Innovation

In 2001, Smithsonian scientists Doug Owsley and Kari Bruwelheide traveled to the Grove in Glenview, Illinois, Robert Kennicott's boyhood home, to open the naturalist's casket and determine the cause of his death.

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Two Smithsonian Scientists Retrace the Mysterious Circumstances of an 1866 Death and Change History

Did the 19th-century naturalist Robert Kennicott die of his own hand?

For the times that licking an ice cream cone is too difficult, this patented motorized ice cream cone does the work for you. Happy summer.

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Motorized Ice Cream Cones and Floating Campgrounds: 14 of the Wackiest Summer Fun Patents

Inventors never stop thinking of new ways to have fun, as these 14 patents show.

A young padawan asks astrophysicist Erin Macdonald a question at a Future Con panel. This year, Smithsonian's Future Con took place as a special programming track within Awesome Con, leading to a number of serendipitous moments like this.

When Cutting-Edge Science Meets Science Fiction, It Packs the House

At Future Con, fans of sci-fi, fantasy and comics met the researchers and engineers who are bringing their stories to life

Baskets of local fruit for sale in Niagara, Ontario. Peaches are more frequently being grown in cold-weather climates like Canada as climate change affects the viability of crops.

Canadian Peaches and California Coffee: How Farmers Are Being Forced to Innovate in the Face of Climate Change

As the climate changes and global temperatures rise, farmers are having to change cultivation techniques and sometimes even crops.

You Should Thank This Man for Inventing Jet Boats

In 1954, a man named Bill Hamilton invented the water-jet propelled boat, ideal for exploring the shallow rivers of his native New Zealand

Cyanobacteria, sometimes known as blue-green algae, are single-celled organisms that use photosynthesis to produce food just like plants do.

New Research

Need to Fix a Heart Attack? Try Photosynthesis

Injecting plant-like creatures into a rat's heart can jumpstart the recovery process, study finds

Each time you use your phone's weather app, you're indebted to a self-taught computer scientist named Klara von Neumann.

The Unheralded Contributions of Klara Dan von Neumann

Despite having no formal mathematical training, she was a key figure in creating the computer that would later launch modern weather prediction

Today the humble shipping container is everywhere: 10 million of them arrived at U.S. ports in 2016 alone.

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The Now-Ubiquitous Shipping Container Was an Idea Before Its Time

North Carolina trucker Malcom McLean needed to invent not just the container, but the cranes and ships needed to move them

"Steve" the aurora was discovered by amateur skywatchers, who are helping scientists learn more about this atmospheric phenomenon.

Will the Next Great Scientific Discovery Be Made by Amateurs?

There are more options than ever to get involved, and your input can help solve big problems in science

The orientation of the layers in this protective composite material were inspired by the queen conch shell

This Conch-Shell Inspired Material Could Make Helmets and Body Armor Safer

Scientists from MIT are using structures that evolved over millions of years to strengthen protective gear

iForest is an immersive sound experience located at The Wild Center in the Adirondacks.

This Forest Will Sing to You

iForest at The Wild Center combines an immersive sound experience with the lush beauty of the Adirondacks

The bird feathers attached to artifacts in the John Wesley Powell collection can give anthropologists further insight into customs and trade.

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Telling the Story of 19th-Century Native American Treasures Through Bird Feathers

Famed explorer John Wesley Powell’s archive of his 19th century travels is newly examined

Dr. John Cushman with the flow battery

Pour to Recharge Your Electric Vehicle

Purdue University scientists have created a liquid-based battery that could one day be recharged at a gas station pump in just minutes

An artist's impression of the Restore-L craft, a space-based refueling station that will give new life to old satellites.

NASA Is Sending a Robotic Fueling Station to Space

How do you save a billion-dollar satellite? Send another robot up there after it

Don't stop slathering on the sunblock, but a technology being developed in the lab could add an additional layer of protection, by tanning skin cells without UV rays.

Researchers Give Skin Cells a Tan—Without the Sun

Without damaging UV rays, the artificial tan could give that golden glow while protecting against skin cancer.

Rendering of the Innerbelt National Forest, a "pop-up forest" in Akron, Ohio

An Ohio City is Turning an Unused Highway Into a Pop-Up Forest

Akron, Ohio hopes to fight urban inequality by removing a divisive highway. Other cities across America are looking into doing the same.

Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood, which holds many of the universities and healthcare facilities that have driven the city's transformation post-steel.

Pittsburgh Has Surged Post-Steel, but Many in Rusting Region Still Struggle

A historian notes how Pittsburgh's tech-driven boom hasn't reached everyone in western Pennsylvania

A baby in the neonatal intensive care unit are often covered in patches and wires for monitoring their vital signs, but new advances mean that soon those wires could be replaced with sensors as thin as a temporary tattoo.

Will These Flexible Skin Patches Replace Wires in Hospitals?

Researchers at Northwestern University have developed "epidermal electronics," thin flexible patches capable of monitoring vital signs and more.

Screenshots from the iNaturalist app, which uses "deep learning" to automatically identify what bug—or fish, bird, or mammal—you might be looking at.

AI Plant and Animal Identification Helps Us All Be Citizen Scientists

Apps that use artificial intelligence to allow users to ID unknown specimens are making science more accessible to everyone.

This workout shirt has vents that start closed (left) but open when the wearer begins to sweat (right).

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This Biofabric From MIT Uses Bacteria to Automatically Ventilate Workout Clothes

Would you wear microbes on your back?

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