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Moral dilemma could limit appeal of driverless cars
07:00 AM, July 19, 2016 Technology, Computers & Electronics, Science & SocietySelf-driving cars are just around the corner. Such vehicles will make getting from one place to another safer and less stressful. They also could cut down on traffic, reduce pollution and limit accidents. But how should driverless cars handle emergencies? People disagree on the answer. And that might put the brakes on this technology, a new study reports.
To understand the challenge,...
Readability Score: 8.6 -
Clear, stretchy sensor could lead to wearable electronics
07:00 AM, July 1, 2016 Technology, Computers & Electronics, Materials ScienceMany electronic parts are made of stiff materials that break easily. That makes them tough to use in products that need to bend, such as devices that will be attached to fabrics or glued onto skin. Now, researchers have developed a thin mesh that can both flex and conduct electricity. As a bonus, it’s largely see-through. Such a technology could have many cool new uses, scientists say.
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Readability Score: 8.0 -
“Couch potatoes” tend to be TV-energy hogs
07:15 AM, June 9, 2016 Computers & Electronics, Technology, SustainabilityTelevision brings us lots of news and entertainment. It also eats up electricity. A new analysis now offers a bright idea for lowering the electricity used by TV viewers: Focus on the couch potatoes.
Energy-efficiency programs reward people for doing things to use less electricity. For example, new TV sets tend to use far less electricity than older ones. So an energy-efficiency program...
Readability Score: 7.2 -
New device identifies money by its color
12:00 PM, May 12, 2016 Technology, Computers & Electronics, Science & SocietyPHOENIX, Ariz. — People who are blind have difficulty with many everyday tasks. Among them is figuring out the value of banknotes (paper money), especially when they are the same size. While shopping, many have to trust cashiers or other people to truthfully tell them the value of a bill in their hand. But now, two teens have invented a device to check a bill’s color and report its value.
...Readability Score: 7.6 -
DNA can now store images, video and other types of data
07:00 AM, May 4, 2016 Computers & Electronics, TechnologyWith a smartphone, you can look up facts, stream videos, check out Facebook, read tweets and listen to music. But all of those data aren’t stored on your phone. They are kept somewhere else, perhaps half a world away. For now, companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook store those data on magnetic tapes or other media. It’s an ever-growing library of data that takes up lots of space in...
Readability Score: 6.7 -
Feeling objects that aren't there
07:15 AM, April 14, 2016 Technology, Computers & Electronics, Light & Radiation, PhysicsImagine this. You wake up in the morning to the irritating buzz of your alarm. Instead of fumbling for a snooze button, you wave your hand in the air in the general direction of the clock. There, in mid-air, you find it: an invisible button. It’s an illusion you can feel, like a hologram for your fingers. One swipe at the button, and the alarm shuts off. You’re free to sleep for a few more...
Readability Score: 6.9 -
When smartphones go to school
07:15 AM, March 3, 2016 Brain, Computers & Electronics, PsychologyIf you’re like most kids these days, you use a smartphone, and you use it often. You may even use that phone to text, tweet or go online during class.
In the United States, 73 percent of teens own or have access to a smartphone. A mere 12 percent have no cell phone. Those numbers come from a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.
Some 90 percent of teens with...
Readability Score: 7.8 -
Radios: Build your own!
07:00 AM, July 28, 2015 Computers & Electronics, Physics, Young ScientistsYou’ve probably listened to music or sports on the radio. Teenage and tween-age researchers from around the world did more than just listen to the radio, this past May. They built one!
All were middle-school delegates to the 2015 Broadcom MASTERS International program. To be chosen, each had earlier exhibited an outstanding research project in science, technology, engineering or...
Readability Score: 7.2 -
These young scientists are passionate about tech and math
07:00 AM, July 14, 2015 Young Scientists, Computers & Electronics, Mathematics, Science EducationWhen it came to creating her own computer game, 13-year-old Kristyna Bednářová started from Scratch.
Scratch is a free computer programming language created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Students around the world — including Kristyna, who lives in the Czech Republic — use the MIT language to create games, stories and animations. “I call it ‘School to Play,’”...
Readability Score: 7.3 -
Robo-roach squeezes through tight spaces
07:00 AM, July 7, 2015 Robotics, Computers & ElectronicsCluttered terrain won’t block this cockroach-bot. Its sleek, rounded shell lets the new six-legged robot scurry through tight spaces.
Known as a robo-roach, it’s short and squat. It sort of resembles a clunky smartphone with legs. Such a bulky body poses few problems when trekking over flat surfaces. But it can get stuck when it travels between upright features. Bots tend to bump into...
Readability Score: 7.3