Kathy McKeown, who will be the director of the Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering, said research projects in the media center will include the development of more sophisticated search tools for content in online videos and the tracking of online text, video and images to understand when people express opinions and how they persuade each other.

WSJ: Columbia Sets Tech Expansion, Third in City

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is on the case, too: In 1999 it formed AgeLab, a research center within the university's engineering school, to come up with new ideas for the next generation of seniors.

FORBES

The Center efforts are focused within the Pediatric Engineering Research Laboratory (PERL) which includes the WREX (Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton) that allows children with weakness to move their arms in three-dimensional space in front of them, and the Cricket, a brace compliance sensor.

FORBES: Why This Little Two Year Old Girl Loves 3D Printed Magic Arms

The report was put together by David Moore and Stefan Savage of the University of San Diego Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Vern Paxson of the ICSI Center for Internet Research in California, Colleen Shannon of CAIDA, and Stuart Staniford and Nicholas Weaver of computer security firm Silicon Defense.

BBC: Aggressive net bug makes history

To conclude, an agreement concerning cooperative research and development in the field of earthquake engineering between the Building Research Institute (BRI) of Japan and the National Center for Seismic Risk Reduction (NCSRR) of Romania was signed.

UNESCO: Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation