New Internet Rumor Tracker

Emergent is a real-time rumor tracker. http://www.emergent.info/about  It is part of a research project with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University that focuses on how unverified information and rumor are reported in the media. It aims to develop and best practices for debunking misinformation. Kind of like a "real time" version of Snopes.

You can view a list of rumors being tracked on the homepage, along with their current claim state (True, False, Unverified). Click on a story to visit a page that visualizes the sources reporting the rumor, and a breakdown of social shares per source. You can also click on individual articles on the story page to see specific revision and social share data about that article.

Regrow Teeth in Your Mouth

Columbia University has developed a technique for regrowing teeth in a patient’s mouth by homing stem cells to a scaffold made of natural materials and integrated in surrounding tissue, there is no need to use harvested stem cell lines, or create an environment outside of the body where the tooth is grown and then implanted once it has matured.

The tooth instead can be grown in the socket where the tooth will integrate with surrounding tissue in ways that are impossible with hard metals or other materials. The procedure could eliminate the need for dentures and conventional dental implants, which can take up to 18 months to heal, graft, and eventually put into place.

The work of Dr. Mao holds promise of a more natural process, faster recovery times, and a harnessing of the body’s own potential to regrow tissue that will not give out and could ultimately last the patient’s lifetime.