A method for bioengineering living human ears garnered a first-place award at the World Technology Summit in New York City, Nov. 15.

Clay – a seemingly infertile blend of minerals – might have been the birthplace of life on Earth.

Why do cell phones drop calls? Like a radio dial tuned to different frequencies (stations), cell phone antennas have tuning circuits that quickly switch frequencies when controlled by a voltage applied to a tunable capacitor.

At just a molecule thick, it’s a new record: The world’s thinnest sheet of glass, a serendipitous discovery by scientists at Cornell and Germany’s University of Ulm, is recorded for posterity in the Guinness Book of World Records.

A bit reminiscent of the Terminator T-1000, a new material created by Cornell researchers is so soft that it can flow like a liquid and then, strangely, return to its original shape.