# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A fight between two high school students in Nova Scotia last month has underlined some of the concerns parents and teachers have about cellphones in schools.

When the fight broke out between two girls at the school, another student recorded it with a cellphone and uploaded it to the Internet.

Some parents think the fight was deliberately provoked so it could be shared online. The school is concerned because once something has been posted online it can be difficult to get it removed.

Cellphone use among students has been increasing rapidly. About 85 per cent of grade 11 students in Canada now have their own cellphones. More than half (52 per cent) of grade seven students and 24 per cent of grade four students also carry cellphones.

Many schools say students must turn their phones off and leave them in their backpacks or lockers during school hours.

One of the main reasons for banning cellphones is that they can distract students from their work. Many of these phones are "smartphones," which means they can also be used to surf the Internet, send text messages, access social media sites, play games, take pictures and listen to music.

In a recent survey of university students in the United States, the students admitted they sent as many as 10 texts during class, and used their laptops for things other than schoolwork for more than half the time they were in class.

Schools also ban cellphones because they are concerned that students will use them to cheat on tests, or to record videos of teachers or other students and post them online.

Many parents are concerned about cellphone use at school. Some are worried that phones could be used for cyberbullying or to arrange fights. Others feel that their children already spend too much time using cellphones and computers. They would rather have them listening and talking to people when they are at school.

But other parents want to be able to reach their children during the day and are in favour of schools allowing students to have access to their phones.

That is one reason why New York City is lifting its ban on cellphones in schools. Up until now, students at high schools in the city have not been allowed to bring their cellphones to school. Instead, many leave them at nearby stores that charge about a dollar a day to keep the phones during school hours. (See: Daycare for Cellphones?, TKN, April 25, 2014.)

But the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, says he believes it is very important for parents to be able to reach their children during the day. Now the city's school board is trying to find the best way to allow phones in schools but avoid the problems they can cause.

Some people think cellphones could be actually be useful in school. They believe teachers should encourage students to use them in class to do research on the Internet or view educational videos online.

This can be especially useful in schools where there aren't enough computers for every student to have one.

Some teachers are using cellphone applications, or "apps," that allow students to work on group projects using their phones. There are also apps that allow teachers to use their phones to collect and share material, send out reminders to the class, and use games and quizzes related to class work.

People in favour of allowing cellphone use in schools say that children today are growing up surrounded by electronic devices. The goal of schools should not be to ban cellphones, but to teach students how to use them responsibly.
Related sites
15 Helpful Apps for Teachers and Educators

Get Smart! Using mobile apps to improve your teaching

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly

Writing/Discussion Prompt
Do you have a cell phone? Do your friends have cell phones? How and when do you use your phones?

Do you ever use them for school work? If so, how do they help you? If not, do you think phones should be allowed in classrooms?

Reading Prompt: Point of View
There are many different points of view discussed in this article. What are they? Are there any perspectives that are missing?

Junior
Identify the point of view presented in texts, ask questions to identify missing or possible alternative points of view, and suggest some possible alternative perspectives. (OME, Reading: 1.9)

Intermediate
Identify the point of view presented in texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts; give evidence of any biases they may contain; and suggest other possible perspectives. (OME, Reading: 1.9)

Language Feature: Texting Language
One of the main uses that people have for cell phones is texting. Texts are meant to be short messages. In order to write short messages, people often write using 'texting language'. For example, instead of writing "see you later", they may text "c u l8tr".

What 'text speak' do you know?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Schools Divided Over Cellphones In Classrooms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A fight between two high school students in Nova Scotia last month has underlined some of the concerns parents and teachers have about cellphones in schools. When the fight broke out between two girls at the school, another student recorded it with a cellphone and uploaded it to the Internet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For years, parents have been telling kids to turn down the music. But now it's more important than ever for young people to hear the message.
Phones, iPads, and other devices deliver music that is crystal clear and louder than ever. That may sound like a good thing, but it is not so good for the health of the ears.

A new study confirms the danger. Scientists gave hearing tests to 170 students ages 11 to 17. The results showed that nearly 30% had tinnitus, a condition that causes ringing in the ears. Ringing can be the result of a sudden loud noise. In that case, it is likely to go away. But constant ringing is a sign of trouble.

OLLIE MILLNGTON-REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES

"These weren't kids who had just come from a rock concert," Dr. Larry Roberts, one of the study's authors, told TFK. "We made sure they hadn't heard any loud sounds for a day or two."

Since the kids' tinnitus is a continuing condition, it is not likely to go away. Ongoing ringing in the ears is a sign of hearing loss. "There's no medical cure for tinnitus," warns Roberts. "These students will require hearing assistance earlier in life than [others] who don't have tinnitus."

SUSAN CHIANG-GETTY IMAGES

The study's authors blame the increase in tinnitus on what they call "risky listening habits." Ninety percent of students in the study reported using earbuds for extended periods of time. They also reported attending rock concerts and listening to loud music often.

The Science of Sound

Scientists measure sound in units called decibels. A whisper to a friend registers × register ZACARIAS PEREIRA DA MATA-GETTY IMAGES record; come in at (verb) The hurricane registered wind speeds of 90 miles per hour. about 10 decibels, while music at a rock concert can reach a 110-decibel roar. Sounds louder than 85 decibels put hearing at risk (see "Sound Too Loud?").

JAMIE GRILL-JGI/BLEND IMAGES/ALAMY

Each one-decibel rise produces a sound that is 10 times louder. A 100-decibel thunderclap, for example, is 10 billion times as intense as the lowest audible sound.

Doctors compare the hair cells in the ears to pipe cleaners. They say the effect of loud noise on the hair cells is similar to what happens to a bunch of pipe cleaners when they are shaken: They get twisted and bent. Hair cells can repair themselves, but too much abuse can destroy them. Damaged hair cells lead to hearing loss.

Dial It Down

Aside from the threat of future hearing loss, students with tinnitus also face immediate effects. They are more sensitive to loud sounds. They may have difficulty concentrating and trouble sleeping.

RICHARD B. LEVINE-CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES

What can you do to keep your hearing sharp? Follow the 60/60 rule. Set the volume under 60%. Don't use a device for more than 60 minutes a day.

Roberts says he understands that listening to loud music can be enjoyable, so attending concerts isn't off-limits. But if you go to concerts, invest in hearing protection. "You can get pretty cool earplugs on the Internet," he says. "You can also get uncool ones at a drugstore for a couple bucks." Both do the job.

Loud sounds create strong vibrations that can cause permanent hearing loss. Long-term exposure to a sound that measures 85 decibels and up can be dangerous to hearing. Look at the chart to discover how typical sounds measure up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For years, parents have been telling kids to turn down the music. But now it's more important than ever for young people to hear the message. Phones, iPads, and other devices deliver music that is crystal clear and louder than...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Screaming about screen time?

Are you hoping for a smart phone, computer or TV? Be honest. When the holiday spend-omatic finally staggers to a halt, you're hoping to unwrap something with a screen. A phone. A tablet. A laptop. Even a TV. Or you're planning to give a screen.

More likely both.

Screen time is rising, and so is overall "consumption" of media. As electronic, computers and networks gain dominance over our lives, we have to wonder how spending so much time staring at screens and pressing buttons is affecting brains and society.

See the Classroom Activity Page for this story.

We already know watching endless hours of TV is bad for your waistline. We know that people walk into walls or traffic while in the thrall of a handheld "device." We have seen accidents big and small caused by drivers on mental "vacations" courtesy of wireless links to stuff way more important than nearby cars, bikes and walkers.
But how is the flood tide of communication devices affecting our emotional and social life? Is it, for example, rude or the "new normal" to keep glancing at your phone, no matter how deep in conversation? Is the art of face-to-face conversation itself threatened with extinction? Should email or text become the new normal for personal communication?

In other words, have the words and images on your screen supplanted the people in front of you?

Into the wild

These days, media statistics get out of date before, well, the ink is dry. In 2012, about 85 percent of American adults have a cellphone, and more than 56 percent of them use the phone to access the Internet, a good working definition for a smart phone.

