Computer scientists at Rice University say the Internet is developing wrinkles. So they're proposing, along with colleagues at other universities, to radically overhaul America's Internet infrastructure, from the backbones that transport data around the world, to conduits into homes. To jump-start the process the National Science Foundation awarded $7.5 million Wednesday to several academic institutions, including Rice, to develop technologies 2,000 times faster than dial-up and up to 250 times faster than DSL or cable modems. And they want to bring this ultra high speed to 100 million homes. "We need to take the next step," said Ed Knightly, an...