HS-ETS1-4
Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem.
- Earth
Earth’s tectonic plates won’t slide forever
Earth’s surface morphs, owing to the movement of its tectonic plates. But those plates didn’t use to move so quickly. And in a few billion years they’ll grind to a halt, new research suggests.
- Health & Medicine
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.
- 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.
- Animals
What medicine can learn from squid teeth
Scientists have identified what makes a squid's sucker teeth so strong. The findings may one day prove useful in medicine.
- Materials Science
How to make window ‘glass’ from wood
Scientists have come up with a way to make wood transparent. The new material could be used in everything from windows to packaging.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Physics
Explainer: What are gravitational waves?
Albert Einstein had predicted that large catastrophes, like colliding black holes, should produce tiny ripples in the fabric of space. In 2016, scientists reported finally detecting them
- Animals
Picture This: Plesiosaurs swam like penguins
A computer model suggests plesiosaurs — ancient marine reptiles — swam like penguins, using front flippers for power and back flippers for steering.
- Fossils
Predatory dinos were truly big-mouths
Large meat-eating dinosaurs could open their mouths wide to grab big prey. Vegetarians would have had a more limited gape, a new study suggests.
- Brain
Males and females respond to head hits differently
Men and women are playing sports equally — and getting concussions in comparable numbers. But how their brains respond may differ greatly.
