A student built a particle detector for just $100; the pocket-sized device can track invisible particles raining down from space at light’s speed; it is now being used in high-altitude balloon missions and major physics experiments

A student built a particle detector for just $100; the pocket-sized device can track invisible particles raining down from space at light’s speed; it is now being used in high-altitude balloon missions and major physics experiments

A device that can detect particles arriving from space does not necessarily require a multimillion-dollar laboratory. A compact detector developed by physicist Spencer Axani began as a low-cost student project and has since grown into a tool used for particle-physics research, education and high-altitude experiments. The University of Delaware detailed its latest developments in September, … Read more

Meet Meera Ramaswami: The Ann Arbor inventor who turned her grandmother’s fall into a patented mobility device and launched a company

Meet Meera Ramaswami: The Ann Arbor inventor who turned her grandmother’s fall into a patented mobility device and launched a company

Meera Ramaswami, Founder at CargilityPhoto: Meera Ramaswami/ LinkedIn A fall while getting out of a car changed the direction of Meera Ramaswami’s life. She watched her grandmother lose her balance during a moment that should have been routine, then saw the injury heal while the fear remained. Her grandmother became less willing to travel, and … Read more

Meet Kim Ji-on, a 12-year-old South Korean student who invented a life-saving device that helps people escape deadly fires

Meet Kim Ji-on, a 12-year-old South Korean student who invented a life-saving device that helps people escape deadly fires

What’s the one thing you would carry to a remote island with you? If honesty is the way forward, most would say their phone. While there was a time someone would have said an answer like a weapon or maybe their loved one, now, it is truly a mobile phone that lives rent-free with a … Read more

Virgin Australia removed a wheelchair user because his mobility device would not fit under his seat; airline later admitted the device had been incorrectly assessed

Virgin Australia removed a wheelchair user because his mobility device would not fit under his seat; airline later admitted the device had been incorrectly assessed

Disability advocate Shane Hryhorec was forced from an Adelaide flight due to issues with stowing his portable wheelchair motor. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall) Virgin Australia has issued a formal apology to prominent disability advocate Shane Hryhorec after airline staff removed him from a flight because they incorrectly assessed his wheelchair equipment. Hryhorec, who founded the … Read more

San Diego’s Leanne Fan, 18, built a device to simulate microgravity and tested red light on injured flatworms; tissue regeneration sped up by 95.2%, helping her win $80,000

San Diego's Leanne Fan, 18, built a device to simulate microgravity and tested red light on injured flatworms; tissue regeneration sped up by 95.2%, helping her win $80,000

Fan built her own $200 device instead of using NASA’s $50,000 clinostat. (Society for science photo) Leanne Fan, an 18-year-old student from San Diego, has been named a finalist in the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search for her research into wound healing in space. Her project looks at whether red light therapy can help wounds … Read more