Devices

Windmills and wind turbines work on the same core principle to convert wind into energy, but one creates mechanical energy while the other creates electricity. Here's how they work.

ByTrevor English

All eyes are trained on you at halftime as you make slow sweeps across the rink, leaving sparkling smooth ice in your lumbering wake. The fans cheer. You tip your head slightly in modest acknowledgement. This is the life of the Zamboni driver.

ByKate Kershner

You may think of the U.S., Liberia and Myanmar as the sad-sack metric losers. The truth, however, is a little more complicated -- sort of like remembering how to switch between pounds and kilograms.

By将iam Harris

Fractals produce fascinating and intricate designs. Browse through this gallery featuring pictures of a variety of fractals like Mandelbrot and Julia sets and find out why nature is loaded with fractals.

ByHolly Frey

An MRI scan is the best way to see inside the human body without cutting it open, but that may be little comfort to you when you're getting ready for the exam. Lying perfectly still on a tiny slab in a narrow hole, you might wonder what's happening to your body.

By Todd A. Gould, RT-(R)(MR)(ARRT) &Molly Edmonds

I am entering a chemistry contest at my high school. The goal is to build the battery that produces the most watts for one minute. Our battery can't be bigger then 1 foot in any direction and can't use strong acids. What are the best chemicals to use, and what's the best design?

The first CT scan let doctors see inside a woman's skull and confirm her cystic brain mass. That scanner? It was developed by an eccentric engineer who worked at the Beatles' record company.

ByEdmund S. Higgins

Lobsters have one of the animal world's most unique vision systems. Researchers hope to apply that system to scanners that will make steel walls transparent.

ByJulia Layton

The American Marketing Association created the Edison Awards to honor inventors and their innovations. With many great ideas to choose from, what are some of the nominees for 2010?

ByNathan Chandler

It's common knowledge that Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph, but did you know he also developed concrete furniture and a phone to communicate with the dead?

ByMartha Barksdale

The Edison Awards annually honor the best new, cutting-edge products, companies and business executives -- all in the name of the record-setting inventor, Thomas Edison. What exactly does it take to earn an Edison Award?

ByElizabeth Sprouse

X-ray machines seem to do the impossible: They see straight through clothing, flesh and even metal, thanks to some very cool scientific principles at work. Find out how X-ray machines see straight to your bones.

ByTom Harris

CAT scans take X-ray imaging to a whole new level. Find out how a CAT scan machine uses "slices" to form a 3-D computer model of a patient's insides.

ByTom Harris

Unlike a regular SCUBA regulator which creates bubbles when the person wearing the apparatus exhales, a rebreather produces no bubbles when someone exhales. What exactly is a rebreather and how does it work?

One of my co-workers has an interesting thermometer on his desk. It is a glass tube with different-colored floating things in it. What kind of thermometer is this, and how does it work?

Ultrasound lets us peek into the human body to see everything from heart valves to a moving baby. But how do sound waves give us a picture?

ByCraig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

See "Back to the Future 2"? Drool much over those hoverboards? Find out how these devices will work and see one that already does!

By Kevin Bonsor

In a lot of movies you see windows that are 'bulletproof.' Does bulletproof glass really exist, and if so, how does it work?

What if a scan could not only help diagnose diseases of the brain, but maybe even determine what we're thinking and feeling? A noninvasive fMRI test could do just that.

ByStephanie Watson

This nonlethal weapon doesn't cause any lasting damage, but it may cause you to pray to the porcelains gods if an officer shines one in your eyes long enough to subdue you.

ByCraig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

Learn all about BrainPort, a device for sensory substitution by electrotactile stimulation.

ByJulia Layton

I am curious about the ignition system in my lawn mower. I know that a spark plug creates a high-voltage spark, and I know in my car the electricity for the spark comes from the battery. My lawn mower doesn't have a battery, so where does the electricty come from?

Why does air cool down when pushed around by an electric fan? You would think that air molecules in motion would be creating friction, and therefore increasing the ambient temperature instead of decreasing it. So why do you feel cooler?

A friend of mine showed me this card that the image changed depending on the angle that you view it at. How does that work?

修复性te of Chicago introduced a new bionic arm that can be controlled by reading a person's thoughts. How does this technology work? Can you control a machine with thoughts? Learn about the bionic arm in this article.

ByJulia Layton