Researchers in California have produced a cheap plastic capable of removing large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. Down the road, the new material could enable the development of large-scale batteries and even form the basis of “artificial … Continue reading
In 2007, as the world worried about a possible avian flu epidemic, Laurie Garrett, author of “The Coming Plague,” gave this powerful talk to a small TED University audience. Her insights from past pandemics are suddenly more relevant than ever. … Continue reading
A leading researcher says digital technologies are about to make health care more effective. But is so much data really beneficial? Nanosensors patrolling your bloodstream for the first sign of an imminent stroke or heart attack, releasing anticlotting or anti-inflammatory … Continue reading
Light warp: This is the largest sheet ever made of a metamaterial that can bend near infrared light backward. Tiny crystals called quantum dots emit intense, sharply defined colors. Now researchers have made LED displays that use quantum dots. Five years … Continue reading
By Leah Germain and M.J. Deschamps A new metal structure developed by U.S. scientists, so light it dramatically cuts down drag and improves fuel efficiency one hundredfold, could find its way into vehicles someday. Claiming it is 100 times lighter … Continue reading
Magnetic electronics and ferrous paper enable artistry in circuit design. Leah Buechley is an assistant professor at the MIT Media Lab and the director of the aptly-named High-Low Tech research group. She does heaps of cool, subtle, under-appreciated stuff, and … Continue reading
Invisibility cloaks. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence. A Facebook for genes. These were just a few of the startling topics IFTF explored at our recent Technology Horizons Program conference on the “Future of Science.”
Large Hadron Collider results suggest that one of most eagerly awaited scientific discoveries is within reach. CERN announced today that it had almost, but not quite, found the Higgs Boson, a subatomic particle that gives objects mass. Two experimental teams … Continue reading
A couple of years ago I had never heard of TED.com, and somehow I stumbled across this TED.com video about the “10 things you didn’t know about orgasm”. Mary Roach, a science journalist, says a few things that blew my … Continue reading
In this video: At TEDMED, Sheila Nirenberg shows a bold way to create sight in people with certain kinds of blindness: by hooking into the optic nerve and sending signals from a camera direct to the brain.