Screen etiquette

My parents explained that I should chew with my mouth closed and whisper in the library. But they never needed to tell me it's rude to check a text message in a theater or listen to a voicemail at dinner, simply because I did not own a cell phone.

Now that 85 percent of 15-18 year-olds in the United States own cell phones, our etiquette must evolve. My screen manners include:

If I am in a dark room viewing a play, concert or movie, it is rude to illuminate a screen.

If I must type or read on-screen, I should not be walking, biking or driving.

If I am speaking with a person face-to-face, I should ignore my phone. If I must pay attention to it, I excuse myself first.

As scientists try to come to grips with the social and behavioral changes associated with the flood of smartphones, tablets and other digital media, there are snags.

The normal scientific tactic is to compare two things: The "treatment" group gets a drug, and the "control" group does not. One group uses the cellphone and iPod to their heart's content, and another does not.

Except if you imagine asking people to park their phones for a few days, you'll realize it's difficult to draft a control group to study the impact of digital technology.

Last week, new data on the issue came from a study by David Strayer, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah. Strayer and colleagues found a 50 percent increase in creativity among people who camped in the wilderness for four days - without a single screen or device.

Strayer admits that the study could not distinguish between the effects of nature and cessation of communication technology, but both likely had benefits. "We anticipate that this [creativity] advantage comes from an increase in exposure to natural stimuli that are both emotionally positive and low-arousing and, a corresponding decrease in exposure to attention demanding technology [read: electronic gadgets], which regularly requires that we attend to sudden events, switch amongst tasks, maintain task goals, and inhibit irrelevant actions or cognitions."

Strayer says that when he takes students away from their familiar surroundings for a wilderness experience, "they express apprehension about not being able to check email, but after two or three days, that anxiety is gone. When they start coming back, some of them sound kind of resigned to having to plug back in. They feel they have to do it but it's not something they necessarily look forward to doing."

Your friend the computer

In a series of experiments, Clifford Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford University, has found that people treat computers like, well, people. "People use the same rules, heuristics, have the same social expectations when interacting with computers and people."

In the 1990s, Nass did a " politeness "test of people working with a computer. When the machine they were using asked, "'How helpful or effective am I?', they said nicer things [because] the computer asked about itself," Nass says. "Similarly, if you ask me about yourself, I would say nicer things about you, and the same applies to a computer.

"Most people thought we were crazy when we first did this," Nass says. "Now it has become almost commonplace, because people have observed these interactions themselves."

Voice is more powerful than text, and that is another reason for the growing emotional power of devices, Nass says. "Voice dramatically increases the strength of the social response, both positively and negatively. Also things you can hold in your hand have a certain intimacy, there are cultures where people hold idols of gods in their hands, you have a closer relationship that cues very strong responses."

Mobile devices held in the pocket gather body heat, "and many people carry the mobile device near the heart, in the breast pocket," Nass adds, both of which enhance our close emotional relationships to our gadgets.

How close? 90 percent of people aged 18 to 29 who have a cell phone sleep with it on or near the bed.

Am I distracted, or am I multitasking?

The issue of distraction arises in several digital-media contexts. Texters, tweeters and phoners who interrupt conversations are bound to annoy traditionalists, who tend to value personal communication and disdain distraction. But distraction also arises during multitasking, the growing tendency to digest digital devices in duos, triplets or more.

Distraction, says Nass, "is extremely bad. People who are chronically distracted are actually worse off, even when they are trying to pay attention. It's genuinely bad, in the short and long run."

In a test of the ability to filter out unwanted stimuli, Nass and colleagues found that heavy multitaskers had surprising difficulty focusing on the task, ignoring the distractions, and excluding memories that were irrelevant to the task at hand. "People who chronically multitask are bad at every aspect of thinking," Nass concludes.

But doesn't everybody multitask with the growing glut of media? No, says Nass. "Many people do one thing at a time. Everybody doesn't text and check email at the same time; some do it in sequence, and the people who don't multitask have much healthier brains."

We asked Nass what goes through his head when he heads across campus and sees drooping heads supervising tapping fingers. "It's not just the occasional collision, he said. "We are very worried."

The danger extends to the emotional realm, Nass says. "We showed among girls aged 8 to 12 that the lack of face-to-face communication is associated with broad range of measures of emotional development. They feel less normal, have more friends who are a bad influence, have less sleep, have a lot of problems."

Nass and his co-authors found that use of video, online communication and media multitasking "were consistently associated with a range of negative socio-emotional outcomes."

The study also found that face-to-face communication was "consistently associated with a range of positive socio-emotional outcomes," Nass says

Strayer agrees that "a heavy dose of media multitasking, and teens do a ton of it, is having negative, and potentially long-term effect in social and development trajectories of youth. They may not be learning how to express or read emotion, to interact with other people. That's how we become a civil society. If the norms for interaction are eroded, it's unclear what you get."

The only constant is change

But communication technology does have its advantages, says David Williamson Shaffer, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He notes that the low-income people in the United States and elsewhere who are rapidly adopting smart phones are getting many of the advantages of computers at a much lower cost.

Digital gadgets entertain kids on long car journeys and visits to museums and historic sites, Shaffer says. "I took my kids to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island [New York]. On the phone, they could look up all sorts of information that went beyond the audio tour, and they could do it in the moment."

At any rate, we should be used to change, Shaffer says. "It's a myth that the technology with which we communicate have ever been stable. There is constant change, whether it's 10,000, 1,000, or 100 or 1 years ago. That having been said, the rate of change is not constant, and the rate matters, in part because our mind is constantly rewiring itself to deal with stimuli. Neurons themselves are in a competition, and the connections you use get reinforced, and the connections you don't use are pruned away."

Text vs. email vs. phone

Text if the exchange will be short.

Email if the exchange does not need immediate attention or lengthy explanation.

Phone if the subject is sensitive or requires immediate communication.

But the rate of biological adaptation may not be fast enough, Shaffer says. "If that social rate of change starts to exceed the rate at which we can adapt biologically, we wind up in a stressful situation."

Different ages prefer different modes of communication, Shaffer notes. People in their 60s, "would probably start with face to face, then pick up the phone, then use email, maybe at the end go to a handwritten letter. If you ask somebody 25 years older, that order would be different. Similarly, it would be different if you ask kids on campus: the first answer is always text. If you or I feel uncomfortable in the mobile world, that does not tell me much," says Shaffer. "We did not grow up with it."

Wean from the screen?

Strayer, who also studies the impact of mobile technology in cars, says "We are experimenting on ourselves in a tightening spiral, and it's not clear what the outcome will be. Technology is good if it facilitates our quality of life, but when the phone rings and it triggers some dopamine response in the brain's reward circuit, that means we are somewhat addicted to technology. Whether or not it totally meets criteria for addiction is an academic exercise, but if you are sending 500 or 1,000 texts a day, and sleeping with the phone under your pillow, that is an example of behavior that is troubling."

We wondered if this is just the kvetching of codgers, doing what old people do best: Telling the young how to run their lives. Is this the same type of whining that condemned the Beatles and jazz?

Shaffer, for example, is not fazed by students who eyeball their personal screens during a college lecture. "I'd say it raises the bar for the level of engagement that some activity needs to provide in order to hold attention. I think that's good. Since the first gesture that had symbolic meaning, we have been creatures whose minds are not defined by the boundary of our skin."

But when we ruminated about the young-old divide to Nass, he responded, "The question is are there measurable effects, and how do we feel about them? People do show negative social and emotional effects" from media multitasking. "We could say, 'we are okay with that, things are changing, what was important will not be important.' But if we are talking about our ability to focus, even when not multitasking, the ability to filter out irrelevant information, to manage working memory, to switch tasks, all those are impaired in heavy multitaskers."

None of which is likely to pry the mobile phone from the grasp of a teen-ager or young adult. The modern, always-in-touch tech is just too thrilling. But we'll certainly keep our ears open for more studies of how these technologies are changing societies and brains.

