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01 / Twitter > > For ballooning into a global phenomenon that, finally, has a business model. In 2009, Twitter boasted some 20 million users. Today

If printers have the power to manufacture organs, why not brains? Or people? In "Too Hard For Science?" I interview scientists about ideas they would love to explore that they don't think could be investigated.

Do the principles of quantum mechanics apply to biological systems?

A new coating for concrete structures could result in seriously tough structures that better resist damage and thus saves money in reconstruction and repair. Better yet, the coating relies on waste ash from burning coal in power stations.

Welcome to a new regular feature called "Too Hard for Science?" The idea here is to interview scientists about pet ideas they would love to explore that seem impossible to investigate in real life. Perhaps they involve machines beyond the realm of possibility, such as particle accelerators as big as the sun; perhaps they would be completely unethical, such as lethal experiments involving people; perhaps they would be too expensive, or require centuries to run, or could never find volunteers to participate, or are in some way unprovable. [More]

This Friday, April 1, begins a month-long participatory blogging project at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., called Experimonth: Mood . The culmination of many ideas and personal experiments by museum staff members, their families and friends, Experimonth has morphed from a personal project centered around New Year's Resolutions into an effort to pair local researchers with our community in meaningful ways

Early in his new book, Everything Is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer (Crown Business, 2011), Duncan Watts tells a story about the late sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld, who once described an intriguing research result: Soldiers from a rural background were happier during World War II than their urban comrades. Lazarsfeld imagined that on reflection people would find the result so self-evident that it didn't merit an elaborate study, because everyone knew that rural men were more used to grueling labor and harsh living standards. But there was a twist, the study he described showed the opposite pattern; it was urban conscripts who had adjusted better to wartime conditions

Welcome to Fast Feed, the Fast Company reader's essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web--bite-sized and updated all day. 'Nano-bricks' lock in food flavor longer : A new transparent packaging technology, made from the same particles used to construct clay bricks, could keep food fresh longer, maybe for years.

"Green" computer code would be increase energy efficiency in the machines running such software. A computer scientist from Binghamton University has recently scored about a half million in funding--$450,000 from the National Science Foundation, and $50,000 from Google--that will help support his interested in "green" software development.

IBM's Watson , a super-computer best known as a Jeopardy-winning robot, might not exist if not for Dr. David Ferrucci

They missed the heavy metal explosion of the 1980s, but this all-girl robotics team from Bronx High School of Science take their name from 80s rockers Iron Maiden. They show off their mechanical talents at a robotics competition in New York

John Milnor, an American mathematician best known for the discovery of exotic hyperspheres, was awarded the 2011 Abel Prize , the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced March 23. [More]

Apple today announced that Bertrand Serlet, its senior vice president of Mac® Software Engineering, will be leaving the company after 14 years.

When inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen launched his FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition two decades ago, he hoped to turn engineering into a contact sport and engineering students into superstars. Judging by the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) held recently in New York City--which included waving mascots, bleachers filled with screaming fans, and dozens of robots throwing down--he has succeeded

Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis has triggered radiation hysteria all over the world--thyroid-protecting potassium iodine pills are flying off the shelves in the U.S, Geiger counters are selling out in Paris, and all of a sudden, everyone seems to care how close they are to a nuclear plant. Enter RDTN , a crowdsourced radiation site that aims to keep users up to date on exactly how high radiation levels are in Japan and on the West Coast of the U.S.