Smart News Ideas & Innovations

By 1948, when this photo montage was made, Times Square was a riot of lights and special effects. Many of these lighted signs were the work of Douglas Leigh.

Times Square's Glitzy Look was One Man's Bright Idea

Douglas Leigh's ability to imagine new kinds of advertising shaped the signs of the city

A piece of plastic after 10 worms nibbled it for 30 minutes

New Research

This Caterpillar Can Eat Plastic

The find could lead to new techniques for breaking down our ever-growing plastic waste

Treepedia's map of Toronto

Future of Conservation

MIT’s ‘Treepedia’ Shows How Green Your City Grows

Using data from Google Street View, researchers created an interactive map that measures tree density on city streets

An early oil well.

A Civil War Colonel Invented Fracking in the 1860s

His first invention was an 'oil well torpedo,' but it was followed by others

This map of London shows it around the time of John Gaunt's work.

People Have Been Using Big Data Since the 1600s

A humble hatmaker was among the first to compile data on how Londoners lived—and died

Watch the Causes of Death Change Across America

The patterns highlight key social and economic issues in the country

The bustle replaced the crinoline as women's underpinnings of choice in the 19th century.

Although Less Deadly Than Crinolines, Bustles Were Still a Pain in the Behind

“The woman with a bustle can never sit down in a natural position,” one 1880s doctor wrote

A TeleGuide terminal developed in the early 1990s by Swedish phone company Televerket, with IBM and Esselte.

A New Museum in Sweden Is All About Failure

Visit the many examples of products that were short-sighted, short-lived or just silly

The "Albany Fire Protectors" seen in this undated, probably late-19th century photograph, might have used a fire pole.

Fire Poles Saved Time, But They Also Injured Firefighters

Many fire departments across the country have phased out the pole

The slimy skin of Hydrophylax bahuvistara harbors antimicrobial powers

The Next Pandemic

This Frog’s Slime Kills Flu Viruses

But don’t go kissing frogs just yet

New Research

Scientists Want to Freeze and Pulverize Your Old Computers

E-waste is a growing problem worldwide, but a new method could help take a byte out of the issue

The City Palace of Jaipur was designed with vastu shastra ideals

Ancient Architectural Science is Coming to a Renowned Indian Engineering School

Principles of alignment with the sun and magnetic fields in vastu shastra stretch back 8,000 years

In 19th century England, women often had fewer legal protections than animals, even in cases involving murder.

“Are Women Animals?” Asked One 19th-Century Letter Writer

If women couldn't have the rights of full human beings, "An Earnest Englishwoman" asked, could they at least have as many legal protections as animals?

Jackie, the second MGM "Leo the Lion," was recorded in 1928.

The Story of Hollywood's Most Famous Lion

Actually, there have been five of them

These washing machines represent dignity for homeless people in Rome.

Cool Finds

This Free Laundromat Has a Famous Sponsor: the Pope

Rome’s homeless people will be able to do their laundry on the Vatican’s dime

This dress is made with the power of cow manure.

Cool Finds

Fashion Made From Cow Poo Wins Innovation Award

Mestic looks to manure to produce bioplastic, paper and fashion-forward textiles

Progress, meet cemetery.

Cool Finds

Digital Tombstone Brings the Dead Back to Life

Death is eternal—but cemeteries are changing with the times

This Artificial Neural Network Generates Absurd Pickup Lines

But the technology probably won't be able to land you a date anytime soon

Sergei Korolev was technically still a political prisoner when he began working on the Soviet rocket program.

The First Manned Space Flight Was the Rocket Designer’s Victory as Much as Yuri Gagarin’s

Sergei Korolev designed the entire Soviet rocket program. But nobody knew his name until after he died

One Million Internet Users Created This Piece of Art

Contributions range from the juvenile to bizarre to strangely beautiful

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