Terry Devitt, editor; Emily Eggleston, project assistant; S.V. Medaris, designer/illustrator; David J. Tenenbaum, feature writer; Amy Toburen, content development executive

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
cell phone cellphone cellular phone mobile phone

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
university of wisconsin madison uw-madison

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Screaming about screen time? Are you hoping for a smart phone, computer or TV? Be honest. When the holiday spend-omatic finally staggers to a halt, you're hoping to unwrap something with a screen. A phone. A tablet. A laptop. Even a TV. Or you're planning to give a screen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Creating an alternative green or carbon neutral fuel to replace gasoline has been the holy grail for scientists for many years. However, while there has been some progress with inventions like electric batteries and biofuel, most options are either too expensive or not commercially viable to compete effectively with the fossil fuel. Now automobile manufacturer Audi is stepping up to the challenge with a fuel made from carbon dioxide and water.

Called e-diesel, the fuel developed in collaboration with Dresden-based Sunfire, was created in a lab using a simple but innovative technique. The scientists began by boiling water to temperatures exceeding 800°C (1,472°) using a renewable source of energy like solar, wind or hydropower. The resulting steam was decomposed into its two constituents, hydrogen and oxygen with the help of electrolysis. The researchers then transformed the carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. The hydrogen and carbon monoxide were piped into a reactor and subjected to extreme pressure and temperatures, to produce what scientists call long-chain hydrocarbons. This liquid that Audi refers to as "blue crude" was then refined in a similar way to standard crude oil to produce e-diesel.

While most of the CO2 used in the production of e-diesel comes from a biogas facility, it also absorbs some from the surroundings, helping remove the harmful greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. According to the manufacturers, e-diesel has a net-zero carbon footprint. This means that it consumes the same amount of carbon as it creates. In contrast, every gallon of regular diesel adds 22.38 pounds of CO2 when burned.

While this alone should be enough to convince the world to use e-diesel, the manufacturers claim yet another attribute. According to Sunfire executive Christian von Olhausen, car engines run more quietly on e-diesel while emitting fewer pollutants. Another advantage? It can be mixed in with regular fuel for those wary of switching entirely.

But radical as it sounds there is one significant problem that still needs to be resolved. Similar to other companies like Britain's Air Fuel Synthesis, who made a similar breakthrough in 2012, the technology is hard to scale. Sunfire's Dresden facility is currently producing just 42 gallons of e-diesel a day - hardly enough to fuel the world.

But Sunfire claims it's different this time. They believe they can scale and plan to prove it by partnering with Audi to build a bigger plant soon. If they succeed, Sunfire estimates e-diesel to retail at 1 to 1.5 Euros ($1.14 - $1.7 USD) per liter, making it competitive with regular diesel. However, critics are not so sure. They think one of the biggest hurdles to e-diesel being a viable alternative is the large amount of energy needed to create it. Experts don't think renewable resources like solar and wind will be able to fulfill the demand simply because that technology is still not as sophisticated.

E- diesel is certainly not the first attempt at making carbon neutral fuel, and it will by no means be the last. However, the development is certainly a step in the right direction for clean energy. As Johanna Wanka, Germany's minister of education and research states, "If we can make widespread use of CO2 as a raw material, we will make a crucial contribution to climate protection and the efficient use of resources, and put the fundamentals of the 'green economy' in place."

Resources: dailymail.co.uk,sciencealert.com, wired.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
German Car Manufacturer Audi Creates Fuel From Air And Water

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Creating a "green" or carbon neutral fuel to replace gasoline has been the holy grail for scientists for many years. However, while there has been some progress with inventions like electric batteries and biofuel, most options are either too expensive or not commercially viable to compete effectively with the fossil fuel.

# data[].attributes.body
In Sheridan, the sun fuels more than just plants. It keeps schools running, too.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The science behind solar energy is not new. But Sheridan Community Schools is the first school district in Indiana to be completely solar-powered. The district finished installing solar panels for all three of its schools in 2016. Some of the panels can turn to follow the sun across the sky.

# data[].attributes.body
Twenty years ago, a sheep was cloned. How far can cloning go?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Henderson Island before the debris (Photo Credit: Unesco.org/ Ron Van Oers)

Henderson Island in the south Pacific Ocean has always been known for its remarkable biological diversity and untouched ecology. Now, the remote UNESCO World Heritage site that lies 3,100 miles (5,000 km) from the closest human settlement, can also lay claim to being one of the most polluted places on Earth.

Jennifer Lavers, a researcher from the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies who has been studying the coral atoll for a few years, says the tiny, 14.4 square miles (37.3 square kilometers), island is home to over 38 million pieces of waste. According to the scientist, this is the "highest density of anthropogenic waste recorded anywhere in the world, with 99.8 percent of the pollution plastic."

Current state of Henderson Island (Photo Credit: Jennifer Lavers/University of Tasmania)

The amount of trash is surprising given that the island, the largest of the group of four Pitcairn volcanic islands, has no residents and is visited by scientists only once or twice every decade. However, as it turns out, humans do not need to be physically present to pollute an area. In this case, the trash is brought in by the South Pacific Gyre, an ocean current that sends garbage bobbing through the sea to Henderson. The primary offenders are fishing-related debris, like lines and nets, and single-use household items.

What's even worse is that the unsightly rubbish scattered across the island's sandy beaches is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the researchers, over 68% of the junk is buried under the sand. This means their estimates, based on the trash found up to 10 centimeters below the sand, may be underestimating the full extent of the pollution.

Hermit crab uses cosmetic jar for shelter (Photo Credit: Jennifer Lavers/University of Tasmania)

Besides being aesthetically unpleasing, the waste is also harmful to the island's wildlife. Lavers and study co-author Alexander Bond discovered hermit crabs taking refuge in toxic cosmetic jars, and sea turtles, that come to the island to lay eggs, entangled inside fishing lines. The trash is also harmful to seabirds and fish that mistake the colorful plastic pieces for food.

An analysis of a 32-foot patch of the beach revealed that much of the trash originated from China, Japan, and Chile. However, Lavers and Bond, who published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, on April 7, state, "Across the board, no country got a free pass on this - we found bottles from Germany, containers from Canada, I think it was a fishing crate from New Zealand. What that says is we all have a responsibility in this, and we have to sit up and pay attention to that."

Photo Credit: Jennifer Lavers/University of Tasmania

Unfortunately, Henderson's debris collection which equals just 1.98 seconds of the world's annual production of plastic, is a mere blip in the amount of the nondegradable material that is carelessly tossed out every day. According to experts, over 8 million tons of plastic waste ends up in our landfills and oceans each year.

Environmentalists like Boyan Slat, who founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2011 after discovering "more bags than fish" while diving in Greece, are trying to clean up the mess. However, his efforts will only make a difference if we all pitch in by avoiding plastic altogether or reusing and recycling when that is not possible. Unless we find ways to reverse the situation, this ever increasing pollution poses a serious risk to the health of our planet and all its residents, including humans.

Resources: Guardian.co.uk, NPR.org, treehugger.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Once Pristine Henderson Island Is Now Covered With Plastic Waste

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Henderson Island in the south Pacific Ocean has always been known for its remarkable biological diversity and untouched ecology. Now, the remote UNESCO World Heritage site that lies 3,100 miles (5,000 km) from the closest human settlement, can also lay claim to being one of the most polluted places on Earth.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Deepfakes are videos with visual or audio content that has been manipulated. They make it seem as if the video's subject is saying words he or she hasn't actually spoken. In the past, videos like these could be made only...

# data[].attributes.body
Shirt Allows Deaf People To "Feel" Music

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Sound Shirt allows deaf people to experience live music real-time (Credit: CuteCircuit)

Though not as mainstream as devices like smartphones and fitness trackers, more companies are now experimenting with the concept of connected garments. Among the pioneers is London-based CuteCircuit, which has been creating fashionablesmart clothing since 2004. The company's latest innovation is the "Sound Shirt," which allows deaf people to "feel" live music by transforming the tunes into touch sensations in real time.

