What’s an NFT and why are people buying them?
NFT stands for "non-fungible token.” It’s a digital work of art, like music, video clips, or a meme. People pay a lot of money to own the original code. Why? It is like owning an original art piece or a…
Jessica Cox is the world’s first armless licensed pilot
Born without arms, Jessica Cox never left her disability hold her back. She uses her feet as her hands. In 2008, she became the first person with no arms to pass the pilot’s test. She flies an Ercoupe plane. Designed…
New robotic platform can screen thousands for COVID-19
Toronto researchers built a robotic platform that can screen thousands of COVID-19 samples at a time. The machine can detect a positive case 95 percent of the time. Finding positive cases quickly and accurately is important in a pandemic. The…
Taylor Swift’s re-recorded Love Story outperforms original
Just before Valentine’s Day, Taylor Swift released her first re-recording, “Love Story (Taylor’s Version).” It was downloaded 10,000 times in 24 hours and had millions of on-demand streams. This new version is part of a bigger plan that Swift has…
NASA to fly Ingenuity where no aircraft has been before—Mars
Ingenuity will attempt the first flight on another planet. The four-pound helicopter is strapped to NASA’s Perseverance rover. On Mars, the aircraft will perform a series of test flights to demonstrate if flight is possible. If the missions are a…
New research shows climate change makes allergy season worse
People with seasonal allergies may be suffering sooner and for longer this spring. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that climate change is causing plants to release their pollen earlier. The amount of…
Meet Gitanjali Rao—TIME’s first-ever Kid of the Year
At age 15, Gitanjali Rao isn’t your typical scientist. The brilliant teen was selected as TIME’s Kid of the Year from more than 5,000 kids, ages 8 to 16. Her inventions can sense lead in water, detect early opioid addiction,…
Become a citizen scientist during coronavirus
The Smithsonian has a collection of 75 research projects that are looking for help from people at home. Citizen scientists can help researchers by sifting through data, like photos and audio clips. Many of the tools are free and simple…
Working with exotic animals in South Africa
Canadian college student Brittney Hein hopes to be a veterinarian someday. In 2018, she had a chance not many students get. She traveled to South Africa to work with animals there. Hein spent two weeks at a wildlife center. She…
What it takes to be a writer for Saturday Night Live
According to Simon Rich, writing for the TV show Saturday Night Live is hard work. It can be really stressful. But it’s also a lot of fun. The writers do a lot of writing. The sketches that make everyone laugh…