Engineers in Switzerland have worked out how to make miniature robots fly and steer without a single motor, magnet or battery on board. Researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have built hollow structures that turn sound waves directly into thrust, drawing on Helmholtz resonance, the same physics behind the low hum produced by…
The universe has fascinated humanity for centuries, but understanding it requires more than simply looking at the stars and planets. Galileo Galilei, one of history’s most influential astronomers and scientists, offered a powerful way of thinking about nature, arguing that the universe could be understood only by learning the language in which it was written….
Representative Image (AI-generated) What happens when waste from a coal-fired power station is placed beneath the sea? In 1989, researchers in the UK built an experimental artificial reef from 50 tons of stabilised coal-fired power station waste, and marine life began moving in almost immediately. The unusual experiment took place in Poole Bay, off the…
Quote of the day by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Image: Wikipedia) Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s words present education as something considerably bigger than simply memorising facts. “As an educator, it’s my duty to empower you to think,” he said. “So that you can go forth and think accurate thoughts about how the world is put together.” He…
Diamond has long been regarded as a nonpiezoelectric material. Now, researchers have identified a piezoelectric effect in ultrathin, ultraflexible polycrystalline diamond membranes. Piezoelectric materials produce an electrical response when they are mechanically pressed, bent, or stretched. In the study, the researchers found that the effect in diamond membranes varies with their thickness, with the strongest…
More than two kilometres beneath the surface of the Pacific, off the coast of Oregon, an active underwater volcano has been hiding one of the strangest landscapes ever mapped on the seafloor. Using robotic vehicles capable of withstanding crushing depths, scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have spent more than two decades surveying…
At a time when laundry was one more task competing with school, travel and family responsibilities, a Kerala schoolgirl began thinking about a surprisingly simple alternative to the washing machine she did not have. Remya, who was studying in the 10th standard, was already spending hours travelling to school each day and helping her twin…
For years, St. John’s wort was treated as a useful medicinal plant in parts of Europe. In northern California, its reputation became very different. The yellow-flowered weed spread across pasture and open land, reducing the value of grazing areas and creating another problem for livestock because animals that consumed enough of it could become dangerously…
Jung was a celebrated psychologist Two people can wake up from the exact same vivid, strange dream and treat it in completely different ways. One dismisses it within minutes, filing it away as random mental noise generated by an unremarkable night’s sleep, forgotten entirely by breakfast and never thought about again. The other sits with…
Image: Left/ESA/Right/Nasa One thing that characterises science in its early stages is the fact that it all starts with the desire to find out more about something that is yet unknown to people. As Edwin Hubble put it in one of his famous quotes, “Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him…
At 86, Mervin Raudabaugh had a decision to make over 261 acres of Pennsylvania farmland he had spent decades working. The land had caught the attention of data-centre developers, who reportedly put forward offers exceeding $15 million, including one estimate of about $60,000 an acre. On paper, it was the kind of figure that could…
When engineers lined canals across the dry American Southwest with concrete, they solved one problem while creating another. The hard surfaces helped stop precious water from disappearing into the soil, but they also stripped away the irregular edges, vegetation and sheltered spaces that aquatic life had used in the old earthen channels. Fish eventually returned,…