The fashionable jacket achieves the incredible feat using software that converts the music into data and wirelessly sends it to the 16-micro actuators embedded inside the clothing's fabric. The devices vibrate in sync to the intensity of the music being played, allowing the wearer to feel each instrument individually. For example, violins can be felt on the arms, while the deeper, heavier bass notes can be felt close to the stomach. "We mapped intuitively how we thought the music would map to the body," says CuteCircuit CEO Ryan Genz. The series of touch-like sensations across the wearer's torso enables them to feel the entire composition, resulting in a fully immersive musical experience.

The Sound Shirt is fitted with actuators that vibrate in synch with the music's intensity (Credit: CuteCircuit)

To ensure the shirt is comfortable, the designers opted to leave out wires and instead wove conductive textiles into the garment's fabric. Francesca Rosella, co-founder, and chief creative officer of CuteCircuit, explains, "There are no wires inside, so we're only using smart fabrics - we have a combination of microelectronics [and] very thin and flexible, and conductive fabrics. All these little electronic motors are connected with these conductive fabrics so that the garment is soft and stretchable."

CuteCircuit, which has been testing the Sound Shirt for three years, expects to make it available to the general public shortly. Priced at $3,673 (3,000 pounds), the smart jacket will not be cheap. However, twin sisters Hermon and Heroda Berhane, who lost their hearing at a young age, believe the hi-tech garment is a worthwhile investment, especially for deaf people with a passion for dancing. "It's almost like feeling the depth of the music," says Hermon. "It just feels as though we can move along with it." Heroda concurs, adding, "I think it could definitely change our lives."

This is not CuteCircuit's first groundbreaking smart garment. Over the years, the company has unveiled hundreds of stunning connected outfits. Among them is an interactive concert dress for American musical artist Nicole Scherzinger that displayed tweets from her fans. Also fun is the HugShirt which enables people to send hugs to loved ones who are not physically in the same area.

Resources: cutecircuit.com, reuters.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CuteCircuit's Sound Shirt Allows Deaf People To "Feel" Music

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Though not as mainstream as devices like smartphones and fitness trackers, more companies are now experimenting with the concept of connected garments. Among the pioneers is London-based CuteCircuit, which has been creating fashionable smart clothing since 2004. The company's latest innovation is the "Sound Shirt," which allows deaf people to "feel" live music by transforming the tunes into touch sensations in real time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While 3-D Printing technology is still a young innovation, it is already being used to create a wide variety of products: action figures, musical instruments, fabrics, and even food! But for all of the fun and whimsical items that can be produced, the most exciting application of this radical invention is the printing of artificial limbs. Its low-cost structure makes it ideal for those that are unable to afford traditional prosthetics that can run tens of thousands of dollars.

However, though the cost of 3-D printing artificial limbs is only between $20-$150 USD the printer itself is not cheap. Then there is also the issue of having someone who knows how to design the prosthetic to each individual's specifications. Now thanks to an online community called E-nable, the three can come together, without ever having to meet.

Started by John Schull, a researcher at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, E-nable connects 3-D printer owners and prosthetic designers to children and adults with missing fingers, hands or forearms. The researcher began with a simple Google Map mashup with a comment on the YouTube video that said, "If you have a printer and want to help, put yourself on this map. And If you need a hand, put yourself on this map."

In just 18 months, E-nable has garnered over 3,600 volunteers from all over the world, including engineers, artists, therapists, parents, students, designers and teachers. What's even more amazing, is that together they have helped provide custom-designed artificial hands to over 800 disabled kids and adults.

Schull says that his inspiration came from a Youtube video that documented a South African carpenter and an American puppeteer collaborating to create a 3-D prosthetic hand for a five-year-old South African boy. What impressed him most was that after the two were done, they shared the design on the Internet for everyone to use.

The philanthropist decided to implement the same principle at E-nable. All the various design plans that have been created by the community thus far are available for download on their website for others to use free of charge. Designers are also encouraged to share any improvements they make to the basic design.

As a result, there are now numerous options in the E-nable prosthetic hand portfolio for people to choose from. One called the "Raptor Hand," features a modular tensioning system that allows the "flexing" of fingers with "tendons," and is compatible for either Velcro or leather palm enclosures. A model called the "Talon Hand" has the greatest grip strength of all E-nable's designs but works best for a user with a higher range of motion. Other models are suited for younger users, those with thumbs but no fingers or those just missing a finger or two. There are also many other custom designs that meet a particular user's needs.

Though E-nable has been tremendously successful in the short time it has been in existence; Schull is not satisfied. That's because most of the 3-D prosthetics have so far been disseminated in developed countries like the United States and Europe. Schull's dream is to spread E-nable's reach globally so that it can help more children, especially the most impoverished.

Accordingly, last December, a group of E-nable volunteers made their way to Haiti with a large number of pre-printed prosthetic hands. In addition to helping those in need, they also visited local hospitals and met with prosthetists and members of the Makerspace community in Port-Au-Prince, to share ideas about functional 3-D prosthetic designs.

Though the non-profit is currently focused on hands and fingers, the potential for programs like E-nable is limitless. 3-D printing can also be used to create other artificial limbs including arms, legs and even eyes!

Resources: fastcompany.com,enablingtefuture.org,2ders.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
E-Nable Connects 3-D Printer Owners And Designers To Those In Need Of Prosthetics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While 3-D Printing technology is still a young innovation, it is already being used to create a wide variety of products: action figures, musical instruments, fabrics, and even food! But for all of the fun and whimsical items that can be produced, the most exciting application of this radical invention is the printing of artificial limbs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Imagine coming down for breakfast and, instead of popping a piece of toast in the toaster and boiling an egg, you stick a cartridge in a printer. A minute or two later, you've got a freshly printed banana and flaxseed muffin.

Thanks to a new kind of 3D food printer, the printed breakfast is several steps closer to reality for the average consumer.

"Food printing may be the 'killer app' of 3D printing," says Hod Lipson, who's led the creation of the new printer. "It's completely uncharted territory."

Lipson, a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, has been studying 3D printing for nearly 20 years, working on printing things like plastics, metals, electronics and biomaterials. His work on 3D food printing came out of his research on printing complete 3D robots that could, in theory, "walk off the printer."

To achieve something like this, a printer must be able to print with many materials at the same time. While experimenting with making multi-material printers, Lipson noticed the students in his lab were beginning to use food as a test material.

"They were using cookie dough, cheese, chocolate, all kinds of food materials you might find around an engineering lab," he says. "In the beginning, it was sort of a frivolous thing. But when people came to the lab and looked at it, they actually got really excited by the food printing."

So Lipson and his team began to take a more serious look at just what they could do with food. There are two basic approaches to 3D food printing, Lipson explains. The first involves using powders, which are bound together during the printing process with a liquid such as water. The second-the approach used by Lipson's lab-is extrusion-based, using syringes that deposit gels or pastes in specific locations determined by the software's "recipe."

Lipson's prototype involves an infrared cooking element, which cooks various parts of the printed product at specific times.

"We've used all kinds of materials, with different levels of success," Lipson says. "Sometimes the materials are conventional-eggs, flour, cookie dough, cheese, pesto, jam. Cream cheese is something students like to work with a lot."

They've also recently collaborated with a New York culinary school, letting chefs play around with the prototype to see what they'd come up with.

"They kind of broke the machine by really pushing it to its limits," Lipson says. "One thing we've learned is printing in cream cheese is very easy, but printing in polenta and beets is very hard. It has these granules in it, so from an engineering standpoint it's much more challenging.

It's also difficult to predict how different foods will fare when combined. It's easy enough to create recipes based on single items like chocolate, whose properties are well-established. But when you start to mix things together-mixing, of course, being fundamental to cooking-the mixtures may have much more complex behaviors. Another challenge is figuring out when to cook what during the printing process. If you're printing a pyramid of salmon and mashed potatoes, the salmon and the potatoes will need very different cooking times and temperatures. The team is tackling this problem with software design, working with computer scientists to create software that will predict what the final product will look like after cooking.

The printer Lipson's team has made is not the only food printer to be developed in recent years. But while products like Hershey's chocolate-printing CocoJet or the Magic Candy Factory's 3D gummy printer are single-ingredient, limiting their use for the general public, Lipson's printer is unique for being able to handle many ingredients at once, and cook them as it goes.

