--- description: The problem of parents in prison, holograms you can feel, unleashing nurse practitioners, the glut of science PhDs and more. title: These Are Today's Best Ideas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 5 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2015 5:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2015 5:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**2.7 million American children have a parent in prison. We can learn from South Africa’s belief in a “right to childhood.”**](http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/blog/incarceration-and-right-childhood-what-us-can-learn-south-africa "undefined") By Lauren Lee White at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy **2\.** [**Imagine handling an ancient artifact or typing on a virtual keyboard. Holograms you can feel are here.**](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ultrahaptics-bringing-sensation-touch-virtual-reality-1489289 "undefined") By Anthony Cuthbertson in International Business Times **3\.** [**One school district is bringing down the silos between art, computer science and technology education to give kids skills for the future.**](https://www.edsurge.com/n/2015-03-05-from-drab-to-fablab-how-one-district-trains-kids-on-21st-century-skills "undefined") By Todd Keruskin in EdSurge **4\.** [**They cost less and give patients a better experience. It’s time to drop the barriers on nurse practitioners.**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dItVypEXAY "undefined") By Matthew Yglesias in Vox **5\.** [**To keep their labs supplied with cheap labor, universities are churning out PhDs. But there’s no work for them after graduation.**](http://hechingerreport.org/oversupply-phds-threaten-american-science/ "undefined") By Brenda Iasevoli in The Hechinger Report  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3733407/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-5/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3733407/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-5/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 5","datePublished":"2015-03-05T17:01:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:13.309Z","description":"The problem of parents in prison, holograms you can feel, unleashing nurse practitioners, the glut of science PhDs and more.","url":"https://time.com/3733407/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-5/","keywords":["Innovation","Health Care","Education","Technology","Science topic","Biology","Research","STEM","Schools","Prison","doctors","learning","universities","health care costs"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3733407/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-5/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 5"}}]}] ```