Wherever we humans go, we leave behind a mess. That goes for space, too. An estimated 500,000 pieces of debris (碎片) litter the Earth’s orbit as a result of man’s explorations of space. Some satellites have been hit by fast-moving pieces of junk. The remains of old rockets can be the size of a bus, while other debris pieces are simply tiny spots of paint.

Today, our species is responsible for the junk dashing around Earth at high speeds, and if we don’t start actively removing the largest pieces, the risk of collisions will only grow worse. “Imagine how dangerous sailing the high seas would be, if all the ships ever lost in history were still floating on top of the water,” says Jan Wörner, ESA director general. “That is the current situation in orbit, and it cannot be allowed to continue.”

It’s almost as if we need a truck to remove all of failed satellites from our orbit. By 2025, the agency plans on launching the world’s first orbiting junk collector, a four-armed robot that tracks down space waste. The first-of-its-kind task, known as ClearSpace-1, will start collecting only a single piece of space junk to prove the concept works. The target in this case is called Vespa, a leftover from ESA’s Vega rocket launch in 2013. This piece of junk weighs roughly the same as a small satellitle and has a simple shape that should make it easy to grab with four robotic arms. Once it’s safely in the arms of the garbage collector, it will then be dragged out of orbit and allowed to burn up in the atmosphere.

In addition, an Australian company, Electro Optic Systems, has received a $ 3.5 million government fund to develop the world’s first laser tracking (激光跟踪) technology. It would replace existing radar (雷达) networks that currently monitor that part of space. The goal is to track small objects with great accuracy.

Sony has a new device for anyone who’s ever wished they could carry their air conditioner on hot summer days.

Called Reon Pocket, the small, lightweight gadget slides into the upper back pocket of a specially designed T-shirt. Controlled with a smart phone app, it’s capable of heating or cooling the wearer via the Peltier effect, a thermodynamic principle widely used in refrigeration.

The Reon Pocket comes out of Sony’s startup acceleration program, and Sony is currently crowdfunding (众筹) the device. Supporters can choose from a few different packages, if they want multiple T-shirts for instance, but a basic one including the device and one shirt costs ￥14, 080. There’s a catch, though: Sony only has plans to release the Reon Pocket in Japan at present.

According to a spokesperson, the target audience is mostly businessmen who have to wear a suit in the summer, though the company says it will judge its wider relevance based on the crowdfunding results. Right now, though, the T-shirts available come in men’s sizes, small, medium, or large.

The device is not really for all-day use so much as moving between air-conditioned or heated areas, such as during the commute to work. The battery takes around two hours to charge and lasts about 90 minutes.

With the Reon Pocket, Sony joins the ranks of those working on temperature-regulating clothing. On the more tech-forward end are examples such as French label Courreges, which debuted coats with built-in heaters a few years ago, and the US Army, which is experimenting with conductive fabrics that can generate heat in extreme cold. More commonplace examples include Uniqlo, which has been successful with its Heattech and Airism underlayers, and a number of brands making shirts meant to offer the comfort and sweat-wicking properties of athletic wear.

In a blog post from Sony’s startup accelerator, Yoichi Ito, a project leader on Reon Pocket, said people have become increasingly focused on functionality and comfort in their clothing. In 2017, his team started thinking of ways they could blend technology with fashion to reach those goals. Reon Pocket was the result.

Japanese buyers looking to battle the record heat this summer will have to wait, though. If the crowdfunding is successful, deliveries of the device are scheduled to begin in March 2020.

Growing up on the shores of Lake Huron in the Canadian province of Ontario, Robert Berdan was never far from water. When he was in sixth grade, he received a toy microscope for Christmas. Some of the first things he saw through its lens were tiny creatures inside droplets he’d gathered from a local pond. He was fascinated with the microorganisms.

After eighth grade, Berdan upgraded to a more sophisticated model and realized it was a portal to another world. “The new microscope changed my life,” he says. “I could see so much more.” He begar studying photography and buying cameras to fit on his microscope. He captured images of ferns, mushrooms, and trees, and learned how to develop film. He also developed his microscopy skills so much so that he earned a doctoral degree in cellular biology and spent five years running a lab at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

But Berdan never forgot his two early passions - being immersed in nature and photographing its tiny details - and he decided to return to them. His subjects range from snowflakes to spruce trees. To see the latter under a microscope, Berdan collects a small branch and wields specialized tools to shave off paper-thin slices, which he dyes red or blue. For the final images, he often uses a process called focus stacking, in which similar photos with different focal planes are mixed together to achieve a more profound depth of field, and he sometimes sews photos together to create views.

“I investigate anything that might have possibilities,” he says. And he encourages others to do the same with a microscope. “Any tool that amplifies our ability to see will enhance our creativity,” he notes “Our observations can potentially lead to new discoveries and solutions.”