Technology, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 7, 2017

This House Was 3D Printed in Less Than 24 Hours

A new house has been erected in a town outside Moscow, but this home was not built in the traditional sense — it was constructed with 3D printing. The first 3D-printed residential home, engineered by the tech startup Apis Cor, took less than a day to construct and cost under...

Mar 8, 2017

In Photos: Building the Superfast 'Hyperloop One' Transit System of the Future

A pioneering vision (Image credit: Hyperloop One)In 2013, SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk proposed a futuristic transportation concept, dubbed the Hyperloop, that would zoom passengers seated inside pods through low-pressure tubes at blistering speeds of about 760 mph (1,220 km/h). Now, a startup called Hyperloop One (not affiliated with...

Mar 9, 2017

Why Space Travel Can Be Absolutely Disgusting

NASA's requirements for becoming an astronaut are stringent, but not overly daunting. Essentially, hopefuls must have a bachelor's degree in science, be physically fit, and stand between 58.5 and 76 inches tall. What NASA doesn't mention, however, are the intangibles. You can probably think of a few: coolness under pressure,...

Mar 9, 2017

5 Synthetic Yeast Chromosomes Created

The world is one step closer to a new synthetic organism. Scientists have created five synthetic yeast chromosomes and placed them inside yeast cells. The chromosomes are composed of the normal letters, or base pairs, that make up DNA, but the sequence is slightly different from those found naturally in...

Mar 10, 2017

Disney Scientists Turned an Entire Metal Room into a Wireless Charger

When you need to charge your electronic devices on the go, it can be a hassle trying to find somewhere to plug in. And though some devices can already be charged without wires, researchers at The Walt Disney Company have recently supersized the technology by building a wireless charging room....

Mar 13, 2017

New 3D Display Uses Bubbles to Project Images

The new 3D display is a proof of concept, using laser-generated bubbles to create 3D images visible from all angles. (Image credit: Kota Kumagai/YouTube)Fluorescent bubbles inside a liquid display could be the next big thing in 3D technology, allowing viewers to walk around the screen without using any special glasses,...

Mar 13, 2017

All in the Wrist: Smart Jacket Houses Touch-Screen Tech

The jean jacket is getting a 21st-century upgrade: Levi's and Google are planning to launch a new smart jacket later this year, according to news reports. The companies' so-called Project Jacquard was first announced in June 2015 as a line of connected clothing that would interact with wearers' smartphones, reported...

Mar 15, 2017

Transparent Touchpad Works Even When It's Bent and Stretched

A new transparent, flexible touchpad can sense the touch of a finger even when the material is stretched or bent, which could help engineers one day create advanced wearable touch screens, according to a new study. Increasingly, researchers around the world are developing flexible electronics, such as display screens, cameras,...

Mar 23, 2017

US Military's 'Gremlin' Program Lets Pilots Launch and Snag Drones in Midair

The U.S. military is developing a fairy-tale-inspired Gremlin program that aims to launch and retrieve drones in midair. Gremlins are a swarm of drones that can be deployed from a manned aircraft, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. military charged with developing...

Mar 30, 2017

Wind Tunnel for Birds Could Result in Agile Drones

A specially designed wind tunnel for birds could help scientists learn the secrets of avian aerial abilities and translate them into drones that are masters of flying through rough-and-tumble conditions. Unmanned aircraft called drones are unreliable in heavy turbulence, said David Lentink, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford...

Apr 5, 2017

Iron Man-Style Exosuit Turns Inventor into Real-Life Superhero

Residents of the quiet town of Salisbury, in the south of England, had no clue until last week that their neighbor, a 38-year-old oil trader named Richard Browning, is a real-life Iron Man in the making. The amateur inventor had been secretly building a jet engine-powered exoskeleton suit, and he...

Apr 5, 2017

Computers of the Future May Be Minuscule Molecular Machines

Zeroes and 1s are so last century. The next computer revolution may rely not on a binary number system, but one that can store millions of pieces of information in the minuscule attributes of molecules, such as orientation, size and color. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch...

Apr 10, 2017

Melding Mind and Machine: How Close Are We?

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Just as ancient Greeks fantasized about soaring flight, today's imaginations dream of melding minds and machines as a remedy to the pesky problem of human mortality. Can the mind...

Apr 14, 2017

Just Add Heat: New 4D-Printed Objects Morph on Cue

Objects that can change shape within seconds after being exposed to heat demonstrate a novel 4D-printing technique that could one day be used to create medical devices that unfurl on their own in the body during surgical procedures. Engineers created a 3D-printed plastic lattice that quickly expands when submerged in...

Apr 25, 2017

Straight Out of 'Star Wars': This 'Death Star' Laser Actually Works

Though it's not big enough or strong enough to destroy a planet, scientists have developed an amplified laser reminiscent of the Death Star from Star Wars, according to a new study. The futuristic superweapon combines multiple laser beams into one destructive blast, the researchers said. The idea of merging laser...