‘Dancing Wheelchair’ Helps Paralyzed Teen Feel ‘Cool’ Being a Different Sort of Dancer (WATCH)
With a little ingenuity, and some modifications to an old piece of tech, 11-year-old Desa Kaiser is back where she belongs: on the dance floor. Being paralyzed from the waist down is no impediment to the girl from Pennsylvania, who suffered the debilitating injury in a crash that saw her spend Thanksgiving of 2022 at […]
Chopstick Robot Building Kit Delighting Underfunded STEM Classes Around the World
In Singapore, a pair of self-described “tinkerers” have made headlines around the world for their simple educational toy set to help low-income families introduce their children to robotics. More than just robotics, the stick-in-socket building set encourages kids to manifest the wonders they create in their minds, so long as they can be made with […]
Good News in History, December 12
162 years ago today, Edvard Munch was born. The greatest Norwegian painter, who blighted and delighted the world’s consciousness with The Scream, would live a long troubled life that manifested in dozens of breathtaking works in pastel, oils, canvases, and cardboards, one of which would command the highest figure ever summoned for a painting at auction when […]
Textile Waste and Forgeries Cut from Indian Supply Chains with Brilliant Desk-Top Spectroscope
An Indian initiative is utilizing a scientific technique known as spectroscopy to prove the authenticity of traditional, handwoven silken garments over forgeries. Often making headlines in the study of planets and nebulae in our galaxy, the spectroscopy device allows for quick and indisputable textile analysis at the molecular level—giving traditional weavers the authority to market […]
Singing with Other People Improves Health More Than Singing Alone
Singing has been linked to numerous benefits for health, wellbeing, disease resistance, and recovery from injury, but when singing in a group, these benefits are seen to be superior to those seen in solo singers. The research, though not new, still makes for a pretty darn good reason to join a caroling group or church […]
Genetic Mutation Could Pave the Way for Self-Fertilizing Cereal Crops and a Revolution in Agriculture
Danish researchers have found a molecular switch that lets plants partner with nitrogen-fixing bacteria instead of fighting them, opening the way to self-fertilizing cereal crops like wheat and barley. Their new research highlights an important biological clue that could help reduce agriculture’s heavy reliance on artificial nitrogen fertilizer. Plants require nitrogen to grow, and most […]
Good News in History, December 11
300 years ago today, the American Founding Father George Mason was born. The Virginia planter, politician, and neighbor to George Washington, refused to sign the US Constitution as a delegate to the Convention. His objections influenced lawmakers, like fellow Virginian James Madison, to write, and later include, a Bill of Rights. Mason wrote the Virginia […]
Engineer Powers Entire Home Using 500 Discarded Vapes–Documented in Fascinating Viral Video
A man has built a rechargeable battery pack big enough to power his whole home using just the batteries from discarded vapes. British engineer Chris Doel thinks it’s “absolutely insane” that people use disposable vaping pens, as they come with a lithium-ion battery that can be recharged again and again; they’re literally powered with a […]
‘Extinct’ Graceful Oryx Thriving in the Saharan Wilds Thanks to Decades of Captive Breeding
Even as the final scimitar-horned oryx was felled for meat and leather on the Saharan dunes, a network of zoos, hunting reserves, and even a royal menagerie, guaranteed they would live on in captivity. Now, 9 years after these graceful antelope were first introduced back into the lands they once roamed, they have become one […]
Teens May Have Come Up with a New Way to Detect, Treat Lyme Disease Using CRISPR Gene Editing
From 60 Minutes comes the story of a Georgia science team that carried the Stars and Stripes to Europe for an international science competition and finished in the top ten by using genetic engineering to develop a superior testing and treatment method for Lyme disease. If the competition were held in the USA—where the burden […]