I just saw a thing on the space elevator on headline news! It was great! Of course, we freepers aren't supposed to like headline news. So just pretend it was on fox. Or something.
I don't know if this thing can or can't be built, but if there is a shot at it I think a lot of science could be learned by trying. Some more long tether experiments in orbit ought to be done soon. Supposedly this elevator construction would begin in orbit by unreeling the first segments toward the ground and toward the deep space anchor point and then adding segments until it reaches the ground and the deep anchor.