Lipson sees the printer as having two main uses for consumers. First, it could be a specialty appliance for cooking novel foods difficult to achieve by any other process. You could print, say, a complex pastry designed by someone in Japan, a recipe you'd never have the expertise or equipment to make by hand. Lipson says he could imagine digital recipes going viral, spreading across the globe. The second use is about health and targeted nutrition. People are already increasingly interested in personal biometrics, tracking their blood pressure, pulse, calorie burn and more using cell phones and computers. In the future, it may be possible to track your own health in much greater detail-your blood sugar, your calcium needs or your current vitamin D level. The printer could then respond to those details with a customized meal, produced from a cartridge of ingredients.

"Imagine a world where the breakfast that you eat has exactly what you need that day," Lipson says. "Your muffin has, say, a little less sugar, a little more calcium."

As for when the printer might be available to consumers, Lipson says it's more a business challenge than a technology one.

"How do you get FDA approval? How do you sell the cartridges? Who owns the recipe? How do you make money off this?" he says. "It's a completely new way of thinking about food. It's very radical."

A recent redesign of the prototype may bring the product closer to being something the average consumer would accept. Previous versions of the printer were very high-tech, full of tubes and sticking-out nozzles. People had a hard time imagining it on their kitchen counters.

Then, one of Lipson's students named Drim Stokhuijzen, an industrial designer, completely redesigned the machine, giving it the sleek look of a high-end coffee maker.

"His design is so beautiful people are saying for the first time, 'oh, I can see the appeal of food printing, this is something I might actually use,'" Lipson says.

Although Lipson doesn't think 3D food printing will replace other cooking techniques, he does think it will revolutionize the kitchen.

"For millennia we've been cooking the same way," he says. "Cooking is one of the things that hasn't changed for eternity. We still cook over an open flame like cavemen. Software has permeated almost every aspect of our lives except cooking. The moment software enters any field-from manufacturing to communications to music, you name it-it takes off and usually transforms it. I think that food printing is one of the ways software is going to enter our kitchen."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Imagine coming down for breakfast and, instead of popping a piece of toast in the toaster and boiling an egg, you stick a cartridge in a printer. A minute or two later, you've got a freshly printed banana and flaxseed muffin.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Photo Credit: UTEC

Access to electricity has always been sketchy for the 173 residents of Nuevo Saposoa, a remote village in Peru, S.America. However, things went from bad to worse in March 2015 after a flood damaged the few power cables in the area. The villagers were forced to turn to kerosene lamps, which are not only expensive but also dangerous because of the toxic fumes they emit.

Fortunately, the researchers and students at the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) in Lima, Peru heard about their plight and came up with an ingenious solution. They designed a lamp that can be powered by plants and soil, both of which can be found in abundance in the Amazonian rainforests where the village is located. Called Plantalámparas or 'lamp that runs on plant power', the Wall-E look-alike draws energy from a plant growing in a wooden box and uses it to light up an LED bulb.

Photo Credit: UTEC

While that may sound complicated and even impossible, it is quite straightforward. During the process of photosynthesis, the waste produced by plants gets deposited in the soil. Thanks to the microorganisms present, it decomposes and undergoes oxidization, which produces electrons. The UTEC team placed electrodes inside the soil to harness the energy and store it in the lamp's batteries for later use. The researchers say a single charge can light an LED bulb that has the equivalent output of a 50-watt incandescent bulb for two hours - Enough time for residents to get their evening chores done.

The University distributed ten prototypes of Plantalámparas to the residents of Nuevo Saposoa in October 2015. So far, they have been a huge success! Elmer Ramirez, UTEC's professor of Energy and Power Engineering, who spearheaded the effort believes the plant powered lamps could also help improve the lives of thousands of other rural rainforest communities, 42% of whom have no access to electricity.

Photo Credit: UTEC

This is not the first time the students and professors of UTEC have come up with a brilliant solution to a problem. In 2014, to combat Peru's severe air pollution they created a giant billboard that doubled up as an air purifier!

Resources: fastcompany.com,utec.pe.edu,slate.com, photos courtesy of UTEC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ingenious Plant-Powered Lamps Bring Light To Remote Village In Peru

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Access to electricity has always been sketchy for the 173 residents of Nuevo Saposoa, a remote village in Peru. S.America. However, things went from bad to worse in March 2015 after a flood damaged the few power cables in the area.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Fifty years ago, on March 18th, 1965, Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov took the first spacewalk. It lasted just twelve minutes and almost ended in a disaster. That's because the vacuum of space caused his pressurized suit to inflate and become rigid, making it impossible for Leonov to re-enter the Voskhod 2 space capsule airlock. The quick thinking astronaut let out some of the precious air from his suit and despite severe decompression sickness, manage to stumble back in and live to tell his harrowing tale.

Spacewalks have a come a long way since. Today, astronauts leave the safety of the International Space Station for hours, to conduct normal maintenance tasks. However, there was nothing routine about the three spacewalks carried out by ISS Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts on February, 21st, 25th and March 1st. They involved tasks that were more complicated that any performed by astronauts previously. These brave men were trying to get the ISS ready to welcome the new generation of commercial spacecrafts or "space taxis".

The astronauts spent a total of 19 hours routing 400 feet of cable and assembling several antennas that will supply power and data transmission to an upgraded docking system. They also disconnected the old cables used for the now discontinued NASA shuttle program. In addition, Wilmore and Virts also performed maintenance on the robotic arm that is used to complete tasks that are impossible for astronauts.

Though the spacewalks were a success, they were not uneventful. On February 25th, during his second career spacewalk Terry Virts encountered a water leak in his helmet. Called "sublimator water carryover," it is the result of water condensation when the spacesuit is re-pressurized. Depending on the amount this could prove to be fatal for the astronaut. Fortunately in Virt's case the crew on ISS and ground mission control were able to determine that it was safe for him to continue with his tasks. But NASA engineers do plan to address this issue in their future spacesuit designs.

While the astronauts were able to accomplish a lot, there is more to be done. NASA officials expect to conduct at least four additional spacewalks later this year to complete what will be the most extensive ISS upgrade since the US shuttle program ended. The renovations are necessary because the current configuration is designed to support space shuttles that are no longer in existence.

The new configuration will allow for separate docking stations for commercial crew and cargo vehicles. Shuttles carrying cargo will attach to the ISS using the process of berthing. That means they will be captured by the station's robotic arm and positioned below a berthing port before being bolted to the ISS.

This technique does not work for shuttles carrying crew. That's because un-berthing the vehicles takes an inordinate amount of time, making it difficult for ISS residents to leave in case of an emergency. The capsules carrying humans will, therefore, be allowed to dock directly into a port and instantly attach to the station.

NASA estimates that a total of 900 hours will be spent in spacewalks, robotic activity, and crew activity inside the station, to prepare for arrivals and departures of commercial crew flights. But it will sure be worth it given that they will result in two docking ports for capsules carrying human passengers as well as two for un-piloted cargo ships. The slightly larger shuttles will also allow for an additional researcher on the ISS while the frequency will enable NASA to increase the amount of crew time devoted to research.

Also, since the United States retired the space shuttle program, American astronauts have been dependent on Russian spacecrafts to travel to and from the International Space Station (ISS). In addition to the astronomical expense (each flight costs tens of millions of dollars), the dependency also puts U.S. astronauts completely at Russia's mercy. If all goes according to plan, space taxis being developed by commercial enterprises like SpaceX, Boeing and Virgin Galactic, will alleviate these issues and perhaps even open the possibility of space tourism by the end of 2016.

Resources: earthsky.org, space.com, gizmag.com, nasa.gov

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Sarah Benton Feitlinger and Allegra Staples

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Spacewalks Have Come A Long Way In Fifty Years!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fifty years ago, on March 18th, 1965, Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov took the first spacewalk. It lasted just twelve minutes and almost ended in a disaster. That's because the vacuum of space caused his pressurized suit to inflate and become rigid, making it impossible for Leonov to re-enter the Voskhod 2 space capsule airlock.

