Engineering Design
- Physics
Science reveals the reasons behind painful paper cuts
Some types of paper are more likely to cause paper cuts. It’s the paper’s thickness and slicing angle that matter, physicists conclude.
- Artificial Intelligence
The brain of a tiny worm inspired a new type of AI
A liquid neural network mimics how neurons interact in the brain of a worm. This type of AI can better adapt to new situations.
- Tech
New system uses evaporation to greatly cool artificial turf
It relies on rainwater that gets stored below a field of plastic "grass." The design also limits how much rain — and pollution — will run off artificial turf.
- Tech
Want to spot a deepfake? Focus on the eyes
A technique from astronomy could help detect deepfakes by spotting unrealistic reflections in the eyes of AI-generated images.
- Health & Medicine
Python fangs inspired a fix for shoulder injuries common in sports
Curved teeth could grip fragile shoulder tendons without tearing, making rotator-cuff repairs stronger and more likely to last.
- Tech
Did builders of Egypt’s first pyramid use a water-powered elevator?
A controversial study suggests that ancient people might have used one to hoist the stones used to assemble into King Djoser’s pyramid.
- Tech
Robotics might someday give us an extra hand
We could control a bonus limb with the movements of our diaphragm.
- Chemistry
The periodic table might soon have a new element
A new technique could be used to make the undiscovered element 120.
- Space
Sci-fi inspired spacesuit recycles pee into drinking water
A spacesuit that collects and filters urine could prove a boon to future remote workers — even on Earth. Like the idea? Thank Dune.
- Tech
Lasers help put the cork on spilled oil
Treating cork with lasers made the material able to quickly sponge up oil while repelling water, scientists in China and Israel found.
- Animals
Freeze-drying turned a woolly mammoth’s DNA into ‘chromoglass’
The 3-D structure of this now-glassy DNA revealed similarities — and differences — between woolly mammoths and elephants.
- Space
Space tourists could face out-of-this-world health risks
As commercial spaceflight starts to take off, a new project — the Space Omics and Medical Atlas — documents potential health impacts to travelers.
