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Several years ago, upon my return from a bloggercon of some kind, I was enthused by the atmosphere at the event and thought to myself how nice it would be to have something similar but with a focus on science. I posted my thoughts on the blog and received many enthusiastic comments and e-mails

Most ideas never happen because they get abandoned along the way.

Intermittency is a well-known weakness of solar and wind power--they're good when the sun shines and the wind blows, say critics, but what about when it doesn't?

Facebook "Project Spartan" To Launch Next Week? A leaked Facebook mobile developers page has revealed the insides of a new mobile Facebook app, that TechCrunch identifies and confirms to be the rumored Project Spartan, Facebook's web-based HTML5 mobile app.

By Alison Abbott of Nature magazine The health-research division of the European Commission launches its largest-ever project next week with a €30-million (US$41-million) investment in understanding the human epigenome, the constellation of DNA modifications that shape how genes are expressed. With the project, called BLUEPRINT, Europe intends to become a major player in the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC), set up last year to help biologists understand how the epigenome influences health and disease

Consider staging a Comedy Central-style celebrity roast of your top-selling product. Once a year or so, everyone at our company gets together for a week to hang out, work together, and socialize. Because 37signals consists of 28 people located in nearly 20 cities around the world, these get-togethers are rare—and important

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg shook things up at the social media/news interface when he announced Facebook's upcoming partnerships with a number of major news organizations. The Washington Post's Social Reader already looks like a slick piece of work , and apps such as that from other news organizations could dramatically change the way 750 million people (give or take) encounter and read news on the web.

An Italian experiment has unveiled evidence that fundamental particles known as neutrinos can travel faster than light. Other researchers are cautious about the result, but if it stands further scrutiny, the finding would overturn the most fundamental rule of modern physics--that nothing travels faster than 299,792,458 meters per second. The experiment is called OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus), and lies 1,400 meters underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy

Kepler project scientists join forces with a crowdsourcing research website and quickly bag two new exoplanets. First proteins, now planets. Regular people with regular jobs are getting a chance to chip away at scientific puzzles and contribute to discoveries, in what's turning out to be a big help for scientists, and an intriguing distraction for science geeks outside of academia.

The snack giant is investing in a program to help Ethiopian farmers develop a chickpea crop. But it's not altruism: Pepsi wants access to a lot of chickpeas, because that's what they want to sell us.

The AutoTram, which uses an innovative charging system to allow the most charges in the fastest amount of time, is a result of a series of experiments about the best way to power public transit. Is it a bus?

%excerpt% Read the original post: How to Crowdsource Your R&D

Think those cat videos are addictive? Just wait ‘til your girlfriends start sending you videos of the latest collections from your favorite designers

A new project from 350.org lets people fill in the blank spots in their city with potential exciting improvements. If you were paying attention in New York this past weekend, you might have noticed signs plastered to telephone poles, buidlings, and fences. They're requesting that something--a green roof, a bike lane, a urban farm--be "inserted" at the site

If you're not volunteering because you want to really make an impact, this new matching site--now expanding out of New York--can link you to an organization that needs your exact talents. Most busy professionals would love to volunteer, if only they had the time and inclination to seek out worthwhile experiences.