Staying in TOUCH

Would you shake hands … over Zoom? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Humans are built to connect. But distance can make that hard. Modern-day technology has solved these issues, but something is still missing: touch.  Enter Maya Dunlap and team at Saint Louis University.

Continue reading

Data in Glass

Want family photos that will last for millennia?!  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We’re generating more data than ever. Yet, digital data is at risk of being lost forever due to corrupted hard drives.  But Microsoft Research’s Project Silica Team has an idea! They

Continue reading

Ink-credible Films

Is Mona Lisa smiling or frowning…and why does she have tentacles?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Octopi and squids can alter pigments in their skin to change how they look. What if we could too?  Enter Haoqing Yang and team at Pennsylvania State University.  

Continue reading

Nano-Sized Robots

(Sigh) Microscopic Paul Rudd only exists in the Marvel universe… unless? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Imagine shrinking robots down to the size of a speck of dust. That would revolutionize processing… manufacturing… pretty much everything! Well, shrink rays we have not, but the

Continue reading

Aluminum 2.0

Round 1: Aluminum versus extreme heat. Fight! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Metal 3D printing quickly produces unique geometric parts made from aluminum alloys. But current alloys tend to crack under high heat. How can aluminum TOUGHEN up? Enter Noaki Takara and team at

Continue reading

Optical Clues to Your Health

The eyes are the window to the soul… And your heart too? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Tired of checking your heart health with pinchy blood pressure sleeves. Just take a retinal scan! The blood vessels in our eyes display unique branching. These are

Continue reading

Sky High Surprises

Keep watching the stars! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The VASCO project monitors anomalies in the sky, like strange lights and vanishing stars. While studying astronomical photographs from the 50’s, Stephen Bruehl and Beatriz Villarroel noticed something strange.  Bright spots were found in the sky the

Continue reading

Concrete Power

Concrete powered homes?! Sounds crazy! Or does it? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Renewable energy demand keeps growing. The challenge is finding cheap and abundant materials. Qi Luo and team at Aarhus University in Denmark have developed cement infused with energy-producing bacteria. The bacteria

Continue reading

Hard and Soft Prints

This gives a new meaning to a KNEESLAPPER! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We can 3-D print hard and rigid prosthetics, and soft shoes and springs. But what about 3-D printing both materials into one object? No way? Yes way. Enter Ji-Won Kim and

Continue reading