines." - An op/ed co-authored by MIT President L. Rafael Reif and former Intel chief executive and chairman Craig Barrett
"President Obama’s call for a renewed emphasis on 'affordability and value' in assessing colleges and universities pairs those two terms in a way that simultaneously highlights their difference and the degree to which they have become interchangeable in much of the current discourse about higher education."
"Two major providers of free online higher education are expanding the ranks of universities that contribute courses to their Web sites, adding many schools from outside the United States."
"The angst and ire of teenagers is finding new, sometimes dangerous expression online—precipitating threats, fights, and a scourge of harrassment that parents and schools feel powerless to stop."
"As part of its project on the cities of the future, the BBC asked a series of experts to explain their vision of where they would like to live in the future."
"But if our goal is to get Americans to drive less and use more fuel-efficient vehicles, and to reduce air pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases, gas prices need to be even higher."
"The planet Mercury may have had a large, rolling ocean of magma very early in its history after its formation about 4.5 billion years ago, U.S. astronomers say."
"The numbers are not clear, but the topic of baby boomer downsizing from larger home to smaller housing options features prominently in the real estate business news."
"The Silicon Valley aristocrats Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and Yuri Milner have jointly established the most lucrative annual prize in the history of science to reward research into curing diseases and extending human life."
"Eleven scientists, most of them American, were scheduled to be named on Wednesday as the first winners of the world’s richest academic prize for medicine and biology — $3 million each, more than twice the amount of the Nobel Prize."
"Scientist Eric Lander was named today as one of the winners of the new Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the world’s richest academic prize for medicine and biology."