Izhar Gafni, from Israel, spent 18 months just folding the material every-which-way in order to discover a strong enough design, and now he claims his technique is almost ready for mass production.

ENGADGET: Cardboard bicycle 'close to mass production': tough, green and just $20

Mr Curtin said he had spent his entire childhood building with the toy construction material and was excited to have the "largest set in the world".

BBC: Work begins on 'giant Meccano bridge' in Bolton

Marsalis, JLCO's music director, said he was impressed by the amount of time the rock trio spent rehearsing the complex arrangements in order to master material outside their comfort zone.

WSJ: Crosby, Stills and Nash get jazzy with Marsalis

Mr Yates said he did not re-examine the 11, 000 pages of material recovered from Mulcaire's home but spent eight hours considering the matter, and consulted the Crown Prosecution Service, but decided there was no likelihood of further convictions.

BBC: Phone hacking probe: NoW goes into print for last time

Boston College has spent months arguing in federal court that turning over the archive material would infringe upon academic and journalistic freedom.

WSJ: College Fights Release of IRA-Related Tapes

When I'd booked my ticket to Cairo a few months earlier, I had envisioned a pleasant week and a half spent wandering around the city, meeting up with old friends and gathering material for a novel that was inspired in part by my time as a student at the American University of Cairo.

WSJ: Fearlessness and Loving in Cairo | Traveler's Tale

Students in the other group spent that time reading an article about how memory works and learning new strategies for recalling material.

WSJ: How to Overcome Failure