Tech
- Brain
This brain region may make lifelike robots creep you out
Robots that look too much like real people can be unsettling. Scientists identified a brain region that may be behind these uneasy feelings.
- Tech
Sunlight can produce energy and clean water at the same time
A new device can make electricity from the sun. What makes it truly special, however: It uses waste heat from the system to turn dirty water or salty water into drinking water.
- Physics
This device turns the kilogram’s new definition into a real mass
A new suitcase-sized device will be able to measure small masses — around 10 grams — with surprising accuracy.
- Planets
Was that a Marsquake?
‘Marsquakes’ could help scientists learn more about the Red Planet’s inner activity.
- Tech
This robot’s parts are helpless alone, but turn smart as they team up
In a new system called “particle robotics,” many small, simple helpless units can seemingly come to life and start moving when amassed into a team.
- Tech
Ocean energy could be the wave of the future
Energy systems that turn the power of ocean waves into electrical energy could be on the horizon — or pumping away near the sea floor.
- Computing
Novel fabric could turn perspiration into power
Sweat cools people by evaporating. A teen now wants to use it to generate electricity as well.
- Humans
New forensic technique may better gauge age at death
An 18-year-old student from Ackworth, England, has come up with a better way to estimate the age at death for many human remains. It needs only a CT scan of the skull.
- Animals
Bumpy edges could be key to record-breaking oars
Inspired by the bumpy edges of flippers on a humpback whale, an Australian teen has redesigned oars for use by competitive rowers.
- Science & Society
How to develop more ecofriendly parachutes for disaster relief
A teen researcher from Singapore suggests that parachutes made from folded paper could be a more ecofriendly choice than nylon chutes for delivering disaster-relief supplies.
- Science & Society
This fish ‘tag’ runs on fish power
Tags that researchers use to track fish can run out of power. A teen from Taiwan invented a tag that converts fish swimming into the electricity needed to keep it running.
- Science & Society
You can fight back against cyberattacks
Cyberattacks have cut power to a major city and delayed the delivery of medicine. Find out how experts combat such attacks and how to protect yourself.
