MS-ETS1-1
Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
- Materials Science
‘Smart’ pasta morphs into fun shapes as it cooks
The trick to this shape-shifting are grooves cut into the raw pasta. Those grooves affect how the noodles swell as they cook.
- Animals
A common antibiotic might save some sick corals
The antibiotic amoxicillin stopped tissue death in corals for at least 11 months after treatment.
- Agriculture
New technologies might help keep drought-prone farms green
After learning how much damage drought can do to crops, two teens designed ways to detect a thirsty plant and make sure it gets enough water.
- Planets
The Perseverance rover split CO2 on Mars to make breathable air
This oxygen-making experiment shows that astronauts could one day make air to breathe and to help fuel their ride back home.
- Tech
No animal died to make this steak
The ribeye steak is the first of its kind, and the latest in a growing list of meats printed with a 3-D bioprinter instead of being harvested from an animal.
- Tech
New robots can clean virus-laden surfaces so people won’t have to
Smart and nimble cleaning robots will soon help disinfect spaces. They twist and bend to hit hard-to-reach spaces with UV light or cleansing sprays.
- Materials Science
Copper ‘foam’ could be used as filters for COVID-19 masks
The lightweight new material could serve as a washable and recyclable, eco-friendly alternative for many current mask filters.
- Chemistry
New recycling technologies could keep more plastic out of landfills
Recycling plastics is really hard — especially into useful materials. But new chemical tricks could make recycling easier.
- Chemistry
Level up your demonstration: Make it an experiment
What’s the difference between a demonstration and an experiment? Questions, measurements and many, many replications.
- Physics
Light levitation might help explore Earth’s ‘ignorosphere’
A toy called a light mill inspired researchers to invent a new way to fly. They’re using light to levitate small nanotube-coated discs.
- Animals
Science and Indigenous history team up to help spirit bears
When scientists and Indigenous people work together, their efforts can benefit bears and people.
- Plants
Scientists may have finally found how catnip repels insects
The plant deters mosquitoes and fruit flies by triggering a chemical receptor that, in some animals, senses pain and itch.
