Engineering Design

  1. Artificial Intelligence

    Teen’s software for spotting AI-generated text just got personal

    Rather than seeking generic signs of AI-generated text, it compares two texts to confirm they both share a writer’s unique style.

    By Katie Grace Carpenter
  2. Artificial Intelligence

    AI, make me a video game

    Developers can use AI to generate code, dialog, playable environments and more. But at its heart, making video games remains a creative human endeavor.

    By Kathryn Hulick
  3. Materials Science

    A beautiful blue butterfly wing offers a new way to study cancer

    Once a morpho butterfly wing is placed atop a thin slice of tissue, shining polarized light through it can help reveal how likely breast cancer is to spread.

    By Stephen Ornes
  4. Materials Science

    This engineer uses light to get hearts pumping

     Pengju Li designed a new type of pacemaker to help doctors during open-heart surgery.

    By Aaron Tremper
  5. Tech

    Squirty gels bring food-like flavors to virtual reality

    A new device recreates complex flavors including lemonade, coffee and fish soup by delivering a mix of chemicals.

    By Simon Makin
  6. Animals

    Lab-grown mosquitoes could help protect Hawaii’s native birds

    To curb the spread of avian malaria, a teen researcher found a way to make those mosquitoes grow faster and stronger.

    By Maria Temming
  7. Brain

    Brain scans may offer clues to the mental health of trans youth

    A teen researcher identified a possible link between brain development and mental health in young trans people.

    By Maria Temming
  8. Environment

    New water treatment process removes pollutants most now don’t

    The two-step water treatment process could cut not only excreted drugs flowing into waterways but also some nutrients that feed harmful algal blooms.

    By Kathiann Kowalski
  9. Earth

    Can engineering save Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier?

    Bold engineering projects might stabilize Thwaites Glacier and slow sea level rise. But no one knows if they will work — or have serious side effects.

    By Douglas Fox
  10. Tech

    Experiment: Make the fastest rubber band paddleboat

    With a rubber band and some cardboard, you can build your own paddleboat to speed across the surface of a pool.

    By Science Buddies
  11. Earth

    Analyze This: Smartphone data may help improve GPS

    Data from millions of phones helped fill in maps of the ionosphere, an atmospheric layer that can muddle radio signals key for navigation systems.

    By Carolyn Wilke
  12. Artificial Intelligence

    AI-designed proteins target toxins in deadly snake venom

    The current way to produce antivenoms is outdated. In lab tests, AI-designed proteins could save mice from a lethal dose of snake toxin.

    By Meghan Rosen