He had brought out two large plastic bins filled with the artifacts of his research, and he spread the contents on the table: a metal octagonal disk, sketches on lab paper, a black plastic laser housing that served as the innards for one of his printers.

NEWYORKER: Creation Myth

Some lessons are best learned at a kitchen table, others in a lecture hall, a chemistry lab or a gym.

WSJ: My Education in Home Schooling, by Quinn Cummings

That's not the case at all, of course, and a group of researchers at Stanford's MobiSocial lab have now thrown a few new ideas of their own onto the table after getting a pair of Nexus S phones to play with.

ENGADGET: Stanford researchers demo social NFC applications on the Nexus S

On the main table I noticed what looked like the ragtag remains of some Physics 101 lab experiments: rusted silver balls on different inclines, distressed balloons, a stained funnel, a markered flask, a calcium-speckled Bunsen burner, iron filings and sandpaper, large magnets, and batteries that could have been bought from a Chinese immigrant on the subway.

NEWYORKER: The Region of Unlikeness