New Atlas

Computers Audio available

Kano partners with Microsoft for build-it-yourself laptop for kids

Paul Ridden June 21, 2019

Making and coding are important skills for future engineers and technicians to master. With this in mind, Kano has partnered with Microsoft to release the Kano PC – a DIY Windows 10 computer for kids that gets them making , coding and creating.

The Kano PC tasks students with building a tablet from a kit, and then learning to ...

Children Audio available

Arduino and Google get middle schoolers kitted out for science

Paul Ridden June 27, 2019

Open source hardware and software company Arduino has teamed up with Google to develop and launch the Arduino Science Kit Physics Lab. Designed for students aged 11 to 14, the kit helps kids experiment with forces, motion, magnetism and conductivity.

Middle schoolers can experiment with electromagnetism, thermodynamics, kinetics and kinematics courtesy of the Arduino Science Kit ...

Robotics

DJI's first ground-level robot is built to race, battle and educate

Nick Lavars June 11, 2019

An educational tool first and a toy for playtime second, DJI's RoboMaster S1 will bring some battle and racing fireworks to the living room floor, but overall is designed to offer a gentle pathway into the world of AI, engineering and robotics.

DJI's RoboMaster S1 can respond to claps, hand gestures and visual markers

Medical

Higher education doesn’t prevent Alzheimer’s but it can offer a cognitive head start

Rich Haridy June 11, 2019

New research from Johns Hopkins Medicine is suggesting neurodegenerative disease can be just as prevalent in individuals with higher education but a greater cognitive reserve can temporarily mitigate the impact of Alzheimer’s pathology in one’s senior years.

In a new study, higher education does seem to give Alzheimer's patients a cognitive head start ...

Children Audio available

Lego makes learning Braille fun and engaging

Paul Ridden April 24, 2019

Though sets of colorful building bricks made of plastic can usually keep the kids entertained for hours at home, Lego is also used in the classroom. The Lego Foundation and the Lego Group have now unveiled some special bricks aimed at helping blind kids to learn braille through play.

The Lego Braille Bricks project was launched today at the Sustainable Brands Conference in Paris, France

Children

Lego gives middle schoolers coding confidence

Paul Ridden April 3, 2019

Lego Education has launched a new STEAM learning package designed to give kids of all abilities more coding confidence. The Spike Prime set includes hundreds of Lego bricks, sensors and motors, a programmable multi-port Hub, and a companion app featuring a block-based coding environment.

Students will be able to program their Spike Prime creations using a farg-and-drop coding platform based ...

Robotics

Sphero rolls out roving robot that's made for hacking

Paul Ridden February 19, 2019

Sphero is probably best known for its BB-8 rolling droid, but has recently been aiming its products at future programmers and makers. The company has opted to take to Kickstarter for its latest bot, which has been designed to be tweaked and hacked by adult hobbyists and young roboticists alike.

The Sphero Rvr robot has been designed as a blank template for hacker creativity

Robotics

Sophia the robot's little sister hits Kickstarter as a coding companion for kids

Michael Irving January 31, 2019

While Sophia the robot is busy on UN business or hanging with Jimmy Fallon, her little sister could soon be teaching kids to code. Meet Little Sophia, a new toy robot that looks like an educational Alexa in an unnerving humanoid body.

Little Sophia is a new toy robot based on Hanson Robotics' uncanny Sophia

Drones Audio available

DIY drone kit lets you build your own wooden quadcopter ... and controller

Ben Coxworth January 30, 2019

We've already seen wooden-bodied electronic devices such as computers, keyboards and video game systems, so why not a quadcopter drone? That's just what SirTeen's Aerowood is, and you put the thing together yourself.

The Aerowood drone is presently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign

Science

The weird reason Danes speak better English than Germans do

James Holloway January 17, 2019

More than 80 percent of people from the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden say they can hold a conversation in English. But that falls to below 60 percent in nearby Germany. What could account for the disparity? TV subtitles, apparently.