Here's a little update:

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AVwebFlash Volume 12, Number 45b -- November 9, 2006
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"SILENT AIRCRAFT" DEBUTS LOUDLY
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#193664)
Plans for a quiet, energy-efficient airliner that could be flying
in less than 25 years were unveiled Monday afternoon

(http://www.cambridge-mit.org/cgi-bin...495&NewsID=368)
by researchers from Cambridge University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT). The design uses technology that
should be ready to fly by 2030. Besides reducing noise around
airports, the airplane would require about 25 percent less fuel.
It would use a flying-wing design, eliminate flaps and slats,
simplify the landing gear, improve its aerodynamics and mount the
engines above the fuselage to screen the noise from the ground.
Variable-size jet nozzles would allow for slower jet propulsion
during takeoff and climb for low noise, and would be optimized for
maximum efficiency during cruise.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#193664