A. Find "Them"
University of California at Berkeley
Where: Berkeley, Calif.
Department: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
SETI@home taps the power of thousands of ordinary PCs over the Web to create, in effect, one of the most powerful supercomputers anywhere. It analyzes data from radio telescopes looking for signals from intelligent life. Berkeley students help improve the search algorithms and refine the software that ties all the computers together.
seti.berkeley.edu
B. Shoot Particles
Stanford University
Where: Palo Alto, Calif.
Department: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Every summer, undergrads join Nobel Prize–winning scientists here to send electrons down the longest linear accelerator in the world at close to 670 million mph, producing superpowerful x-rays. One of the latest projects uses the x-ray beam to create 3-D images of individual molecules.
slac.stanford.edu
C. Clone Life
Utah State University
Where: Logan, Utah
Department: Center for Integrated BioSystems
In 2003, scientists at Utah State were the first in the world to clone a hybrid animal—a mule, the typically sterile offspring of a donkey and a horse. The research ultimately spawned commercial equine-cloning labs. Now students and faculty churn out up to 600 cloned embryos a week, primarily for genetics research.
biosystems.usu.edu
D. Enter The Deep Freeze
Montana State University
Where: Bozeman, Mont.
Department: Subzero Science and Engineering Laboratory
This fall, students will step into a –80°F laboratory to study stuff in deep freeze. One project will look for life in 250,000-year-old ice cores taken from two miles underneath the Antarctic. Others will study the best way to keep winter roads ice-free, and research the flow of snow to better predict avalanches.
www.coe.montana.edu
Subscribe to Popular Science and enter to win $5,000!
15 Comments
138 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.
Download Our iPhone App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
Become a Fan On Facebook
Share links with friends, comment on stories and more
September 2010: The College Issue
This month, a look at the future of secret warfare, the dangerous search for Afghanistan's mineral wealth, a backyard flamethrower, and the most amazing college labs.
Read the issue here.
.gif){kind=icon}
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
Science
- Development of Tiny Thorium Reactors Could Wean the World Off Oil In Just Five Years
- Big Bear Solar Observatory Snaps the Most Detailed Pic of a Sunspot Ever
- A Protein Killer Could Treat All Cancers, and Possibly All Illnesses
- Gallery: 30 Awesome College Labs
- Newly Discovered Underwater Oil Plume Paints a Complex Picture of Gulf Leak Aftermath
- PopSci's Guide To The 30 Coolest College Classes in the Country
- Pair of Telescopes Captures Supermassive Black Hole Eruption
- Has Apple Gained Access to the World's Most Advanced Manufacturing Tech?
- Zombie DNA Long Thought Dormant Can Rise to Cause Health Problems
- Finland Plans to Build the World's First 'Green Highway'
Most Commented
Science
- NIH Research Chief: Shut Down Human Embryonic Stem Cell Experiments Immediately
- This Week in the Future, August 16-20, 2010
- Development of Tiny Thorium Reactors Could Wean the World Off Oil In Just Five Years
- A Protein Killer Could Treat All Cancers, and Possibly All Illnesses
- Big Bear Solar Observatory Snaps the Most Detailed Pic of a Sunspot Ever
- What Created This Smooth, 200-Mile-Long Trench On Mars?
- In The Future, This Balloon Will Cost $100
- Newly Discovered Underwater Oil Plume Paints a Complex Picture of Gulf Leak Aftermath
- Timelapse Video Illustrates 500,000 Asteroid Discoveries
- Mysteriously, Solar Activity Found to Influence Behavior of Radioactive Materials On Earth
Most Emailed
Science
- Gallery: 30 Awesome College Labs
- Big Bear Solar Observatory Snaps the Most Detailed Pic of a Sunspot Ever
- A Protein Killer Could Treat All Cancers, and Possibly All Illnesses
- Future Mars Colonists Could Learn To Terraform By Studying Darwin's Methods
- As East Coast Braces For Hurricane Earl, NASA Watches From Above
- Climate Villain Bjørn Lomborg Does U-Turn, Says Global Warming is a $100 Billion Problem
- Researchers Devise the First Experimental Test of Controversial, Confusing String Theory
- What Created This Smooth, 200-Mile-Long Trench On Mars?
- Electrified Cotton Filter Soaked in Nanotech Cheaply and Quickly Purifies Large Volumes of Water
- NIH Research Chief: Shut Down Human Embryonic Stem Cell Experiments Immediately
Editor: John Mahoney | Email
Associate Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Contributing Writers:
Clay Dillow | Email
Rebecca Boyle
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Any geek's guide to colleges that mentions neither Caltech nor MIT is simply not to be taken seriously.
I disagree with the MIT/Caltech assertion. MIT is largely irrelevant in the current environment, especially when compared to India Institute of Technology and Chinese Universities. MIT is resting on it's laurels, much like other Ivy League schools who have not produced anything of significance in years. I would say that many of the schools listed are more aggressive in their work and more innovative than MIT. Certainly, Carnegie Mellon has some exciting and innovative research. As for Caltech... it's a great teaching school. Technology and Science are constantly changing and advancing. A motivated dean can easily take the lead in those areas.
"I travel the road less traveled by most people in this world" Ok you need to realize that they are not talking sbout super geeks(the smart ones) they are talking about all those guys that are absolute let downs to society because all they do with their lives is comic books, tv, and video games that have high hopes for their future careers. you really need to learn how to look at things in context.....i hope i didnt upset anyone. sorry if i did.
Regarding your comments of MIT...its a WEST coast guide...where did you guys get edjumacated :P
Now if we are talking globally, I think you guys should look up TUDelft, its the mothership for most most universities mentioned.
"Regarding your comments of MIT...its a WEST coast guide...where did you guys get edjumacated :P"
uh, are you sure about that. as far as i know, wisconsin and new york are not on the west coast.
I love video games, but I want to build a robot. Not in college but I'm a systems programmer and an engineer at electrical circuitry and a wiz at computer science. I just want to make giant robot, know any places that can let me do that? Some funds would be nice!
Lot's of rocket science going on at the University of Iowa in Iowa City if you are into that sort of thing.Hell of a good party school as well.To bad their football team sucks.
No where on the Utah State website will they claim to be the first to clone an equine... That's because the University of Idaho did it. google it.
cornell is east coast so where is MIT
look again bobloftus if you hit i'm feeling lucky on google on the iowa website reading the whole thing it says utah did it first out of a few schools trying
I want to build a robot. Not in college but I'm a systems programmer and an engineer at electrical circuitry and a wiz at computer science. I just want to make giant robot.
http://www.perfectwriting.co.uk/
look again bobloftus if you hit i'm feeling lucky on google on the iowa website reading the whole thing it says utah did it first out of a few schools trying
http://www.aglik.com/vb/
No where on the Utah State website will they claim to be the first to clone an equine... That's because the University of Idaho did it. google it.
http://www.aglik.com/vb/t15114.html
Texas A&M at the time of my graduation from there had cloned more species than any other institute or organization. I'm surprised that Utah State was chosen over my alma mater, although I don't mean to diminish their accomplishment, of which they should be proud.
we are totally thankful to you for such a lovely share you have given to us. Your articles proves that you are best in this field as a result you have yielded plenty of information to us.
www.AdvanceLoan.net