In Brooklyn, the small business EpiBone is using 3D printing and bio-fabrication to engineer bone grafts, bringing America closer to the day when we’ll be able to use our own stem cells to grow our bone in the anatomically precise shape we need for a graft.

It’s the next frontier in precision medicine.

Upstate in Green Island, two entrepreneurs at Ecovative have invented a sustainable substitute for plastic foam, a substance that will be littering America’s landfills for centuries because it doesn’t biodegrade.

In late 2013, we reported that Tim Draper was leaving Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm he had co-founded 28 years earlier. Specifically, we said that he would not be a general partner on DFJ’s next fund, which was raised the subsequent year.

But Tim took issue with our reporting, telling other media outlets that he was “not leaving DFJ. Ever. I am just skipping a fund to do some work building Draper University and experimenting with new models for venture capital.”

Last week, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo proposed more than $51 million in investments focused on reinvigorating the state’s economy through innovative industries with the release of her fiscal year 2017 budget request. The governor’s Make It in RI jobs plan incorporates many of the recommendations from a strategic plan developed by the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, Battelle Technology Partnership Practice (now TEConomy Partners, LLC) and Monitor Deloitte. One of the key investments is a $20 million brick-and-mortar innovation district where entrepreneurs, businesspeople and academics can interact.

As Canadians, we are told that our new government has an “innovation agenda” that will foster “innovation culture.” This week, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains told Canadians that: “What I’m most interested by … is the question of how a government can cultivate a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. How can we put in place the right conditions for innovation? Specifically, how can we do it in a way that ensures that the Canadian economy remains at the leading edge?”

While more Brazilians than ever are starting up new businesses, on the other side of the globe in Malaysia, the number of start-ups has hit rock bottom, shows a new survey. The south-east Asian country’s fall may say something about entrepreneurship.

The 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey released last week shows that the number of people starting new businesses climbed in a number of emerging economies last year (see Graph 1) including in South Africa, where it rose from seven precent to 9.2%.

Crowdfunding is a cool concept: Regular folks lending each other money when the big guys with big bucks just aren't interested. In some developing countries, it has helped lift small-business owners out of poverty. It has also made its way into the investment world stateside, giving average investors a chance to participate in the launching and funding of new companies.

When you think of a coworking space, images of a buzzing office shared by tech startups come to mind. But freelancers, contractors and consultants are as entrepreneurial as any startup founder and want to carve out a place for themselves in this work environment too. These "solopreneurs" are looking to get out of the house and into a creative space with a solid community, perhaps even more than their empire-building counterparts.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The obesity rate among U.S. adults in 2015 climbed to a new high of 28.0%, up 2.5 percentage points since 2008. This represents an increase of about 6.1 million U.S. adults who are obese.

These results are based on more than 175,000 interviews conducted each year from 2013 to 2015 and more than 350,000 interviews conducted each year from 2008 to 2012 as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Unlike some government estimates of obesity, the Well-Being Index uses respondents' self-reported height and weight to calculate body mass index (BMI). It does not involve in-home clinical measurements that typically result in higher obesity estimates.

Image: http://www.gallup.com 

The European Innovation Council (EIC) should be run by a high profile tech entrepreneur, says Intel vice-president and director of Intel Labs Europe Martin Curley. 

The position would mirror that of the chief technology officer in the US, a position introduced by President Barack Obama in 2009. The responsibilities it carries are amorphous: the holder of the role advises on new technology policy, recruits more tech talent into government and identifies novel ways to improve the quality of government digital services.

Image: Martin Curley, Intel vice-president and director of Intel Labs Europe 

Companies filing lawsuits over patents is nothing new. In fact, many big brands that do business together have a different relationship inside the courtroom (take, for example, Apple and Samsung). But the recent verdict on the Apple ( AAPL ) and VirnetX Holding Corporation ( VHC ) patent case has once again highlighted the misuse of patents by patent trolls to generate revenue by engaging target companies into lawsuits; a trend which is fast rising.

JetBlue Airways announced on Wednesday that it will launch a Silicon Valley-based venture capital subsidiary.

