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Smart News / Smart News Ideas & Innovations

Two researchers observe a bird carcass found at a wind energy facility.

Dogs Sniff Out Answers to Bat and Bird Fatalities Near Wind Turbines

Aided by canines, researchers found larger models do not necessarily pose a greater threat to wildlife

Four robots printed the steel structure in just six months.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

World’s First 3-D-Printed Steel Bridge Debuts in Amsterdam

The newly opened overpass measures 40 feet long and weighs 6 tons

This wearable sensor harvests sweat from the fingertips to generate the electricity it needs to measure things such as heart rate and blood-sugar.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

New Wearable Medical Sensors Run on Fingertip Sweat

The slim, flexible device could measure blood glucose or heart rate without the need for batteries

When a person uses the HiccAway to drink water, they have to suck about four times harder than if they were using a regular straw.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

This Straw Is Designed to Instantly Cure Hiccups

The ‘HiccAway’ stopped cases of hiccups 92 percent of the time during an early trial

Miscanthus is a type of grass that is often grown as a biofuel. Trials in the United Kingdom are now underway to explore the possibility of scaling up biofuel crops like Miscanthus grasses to see if they can help fight climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere.

United Kingdom Begins Large-Scale Carbon Removal Trials

The $42 million project will test out five strategies for pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to fight climate change

President Barack Obama fist bumps a robotic arm being controlled by electrodes implanted in Nathan Copeland's brain at the University of Pittsburgh on October 13, 2016.

New Research

Researchers Create Mind-Controlled Robotic Arm With Sense of Touch

Touch feedback allowed a man with electrodes implanted into his brain to command a robotic arm and complete tasks quickly

The device allowed the man to write about 18 words per minute

New Research

New Device Allows Man With Paralysis to Type by Imagining Handwriting

When the man visualizes his written messages, a pair of electrical sensors measure his brain activity and translate it into letters

Stratolaunch's large aircraft, nicknamed 'Roc,' flew for three hours and 14 minutes and reached a maximum altitude of 14,000 feet.

World’s Widest Airplane Completes Successful Second Test Flight

Stratolaunch’s “Roc” aircraft has two fuselages and a wingspan of 385 feet

An origami-inspired tent had to be flexible enough to inflate, but sturdy enough to withstand the elements.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Inflatable Origami Structures Could Someday Offer Emergency Shelter

An applied mathematics team created origami-inspired tents that can collapse to the size of a twin mattress with ease

A new way of chemically recycling single-use plastics might offer an incentive to keep them out of landfills.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

New Chemical Process Turns Single-Use Plastics Into Fuels

Researchers say their method can break down hard-to-recycle plastics using half the energy of existing techniques

The enzyme-enhanced plastic film had the same strength and flexibility as a standard plastic grocery bag.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

This Biodegradable Plastic Will Actually Break Down in Your Compost

Water and heat activate plastic-munching enzymes that reduce the material to harmless chemical building blocks

This cow was fed a small amount of seaweed along with its feed to reduce methane emissions from its burps.

New Research

Seaweed-Fed Cows Burp Less Planet-Warming Methane

Researchers report an 82 percent reduction in methane emissions in cows fed 1.5 to 3 ounces of seaweed a day for 21 weeks

At the new exhibition at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, scent dispensers will let viewers smell scents associated with the paintings.

Don’t Just Look at These Paintings—Smell Them Too, Says New Dutch Exhibition

“Scent dispensers” will emit odors fragrant and foul to evoke 17th-century Europe

MyHeritage introduced 'Deep Nostalgia' to allow users to see their ancestors or late relatives come to life but is also being used to animate portrait art, statues and historical figures. Pictured: Smithsonian founder, James Smithson.

New A.I. Tool Makes Historic Photos Move, Blink and Smile

The algorithm matches pre-recorded video with the photo depending on the subject’s pose and applies natural facial movements to the image

A "deliberately inconvenient" twin champagne glass created by Athens-based architect Katerina Kamprani

Virtual Travel

Take a Virtual Tour of Failed Designs, From the DeLorean to Google Glass

An online exhibition showcases 40 creative flops, including a curvy ping-pong table and a doll dubbed Little Miss No-Name

When the two microflyers twirled around eachother midair, the researchers dubbed the maneuver "The Tango."

New Research

New Microflyers Could Soar in the Atmosphere’s Most Mysterious Layer

The mesosphere is too dense for satellites to orbit there, but too thin for planes and balloons to fly

A group of perovskite solar cells that have been treated with capsaicin.

New Research

Chili Pepper Compound Increases Solar Cell Efficiency

Adding capsaicin, the chemical responsible for making chili peppers spicy, improved the efficiency of solar cells in experiments

The Bloodhound supersonic car reached 628 miles per hour in 2019, but the team hopes to pass 1,000 miles per hour with the addition of a rocket

Supersonic Car Designed to Break Land Speed Record Is for Sale Again

A businessman bought it in 2018 to keep the project alive but the pandemic has thrown off the schedule

The SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule separating from the International Space Station after undocking from the Harmony module’s international docking adapter.

Case of Bordeaux Wine Returns to Earth After a Year in Space

Last week a dozen bottles splashed into the Gulf of Mexico inside SpaceX’s Dragon capsule after a year aboard the International Space Station

Each fish-inspired robot uses two wide-angle cameras to look for the LEDs on its companions.

New Research

These 3-D Printed Robot Fish Sync and Swim

The small water-bound robots use wide-angle cameras and three bright LEDs to move in synchronized swarms

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