MS-ETS1-1
Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
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Space
Movie, book illuminate Hidden Figures from the space race
A new movie and book showcase the hidden heroes of the space race — the mathematicians who crunched the numbers.
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Tech
Speedy, springy robot ‘Salto’ catches some serious air
A lightweight robot nicknamed “Salto” can bound from floor to wall and back. Such fast and agile bots may someday aid in search-and-rescue operations.
By Meghan Rosen -
Materials Science
3-D printers offer better way to make some magnets
3-D printers produced magnets as strong as conventional ones with less material wasted.
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Tech
Implant traps cancer cells on the move
A device implanted under the skin extended the life of mice with breast cancer. It trapped injected cancer cells before they created tumors in organs throughout the body.
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Animals
These young inventors had to make like a crab
This year’s top challenge for Broadcom MASTERS finalists was to design and build a robotic arm based on a crab’s arm and claw.
By Sid Perkins -
Climate
Predicting a wildfire with data from space
When the West gets dry it can catch fire. A teen decided to find out if satellite data might show where a fire’s fuel might reside.
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Tech
Hack: How to spy on a 3-D printer
Computer scientists have found that a hacker can eavesdrop on a 3-D printer using a smartphone. The technique uses sound and energy data produced by the printer.
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Climate
Cool Jobs: Wet and wild weather
How’s the weather? Forecasts rely on scientists and engineers who collect and interpret data gathered on the ground, in the sky and way up in space.
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Materials Science
Nano medicines take aim at big diseases
Nanomedicines are new treatments and tools that are taking aim at disease from the cellular level. Medicine’s next big thing could be very teeny tiny.
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Health & Medicine
Zika vaccines look promising
As a Zika epidemic surges through Brazil and northward, scientists are looking for drugs to keep more people from becoming infected. Several vaccines show promise in early tests — but none has yet been tried in people.
By Meghan Rosen -
Ink leads way to terminating termites
Inspired by a classroom experiment, a teen has built a way to lure troublesome termites to their death — using the power of ink.
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Environment
Fighting big farm pollution with a tiny plant
Fertilizer runoff can fuel the growth of toxic algae nearby lakes. A teen decided to harness a tiny plant to sop up that fertilizer.