Engineering Design
- Brain
Explainer: How to read brain activity
Electricity underlies the chattering of brain cells. Here’s how scientists eavesdrop on those conversations.
- Earth
Nicotine from smoke enters body through the skin
Scientists have shown for the first time that nicotine from cigarette smoke can enter the body through bare skin from the air or contact with smoky clothes.
- Computing
Self-designed tattoos are fashionable technology
Researchers have created do-it-yourself temporary tattoos. They’re a fashion-forward way to control electronic devices.
- Chemistry
Lab creates new, unexpected type of ‘firenadoes’
A newly discovered type of fiery vortex burns hot and generates little soot. Scientists suspect it could be a solution to cleaning up oil spills at sea.
- Genetics
Explainer: What is epigenetics?
Epigenetics is the study of molecular “switches” that turn genes on and off. Tweak those switches and there could be big health consequences.
- Tech
‘Smart’ sutures monitor healing
Coatings added to the threads used to stitch up a wound let researchers use electrical signals to monitor a wound’s healing — even one covered by a bandage.
- Materials Science
Beetles offer people lessons in moisture control
Taking tricks from a beetle, researchers are designing surfaces that collect water from the air or resist frost buildup.
- Health & Medicine
Will chicken cologne guard you from malaria?
Mosquitoes that carry malaria are repelled by the smell of chickens. In malaria country, that could make these birds a human’s best friend.
- 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.
- Chemistry
Got milk? Roach milk could be a new superfood
Scientists have just figured out the recipe for cockroach milk. And that could be a first step toward making it part of the human diet. Yum!
- Health & Medicine
End of Latin America’s Zika epidemic is in sight
A computer simulation suggests the Zika epidemic in Latin America is peaking and may not strike hard again for up to three decades.
- Health & Medicine
New study raises questions about cell phone safety
U.S. government study in rats links cell-phone radiation to a small increase in brain cancers and heart tumors. Some scientists now worry about lifetime risks to today’s children and teens.
