Daniel Robison

In the late 1980’s, a few college friends in Buffalo, New York created a game called “Trash Can Frisbee.” Players toss a disc toward garbage cans where a partner slaps it in for points. The sport was mostly played in backyards around Buffalo for years.

Now, it’s now known as KanJam and played at tailgates and parties all over the country. But the sport owes its success…to gym class.

Here’s an image fit for Halloween: an ancient skull looking out from a jagged rock. That’s exactly what the nine-year old son of an archeologist stumbled over four years ago in South Africa.

One small upstate tech company is poised for its big break.

A few months ago, UltraScan announced a new invention for reading fingerprints that’s up to 100 times more accurate than current methods.

The company thinks their invention will fundamentally change how we identify ourselves and pay for purchases.

‘Dirt, greases and grimes’

All kinds of things are advertised as fingerprint proof, like laptops and doors. The TV program MythBusters showed these locks are relatively simple to bypass.

Educators across the country agree schools need more students to excel in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Yet hooking students on these subjects remains a challenge, especially for generally low performing schools with few resources.

But this year, administrators in Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) tried to tackle the problem in a new way – by sending some of its teachers to summer school.

“I haven’t been in a lab in 43 years,” says Susan Wade, a BPS science teacher.

Due to the stressful nature of police work, law enforcement officers face higher risks of obesity, suicide, sleeplessness and cancer, according to a new study from a University at Buffalo (UB) professor who has a unique insight into the issue.

Western New York is home to more than 200 growing startup companies catering to specific medical and life science needs.

While these small businesses offer unique products and services, they don’t always have a market for their goods or the personnel to aggressively seek out buyers.

A new initiative will try to give at least 40 of these companies the extra sales muscle to move $25 million worth of local products in the next three years.

'Hand in glove'

A recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University shows New York residents are evenly split on the issue of hydrofracking.

The survey comes hard on the heels of a new pro-fracking public relations effort in upstate communities.

It all started with a fossil.

“We have this polar bear jawbone from the Svalbard archipelago in the North Atlantic,” says Charlotte Lindqvist, a professor at SUNY Buffalo and lead author of a landmark new study into the history of polar bears.

An ancient species

Buffalo’s latest business incubator is on the hunt for small tech companies who are long on ideas, but perhaps short on cash, office space and personnel. 

Calling itself Buffalo’s first Internet-focused incubator, Z80 Labs launched Monday with a well-orchestrated launch party featuring the region’s tech elite, as well as Forbes CEO Mike Perlis, and prominent venture capitalist Fred Wilson.

With China largely cornering the market for rare earth metals, domestic researchers are trying to create synthetic replacements.

SUNY Buffalo (UB) wants to corner that effort – and is asking the federal government for $120 million to help.

"A four letter word"

The Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan is leaving the newspaper to become public editor for the New York Times. 

Sullivan, a Lackawanna native, has worked at The News in some capacity since 1980, rising through the ranks from intern to reporter to columnist, before becoming the paper's first female editor in 1999.  She is credited with helping the paper successfully navigate the challenges of the digital age and stay profitable while avoiding layoffs. 

Are we on the verge of a “sensor revolution?”

Sensorcon hopes so. The Buffalo-based tech startup envisions a world where the average person is empowered with a small device that reads temperature, carbon monoxide levels, dew point and more.

"A sixth sense"

New York State is home to more than 600,000 dairy cows, which generate millions of pounds of manure.

Now, a new energy project in rural Wyoming County aims to be a model for using cow waste and by-products from food processing to generate electricity.

“Perfect recycling project”

Niagara Falls, New York is testing a novel approach to attract new residents. City leaders are offering to pay the student debt of 20 recent graduates in exchange for two years of residency.

According to a recent New York Times study, 94 percent of recent graduates have student debt, adding up to more than a $1 trillion nationwide.

Although New York's legislative session wrapped up last week, angling for new public policy hasn't ceased.

Tuesday, the Business Council of New York State (BCNYS) tried to regain traction for its agenda by re-releasing a report from May.

Reading Rainbow is back - but not on TV.

Host LeVar Burton has revived the popular franchise, which ran for 26 years on PBS, as an app for tablets.

The medium may be different, but the mission is the same: promoting children's literature.

"Television is a one-way medium," Burton says. "You are presenting your finished product to an audience and they absorb it.

"The great thing about an app is that it is designed to be an interactive experience."

Niagara Falls, N.Y. sees Nik Wallenda’s Friday night wirewalk as its best chance in decades to revive tourism and spark economic development.

But measuring Wallenda’s long-term impact may be tough - assuming there’s an impact at all.

“Part of our mystique”

The Daredevil Museum in Niagara Falls, N.Y. is a shrine to those who have tried to conquer the natural wonder.

Niagara Falls has long been a magnet for daredevils, but strict laws have kept them away for more than a century. That's expected to change Friday, when circus performer Nik Wallenda will walk a two-inch-thick wire above the giant waterfall. It's an exception officials hope will rescue tourism — and the city's economy.

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/09/154634952/saving-niagra-falls-one-tightrope-step-at-a-time