# data[].attributes.body
Video games aren't played on any ordinary gaming system. Instead, they play games displayed on a glass skyscraper.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On June 10, at 8 p.m., more than a hundred people were gathered in a tent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were there to play video games. But they wouldn't be playing on any ordinary gaming system. Instead, they were gearing up to play games that would be displayed on a glass skyscraper called the Cira Centre. "There was a really great energy in the tent that night," Ainsley Soulchin, 13, told TIME for Kids.

Ainsley's a seventh grader at the Upper Merion Area Middle School, near Philadelphia. She participated in Skyscraper Video Games for Kids. It's a program that teaches middle school students how to code video games.

In the program, Ainsley coded a game. She calls the game Dot Man. In Dot Man, a player has to pass through a maze without getting caught by a dot. On June 10, the public got to play Dot Man and other other student-made video games on the outside of the Cira Centre. Ainsley was proud of her accomplishment. "When you see your game on the building," she said, "you're like 'Wow. I made this.'"

Game Changer

Frank Lee founded Skyscraper Video Games for Kids. He's a professor of digital media at Drexel University, in Philadelphia. He wanted to initiate others in the joy of playing video games. So he found a way to make that happen.

"Years ago, I was driving past the Cira Centre," Lee told TFK. "I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to make a game out of that building?'" He noticed there were LED lights embedded between the skyscraper's floors. Lee knew if he could access the building's computer system, he could manipulate the LED lights. This would allow him to display video games on the skyscraper. People could play these games using a joystick. The joystick would be connected to a computer outside the building. And the computer would send wireless commands to the skyscraper's internal system.

On April 19, 2013, Lee arranged for Pong, a video game inspired by table tennis, to be played on the Cira Centre. It scored a Guinness World Record for World's Largest Architectural Video Game Display. In 2014, Lee arranged for Tetris to be played on the same building. It broke the 2013 record. At 119,600 square feet, the Tetris display was twice the size that Pong had been.

Now Lee shares his passion for game design with kids. With funding from Intel, he trains educators to create video games. The educators then teach their students those same skills.

DREXEL UNIVERSITY

Christian Johnson is one such educator. He teaches at Ainsley's middle school. "Having the students' video games be shown on such a large, public display can give them motivation to keep creating," Johnson told TFK.

Ainsley plans to continue coding. "I've always loved to build stuff," she says. "Coding is just another opportunity to build something and make it my own. And I really like that."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On June 10, at 8 p.m., more than a hundred people were gathered in a tent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were there to play video games. But they wouldn't be playing on any ordinary gaming system. Instead, they were gearing...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Wing is conducting extensive trials in Christiansburg, VA (Credit: Wing.com)

On October 20, 2019, Wing, a subsidiary of American multinational conglomerate Alphabet Inc., began the most advanced trials of commercial drone delivery in the US yet in Christiansburg, Virginia. Residents can now use a smartphone app to order items from Wing partners such as pharmacy giant Walgreens and local specialty chocolate and popcorn retailer Sugar Magnolia. A Wing drone will pick up the order and gently lower the package with the help of a tether outside the customer's door within an hour!

Though Wing is the first American company to receive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to use commercial drones as a widespread service, it is not the only one. On October 22, 2019, multinational package delivery company UPS, which has also received FAA approval for its drone fleet, announced it would soon begin trial deliveries of prescriptions and other goods from retail and health care company CVS. Meanwhile, ridesharing company Uber, which has partnered with McDonald's, hopes to dispatch its drones to deliver food to hungry customers in San Diego, CA, before the end of 2019. Amazon also plans on testing its long touted "Prime Air" service in a yet-to-be-determined location in the upcoming months.

WIng drones hover in the air above their delivery destination and lower packages using a tether (Credit: Wing.com)

While every company's drones can carry packages weighing up to five pounds, their design and delivery mechanisms differ widely. The Wing drone's airplane-like wings are fitted with propellers, which enable it to fly longer distances on less fuel. The autonomous aircraft has a maximum speed of 70 miles per hour and can travel up to 12 miles in under 10 minutes. The Wing drone bypasses the challenge of finding a suitable landing area by using a tether to lower the package to the ground. Upon landing, the goods are automatically unclipped and the drone returns to the closest warehouse to pick up its next delivery.

Amazon's drones will carry cargo in an enclosed compartment (Credit: Amazon.com)

Amazon's hexagonal drone is designed to seamlessly switch between a vertical helicopter-like mode and a horizontal airplane mode. It can fly up to 15 miles roundtrip and complete deliveries within 30 minutes or less. The drone is designed to carry packages in a closed compartment that opens once it is firmly on the ground.

Uber's delivery drone is not as fast as those of its competitors. It also has a limited flying range and is currently designed to land atop the vehicle of an Uber Eats driver, who will be responsible for delivering the food to the customer.

Uber's drone will be used to deliver food (Credit: Uber)

Though the flurry of trials is encouraging, widespread drone delivery still has many challenges. These include infrastructure issues like finding places for drones to land, reducing noise pollution, and even ensuring the drones don't collide with each other while airborne.

To help speed up the process, on October 29, 2019, NASA announced the Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge. The competition challenges prospective airspace service providers to find innovative solutions to the issues, so that drone deliveries can become a reality soon. "We are moving fast," said NASA AdministratorJim Bridenstine. "We want to see by 2028 at least one city - maybe more than one - have the ability to control hundreds of unmanned aerial systems. They could be carrying cargo or could be carrying people, doing thousands of missions every day."

An artist's depiction of multiple unmanned aircraft flying in an urban environment (Credit: NASA)

If NASA's vision for drones is realized, it will not only help drastically cut down delivery times but also reduce carbon footprint of the large delivery trucks. Wing CEO James Ryan Burgess says, "We're looking at trends in cities including congestion and environmental sustainability... We see drone deliveries as a key part of solutions to these."

Resources: Wallstreetjournal.com,cnbc.com, techxplore.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Delivery Drones May Finally Become A Reality In The US Skies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On October 20, 2019, Wing, a subsidiary of American multinational conglomerate Alphabet Inc., began the most advanced trials of commercial drone delivery in the US yet in Christiansburg, Virginia. Residents can now use a smartphone app to order items from Wing partners such as pharmacy giant Walgreens and local specialty chocolate and popcorn retailer Sugar Magnolia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is Artificial Intelligence Good for Society?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many people are embracing artificial intelligence, or AI. Tools such as ChatGPT use AI to produce text quickly. Some people find that helpful for school or work. Other AI tools create images or chat bots. But AI isn’t always accurate…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One night in May, a group of people gathered around a computer monitor on a rooftop. They were scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The monitor was linked to equipment that could receive transmissions from a satellite. The…

# data[].attributes.body
Thanks to a new technology, Jazmine Boykins has been selling the same art pieces for thousands of dollars as NFTs. That stands for non-fungible tokens.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Last year, Jazmine Boykins was posting her artwork online for free. It got lots of likes, shares, and comments. But it didn't make much money.

That has changed. Thanks to a new technology, Boykins has been selling the same art pieces for thousands of dollars as NFTs. That stands for non-fungible × fungible authenticity × authenticity LAURA REID-GETTY IMAGES interchangeable (adjective) U.S. dollars and Mexican pesos are not fungible because they have different values. tokens. These NFTs represent the digital art pieces. They come with a certificate of ownership and CASARSAGURU-GETTY IMAGES realness; the state of not having been copied (noun) We hired an expert to check the authenticy of the antique. . This is a guarantee. It says that the person who buys the NFT is getting the original version.

BEEPLE-CHRISTIE'S

Boykins sold more than $60,000 in NFT art in six months. "At first, I didn't know if it was trustworthy or legit," she told TIME. "But to see digital art being bought at these prices, it's pretty astounding. It's given me the courage to keep going."

State of the Art

NFTs exist as computer files. Artists sign up with a digital marketplace. They list NFTs there for auction. It's like selling things on eBay.

SIPA ASA/SHUTTERSTOCK

NFTs are having a big moment. In September, people spent nearly $2 billion on them. In March, a digital artist sold an NFT for more than $69 million.

