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materials

Fresh water can pull stains out of fabric with an electric field

Physics

Fresh water can pull stains out of fabric with an electric field

Rinsing fabrics with lots of fresh water after soaping them up creates a small electric field that pulls dirt particles lodged deep between fabric fibres

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Eco-friendly nanowood is a super strong and recyclable styrofoam

Physics

Eco-friendly nanowood is a super strong and recyclable styrofoam

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pile of clothes

Earth

Green is the new black: Redesigning clothes to save the planet

Features

Bunnies draped in fake polar bear fur are both cosy and stealthy

Physics

Bunnies draped in fake polar bear fur are both cosy and stealthy

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Electric eel-inspired batteries could power life-long pacemakers

Technology

Electric eel-inspired batteries could power life-long pacemakers

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How a bat’s hairy tongue lets it suck up nectar like a sponge

Physics

How a bat’s hairy tongue lets it suck up nectar like a sponge

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sand

Earth

We all need to take our heads out of the sand

Leader

rubbish mountain

Life

China's plan to stop recycling the world's rubbish may backfire

Analysis

A 'magic number' of people walking across a bridge makes it sway

Physics

A 'magic number' of people walking across a bridge makes it sway

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Mussels

Life

Mussel-inspired plastic could make self-repairing body armour

Mussels grip onto rock using stretchy fibres with self-repairing molecular bonds. Mimicking the trick has inspired an extremely tough and elastic new material

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Technology

Shape-shifting origami robot swaps bodies to roll, swim or walk

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Technology

Fighting fakery: How to make products immune to counterfeiting

Features

Technology

Two-colour pixels let you draw pair of images in the same space

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Technology

Plastic cubes injected into the body could replace booster shots

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