Solar power stations in space

I'm not sure building solar panels in space and beaming it back down is the most efficient use of energy research funding right now, let alone the most efficient way (in terms of lifetime operating costs) to make energy originating from the sun available on the earth's surface.

Earth-bound solar, wind and tidal generation seem like a more obvious and immediately available way to get at it.

If you must do it in space, then all those research funds would be better spent now on space elevator development or similar launch technologies - at least then the eventual power plant might actually have reasonable launch costs, by the time the required solar and microwave tech is ready. Oh, and ultra-cheap launch tech might also have one or two spinoff benefits in the meantime...

Contact lens displays

Having read far too much science fiction, I've been eagerly awaiting progress in wearable computers and augmented reality over the next few decades - something rather more immersive than the current crop of mobile phones will be nice. There are already one-eye head-up-display overlays available, and chunky google-glasses, but what if you could have a near-invisible display with you all the time, right on your eyeball?

A research group at the University of Washington is working towards contact lens LED displays. They've already managed to make something with a (very) low-res grid of working LEDs. Nice.