Engineering Design

  1. Space

    Ingenuity helicopter makes history by flying on Mars

    The copter's 40-second-long flight in the Red Planet’s thin air is only the first in a planned series of daring flights.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Bandages made from crab shells speed healing

    The chitin in seafood wastes, insect “bones” and fungi is a chemist’s dream. Used in a new medical dressing, it beats regular gauze for wound healing.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Could a toothpaste help treat peanut allergy?

    By rolling an immune therapy into a toothbrushing routine, one company hopes to show its product can build and maintain tolerance to peanut allergens.

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  4. Physics

    Getting cozy with a science experiment

    Items you use in your home can inspire a scientific experiment.

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  5. Animals

    Science and Indigenous history team up to help spirit bears

    When scientists and Indigenous people work together, their efforts can benefit bears and people.

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  6. Animals

    Analyze This: Cows burp less methane after early-life treatment

    Calves that receive the 14-week treatment belch less of the greenhouse gas, possibly due to shifts in their gut microbes.

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  7. Brain

    Scientists may have finally found how catnip repels insects

    The plant deters mosquitoes and fruit flies by triggering a chemical receptor that, in some animals, senses pain and itch.

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  8. Moderna and Pfizer vaccines appear to cut coronavirus spread

    The vaccines are about 90 percent effective at blocking infection, which should cut spread of the virus. And at least one vaccine works well in teens.

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  9. Planets

    Signs of a hidden Planet Nine in our solar system may be an illusion

    Hints of the remote planet, also called Planet X, relied on clumped up orbits of bodies beyond Neptune. A new study suggests that clumping doesn’t exist.

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  10. Computing

    5G promises new energy savings for digital tech

    A new way to transmit wireless communications promises time and energy savings by using networks of smaller cells.

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  11. Computing

    Greening your digital life

    The less electricity you use while playing video games or using your devices, the less impact you’ll have on climate change.

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  12. Climate

    COVID-19 cut pollution in 2020, warming the atmosphere

    Pandemic-related lockdowns briefly warmed the planet. The reason: The cleaner air carried fewer planet-cooling aerosols.

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