Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
- Brain
What makes a pretty face?
Beautiful faces are symmetrical and average. Do we prefer them because this makes them easier for our brains to process?
- Health & Medicine
Simpler way to screen for hidden hearing loss?
Many teens today walk around with undiagnosed hearing damage. But some Boston-based researchers have come up with a low-tech approach to screening these individuals so they can get help.
- Health & Medicine
‘Ringing’ in the ears may signal serious ear damage
A persistent ringing in the ears, also known as tinnitus, has become common in teens — and may point to eventual, permanent hearing loss.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Diffraction
When liquid hits something it spatters, when light hits something, it scatters. The process is called diffraction.
- Animals
Spidey sense: They can hear you!
Surprise! At least some spiders can hear us. Even without eardrums, jumping spiders can still detect airborne sounds from across the room.
- Animals
Creative ways to help coral reefs recover
Coral reefs are under siege from threats ranging from climate change to explosives. But scientists are developing ways to rebuild reefs before they disappear.
- Earth
Water sensor quickly detects algal poison
A new sensor can detect poisons from harmful algae within minutes so that drinking-water plants can start timely treatments.
- Brain
Cool Jobs: Video game creators
Meet an engineer who worked on StarCraft II, an expert building a new kind of reality and a neuroscientist who uses games as brain therapy.
- Physics
Explainer: How heat moves
Energy moves through the universe one of three ways: conduction, convection and radiation. Only radiation can occur through empty space.
- Tech
Hot, hot, hot? New fabric could help you stay cool
A plastic fabric can let body heat escape efficiently, if the material is filled with tiny bubbles of just the right size
- Health & Medicine
‘Smart’ sutures monitor healing
Coatings added to the threads used to stitch up a wound let researchers use electrical signals to monitor a wound’s healing — even one covered by a bandage.
- Brain
Our eyes can see single specks of light
The human eye can detect a single photon. This discovery answers questions about how sensitive our eyes are. It hints at the possibility of using our eyes to study issues of quantum-scale physics.
