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an image of a smoke detector on the ceiling and smoke wafting below it

It took over two minutes for high-pitched smoke alarms to wake kids up. It took a motherly voice just two seconds.

nikkytok/iStockphoto

Science & Society
 
Dec 11, 2018
New smoke alarm tests a mother’s touch
cell-tweezers

These so-called tweezers can take out single molecules or structures from individual cells — such as mitochondria from nerve cells (illustrated here).

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

Technology
 
Dec 10, 2018
Electro-tweezers let scientists safely probe cells
a close-up photo of water being poured into a clear glass

Researchers are testing new ways to bring affordable water treatment to smaller towns and to people who use well water.

pinkomelet/iStockphoto

Technology
 
Nov 29, 2018
New ways to clean up polluted sources of drinking water
860_Lem_braille_graphics.png

A computer can read aloud as someone touches different parts of a raised-dot diagram. The text can be read in braille, too.

ViewPlus Technologies, Inc

Computers & Electronics
 
Nov 27, 2018
This printer makes ‘visual’ aids for people with sight problems
a LEGO model of the Kibble balance

Starting in May 2019, the kilogram will be defined by measurements from a device called the Kibble balance. This is a LEGO model of that device, at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology.

NIST

Physics
 
Nov 15, 2018
Scientists vote to fix the world’s weight-loss problem
860_hydrophobic_power.png

When water droplets bead up on a surface, it’s because that surface has features that repel the water. The water doesn’t penetrate the surface or flatten out across it like a pool. This concept is key to a new energy technology.

Antonistock/iStockphoto

Technology
 
Nov 13, 2018
Super-water-repellent surfaces can generate energy
A photo of Folsom Lake in California from October 2015. There is no water to be seen. A white pick-up truck is driving diagonally from the left to the right along a dry path.

A photo of Folsom Lake in California from October 2015. There is no water to be seen. A white pick-up truck is driving diagonally from the left to the right along a dry path.

MCMLXXXI/iStockphoto

Weather & Climate
 
Oct 18, 2018
Fingerprint of climate change shows up in some extreme weather
a horse stuffed animal with white wraps around its legs is walking across a the screen against a black background, electric wires trail behind it

A new bendable, stretchable skin can wrap around inanimate objects — such as this stuffed horse’s legs — creating a soft robot.

J.W. Booth et al./Sci Robotics 2018

Robotics
 
Oct 10, 2018
Soft robots get their power from the skin they’re in
860_main_SN_wildfires_Carr.png

The Carr Fire burned 930 square kilometers, destroyed more than 1,000 buildings and killed seven people during the summer of 2018. That made it one of the most destructive wildfires in California history.

Eric Coulter, Bureau of Land Management/Flickr

Weather & Climate
 
Oct 1, 2018
Wilder wildfires? Computing helps predict their path and fury
spaghetti machine

Researchers used a custom spaghetti-snapping machine (above) to discover the best way to break dry spaghetti in half.

RONALD HEISSER AND VISHAL PATIL

Physics
 
Sep 28, 2018
The perfect spaghetti snap starts with a twist