STEM

February 11 marks International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The day celebrates both the work of women across vast scientific disciplines, but also recognizes ongoing gender-based challenges. Here, we pay tribute to 11 stars of STEM today.

Construction kits have been a blessing in lockdown, and a new one might appeal to those interested in tinkering with robots. ArmPal is a robot arm kit that you build yourself, then pit against other robot arms in battles based on picking stuff up.

Almost 25 years after the ill-fated Virtual Boy, Nintendo has finally jumped back into the VR game with a new Labo Kit for the Switch console. The fourth of these DIY cardboard construction kits is built around a pair of VR goggles that slide into different contraptions to play a range of games.

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.

Toys today include robots, drones and AR, and if you’re lucky you can trick the kids into learning some useful skills along the way. New Atlas rounds up the best tech toys of 2018, which could make for some great last-minute gift ideas for the young’un in your life.

London-based Tech Will Save Us has introduced two new educational toys today – a badge-making craft kit called Sew + Glow and a bike light kit dubbed Light Racer that makes use of wireless power to get your spokes glowing.

Toy start-up PlayShifu has unveiled Plugo, a gaming platform that hooks up to a tablet and uses a range of tactile toys to play games that will “trick” the kids into studying math or vocabulary.

​Teaching our kids to code is vital for our tech-packed future, and there are many different tools available. Entertaining and educational as such things can be, few can claim to be magical. Now Kano has launched a build-it-yourself Harry Potter wireless wand that's used to cast spells on a tablet.​

New Atlas went hands-on with the cardboard contraptions of Nintendo Labo, and found a solid combination of the fun of video games, the DIY satisfaction of Lego, the creativity of crafts and the sneaky education of a STEM toy.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics will be huge employers in the future, so it makes sense to start piquing the interest of kids. Nintendo Labo is a set of DIY cardboard construction kits that turn the Switch into things like a playable piano or wearable robot suit.

Everybody wishes they were a kid again sometimes, and that feeling only gets stronger when you look at how cool toys are nowadays. New Atlas rounds up some of the best and most high-tech toys to help you spoil the kids this festive season (or yourself – we won’t tell anybody).

A startup called Tech Will Save Us is trying to update the classic play dough modeling material by giving it an electronic twist, using conductive dough to teach kids how to create basic circuits with lights, sounds and movement.