Unbreakable Glass and Harry Potter Levitation

unbreakable glass and cracked cell phones

What if we could have glass stronger than aluminum? What if we had unbreakable glass? We would have safer cars, safer buildings, and better smart-phone covers. Imagine a world where a flying rock doesn’t even leave a mark on your windshield. Or a world where dropping your phone for the …

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Rosie, the Space Station and Micrometeorites

The ISS is getting bombarded with micrometeorites, and just last night one chipped a window. Rosie needs to form a plan to make sure no meteorites damage the space station. Can she save the astronauts? Let’s help Rosie find out. The Space Station and micrometeorites are hurtling in orbit together …

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Supersonic Dinosaurs

supersonic apatosaurs tail

For almost 20 years some scientists have claimed it wasn’t Chuck Yaeger who was the first living thing to travel faster than the speed of sound. Who did they propose was the first? Supersonice Dinosaurs. Well, their tails at least. The Apatosaurus was between 70 and 90 feet long, with their …

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Defining the Kilogram, Resolving Conflict.

redefininghte kilogram with silicon spheres

Units are essential to understanding and talking about the world around us. They give each and everyone of us a base. When we talk about our weight, or the speed of our cars we are using units. It would be awfully confusing, however if units changed on a whim. If …

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Candle Soot Powering Electric Cars

Lithium Ion batteries

Can you imagine powering an electric car with candles? New research shows that soot from burning candles could be the perfect anode material for larger batteries. How do Lithium Ion Batteries work? Lithium ion batteries use  negatively charged lithium ions which travel to a positive electrode while discharging. When the …

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The Hypoallergenic Peanut

Peanut allergies are on the rise The stakes get higher with each new child diagnosed. 2% of our population has a severe peanut allergy, which means walking around in a world riddled with Snickers bars and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches can be dangerous. What can we do other than scrub …

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Self Assembling Bricks: Just Shake, Rattle and Roll

self assembling bricks create an object in a spinning chamber

How do we build things? Usually we put together pieces of a whole. We build brick after brick to make houses. We have always relied on assembly lines of one sort or another. In some cases, we rely on nature to build it. How does nature assemble things? From things as …

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MCity, where no humans are allowed!

Ever wonder when your next family road trip vacation won’t involve driving? When everyone can kick back and play the games or read a book?   MCity hopes to make a big step. A step towards the vision of driverless cars. It just opened up – but not for you …

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