Some people are investing in NFTs to get rich. This is why critics call the NFT art craze a bubble. Prices may be high now, they say. But the bubble will burst. Then, artworks that once sold for high prices will lose much of their value.

But many artists have embraced the craze. They include authors, musicians, and filmmakers. They see a future in which NFTs have changed how people value art.

"You will have so many people from different backgrounds and genres coming in to share their art, connect with people, and potentially build a career," Boykins says.

Cashing In

Artworks sold as NFTs can often be viewed online for free. That raises a question: Why would people pay so much money for something they can see for free?

NOAM GALAI-GETTY IMAGES

The answer is that certificate of authenticity. This is what attracts some collectors. If they know an "authentic" version of something exists, they want it. Plus, some NFT collectors say they're happy paying for the work of artists they like.

By selling NFTs, digital artists might now be able to make a good living from their work. And NFT artists are forming tight communities. Andrew Benson is an artist based in Los Angeles. "It really does seem like everyone could benefit," he says.

I'm a 12-year-old NFT Artist

COURTESY NYLA HAYES

I started drawing when I was 4. When I was 9, my parents got me a smartphone. I used it to make digital art. I made drawings of people with long necks. I call these Long Neckies. This past March, my uncle told my mom about NFTs. We watched YouTube to learn how to make and sell them. Soon, people were buying NFTs of my Long Neckies. I have made more than 960 ETH. (That's digital currency worth more than $3 million.) The NFT community is amazing! -Nyla Hayes, as told to TFK

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Last year, Jazmine Boykins was posting her artwork online for free. It got lots of likes, shares, and comments. But it didn't make much money. That has changed. Thanks to a new technology, Boykins has been selling the same art...

# data[].attributes.body
Scientists say it’s crucial to move away from gas-powered vehicles. Doing so will fight climate change.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
General Motors (GM) is one of the world’s major automakers. In January, the company set a goal: It would stop selling gas-powered cars by 2035. It will make more battery-powered vehicles. This is a big moment for the auto industry.…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
G3_041621_ElectricCars

# data[].attributes.body
Matthew Walzer was born with cerebral palsy. With Walzer’s input, Nike developed Go FlyEase sneakers that slip on hands-free.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Matthew Walzer was born with cerebral palsy. The disability affects his walking, balance, and fine motor skills. “There were different things I had to do and use, to overcome [my challenges],” he told TIME for Kids. By 16, Walzer was…

# data[].attributes.body
Modern quadcopters can soar to high altitudes and perform a wide range of tasks. However, their capabilities are often curbed by limited battery life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This Ingenious Drone Recharges On The Go

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This Ingenious Drone Recharges On The Go has 25 comments. Commenter ilovenuggies wrote: “I think it helps us by having a understanding about the future ”

# data[].attributes.body
Carbon dioxide (CO2), released by burning fossil fuels like oil and coal, is a large contributor to global warming. On May 8, 2024, Climeworks turned on Mammoth, the world's largest direct air capture (DAC) plant similar to an in-home air purifier.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
World's Biggest Carbon Absorbing Plant Opens In Iceland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
World's Biggest Carbon Absorbing Plant Opens In Iceland has 13 comments. Commenter breckmuell wrote: "It supa cool!"

# data[].attributes.body
Every person's cancer is based on their particular genes. A team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, is developing custom vaccines to fight each person's unique cancer.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dr. Catherine Wu Wants To Make Personalized Cancer Vaccines A Reality

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dr. Catherine Wu Wants To Make Personalized Cancer Vaccines A Reality has 11 comments. Commenter 5r7ytgrt6 wrote: "My dog survived from cancer :)"

# data[].attributes.body
The theme for Earth Day 2024 is Planet vs. Plastics. It highlights the fact that over 380 million tons of plastic are produced annually, an astounding 50 percent of which is for single-use purposes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Earth Day 2024 Highlights The Perils Of Plastic Pollution

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Earth Day 2024 Highlights The Perils Of Plastic Pollution has 1 review and 0 ratings. Reviewer lolimhilarious wrote: “people need to understand that they’re hurting not only the earth but themselves in the long run”

# data[].attributes.body
Waste collection trucks in Toronto, Ontario (in Canada) will soon be running on fuel made from some of the same food waste that they pick up at the curb each week.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Monique Conrod

Waste collection trucks in Toronto, Ontario (in Canada) will soon be running on fuel made from some of the same food waste that they pick up at the curb each week.

People in Toronto put all of their organic waste (food scraps) into a special "green bin" to be collected by city trucks once a week and disposed of. Now the city is working on a plan to turn that food waste into a clean and renewable source of fuel.

Organic waste is taken to a special facility where it is put into large machines called "anaerobic digesters." The digesters break the food waste down, (in the same way our bodies digest our food). That process creates solid waste and gas.

Usually, this gas is just burned off. But if all of the impurities (bad stuff that isn't needed) are removed, the gas can be turned into a biofuel called renewable natural gas (RNG). That RNG can be used instead of the fossil fuels we use now - oil, coal and natural gas - as gas for cars and trucks or to heat people's homes.

Using RNG instead of fossil fuel products will help keep Toronto's air cleaner. It will also reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gases the city produces. (Greenhouse gases trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere and contribute to climate change.)

Fossil fuels give off greenhouse gases when they are taken out of the ground, and processed. They give off even more greenhouse gases when we burn them to heat our homes or fuel our cars.

RNG gives off lower amounts of greenhouse gases when it is being made and also when it is being used as fuel.

Using food waste to make RNG also helps keep it out of the landfills where regular garbage is dumped. If food waste is left to rot in landfills, it produces greenhouse gases.

RNG costs less to make than fossil fuel products because it is made from food waste that cities are already collecting each week. And, since there is a steady supply of organic waste from homes, restaurants and farms, RNG is a "renewable" energy source. (In this case, "renewable" means it is replaced naturally as we use it, and won't run out.)

Toronto hopes to begin producing RNG from organic waste by March 2020. Then it will use the gas to fuel the city's waste collection trucks.

The city is working on the project with Enbridge Gas Inc., a company that produces and sells fossil fuel-based natural gas. When RNG becomes available, Enbridge will use RNG along with fossil fuel-based natural gas to heat homes in the city.

Toronto hopes to have four facilities that can convert food waste to RNG. That will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas the city produces by about the same amount as taking 35,000 cars off the road.

Producing renewable natural gas from household food waste is part of a "closed-loop" or "circular" process.

Many of the things we use every day are part of linear (straight line) process. Items are made, bought, used and thrown away. This uses up a lot of resources, and creates a lot of waste.

In a circular or closed-loop process, items are made, bought, used, then taken apart and remade into something else.

For example, when we recycle paper, it can be made into new paper products such as notebooks, egg cartons, or coffee filters. Often, these products can also be recycled or composted when we're finished with them.

Recycling paper means fewer trees are cut down to make new paper. It also costs less and uses less energy than making new paper. And it reduces the amount of waste we produce.

With RNG, food waste from our homes is picked up by collection trucks, processed, and turned into a product that generates heat and electricity for the homes we live in, and provides fuel for the same trucks that collect the food waste.
THINK AND DISCUSS
The City of Toronto is trying something new, to combat climate change. Do you think it will work? Why or why not? (Or: how big an effect do you think the program will have?)

Have you ever thought of something to help make the world more environmentally friendly? What are your ideas? What are some things that would have to happen, to put your plan in place?

This article is about a program in Toronto, Ontario in Canada. What is your city or town doing to help people reduce, recycle and reuse or to combat climate change?

A "sidebar" is a (usually smaller) article that gives a bit more information about a topic. This sidebar explains the "closed-loop" process. Pretend you met someone who didn't know anything about recycling. Create (or say) a sidebar about any of these topics from the main article: sustainable energy; RNG; fossil fuels; greenhouse gases; organic waste; digestion; green bins.
LINKS
Toronto's "Waste Wizard" makes it easy to know what can and cannot be recycled by the city: https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/waste-wizard/

The City of Toronto (like most big cities) has a website that lists what can and cannot be recycled or put in their green bins: https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/houses/what-goes-in-my-green-bin/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Toronto to Turn Food Scraps into Biofuel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Monique Conrod Waste collection trucks in Toronto, Ontario (in Canada) will soon be running on fuel made from some of the same food waste that they pick up at the curb each week. People in Toronto put all of their organic waste (food scraps) into a special "green bin" to be collected by city trucks once a week and disposed of.

