Of course, nothing can happen until funding has been outlined, but with a ten-year timeframe on the cards, and work potentially starting as soon as March, we might not have to wait long before we see the project yielding preliminary insights.

ENGADGET: Alt-week 2.24.13: Mapping the brain, discovering dark matter and our inevitable, grizzly end

Launched on 21 March, Travelreads is a project that aims to compile links to the finest, long-form travel stories that have been published online in the last 20 years.

BBC: Fantastic and free travel stories