1,529 results
- Animals
Wag the dog: When left vs. right matters
Most of us see a wagging dog’s tail and automatically think it’s a good sign. But are some wags more friendly than others? A new study says yes.
- Life
Flash leads to flex in lab-grown muscle
Light-activated artificial tissue inspires dream of squirming wormbots.
- Humans
Bionic women (and men) get closer to reality
Prosthetics and new therapies restore abilities to move, see, walk.
- Materials Science
Toylike blocks make lightweight, strong structures
Bucking trend toward reducing numbers of parts, MIT engineers suggest building planes from thousands of identical pieces.
- Life
Designer T cells emerge as weapons against disease
Decades of attempts to boost the immune system’s ability to fight disease are finally starting to pay off. Reprogrammed T cells serve as new weapons against cancer and autoimmune diseases.
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Into the Fold
Flat structures pop into 3-D forms, yielding miniature robots and tools.
- Astronomy
At last, Voyager 1 slips into interstellar space
Solar blast data provides definitive evidence that Voyager 1 has cruised beyond the heliosphere and into interstellar space.
- Tech
Paralyzed woman grips, sips coffee with robot arm
For the first time, a brain-computer interface is powerful enough to enable useful movement in human patients.
- Science & Society
Descending to the Challenger Deep
Director James Cameron reveals the science of his deep-sea exploration.
- Ecosystems
Darwin’s Devices
What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology, by John Long.
- Earth
Buying time when quakes hit
On the West Coast, geologists are developing an earthquake warning system that can provide seconds of notice before destructive shaking begins. The system could be ready before the next big quake hits.
- Humans
Eruption early in human prehistory may have been more whimper than bang
If Hollywood’s right, the apocalypse will be brutal. Aliens, nuclear war, zombies, plague, enslavement by supersmart robots — none of them are good endings. Some archaeologists, however, believe an apocalypse has already come and gone. About 75,000 years ago, they say, a monster volcanic eruption nearly wiped out humankind, leaving behind only a few thousand people to […]