# data[].attributes.body
Cesare Mencarini is one of the youngest students to have built an advanced fusion reactor. For Cesare, it wasn’t just about the reactor. It was also about learning by doing, and about making connections with other people doing similar things.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
16-Year-Old Student Builds Nuclear Fusion Reactor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cesare Mencarini recently graduated from a sixth form school (high school) in England with excellent grades. But he was probably more excited about the success he had the previous year – building a working nuclear fusion reactor at the age of 16.

# data[].attributes.body
A team of students in the Netherlands has designed and built a tough car that’s completely powered by the sun. The car, called Stella Terra, is the first solar-powered car that can travel off-road for long distances without needing a recharging station.

# data[].attributes.body
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) have invented a new way to make electricity. Their method uses super-tiny holes to make electricity from moisture in the air.

# data[].attributes.body
There is a constant demand for blood for transfusions, and there are often shortages. In an experiment, people are being given red blood cells that were created in a laboratory.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Scientists Test Blood Grown in a Laboratory

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For the first time ever, scientists are testing red blood cells grown in a laboratory on human volunteers. If the experiment is successful, the process could make it far easier to supply blood to people who need it – especially those with rare blood types.

# data[].attributes.body
Measuring progress in health care AI performance relies heavily on question-answer tests, researchers argue, and not enough on evaluating real-world medical tasks.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Medical AI tools are growing, but are they being tested properly?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
AI medical benchmark tests fall short because they don’t test efficiency on real tasks such as writing medical notes, experts say.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Medical AI tools are growing, but are they being tested properly?

# data[].attributes.body
Playing video games may not only help teens relax and have fun — it may help them hone some real-world skills.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Power Words
More About Power Words

artificial intelligence: A type of knowledge-based decision-making exhibited by machines or computers. The term also refers to the field of study in which scientists try to create machines or computer software capable of intelligent behavior.

attention: The phenomenon of focusing mental resources on a specific object or event.

average: (in science) A term for the arithmetic mean, which is the sum of a group of numbers that is then divided by the size of the group.

coding: (in computing) A slang term for developing computer programming - or software - that performs a particular, desired computational task.

mental health: A term for someone's emotional, psychological and social well-being. It refers to how people behave on their own and how they interact with others. It includes how people make choices, handle stress and manage fear or anxiety. Poor mental health can be triggered by disease or might reflect a short-term response to life's challenges. It can occur in people of any age, from babies to the elderly.

physical: (adj.) A term for things that exist in the real world, as opposed to in memories or the imagination. It can also refer to properties of materials that are due to their size and non-chemical interactions (such as when one block slams with force into another). (in biology and medicine) The term can refer to the body, as in a physical exam or physical activity.

software: The mathematical instructions that direct a computer's hardware, including its processor, to perform certain operations.

Maria Temming is the assistant editor at Science News Explores. She has bachelor's degrees in physics and English, and a master's in science writing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Let's learn about the benefits of playing video games

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Too much screentime poses health risks, but research suggests playing video games can sharpen some skillsets.

# data[].attributes.body
A new type of battery is based on a material discovered with the help of artificial intelligence. The process narrowed 32 million candidate materials to a few dozen in just 80 hours.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Artificial intelligence helped design a new type of battery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Supercomputing and AI cut the early discovery steps from decades to just 80 hours. The process led to a new solid electrolyte.

# data[].attributes.body
Attempts to remove oil spills tend to be messy, costly and often not very effective. But scientists in China and Israel think they’ve found a new way to “sponge” up that sticky pollution: cork.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
adsorption: (v. adsorb) The process by which a substance sticks to, or adheres, to the outer surface of another material. Sunscreen clings to your skin because of adsorption.

aquatic: An adjective that refers to water.

chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H ₂ O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds.

contaminant: Pollutant; a chemical, biological or other substance that is unwanted or unnatural in an environment (such as water, soil, air, the body or food). Some contaminants may be harmful in the amounts at which they occur or if they are allowed to build up in the body or environment over time.

cork: The tough, but elastic bark of the evergreen cork oak ( Quercus suber), a tree that can grow to 20 meters (65 feet) and live for two centuries. Some of the bark can be cut and peeled off the tree every decade or so (once the tree is at least 25 years old). Cork is thus a renewable resource. It's often used as a stopper for bottles (especially wine bottles), as well as in flooring, bulletin boards, shoe soles and more.

ecosystem: A group of interacting living organisms - including microorganisms, plants and animals - and their physical environment within a particular climate. Examples include tropical reefs, rainforests, alpine meadows and polar tundra. The term can also be applied to elements that make up some an artificial environment, such as a company, classroom or the internet.

environment: The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or the process and the condition those things create. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature and humidity (or even the placement of things in the vicinity of an item of interest).

hydrophobic: Repelling (or not absorbing) water.

laser: A device that generates an intense beam of coherent light of a single color. Lasers are used in drilling and cutting, alignment and guidance, in data storage and in surgery.

materials scientist: A researcher who studies how the atomic and molecular structure of a material is related to its overall properties. Materials scientists can design new materials or analyze existing ones. Their analyses of a material's overall properties (such as density, strength and melting point) can help engineers and other researchers select materials that are best suited to a new application.

organism: Any living thing, from elephants and plants to bacteria and other types of single-celled life.

particle: A minute amount of something.

photothermal: (adj.) A term for the production of heat in something as a result of its exposure to light.

pore: A tiny hole in a surface. On the skin, substances such as oil, water and sweat pass through these openings.

porous: The description of a substance that contains tiny holes, called pores, through which a liquid or gas can pass. (in biology) The minute openings in the skin or in the outer layer of plants.

pristine: An adjective referring to something that is in original or near-original condition. It means something is somewhat old but in a seemingly "untouched" or unaltered condition.

renewable: An adjective for resources that can be endlessly replaced (such as water, green plants, sunlight and wind). This is in contrast to non-renewable resources, for which there is a finite supply -- one that can essentially be used up. These include petroleum (and other fossil fuels) or relatively rare elements and minerals.

risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen. For instance, exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer. Or the hazard - or peril - itself. (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.)

sea: An ocean (or region that is part of an ocean). Unlike lakes and streams, seawater - or ocean water - is salty.

taint: To contaminate something with an unexpected, unnatural or illegal substance.

toxic: Poisonous or able to harm or kill cells, tissues or whole organisms. The measure of risk posed by such a poison is its toxicity.

trait: A characteristic feature of something. (in genetics) A quality or characteristic that can be inherited.

veterinary: Having to do with animal medicine or health care.

viscous: (n. viscosity) Adjective referring to something that is thick, sticky and hard to pour. Molasses and maple syrup are two examples of viscous liquids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Treating cork with lasers made the material able to quickly sponge up oil while repelling water, scientists in China and Israel found.

# data[].attributes.body
Today’s tech computes with electricity. But light shows promise as a new means of number-crunching. Researchers explore optics as a path to next-gen number-crunching.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Light could make the future of computers even brighter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Today’s computers process using electrical signals. But light shows promise as a new means of computing, especially for AI.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
A new frontier awaits — computing with light

# data[].attributes.body
An early warning system for people with food allergies used artificial intelligence to train the device to determine whether a food contains common allergens based on scent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Common food allergens are target of teen engineer’s device

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Inspired by his own severe food allergies, Thermo Fisher JIC finalist Samvith Mahadevan built a device to protect people from allergen exposure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
This teen engineer’s device sniffs out common food allergens

# data[].attributes.body
All of today’s common methods of storing digital data tend to wear out quickly, but a high-speed laser etched pattern can last for “thousands of years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
High-speed lasers write data — to last millennia — inside glass

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Project Silica is advancing a new way to store data — potentially forever. Some students plan to use this new media to send a message into space.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
High-speed lasers write data — to last millennia — inside glass