Tech

  1. Health & Medicine

    A gel cocktail uses the body’s sugars to ‘grow’ electrodes in living fish

    A chemical reaction with the body’s own sugars turned a gel cocktail into a conducting material inside zebrafish brains, hearts and tail fins.

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  2. Tech

    This robot automatically tucks its limbs to squeeze through spaces

    Inspired by ants, a robot with telescoping legs can crawl under low ceilings, climb over steps and move on grass, loose rock and mulch.

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  3. Physics

    A powerful laser can redirect lightning strikes

    In a mountaintop experiment, a laser beamed into the sky created a virtual lightning rod that snagged several bolts before they hit the ground.

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  4. Earth

    Rare earth mining may be key to our renewable energy future. But at what cost?

    We take you inside Mountain Pass, the only rare earth mine in the United States.

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  5. Climate

    Wind turbines could help capture carbon dioxide while providing power

    Turbulent wakes from wind turbines can concentrate CO2 from cities and factories, making it easier to remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

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  6. Computing

    Huijia Lin proved that a master tool of cryptography is possible

    Cryptographer Huijia Lin showed that the long-sought “indistinguishability obfuscation” is secure from data attacks.

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  7. Science & Society

    Big questions inspire the scientists on this year’s SN 10 list

    These scientists to watch study climate change, alien worlds, human evolution, the coronavirus and more.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    This robotic pill clears mucus from the gut to deliver meds

    A whirling robotic pill wicks mucus from the gut, allowing intravenous drugs such as insulin to be given orally, experiments in pigs suggest.

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  9. Planetary Science

    NASA’s DART spacecraft just smashed into an asteroid — on purpose

    If the first-ever attempt to knock a space rock off course works, it could provide a blueprint to protect Earth from a killer asteroid.

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  10. Quantum Physics

    This environmentally friendly quantum sensor runs on sunlight

    Quantum sensors often rely on power-hungry lasers to make measurements. A new quantum magnetometer uses sunlight to measure magnetic fields instead.

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  11. Neuroscience

    An AI can decode speech from brain activity with surprising accuracy

    Developed by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, the AI could eventually be used to help people who can’t communicate through speech, typing or gestures.

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  12. Tech

    50 years ago, genes eluded electron microscopes

    In the 1970s, scientists dreamed of seeing genes under the microscope. Fifty years later, powerful new tools are helping to make that dream come true.

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