Harvard Professor Slows the Speed of Light to 38 MPH

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Harvard Professor Slows The Speed of Light to 38 MPH!

Lene Hau has already shaken scientists' beliefs about the nature of things. Albert Einstein and just about every other physicist insisted that light travels 186,000 miles a second in free space, and that it can't be speeded-up or slowed down. But in 1998, Hau, for the first time in history, slowed light to 38 miles an hour, about the speed of rush-hour traffic.

Two years later, she brought light to a complete halt in a cloud of ultracold atoms. Next, she restarted the stalled light without changing any of its characteristics, and sent it on its way. These highly successful experiments brought her a tenured professorship at Harvard University and a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation award to spend as she pleased.

[Via: Harvard Gazette]

Eco-Docks Designed to Float in NYC's Nasty Rivers

A professor and student team have designed a network of modular floating docks to harness clean energy for New York City.

The eco-docks would generate the energy by harnessing tidal power from the city’s rivers; they should also help to add much needed green space above the dirty waters.

[Via: CleanTechnica]

Startup Bets That Social Networking Will Spur Carpool Craze

A free Facebook application launched by a pair of entrepreneurs to help college students bum rides at Cornell University has expanded into a viable Silicon Valley startup, counting as clients more than 30 college campuses, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Cigna Corp.

Zimride's business is simple: It connects drivers with riders looking to carpool to class or work. More broadly, it tries to capitalize on a social-networking niche at Palo Alto-based Facebook Inc. to help avoid greenhouse gas emissions and get cars off the road.

[Via: Inernational Herald Tribune]

The Little Secret of Web Startups

Consumer startups are tough. You have two basic choices: A paid offering or a free offering (or freemium). If you charge people a penny, you’ll turn off the bulk of your visitors. If you offer free services, you might grow to be the next YouTube, Wordpress or Facebook. Most entrepreneurs are not risk-averse and the dream of being big is just too appealing and the majority of us take the “free-route”.

Read on for lessons learned as Marcelo Calbucci, founder of Sampa, shuts down its doors.

[Via: TechCrunch]