New class of recyclable polymer materials could one day help reduce single-use plastic waste

Single-use plastics. Anton Petrus/Moment Katherine Harry, Colorado State University and Emma Rettner, Colorado State University Hundreds of millions of tons of single-use plastic ends up in landfills every year, and even the small percentage of plastic that gets recycled can’t last forever. But our group of materials scientists has developed a new method for creating […]

A Robotic Slime That Could One Day Save Your Life [Video]

From Interesting Engineering: In a world where robotics and medical innovation converge, a game-changing hero emerges: a slime. This isn’t your typical gooey substance; it’s a fluid-based soft robot, a blend of polymers, borax, and alcohol, capable of shifting between liquid and solid states through viscoelasticity. Tiny neodymium particles grant it magnetic control, allowing it […]


Astronomers have learned lots about the universe − but how do they study astronomical objects too distant to visit?

Telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory near La Serena, Chile. Guillaume Doyen/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, CC BY Luke Keller, Ithaca College NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flew by Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, dropping off its sample of dust and pebbles gathered from the surface of near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Analysis of this sample will help scientists understand how the […]

WATCH LIVE: NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Launches to a Metal Asteroid [Video]

Update: the launch was a success. You can rewatch it above by rewinding the footage. I can’t specify the exact time yet since the live video is not over. From NASA: Watch the Psyche spacecraft launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting […]

Comets 101 − everything you need to know about the snow cones of space

Comet Hale-Bopp was visible from Earth in 1997. E. Kolmhofer, H. Raab; Johannes-Kepler-Observatory, Linz, Austria, CC BY-NC Shannon Schmoll, Michigan State University When you hear the word comet, you might imagine a bright streak moving across the sky. You may have a family member who saw a comet before you were born, or you may […]

Spicy food might burn in the moment, but it likely won’t harm your health in the long term

Many cultures integrate hot peppers into traditional dishes. AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File Paul D. Terry, University of Tennessee Everyone has a different tolerance for spicy food — some love the burn, while others can’t take the heat. But the scientific consensus on whether spicy food can have an effect — positive or negative — […]

Major Medical Discoveries That Happened By Mistake: The Power of Serendipity

In the world of medical innovation, where countless hours and billions of dollars are invested annually, the power of serendipity often shines through. While deliberate research drives progress, some of the most remarkable medical discoveries have occurred entirely by accident. Here is a compilation of major medical breakthroughs that happened while pursuing entirely different objectives.

Why Are Useless Decongestants Still on Shelves?

If you’ve ever reached for an over-the-counter decongestant in the past couple of decades, there’s a good chance it contained phenylephrine as its primary active ingredient. But here’s the catch: Phenylephrine doesn’t work any better than a placebo. So, why is it still available for sale? Vox’s Phil Edwards delves into this perplexing issue in […]

How a disgruntled scientist looking to prove his food wasn’t fresh discovered radioactive tracers and won a Nobel Prize 80 years ago

George De Hevesy working in his lab at Stockholm University in 1944. Keystone Features/Hulton Archive via Getty Images Artemis Spyrou, Michigan State University; Katharina Domnanich, Michigan State University, and Sean Liddick, Michigan State University Each October, the Nobel Prizes celebrate a handful of groundbreaking scientific achievements. And while many of the awarded discoveries revolutionize the […]

Chick Embryo Neurons Time-Lapse Video Wins Nikon Small World in Motion Competition

In a triumph of scientific artistry, a 48-hour time-lapse film showcasing the development of neurons in the central nervous system of a chick embryo has emerged as the grand winner in the prestigious Nikon Small World in Motion video competition. Filmed by Alexandre Dumoulin of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, this captivating footage offers a […]