Engineering Design
- Materials Science
Analyze This: Hardened wood can make sharp steak knives
Researchers treated wood to make it hard and dense. Out of it, they carved sharp knives and nails that could substitute for ones made of steel.
- Chemistry
Chemistry solves a French royal mystery
Ink analysis reveals the hidden words of Marie Antoinette's letters and who tried to hide them.
- Tech
Scientists find a ‘greener’ way to make jeans blue
When coated onto jeans, a plant-based polymer reduces water and cuts the amount of toxic chemicals needed.
- Environment
Everyday plastics can pollute, leaching thousands of chemicals
Plastic bags and containers leach potentially toxic chemicals into both food and water, but researchers yet don’t know how they might affect health.
- Tech
Did Facebook put Instagram profits ahead of teen safety?
Former employee said Facebook (now Meta) ignored its own research on Instagram risks to teens’ mental health. We look at the issues and what you can do.
- Brain
Ask the experts: How to create a top-notch science fair project
Five finalists in the Broadcom MASTERS middle-school competition reveal how they created nationally competitive projects.
- Materials Science
Bacteria make ‘spider silk’ that’s stronger than steel
Part spider silk, the material is better than what some spiders make. Researchers think it might make the basis for surgical threads or unusually strong fabrics.
- Brain
It doesn’t take a concussion for head hits to harm young brains
Most head impacts while playing football do not cause concussions. Yet even lesser impacts take a toll in young athletes, scans of their brains show.
- Agriculture
Potty-trained cows could help reduce pollution
About a dozen calves have been trained to pee in a stall. Toilet training cows on a large scale could cut down on pollution, scientists say.
- Tech
Will you learn better from reading on screen or on paper?
Some studies find students don’t learn as well by reading on screens as from paper. But that's not always true. Here’s how to make the most of reading in either format.
- Animals
What biologists call a species is becoming more than just a name
The tree of life — evolution — has been reshaping how scientists name and classify organisms. Some want naming to reflect evolutionary groups even more.
- Chemistry
Chemists win Nobel Prize for faster, cleaner way of making molecules
Both scientists independently came up with new process — asymmetric organocatalysis. That name may be a mouthful, but it’s not that hard to understand.
