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Physics
Scientists Say: Piezoelectric
Piezoelectric materials produce an electric voltage when they are bent or squished. This can let us harvest electricity from movement.
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Tech
Bye-bye batteries? Power a phone with fabric or a beacon with sound
New piezoelectric systems produce electricity in unusual ways, such as when a certain nylon bends or underwater ceramics vibrate.
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Physics
Researchers reveal the secret to the perfect football throw
The tip of a spiraling football follows the ball’s path. If you know a thing or two about gyroscopes, this is not what you’d expect.
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Animals
Analyze This: Ropes restore a gibbon highway through a rainforest
When endangered Hainan gibbons started making risky leaps across an area mowed down by a landslide, researchers provided them a rope bridge.
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Tech
Ordinary paper turns into flexible human-powered keypad
Engineers have figured out how to turn sheets of paper into rugged, low-cost electronic devices, such as a computer keypad.
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Climate
Let’s learn about solar power
Solar power is a way to harness energy from the sun, and lessen our reliance on fossil fuels.
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Science & Society
Batteries not included: This Game Boy look-alike doesn’t need them
Game Boy revolutionized the gaming industry. A newer version could help slow the rate of climate change.
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Tech
Trees power this alarm system for remote forest fires
Wind moving through tree branches is all the energy needed to power devices that can detect a remote fire before it rages into an uncontrolled inferno.
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A dirty and growing problem: Too few toilets
As the famous book says, everybody poops. That’s 7.8 billion people, worldwide. For the 2.4 billion with no toilet, the process can be complicated.
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Health & Medicine
Here’s how COVID-19 is changing classes this year
To keep students and teachers safe from COVID-19, some things in the classroom are changing — and sometimes entire schools are being kept closed.
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Materials Science
Will bacterial ‘wires’ one day power your phone?
An accidental discovery helps scientists generate electricity out of thin —but humid — air with bacteria-made protein nanowires.
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Physics
A contrast between shadows and light can now generate electricity
A new device exploits the contrast between bright spots and shade to produce a current that can power small electronics.