Engineering Design
- Plants
Silk-based microneedles may help treat diseased plants
Engineers have invented silk microneedles to inject medicines into plants. One day farmers might use drones to dart their sick plants with meds from the air.
- Space
Astronauts may be able to make cement with their own pee
Lunar dust and a compound found in urine might one day be used to build future dwellings on the moon, a new study finds.
- Tech
Waiting for a ‘smart’ toilet? It’s nearly here
With every bathroom visit, we flush away important health data. Scientists hope to change that with 'smart toilets' that analyze your body’s output.
- Science & Society
Coronavirus lockdowns may have avoided 531 million infections
Studies find big benefits from global coronavirus lockdowns. More than a half a billion of the potentially deadly infections appear to have been avoided.
- Chemistry
This tube worm’s glowing slime may help sustain its own shine
Snot oozed by a marine tube worm can glow for up to 3 full days. The secret of how this works might lead to long-lasting lights that glow on and on.
- Space
A first: Commercial rocket takes humans into space
Two NASA astronauts aboard the privately built Crew Dragon capsule are the first to be sent into orbit from U.S. soil since 2011.
- Planets
Planets with hydrogen skies could harbor life
Microbes can live in a hydrogen atmosphere. This points to new space worlds that host alien life.
- Environment
Fossil fuels appear to release far more methane than we thought
Ice cores reveal less methane than expected. This suggests today’s fossil fuel industry is responsible for nearly all of the methane emissions from natural sources today.
- Science & Society
CO2 emissions have nosedived as COVID-19 keeps people home
The COVID-19 pandemic restricted travel that can pollute the air. By April, travel-related daily emissions of greenhouse gases was back to 2006 levels.
- Chemistry
Ancient recipes helped scientists resurrect a long-lost blue hue
Led by medieval texts, scientists hunted down a plant and used its fruit to make a blue watercolor with mysterious origins.
- Tech
Sweat tech alerts athletes when to rehydrate — and with what
Technology shows how the body responds to moderate and vigorous exercise. That helps athletes stay healthy — and helps scientists understand why.
- Tech
Why sports are becoming all about numbers — lots and lots of numbers
Sports once focused on muscles, skill and tactics. Now math is becoming almost as important. It helps assess players — and improve their tools.
