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September 09, 2022

Vaccines

Omicron-Specific Booster Shots: 5 Questions Answered

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized updated COVID booster shots that target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. Here's what experts know

By Prakash Nagarkatti,Mitzi Nagarkatti,The Conversation US

Aerospace

Could Dragons from Game of Thrones Actually Fly? Aeronautical Engineering and Math Says They Could

Dragon flight in Game of Thrones comes from wing area, weight, speed and hints of a different atmosphere than that of Earth

By Guy Gratton,The Conversation US

Climate Change

Why Are Pakistan's Floods So Extreme This Year?

One third of the country is underwater following an intense heat wave and a long monsoon that has dumped a record amount of rain

By Smriti Mallapaty,Nature magazine

Particle Physics

Physicists Struggle to Unite Around Future Plans

Over 10 days, researchers participating in the once-a-decade "Snowmass process" attempted to build a unified scientific vision for the future of particle physics

By Daniel Garisto

Psychology

It's Time To Rethink the Origins of Pain

Chronic pain is biochemical, but it's also psychological, and treatment needs to address how we think and feel about it

By Haider Warraich

Climate Change

Greenland Is Still Melting, and It's September

The Greenland ice sheet just experienced one of its strongest late-season melt events on record

By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Extraterrestrial Life

SETI Pioneer Frank Drake Leaves a Legacy of Searching for Voices in the Void

Remembering Frank Drake, who led science in listening for an extraterrestrial "whisper we can't quite hear"

By Lee Billings

Cancer

Most People at Risk for Lung Cancer Never Get Screened: Here's How to Fix That

U.S. lung cancer screening guidelines miss people who have never smoked, as well as many women and Black people. Expanding outreach and eligibility could help

By Simar Bajaj

Microbiology

Predatory Bacteria Are Fierce, Ballistic and Full of Potential

Bacterial predators fight like wolves, torpedoes and vampires, and they could provide the next antibiotics

By Jennifer Frazer

Animals

These Tiny Pollinators Can Travel Surprisingly Huge Distances

It turns out that hoverflies may fly hundreds or even thousands of miles—all to help pollinate our flowers and vegetables.

By Christopher Intagliata | 02:06

Mental Health

The Number of Children Orphaned by COVID Keeps Rising

HIV has taught us how to care for children who have lost a parent, but more countries need to step up

By Juliette Unwin

Artificial Intelligence

To Clear Deadly Land Mines, Science Turns to Drones and Machine Learning

In a field in Oklahoma, researchers are using new technology to spot deadly munitions built to maim and kill

By Andrew Robinson,Dominic Smith
FROM THE STORE

Revolutions in Science

Normally science proceeds in incremental steps, but sometimes a discovery is so profound that it causes a paradigm shift. This eBook is a collection of articles about those kinds of advances, including revolutionary discoveries about the origin of life, theories of learning, formation of the solar system and more.

*Editor's Note: Revolutions in Science was originally published as a Collector's Edition. The eBook adaptation contains all of the articles, but some of the artwork has been removed to optimize viewing on mobile devices.

Buy Now
BRING SCIENCE HOME
Build a Bristlebot That Moves without Electricity

Go, robot, go! How can you race robots without any electrticity? With the power of vibration. Try this activity with a friend and see who can build the speediest vibrobot!  Credit: George Retseck

Bristlebots are a fun and popular type of robot made from the head of a toothbrush, a small watch battery and a tiny vibrating motor like the kind found in electric toothbrushes. Although these electronic parts can be hard to find around the house, you can still build bristlebots if you make a simple vibrating table instead. This project will show you how to do it—no electronic parts required!

Try This Experiment
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Scientist Pankaj

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