Engineering Design
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A paper microscope magnifies on the go
Classroom microscopes can be clunky and costly. An inventor has designed one so small, tough and cheap that it can go home in every kid’s backpack.
- Tech
Tiny microrobots team up and move full-size car
Researchers have just created robots that mimic the ability of ants to move super-large objects.
- Chemistry
Particles in air help fatten clouds’ water droplets
Making their own clouds has shown scientists how the fattest water droplets form. Understanding this could lead to better forecasts of climate change.
- Computing
Feeling objects that aren’t there
A new technology uses high-frequency sound waves to create virtual objects you can feel. Its uses include better video games and safer driving.
- Chemistry
Gotcha! New test stalks diseases early
Chemists screen blood for disease markers by adapting a common DNA test. The test can find disease earlier, when it also may be easier to treat.
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Sewing circuits: A crafty way to get kids interested in STEM
Many classrooms teach electric circuits with batteries and wires. But with e-textiles, students can help design and light up their own art projects.
- Brain
Cool jobs: Brainy ways to battle obesity
Scientists from different fields are tapping into connections between food and the brain to help people fight obesity and overcome the urge to overeat.
- Chemistry
Smash hit: Making ‘diamond’ that’s harder than diamonds
Scientists had suspected extreme meteorite impacts might turn graphite into an unusual type of diamond. Now they’ve seen it happen — in under a nanosecond.
- Genetics
Genes: How few needed for life?
Scientists rebuilt a microbe using its old genes. But not all of them. They used as few building-blocks as they could get away with and still have the life-form survive.
- Chemistry
Microbes mine treasure from waste
Like miniature factories, bioreactors house microbes recruited to chew through wastes to clean dirty water, make chemicals or generate electricity.
- Materials Science
Goo-oozing deicer protects surfaces
New, slime-oozing coating might someday help reduce ice and snow buildups on road signs and aircraft wings. The inspiration? The goo produced by slugs.
- Microbes
Plastic that mimics insect wings kills bacteria
A new ‘antibiotic’ plastic uses nanotechnology to mimic the hairs on insect wings. Then ouch! Bacterial cells that land on it end up stabbing themselves to death.
