1,529 results
- Tech
‘Rust’ chronicles humankind’s incessant battle with corrosion
‘Rust’ recounts humanity’s unending battle against corrosion, which each year costs the United States an estimated $437 billion — more than all natural disasters combined.
- Astronomy
The craziest NASA mission ever proposed
In this issue, Meghan Rosen provides an in-depth report on that mission, but without the erroneous conclusion that the Asteroid Redirect Mission has much to do with asteroid defense.
- Neuroscience
Dogs’ brains may process speech similar to humans’
When it comes to interpreting human speech, dogs may have brain-hemisphere biases similar to people’s.
- Materials Science
Magnetic levitation shows promise for manufacturing
Suspending soft, sticky and fragile objects between magnets may be a way to manipulate the materials in 3-D space without needing to touch them.
- Life
Springs bring gecko stickiness to human scale
Springs of a stretchy alloy let gecko-inspired adhesives work at human scales to climb glass walls or grab space junk.
- Animals
Birds large and small hop over obstacles in similar ways
Bipedal birds, from tiny quail to huge ostriches, tackled a step in a similar way, minimizing energy cost and maximizing safety.
- Materials Science
Nanotube whiskers could aid robot-human interaction
Tiny hairlike sensors made from nanomaterials are more sensitive than existing devices to detect tiny pressures.
- Animals
If pursued by a goshawk, make a sharp turn
Scientists put a tiny camera on a northern goshawk and watched it hunt. The bird used several strategies to catch prey, failing only when its targets made a sharp turn.
- Planetary Science
Year in review: Business booming on Mars
Mars now has seven robots studying it and together they have given scientists their best view of any planet in the solar system other than Earth.
- Tech
Termite-inspired robots build structures without central command
Simple guidelines keep machines hauling and placing bricks.
- Planetary Science
Philae lander sent in a surprise before going to sleep
The robotic probe that landed on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has beamed back some surprises about the icy boulder.
- Science & Society
Science’s good, bad, ugly year
In the race for Top Science Story of 2014, some of the contenders stumbled before reaching the finish line.
