Engineering Design

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- Tech
Teen offers technology that could help brain surgeons
It can reproduce plastic models of the precise faulty vessels that need fixing. Now doctors can see them, hold them and practice on them long before they pick up a scalpel.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Common plant could help fight Zika virus
A teen discovered that extracts from leaves of the San Francisco plant (Codiaeum variegatum) kill larvae of the mosquito that helps spread the Zika and dengue fever viruses.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Bed bugs have favorite colors
Bed bugs change their color preferences as they get older. Adults like red and black, which may help the dark bugs avoid predators.
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Teen gymnast finds how best to keep her grip
Unsatisfied with anecdotal opinions on which type of gymnastics chalk was best, a teen used science to find out for herself.
- Tech
Where did that turbine blade get smacked?
A new technique can help engineers figure out where a bird or other object collided with a wind turbine or other whirling blade.
By Sid Perkins - Brain
Small region of brain recognizes facial expressions
Scientists identify the brain region responsible for recognizing facial expressions in others. It helps us know whether others are happy or sad.
- Tech
Control a computer with your tongue
Thousands of severely paralyzed people could venture into cyberspace with the use of this new tongue-controlled computer mouse. It was developed by a teen.
By Sid Perkins - Tech
Teens invent way to keep floodwaters out of subways
Two New York teens have designed an inexpensive subway grate to block floodwaters from getting into subway tunnels.
By Sid Perkins - Environment
Common water pollutants hurt freshwater organisms
The germ killers we use and the drugs we take don’t just disappear. They can end up in the environment. There they can harm aquatic organisms, three teens showed.
- Materials Science
Nanowires could lead to super-long-lived battery
Scientists have long been looking for ways to make rechargeable batteries that last forever. They now may be close. Their solution: gel-dipped nanowires.
By Lela Nargi - Health & Medicine
Injured leg? Here’s a built-in footstool
Sometimes doctors advise people to keep a leg elevated, but there’s no footstool to rest it on. A teen designed a brace with a built-in kickstand.
By Sid Perkins - Tech
New device identifies money by its color
Two teens have invented a gadget that can help the blind identify the value of a banknote based on its color.
By Sid Perkins