This observation explains the huge amounts of corporate cash reserves we now have that could be used for new products, but are stalled while electronic storerooms fill up with great ideas.

FORBES: Why Did Big Ideas Die?

But that needs skilled staff of the type that used to fill even the lowest ranks of the Bank of England, famed for supervising with a nod and a wink.

ECONOMIST: The Financial Services Authority

For years, American cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists have used bovine collagen to puff up lips and fill in facial folds.

ECONOMIST: The cosmetic-enhancement business

By stringing together thousands of these so-called droplets (which measure about 50 microns across) using a custom-built 3D printer, the Oxford team believes it has engineered a "new type of material" that could eventually be used to ferry drugs throughout our internal systems to a specific target site, fill-in for damaged tissues or even mimic neural pathways via specially printed protein pores.

ENGADGET: Oxford University researchers create new 3D printed 'soft material' that could replace human tissue

"Henri Samuel used '70s furnishings to fill in gaps, things like large coffee tables and lighting accoutrements for our modern lives, " says 20th-century furniture dealer Liz O'Brien, who notes that prices have been slowly rising over the last decade.

WSJ: Cue the '70s | Design

Stephen used his PR skills to make a case on the spot for the passion he held and his fervent desire to fill their intern position.

FORBES: The Case For 'Under Qualified' Employees: The 5 Best Reasons To Hire for Aptitude, Not Skills

These data can then be used to improve a firm's service, for example by relieving people of the tedious business of having to fill in a home-loan application.

ECONOMIST: Always-on people

If Mr. Hazare doesn't approve the bill, she said, she will participate in his next scheduled agitation: a movement on Dec. 30 in which volunteers allow themselves to be arrested to fill the jails, a tactic used by Mahatma Gandhi when he was leading India's movement for independence from its British rulers.

WSJ: India Moves to Toughen Graft Fight