Called JetBlue Technology Ventures, the company will be led by former Olympian-turned-pilot-turned-airline-executive, Bonny Simi.

Image: JetBlue 

You may be excited by the idea of starting and running your own business. The stories of entrepreneurs who started with little or nothing and became billionaires are intriguing. But this doesn't happen for the majority of entrepreneurs, and many went through great difficulties before starting their businesses. Steve Jobs experienced bouts of failure, and Oprah Winfrey was born into poverty. The encouraging message from this is that anyone can make big things happen, but the question is: Are you up for the challenge?

Running a business is difficult. Starting a business from scratch is even harder. The entrepreneurial journey is a rollercoaster, and in the beginning you’ll probably face more downs than ups. In these moments, it can be tough to power through, but there are a few things you can do to make the struggle a bit easier:

1. Focus on the bigger picture Always remember to take a step back and think about why you started on this road in the first place. What is your ultimate goal? Whether it is about building something that lasts, gaining fame and success, or giving back to society, keeping your long-term goals in mind will help you to reframe your daily challenges against a larger backdrop of achievement. The entrepreneurial path is about the journey—not the destination. Building resilience and stepping outside of your comfort zone are pillars of the temple of personal growth that you are about to erect.

Image: Mitali Rakhit, founder and CEO of Globelist Courtesy of Globelist 

Being an entrepreneur and a mom makes things a bit unpredictable at times. I have four young kids, and they have four very different schedules and needs. It's not like I get any days off.

So, how do you manage the competing demands of a busy household and a business that has huge demands on your time? Being an entrepreneur can be very demanding, and you have to emerge alive on the other side, so taking care to manage your work-life balance is critical.

For five decades, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have surveyed the nation's incoming freshmen to learn more about their backgrounds, views, and expectations. Use this interactive graphic to see how their attitudes and self-images have changed since the 1960s, as measured by UCLA's Cooperative Institutional Research Program, part of the Higher Education Research Institute. Read our coverage of the latest survey here.

Image: http://chronicle.com 

A team of scientists announced on Thursday that they had heard and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away, a fleeting chirp that fulfilled the last prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

That faint rising tone, physicists say, is the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago. (Listen to it here.) It completes his vision of a universe in which space and time are interwoven and dynamic, able to stretch, shrink and jiggle. And it is a ringing confirmation of the nature of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits from which not even light can escape, which were the most foreboding (and unwelcome) part of his theory.

While they attended Harvard Business School, Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck inadvertently came up with a startup idea thanks to their messy apartments.

The two women hired someone off of Craigslist to come do their laundry and buy their groceries weekly, and then they split the cost.

The woman they hired, Jenny, came to their apartments to take care of errands that would otherwise pile up. This would eventually evolve to become their company, Alfred.

We were all born spontaneous and creative. Every one of us. As children we accepted all things equally. We embraced all kinds of outlandish possibilities for all kinds of things. When we were children we knew a box was much more than a container. A box could be a fort, a car, a tank, a cave, a house, something to draw on, and even a space ship. Our imaginations were not structured according to some existing concept or category. We did not strive to eliminate possibilities; we strove to expand them. We were all amazingly creative and always filled with the joy of exploring different ways of thinking.

Couch potatoes beware: Physical fitness during middle age may be a driver of brain health later in life, according to the results of a new study.

In a research project spanning two decades, scientists have found that the participants who were less fit at age 40 had a greater degree of brain shrinkage 20 years later compared to those who were in better shape.

Bobby Gattuso became a startup founder while an undergraduate at Towson University.

Hop Theory’s sachets that bring beer up to craft levels got early traction through Kickstarter and national press hits.

Even as the company gained attention outside the university, however, Gattuso had help on campus. Through a program called Student Launch Pad, he attended events and seminars. He’s also received guidance from Director of Entrepreneurship Frank Bonsal III, and other mentors. And now, as a member of the TU Incubator, he’s around other startups, as well.

Image: Team TU Incubator: Frank Bonsal III, Stephanie Chin and Zach Jones. (Photo by Stephen Babcock)