Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s DART spacecraft just smashed into an asteroid — on purpose
If the first-ever attempt to knock a space rock off course works, it could provide a blueprint to protect Earth from a killer asteroid.
- Quantum Physics
This environmentally friendly quantum sensor runs on sunlight
Quantum sensors often rely on power-hungry lasers to make measurements. A new quantum magnetometer uses sunlight to measure magnetic fields instead.
- Neuroscience
An AI can decode speech from brain activity with surprising accuracy
Developed by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, the AI could eventually be used to help people who can’t communicate through speech, typing or gestures.
- Tech
50 years ago, genes eluded electron microscopes
In the 1970s, scientists dreamed of seeing genes under the microscope. Fifty years later, powerful new tools are helping to make that dream come true.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, scientists hoped freezing donor organs would boost transplants
In the 1970s, biologists hoped to freeze organs so more could last long enough to be transplanted. Scientists are now starting to manage this feat.
- Tech
Scientists turned dead spiders into robots
In a new field dubbed “necrobotics,” researchers used a syringe and some superglue to control the dead bodies of wolf spiders.
- Neuroscience
Spinal stimulation gives some people with paralysis more freedom
Methods that stimulate the spine with electrodes promise to improve the lives of people with spinal cord injuries, in ways that go well beyond walking.
- Health & Medicine
This stick-on ultrasound patch could let you watch your own heart beat
A new, coin-sized ultrasound probe can stick to the skin like a Band-Aid for up to two days straight, marking a milestone in personalized medicine.
- Environment
How to make jet fuel from sunlight, air and water vapor
Solar kerosene could one day replace petroleum-derived jet fuel in airplanes and help stabilize greenhouse gas emissions.
- Health & Medicine
A new technology uses human teardrops to spot disease
A proof-of-concept technique to analyze microscopic particles in tears could give scientists a new way to detect eye disease and other disorders.
- Tech
This octopus-inspired glove helps humans grip slippery objects
The human hand, for all its deftness, is not great at grasping slippery stuff. A new glove aims to change that.
- Health & Medicine
This soft, electronic ‘nerve cooler’ could be a new way to relieve pain
A tiny electronic device implanted in the body generates targeted pain relief by cooling off nerves, experiments in rats suggest.
