Technology, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 31, 2016

DARPA Space Plane Could Make Daily Satellite Launches Possible

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is now entering the second and third phases of its ambitious Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program, which aims to make launching satellites a daily occurrence. I can tell you officially now that we have been funded by the [Obama] Administration for the next...

Feb 29, 2016

Mysterious 'Area 6' Landing Strip in Nevada Desert Baffles Experts

A mysterious, mile-long landing strip in the remote Nevada desert could be the home base for testing sensors on a top-secret fleet of drones, security experts speculate. As seen in images from Google Earth, the asphalt landing strip is in Area 6 of the Yucca Flat test site, about 12...

Oct 31, 2017

Why Private Planes Are Nearly As Deadly As Cars

A private plane claimed another life when the famous baseball pitcher Roy Halladay, age 40, died in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico today (Nov. 7), according to news sources. Halladay — an eight-time All-Star who played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies — recently got...

Oct 31, 2017

Millions, Billions, Trillions: How to Make Sense of Numbers in the News

National discussions of crucial importance to ordinary citizens – such as funding for scientific and medical research, bailouts of financial institutions and the current Republican tax proposals – inevitably involve dollar figures in the millions, billions and trillions. Unfortunately, math anxiety is widespread even among intelligent, highly educated people. Complicating...

Sep 30, 2017

Here's How Steel Wool Burns (and Why It Looks Like the Death of Krypton)

That scratchy steel wool that cleans up your grimy pans is more than hardworking; it is absolutely magnificent when lit on fire, as Reddit user ChazDodge showed in a recent video that makes the wiry, burning puff look like the death of the planet Krypton. Though it's not an explosion...

Apr 30, 2017

Elon Musk Demos Futuristic Car-Transporting Sled

See more Instead of being stuck in traffic for hours on the I-5 in Los Angeles, inventor and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk wants everyone to hop in their car and then zoom on a sled at heart-pounding speed to their destination. Musk posted a demo of one of these car-carrying...

Apr 30, 2017

World's Largest (and Oddest-Looking) Aircraft Rolled Out for Tests

A bizarre, double-bodied airplane with the largest wingspan of any aircraft in the world just rolled out of its hangar for the first time. The Stratolaunch aircraft is designed to carry satellites into low-Earth orbit. The aircraft will carry satellites and their launch vehicles to a cruising altitude of 36,000...

Feb 28, 2017

Teen-Programmed AI Spits Rhymes Like Kanye West

On a bet from peers in his high school programming club, a teenager in West Virginia taught himself to build an artificial intelligence program that can rap like Kanye West, according to news reports. Seventeen-year-old Robbie Barrat thought that artificial intelligence (AI) could accomplish tasks better than humans, and his...

Sep 30, 2018

Military Mystery Solved: Two Guys Out-Googled Google for an Image of Secretive US Base

Satellite imagery of an experimental military base that was missing from Google Maps for years is now available … but you'll have to go to New York City to see it. Engineer Dhruv Mehrotra, a resident at the technology and art nonprofit Eyebeam, and writer Brendan Byrne leased the swatch...

Aug 31, 2018

SEC Sues Elon Musk for Fraud Over Twitter Statements About Tesla

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing Elon Musk for fraud. The charges stem from statements Musk made on Aug. 7 indicating that he was considering taking his publicly traded electric-car company, Tesla, private, according to the lawsuit, which was filed today (Sept. 27) in New York. Musk's...

Jun 30, 2018

What Is Dry Cleaning?

Despite the name, dry cleaning is a process that uses liquids other than water to clean clothes, bedding, upholstery and other types of fabrics. Water can damage certain fabrics — such as wool, leather and silk — and a washing machine can wreak havoc on buttons, lace, sequins and other...

Apr 30, 2018

A Speck of Weapons-Grade Plutonium Is Missing in Idaho

Today in jeepers: There's a speck of weapons-grade plutonium missing in Idaho. According to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) statement, 1 gram (0.04 ounces) of plutonium-239 — about the weight of a paper clip — disappeared from Idaho State University. It last turned up in the university's records in 2004,...

Dec 31, 2017

Goopy GIF: You Can't Look Away from This Mesmerizing Experiment

As a series of goopy platforms climb down a bolt in a mesmerizing GIF posted on Reddit, it almost looks as if Mario should hop from one to another. But this isn't 1990's video-game graphics, it's real life. The GIF shows a demonstration of ferrofluid, a suspension of nanosize magnetic...

Sep 30, 2019

Is It Safe to Stand in Front of Microwave Ovens?

Microwave ovens have been a kitchen staple for decades, allowing you to cook everything from frozen vegetables to packaged meals in minutes. But while you zap your food, you may wonder how close you can safely stand next to a microwave, and whether any radiation could escape from the device...

Aug 31, 2019

There's a New Blackest Material Ever, and It's Eating a Diamond As We Speak

On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, a team of artists and scientists have made a 16.78-carat diamond — valued at more than $2 million — disappear. Granted, denizens of the Stock Exchange are no strangers to making vast amounts of wealth vanish, but this time the scientists...