All Stories by Ilima Loomis
- Animals
Cool Jobs: Poop investigators
Far from just being waste, poop is loaded with clues to the health, biology and behavior of whatever body produced it.
- Agriculture
Get ready to eat differently in a warmer world
Climate change is affecting what we eat, from making crops less productive to making foods less nutritious. Scientists are studying how farmers can adapt.
- Science & Society
Could climate change worsen global conflict?
Famine, natural disasters and sea-level rise can all disrupt societies. These can add pressure to unstable regions — sometimes to the point of prompting wars.
- Materials Science
This bandage uses electrical zaps to heal wounds faster
Scientists have invented a bandage that helps wounds heal faster by zapping them with electricity. The patient’s own motions power this device.
- Tech
Super-water-repellent surfaces can generate energy
Scientists knew they could get power by running salt water over an electrically charged surface. But making that surface super-water-repellent boosts that energy production, new data show.
- Tech
Tarzan the robot was actually inspired by a sloth
‘Tarzan’ the robot saves energy by swinging. Someday, it could help with farm work by moving along wires strung across fields of crops.
- Materials Science
Light-sensitive ‘ink’ gives 4-D printing more wiggle room
Many 4-D-printed objects can flex and change their shape. A new “ink” and printing method now gives them greater range of motion.
- Health & Medicine
Sleep helps wounds heal faster
Getting enough sleep may be more important for helping wounds heal than getting good nutrition, a new study finds.
- Materials Science
Hairy nanoparticles put viruses in a deadly embrace
Current drugs can’t stop viruses for good. But newly developed hairy nanoparticles just might. They surround and put pressure on the viruses, which ultimately destroys them.
- Space
Preparing for that trip to Mars
These scientists are working to make a human mission to Mars a reality.
- Tech
This hydropower harnesses energy one water drop at a time
A single drop of water sliding across a surface can light up 15 LEDs. This charging by friction is due to what’s known as the triboelectric effect.
- Tech
Magnetic heating may replace surgery to cure some infections
Scientists are testing magnetic fields as a way to kill bacteria that drugs normally cannot reach — such as those on medical implants inside the body.
