Saving Coral Reefs with Dental Tech

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December 06, 2022

Dear Reader, Dentists routinely use tools called scanning wands to produce 3-D models of teeth. Now researchers are adapting the same technology to study other wet, calcium-based structures: baby corals.

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology @sophiebushwick

Conservation Saving Coral Reefs with Dental Tech Dental scanners could help researchers diagnose stressed-out baby corals By Susan Cosier

Computing Discovery Helps Computers Draw Intricate Two-Dimensional Animations A new algorithm solves the long-standing "hidden line problem" of computer graphics By Lyndie Chiou

Arts How Beavers Shaped America, from Capitalism to Climate Change The sweeping influence of one weird rodent, an ecological thriller, tender essays on deep-sea creatures, and more books out this month By Amy Brady

Space Exploration Are the James Webb Space Telescope's Pictures 'Real'? How the JWST's cosmic images are made By Jen Christiansen,Clara Moskowitz

Robotics Transforming Robots Help to Transfer Skills How do you teach a new robot old tricks? By Matthew Hutson

Engineering Outdoor Air-Conditioning Cools the World Cup. But Is It Sustainable? In an ever warming world, the health benefits of stadium air-conditioning may not outweigh the climate risks By Daniel Leonard

Fossil Fuels U.S. Renewable Energy Will Surge Past Coal and Nuclear by Year's End Wind, solar and hydropower will generate more than 20 percent of the power supply By Benjamin Storrow,E&E News

Computing The Leap Second's Time Is Up: World Votes to Stop Pausing Clocks How, and whether, to keep atomic time in sync with Earth's rotation is still up for debate By Elizabeth Gibney,Nature magazine

Computing It's Time to Open the Black Box of Social Media Social media companies need to give their data to independent researchers to better understand how to keep users safe By Renée DiResta,Laura Edelson,Brendan Nyhan,Ethan Zuckerman

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 31, Issue 6s

QUOTE OF THE DAY "The integrity hub's first tool works by scanning papers for more than 70 signals that could indicate that the manuscript has been generated by a paper mill. ... Previous public work has suggested red flags such as formulaic article titles and layouts, bar charts with identical profiles claiming to represent data from different experiments, suspicious-looking author e-mail addresses or strange turns of phrase that could indicate the use of automated translation software." Holly Else, in Nature, on tools designed to help publishers combat fake research and image manipulation.

FROM THE ARCHIVE Synthetic Enamel Could Make Teeth Stronger and Smarter Scientists say that the new material is even more durable than real dental enamel By Joanna Thompson | February 2022

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