Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
50 years ago, a balloon circumnavigated the world for science
A 1973 high-altitude flight kicked off an era of useful stratospheric balloon science. Some scientists worry that heightened concerns over alleged spy balloons might hamper that.
- Tech
How ChatGPT and similar AI will disrupt education
The new chatbot ChatGPT and other generative AI encourage cheating and offer up incorrect info, but they could also be used for good.
- Tech
A trick inspired by Hansel and Gretel could help rovers explore other worlds
Taking a cue from a classic fairy tale, scientists propose a way for rovers to send back data from treacherous terrain.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
