Walking into the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is a feast for the senses. Through the graceful curve of the cavernous ceilings, the gentle diffusion of light permeating the floor and the grandness of an echoing space, the nearly 800-year-old iconic house of worship serves as an example of how our built environment influences the human sensory experience.
Mar. 16, 2021
It’s one thing to be able to talk; but it’s another to converse. And artificial intelligence (AI) has yet to check off the latter. Even with tremendous progress over the last years, the technology still hasn’t achieved the level of naturalness that would make you want to trade your best friend or favorite coworker for a smart virtual assistant.
Mar. 16, 2021
More than 3 billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods, according to the U.N. Coastal landscapes and communities, however, are increasingly threatened by environmental degradation, climate change and overexploitation. Some experts believe meeting this ecological and economic challenge is contingent on creating connections between modern science and Indigenous knowledge.
Mar. 16, 2021
Researchers in the UK have built a prototype of a home-architecture system that capitalizes on microbial actions in urine and wastewater to generate electricity, scrub water and air of pollutants, produce plant fertilizers, and carry out other household chores.
Mar. 15, 2021
It’s official. Less than a month into the new year, a year quietly anticipated to be full of plentiful vaccines and bustling restaurants, 2021 was dubbed “the year of COVID-19 variants” by major science publications and public health specialists.
Mar. 15, 2021
In his dermatology clinic at UT Austin, Dr. Adewole Adamson had a disagreement with a colleague. To his trained eye, a patient’s mole had looked strange, showing early warning signs of melanoma, aggressive skin cancer. But his colleague saw it as a low risk.
Mar. 15, 2021
There is more to the oral microbiome than meets the mouth. Established within a few minutes of birth, this diverse community of bacteria lives on every surface of our mouth throughout our lives. For decades, scientists have researched these bacteria and their role in dental diseases, especially caries and periodontitis.
Mar. 15, 2021
