Very disturbing findings. Here's a quick excerpt: "There is still debate over whether scientific collaboration leads to better results. Jonathon Cummings, an associate professor of management at Duke University, and his colleagues got a grant from the National Science Foundation to look at 491 research collaborations funded by the foundation. They discovered something unsettling: Collaborations of more universities fared worse than projects primarily executed at a single university. More collaborators meant fewer patent applications, fewer published papers, and less chance of the group seeking additional funding to keep projects going." "Dr. Cummings says it appears that the amount of coordination required to make progress on research-everything from setting up meetings to integrating knowledge among group members-outweighed the potential benefits of collaboration. In the wake of the study, he says, the science foundation now requires grant applicants for some programs to detail how they expect to manage the collaboration."

Healthcare facilities are discovering that practicing in the virtual world can have major benefits in real life. Doctors, nurses and students are using online community to learn how to cope with crises, boost clinical skills and make their facilities more efficient.

"Heroes have always been the driving force behind video games, of course, with the industry producing such cultural icons as Mario and Lara Croft. However, as video game technology and storytelling have become more sophisticated, developers are embellishing their games with deeper characterisation than ever before. "

iPad could be the coming hit for schools and colleges!

Another iPad application potential - digital medical records.

More fodder for STEM education. Diverse units of business and industry are joining forces to rev up support for STEM.

"Only a small fraction of students may count as true digital natives, in other words. The rest are no better or worse at using technology than the rest of the population."

"Location data from mobile phones has indicated that 93 per cent of human movement is predictable... the researchers, from Boston, USA and China, believe that it could be useful for mobile networks' data load management, city planning and anticipating the spread of viruses."

"Over the past 20 years educators have fought over the best way to teach numbers to kids. Advocates of traditional math tout the practice of algorithms and teacher-centered learning, whereas reform-math proponents focus on underlying concepts and student inquiry."

"Introducing gamers to even the concept of dark energy is a step in the right direction. Someone might hear that term as part of a game and then hear it again in a more scientific context, and that might help them ultimately gain a better understanding of what it is. There's a tremendous untapped potential in games for incorporating cool science."

A new study suggests that a video before bed or a recording played while asleep can enhance learning and memory.

"It has long been understood that memroy formation is an active and often exhausting process, losing them seems to happen quite passively as time elapses and new information overloads our busy brains. But a new study published February 19 in the journal Cell shows that forgetting is a biochemically active process not unlike memory formation."

"Organizers say the contest is designed to 'captivate and engage the viewer by revealing the hidden meaning and intricate details of our world in visual form'."

"Ninety-five percent of the energy that life on Earth requires are fueled by photosynthetic processes." Scientists are building virtual simulations to better understand how these processes work.

"Leading figures from the UK video games industry have criticised the teaching of computer studies in schools, claiming it puts pupils off from pursuing computer science degrees at university..."

"Does playing video games improve your brain? Or do bigger brains make it easier to learn video games? Psychologists say they can predict how well you'll do on a video game by looking at the size of just three little structures inside your brain. If those structures are bigger, you'll probably catch on more quickly and do better."