Emily Matchar

Emily Matchar

 

Emily Matchar is a writer from North Carolina. She's contributed to many publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic and many others. She's the author of the novel In the Shadow of the Greenbrier. 

A new emoji representing menstruation may be coming to a phone near you.

Breaking Down Menstruation Taboos With Emojis

A nonprofit believes that changing the digital conversation around periods could help girls around the world

For the times that licking an ice cream cone is too difficult, this patented motorized ice cream cone does the work for you. Happy summer.

Motorized Ice Cream Cones and Floating Campgrounds: 14 of the Wackiest Summer Fun Patents

Inventors never stop thinking of new ways to have fun, as these 14 patents show.

Baskets of local fruit for sale in Niagara, Ontario. Peaches are more frequently being grown in cold-weather climates like Canada as climate change affects the viability of crops.

Canadian Peaches and California Coffee: How Farmers Are Being Forced to Innovate in the Face of Climate Change

As the climate changes and global temperatures rise, farmers are having to change cultivation techniques and sometimes even crops.

Dr. John Cushman with the flow battery

Pour to Recharge Your Electric Vehicle

Purdue University scientists have created a liquid-based battery that could one day be recharged at a gas station pump in just minutes

Don't stop slathering on the sunblock, but a technology being developed in the lab could add an additional layer of protection, by tanning skin cells without UV rays.

Researchers Give Skin Cells a Tan—Without the Sun

Without damaging UV rays, the artificial tan could give that golden glow while protecting against skin cancer.

Rendering of the Innerbelt National Forest, a "pop-up forest" in Akron, Ohio

An Ohio City is Turning an Unused Highway Into a Pop-Up Forest

Akron, Ohio hopes to fight urban inequality by removing a divisive highway. Other cities across America are looking into doing the same.

A baby in the neonatal intensive care unit are often covered in patches and wires for monitoring their vital signs, but new advances mean that soon those wires could be replaced with sensors as thin as a temporary tattoo.

Will These Flexible Skin Patches Replace Wires in Hospitals?

Researchers at Northwestern University have developed "epidermal electronics," thin flexible patches capable of monitoring vital signs and more.

Screenshots from the iNaturalist app, which uses "deep learning" to automatically identify what bug—or fish, bird, or mammal—you might be looking at.

AI Plant and Animal Identification Helps Us All Be Citizen Scientists

Apps that use artificial intelligence to allow users to ID unknown specimens are making science more accessible to everyone.

Researchers found that tadpole embryos were better able to fight off infection when their cells' natural electrical charge was manipulated.

Tweaking the Tiny Electrical Charges Inside Cells Can Fight Infection

It works in tadpoles. Could it work in humans?

A new app, developed by two college students, coaches you on your public speaking.

An App to Make You a Better Public Speaker

Orai, created by two college students, uses AI to help people become more fluent, confident speakers through consistent practice and feedback.

Night vision technology has been in use since just before World War II, although it's evolved considerably since then.

Seeing in the Dark: The History of Night Vision

In honor of Military Invention Day, a look at night vision technology throughout the years

This App Could Bring Sex Ed To All Students

Real Talk helps middle schoolers access reliable sex ed information using storytelling, regardless of whether they have internet at home

Stop your baby from sucking his or her thumb with this, er, "clever" invention.

Patents (Only) a Mother Could Love

For Mother's Day, we've pulled some of history's wackiest patented ideas for mothers and children

Premature infant in a traditional incubator

Will This Artificial Womb One Day Improve the Care of Preemies?

A new treatment, tested on lambs, involves letting fetuses mature in fluid-filled sacs

Does Creativity Breed Inequality in Cities?

Richard Florida thinks so. In his new book, the urban theorist says sometimes the most innovative cities also have the worst social and economic disparity

Ensilicated proteins

Keeping Vaccines Safe in Tiny "Cages"

By encasing vaccines in silica, researchers could eliminate the need to refrigerate them during transportation

This honeycomb structure was printed in fused silica glass.

You Can Now 3D Print Glass

German researchers have developed a technique for 3D printing strong, transparent glass products, such as jewelry, lenses and computer parts

Jonathan Coleman (center) and team show off a printed electronic label.

New Electronic Labels Could Alert You When Your Milk Spoils

New 2D printed electronics made of the nanomaterial graphene could be used in newspapers, self-updating price tags and more

Developed by Komal Dadlani, Lab4U apps take advantage of a smartphone's built-in sensors.

This App Puts a Science Lab in Your Pocket

Lab4U turns smartphones and tablets into scientific tools

This historic map shows London in the 18th century.

Stanford Researchers Map the Feelings Associated With Different Parts of London

The university's Literary Lab combed British novels from the 18th and 19th centuries to determine if areas elicited happiness or fear

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