Mission:
To make information related to the latest discoveries from North American research universities more widely available.

Background:
Born of a frustration with the decline in coverage of science and research by traditional news outlets, the Futurity Web site was formally launched in September to highlight the latest discoveries from research universities in the United States and Canada. The site, which is hosted at the University of Rochester, is managed and funded by a consortium of nearly fifty universities led by Rochester and Stanford and Duke universities. The partners also produce the content for the site, which is written in language anyone can understand and is similar to what one would find in a mainstream newspaper.

Outstanding Web Features:
The hundreds of news stories on the Futurity Web site are organized into four main topics: earth and the environment, health and medicine, science and design, and society and culture. Tags attached to the stories allow users to browse stories by university name and topic (e.g., global warming, cancer, space). When possible, the stories contain links to original research reports and often include embedded YouTube videos and other relevant multimedia features. The site also offers links to blog posts compiled by the ScienceBlogs Web site and has a very active presence on Twitter.