Inventions

Mya Le Thai holds her invention.

Did Scientists Stumble on a Battery that Lasts Forever?

Researchers studying nanowires have found a battery material that can be recharged for years, even decades

Both genius and impresario, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla reads in his remote Colorado Springs laboratory in 1899 next to a magnifying transmitter that generates millions of volts of electricity. While far too dangerous to sit near—the image is a double exposure—his gigantic Tesla coil created the first human-made lightning.

Nikola Tesla's Struggle to Remain Relevant

An offbeat Belgrade museum reveals the many mysteries of the prolific, late-19th-century inventor

Adriaen van de Venne engraved this early depiction of a Dutch telescope. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

10 Bizarre, Vision-Enhancing Technologies From the Last 1,000 Years

Before Oculus Rift, there were lorgnettes, TV glasses and eyborgs

After 36 Years, Archivists Finally Found the Wright Brothers’ Airplane Patent

The missing patent was found safe and sound in a Kansas storage facility

Shocking.

Tesla vs. Edison Is a Video Game That Will Literally Shock You

Fight the 'War of the Currents'

Maya Varma won $150,000 as one of the first place winners in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search competition.

How a High School Senior Won $150,000 By Inventing a $35 Medical Device

When Maya Varma learned an expensive diagnostic tool is rare in the developing world, she decided to build her own

Mosquito Deterrents: The Good, the Bad and the Potentially Effective

With Zika and other mosquito-borne illnesses on the rise, researchers are looking for the next best way to keep the bugs from biting

Texting is blamed for ruining personal discourse and common courtesy.

Texting Isn’t the First New Technology Thought to Impair Social Skills

When Alexander Graham Bell introduced the telephone, skeptics worried about how it might affect people’s interactions

Henry Ford is at the wheel with John Burroughs and Thomas Edison seated in the back of a Model T.

When America’s Titans of Industry and Innovation Went Road-Tripping Together

Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and their friends traveled the country in Model Ts, creating the Great American road trip in the process

The Znamya 2 mirror-solar sail, deployed.

How a Russian Space Mirror Briefly Lit Up the Night

In 1993, the 65-foot-diameter satellite, called Znamya, briefly lit the Earth like a giant orbiting night light

A Detachable Airplane Cabin and Other Strange Aviation Ideas

A recently unveiled concept for a removable, parachute-equipped airplane cabin is only the latest in a long line of far-out designs

This Powerful Metal Glue Sets at Room Temperature

MesoGlue uses nanorod technology to fuse items together without heat, potentially replacing soldering

Madison Hill of Samsung demonstrates a Family Hub Refrigerator at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Six Cool Gadgets From This Year's CES

The Consumer Electronics Show has long been the launchpad for some of our most beloved electronics products

This Pen Can Draw Electrical Circuits

A silver salt based ink lets users draw any circuit they can dream

Dot is an affordable active Braille smartwatch.

A Smartwatch for the Visually Impaired

Developed by University of Washington students, Dot translates texts, tweets and e-books to Braille

Teen Inventors Create Live Closed-Captioning Glasses for the Deaf

Seventeen-year-old Daniil Frants and his buddies hope to help the hard-of-hearing engage in naturally flowing conversations

An electronic weapon from Taser International

The Word "Taser" Comes From a Young Adult Sci-Fi Novel

Massively popular at the time, the Tom Swift books have not aged very well

Screenshot from "Fairy Lights in Femtoseconds: Tangible Holographic Plasma (SIGGRAPH)"

This Holograph Can Be Touched and Manipulated

Tiny interactive displays use lasers to create touchable plasma

What do you think this thingamabobber does?

Nine Gifts for Gadget Lovers

From a connected kitchen scale to a "Coolbox," these products make perfect presents for the technophiles in your life

An 1877 mousetrap called “The Delusion.” Directions read “Put as large a piece of cheese you can crowd into the box…”

The Unceasing American Quest to Build a Better Mousetrap

There has always been some truth to the apocryphal Emerson quote

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