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Tens of thousands of species are endangered, and that number is growing. So scientists have come up with a way to make sure animal species aren’t lost forever: they want to safeguard animals’ cellular material by storing it on the Moon.

A team of researchers suggest putting frozen cells from many animal species in an enclosure and placing it on the frigid far side of the Moon (the side not facing Earth), where the cells would remain frozen. Freezing the materials is a way to preserve them.

“The purpose is really to create a biorepository to ensure long-term safeguarding of species from extinction,” John Bischof, an engineer from the University of Minnesota, told Minnesota Public Radio. “This is a way of actually putting away really important genetic material in a place where it will be safe for, potentially, generations.”

The cells could be used to improve genetic diversity in species with very small populations. They could even be used to clone animals.

Scientists say the Moon could be a better storage place than Earth, where climate change is causing temperatures to rise. Already, the country of Norway is home to the Global Seed Vault, where more than one million seed samples from around the world are stored under permafrost to keep them cold. In 2017, the vault was flooded due to melting permafrost. Luckily, no seeds were affected by the flood.

“If there had not been people there, flooding could have damaged the [seed] biorepository,” scientist Mary Hagedorn told the Guardian. Hagedorn was lead author of the study that described the animal cell biorepository.

As they considered storing animal cells, scientists concluded that Earth would be an unreliable location. They decided to look elsewhere. The Moon has a very thin atmosphere, which means there’s no threat of climate change there. Still, the Moon is exposed to solar radiation that can destroy cells. Scientists will need to build a repository that protects the cells from damage.

Hagedorn says we’re nowhere near the point where a biorepository would be built and maintained on the Moon. But there are plans for increased travel to the Moon and maybe even the construction of a base camp there. For now, Hagedorn and her team have outlined a possible plan.

“We know how to do this and can do this and will do this, but it may take decades to finally achieve,” she told the Guardian.

Amazingly, it’s possible to construct a building by using a 3D printer to create its floors, walls, and more. There’s a problem, though. Ingredient number one is usually cement or something similar, which is strong but not environmentally friendly. Now, a company in Tanzania is planning to construct a village community center with a 3D printer that uses earth.

Located in the city of Kibaha, Hope Village will be a sanctuary for children who come from difficult or unsafe environments. The village will have a place for children to sleep, as well as farmland, a place for livestock, and places where children can play. The village community center will house a school and a cafeteria and will also serve as a gathering place for local residents. Hope Village is being designed by architecture firms called Hassell and ClarkeHopkinsClarke and sponsored by a charity called One Heart.

When Ron Davis Alvarez was a kid in Venezuela, he joined El Sistema, a program that trains children from low-income communities in classical music. The program changed the direction of Alvarez’s life. By 14, he was teaching the violin to others. By 16, he was conducting orchestras. Now 38, Alvarez runs his own El Sistema program called the Dream Orchestra.

Located in Gothenburg, Sweden, the Dream Orchestra is open to people of all ages and musical abilities. Refugees, immigrants, young people who lack opportunities, and anyone else is welcome to join. Alvarez says the orchestra isn’t just a group of musicians but a community—a place where people of many backgrounds can gather and share a common experience.

Alvarez began working for El Sistema after studying conducting in college, and the program took him to jobs in many parts of the world. In 2015, he was visiting Sweden when he noticed refugees and immigrants at a train station.

“They were, like, completely lost,” he told CNN. “I was just thinking, ‘What are they gonna do?’ Everything was really dark. And I [could] see in their eyes they were looking for light.”

LEGO was once considered a toy that kids eventually outgrew. But the classic plastic bricks have become a staple for people of all ages, partly because putting them together isn’t just fun—it’s also a great stress reliever.

People have used LEGO to help ease anything from everyday stress to more serious conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is often diagnosed in military veterans. Experts think LEGO might have some of the same benefits as practices like meditation, which help people focus on the present instead of worrying about the past or the future. LEGO kits are challenging enough to be a distraction but not so challenging that they cause more stress. When a person builds a LEGO kit, they concentrate on this fun activity instead of thinking about what is troubling them.

And unlike some hobbies, a LEGO project is also very low risk. The kits come with precise, step-by-step instructions, but users can also experiment and build whatever they want. If a brick is put in the wrong place, it can be moved with no harm done.

“The point is to free your mind of other distractions and focus on play, even if you just have a handful of pieces,” Abbie Headon told the Washington Post in 2020. LEGO, the Danish company that makes the bricks, hired Headon to write a book about the benefits of building with LEGO. Its title is Build Yourself Happy: The Joy of LEGO Play.

With so many people reporting the benefits of LEGO, scientists are beginning to look for evidence—and finding it. In one recent study, using LEGO had a positive effect on stressed-out adults. Another study found that using LEGO can improve communication and social skills in children.

In virtual reality (VR), gamers can go just about anywhere without leaving their homes. All they have to do is put on a headset. But how do you avoid bumping into real walls and furniture while moving through spacious virtual worlds? A company called Freeaim claims to have solved this problem with a specially designed shoe.

Each Freeaim VR Shoe has a set of wheels, which makes them sort of like roller skates. But wearing regular roller skates while wearing a headset could lead to accidents. By contrast, the wheels on the VR Shoes move in all directions. When the wearer takes a step forward with one leg, the shoe on the back leg moves that leg back, keeping the wearer from actually moving forward. The effect is similar to walking on a treadmill. A user can walk for miles anywhere in a virtual world without worrying about bumping into anything in the real world.

The world can get pretty noisy—and maybe that’s a good thing. Seventeen-year-old Gyeongyun Lily Min believes all that noise, from sirens to stadiums, could be used to generate electricity. And she did experiments to show how it would work.

Min was inspired by the movie Monsters, Inc., in which children’s screams generate energy. In a world where 60 percent of electricity is made with fossil fuels that contribute to climate change, scientists are trying to find more sustainable ways to harness energy. Min asked herself, why not use sound waves?

“I began to wonder if, in reality, we could harness the abundant noise in environments like sports arenas and use it to generate electricity,” Min told Smithsonian Magazine.

Min believed this could be achieved because of the piezoelectric effect. When pressure is applied to certain materials (called piezoelectric materials), the materials generate electric energy. The piezoelectric effect is at work in light-up shoes, which light up when a person’s foot puts pressure on them. Sound waves also generate pressure—the louder the sound, the greater the pressure. This is why Min believes that loud noise could help produce a generous amount of electricity.

Min tested her theory by building a model of a National Basketball Association (NBA) stadium and placing piezoelectric materials inside the model. Then she played audio recordings of stadium crowd noise, generating between 70 and 100 decibels of sound. Sure enough, a small amount of electricity was produced.

Min points out that her setup wasn’t ideal. She bought the materials on Amazon and had little control over their quality.

“If I had access to better materials, I believe I could significantly enhance the effectiveness and reliability of my energy harvesting research,” Min told Smithsonian Magazine.

And Min says her findings suggest that this concept could work, not only in stadiums but also on highways, in factories, in train stations, and in any other noisy environment.