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Engineering

Slow-healing wounds, especially in diabetics and burn victims, can become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Light-activated nanomaterials offer a potential new way to clear the infection and accelerate wound healing.

Scientists Are Using Nanomaterials to Heal Stubborn Wounds That Resist Antibiotic Treatment

Light-activated therapies may offer a solution to slow-healing lesions common in diabetics and burn victims

This drawing of a horse may have been Leonardo’s design for his planned equestrian monument.

500 Years Ago, Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook Was Cut Up and Separated. Now, the Inventor’s Manuscripts and Drawings Are Reconstructed in an Online Archive

A new tool developed by Museo Galileo researchers has restored 50 pages from fragments excised centuries ago

Unlike metals such as iron and copper, gold doesn't easily tarnish. 

Glittering Gold Can Stay Shiny for Centuries. Scientists Say They’ve Figured Out Why the Precious Metal Is So Resistant to Tarnishing

When the metal is split, the atoms on its surface rearrange themselves into a very stable pattern that doesn’t easily react with oxygen in the air, a study suggests

Built roughly 4,600 years ago, the Great Pyramid of Giza has survived several significant earthquakes.

Ancient Egyptian Engineering Choices Helped the Great Pyramid of Giza Survive Earthquakes, New Research Finds

Researchers measured vibrations inside and around the pyramid to learn that the structure is surprisingly resilient against seismic tremors

The Bering Strait is a narrow waterway between Russia and Alaska that connects the Pacific and Arctic oceans.

Could Building a Dam Across the Bering Strait Save the Planet From Some Effects of Climate Change?

A preliminary study suggests that blocking off the waterway between Russia and Alaska could help the survival of a key system of ocean currents. But there could be potential unforeseen consequences, particularly to marine ecosystems

Scientists used acidic and basic solutions to trigger chemical reactions in algae.

These Marine Algae Glow When Waves Disturb Them. Their Bioluminescence Could Power Electricity-Free Lamps of the Future

The single-celled organisms usually shimmer for mere milliseconds, but researchers figured out how to sustain their illumination. The technology could one day be used to light robots’ ways in the deep sea or space

More than 50 million people suffer from epilepsy around the world, making it one of the most common and severe neurological disorders globally.

These Young Innovators Have Created a ‘Fitbit’ to Predict Epileptic Seizures

Truman Pierson and Christopher Fitz are developing behind-the-ear EEG patches and an accompanying app that issues an alert if the user is at high risk for a seizure in the next hour

Gustave Eiffel at the Eiffel Tower in 1889

A Dizzying Spiral Staircase With a Single Guardrail Once Led to the Top of the Eiffel Tower. Now, You Can Buy 14 of the Original Steps

The 1,062 steps connecting the tower’s second and third levels were installed in 1889. Fragments from the 137-year-old staircase can be found at several French museums

The Artemis 2 crew reported an issue with the toilet shortly after takeoff.

Artemis Astronauts Overcome Toilet Trouble and Officially Head Toward the Moon

Houston, we have a potty problem

Scientists have discovered that each of the sea star’s tube feet is driven independently using local feedback from the environment.

Sea Stars Can Lose an Arm and Soldier On. What If Robots Could Do the Same?

Bioinspiration looks to nature for clues on how to build more efficient, resilient robots

Dimorphos, on the lower right, surrounded by debris moments after DART's collision in September 2022. The asteroid's larger companion, Didymos, is on the left. 

NASA’s Asteroid-Smashing DART Mission Changed a Space Rock’s Orbit Around the Sun, Marking a First for Humanity

Studying the 2022 collision’s effects can help scientists protect the Earth from celestial objects that might head toward us

Swimmable Cities is a global alliance of local government officials, experts and advocates working to make urban waterways clean enough to swim in.

Would You Jump Into Your Local River? Swimmable Cities May Be Within Reach as Once-Polluted Waterways Are Restored

Efforts to improve the “swimmability” of urban areas are gaining global traction, from Paris to Chicago

Wu’s innovation won the top prize of $25,000 at the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

This 14-Year-Old Is Using Origami to Imagine Emergency Shelters That Are Sturdy, Cost-Efficient and Easy to Deploy

Miles Wu folded a variant of the Miura-ori pattern that can hold 10,000 times its own weight

A six-fingered version of the robotic hand

This Detachable Robotic Hand Can Scurry Around and Grasp Objects Just Like Thing From the Addams Family

With up to six fingers that can bend in multiple directions, the innovative tool could one day be used to carry out tasks in tight spaces

Robots still struggle with the unpredictable ways that fabric crumples and creases. But newer approaches offer the hope of better robotic household help.

When Will Robots Take Over Laundry Folding?

For this chore, the human touch still beats machines. But maybe not for long

Harappa was one of the large cities created by the Indus Valley civilization.

Why Did This Advanced Ancient Civilization Collapse? New Research Suggests Climate Change Played a Role

The Indus Valley civilization, located in present-day Pakistan and India, went through four periods of intense drought, which may have led to the society’s demise

From a book to robots, the products all focus on microelectronics.

Engineers Say These Ten Holiday Gifts Will ‘Make Kids Think’

A team of Purdue students and faculty recommends these microelectronic-focused toys for developing STEM skills

Nineteen-year-olds Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça are developing a robot capable of reaching and reforesting areas where humans have been unable to.

Two College Students Are Building a Robot to Replant Burned Forests

Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça invented Trovador, a four-legged, A.I.-powered robot that can plant trees in hard-to-reach, wildfire-damaged terrain

The day after the wreck, the New York Times devoted much of its front page to coverage of the tragedy and its victims. But grief quickly turned to anger as the public looked for answers.  

New York’s Grand Central Terminal Helped Provide the Blueprint for American Cities. It Happened by Accident

A train wreck that caused the death of more than a dozen commuters near the turn of the 20th century was the impetus behind a monumental project that changed the urban landscape

Bonneville is one of the flattest natural runways on the planet, a surface so smooth and open that racers have been coming here for generations to see how far they can push the machines they build.

Rooted in the American West: Food, History and Culture

Meet the Daredevils Chasing Down Speed Records at the Bonneville Salt Flats

Race officials, tinkerers and competitors converge in Utah every fall to test both metal and mettle

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