HS-ETS1-3

Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

  1. Animals

    Cloning boosts endangered black-footed ferrets

    A cloned ferret named Elizabeth Ann brings genetic diversity to a species that nearly went extinct in the 1980s.

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  2. Brain

    Scientists Say: Haptic

    Haptic is an adjective used to describe things related to our sense of touch.

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  3. Tech

    Tiny swimming robots may help clean up a microplastics mess

    Big problem, tiny solution. Researchers in the Czech Republic have designed swimming robots that can help collect and break down microplastics.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Discovering the power of placebos

    If you take a fake pill and expect to feel better, you may. Researchers are learning how this placebo effect works and how to use it to help patients.

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  5. Environment

    Wildfire smoke seeds the air with potentially dangerous microbes

    Studies now show that most wildfires don’t kill microbes. That’s fueling worries about what risks these smoke hitchhikers might pose to people.

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  6. Tech

    Let’s learn about artificial intelligence

    Computers are getting smarter all the time. At some tasks, they can even outsmart people.

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  7. Tech

    Headphones or earmuffs could replace needles in some disease testing

    A new system that uses earmuffs to collect gases coming out the skin could help doctors diagnose a variety of diseases, scientists say.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    What is the role of in-person classes in COVID-19’s spread?

    New data haven’t shown that schools pose a big coronavirus risk to kids and their families, despite fears that they might.

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  9. Environment

    Warming cities may see more rain — and frequent flooding

    Scientists are seeking to understand why and how to mop up excess precipitation.

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  10. Earth

    Stores and malls buy into ponds and rain gardens for flood control

    An extra bonus: These rainy-day ponds clean up that dirty water running off parking lots.

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  11. Chemistry

    New glue offers to turn any small walking robot into Spider-Man

    To climb walls, robot feet need to alternately stick and let go. A novel adhesive can do that. Its stickiness is controlled by electric fields.

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  12. Animals

    Uncovering secrets of the glasswing butterfly’s see-through wings

    The tricks of its transparency include sparse, spindly scales and a waxy coated membrane.

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