Alternately, we could encourage the university system to be more responsive to market forces by creating a no-frills, federal degree-granting body that awards certificates to students who pass exams in a given subject.

WSJ: America's Baby Bust

Researchers at the University of Arizona and Nitto Denko Technical used a blend of electrically responsive light-scattering polymers to make a holographic videoconferencing system.

FORBES: Foldable iPads, Paper eBooks and Holographic Movies: The Best List of 2010

In a series of animal experiments published over the past year, university-based neuroscientists genetically engineered mice and monkeys with different types of neurons primed to be uniquely responsive to shades of laser light, so that a single type of activity or behavior could be altered instantly without affecting anything else.

WSJ: Scientists Cast Light Onto Roots of Illness Deep in the Brain