Technology Innovation
Win A Million Dollars With Science
Last week, a neurologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston won $1 million from Prize4Life for his discovery of a reliable way to monitor progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Prize4Life, which also has an ongoing competition for deve...
February 07, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Jane McGonigal on How Computer Games Make You Smarter
The "alternate reality game" designer looks to develop ways in which people can combine play with problem-solving
February 2011 |
By Amanda Bensen
The Year in Science: A List of Lists
It's the end of the year, so you know what that means—it's time for the parade of "year in review" articles. Start with Smithsonian.com's Top 10 Stories of 2010, which features lots of science, and then move on to these others:* Discover magazine picked the top 100 stories of 2010 (and my brother w...
December 29, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Rare Earth Elements Not Rare, Just Playing Hard to Get
Given their name, rare earth elements, and the fact that China controls 96 percent of REE production, you might think the Chinese had won some geologic lottery. But these metallic substances—elements 57 to 71 on the periodic table, plus scandium and yttrium—are not all that rare. It's been economic...
November 18, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Robot Swan Dances Swan Lake
A Swedish research team recently unveiled “The Dying Swan,” a robotic waterfowl that flaps and writhes to the melodramatic strains of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.” I’ll say this—the designers did a good job conveying the special misery of a sick bird. Its tattered black plumage would be sad on its own...
October 19, 2010 |
By Abigail Tucker
Food and Beverage Packaging: The Good, the Bad and the Weird
Once upon a time, groceries made the journey between stores and consumers' cupboards wearing little more than a paper bag. But as packaging technology has taken off in the past 50 years, our food and beverage products have gained an extensive wardrobe—so extensive, it can get a little crazy.Accordi...
October 07, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
The Problem with Space Junk
There's a lot of space junk—or, as NASA calls it, "orbital debris"—circling high above our heads: around 19,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters, 500,000 between 1 and 10 cm in size, and tens of millions of pieces smaller than 1 cm. Generally, all that junk isn't much of a problem. If it falls to...
August 05, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Charging Ahead With a New Electric Car
An entrepreneur hits the road with a new approach for an all-electric car that overcomes its biggest shortcoming
August 2010 |
By Joshua Hammer
James Cameron on the Future of Cinema
The director of Avatar and Terminator talks about future sequels, 3-D television and Hollywood in 2050
August 2010 |
By Lorenza Muñoz
New Technology Could Let Disabled Communicate by Sniffing
If you're paying attention, there can be an awful lot of information encoded in a series of nose sniffs. In and out, long and short, strong and shallow. One sniff, two sniffs, three sniffs. Now engineers at the Weizmann Institute in Israel have capitalized on that variety of sniffs and created a de...
July 27, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Eight Appetizing Apps
I just read an interesting article in the Washington Post's travel section about traveling with no guidebooks, advance planning or reservations---just a wallet and an iPhone. The author used applications, or apps, to find everything from a parking spot to a hotel room, with only a few minor glitche...
May 20, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Robots Inspired by Biology
Last year, the magazine's Abigail Tucker wrote about the fascinating—and sometimes creepy—world of robot babies. But that was only one tiny part of the robot universe. In the video above, Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at Virginia Tech, discusses his lab'...
May 03, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Cat Brain Inspires Computer Design
A University of Michigan computer engineer, Wei Lu, has set out to develop a supercomputer the size of a 2-liter soda bottle that can mimic a cat brain. (Why a cat brain? It's a more realistic goal than a human brain, he says.)Mimicking the function of a cat brain is possible with current technolog...
April 26, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
New & Improved Fugu: Now, Without Poison!
Aside from foraging wild mushrooms without a good guide book, or having tea with a former Russian spy, one of the most potentially dangerous meals you can have is fugu, the highly toxic puffer fish that can cause paralysis or death but is considered a delicacy in Japan. There, specialized restauran...
February 26, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Science on my Phone
A few months after the purchase of my iPhone, I'll admit it: I'm an app addict. Luckily, there are plenty of great free apps out there. And here's some of my favorites in science:NASA App: Lots of pictures, a launch schedule, mission updates and plenty of videos to keep you up-to-date with the spac...
February 24, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Riled up About Geoengineering
One of the most contentious sessions at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting this past weekend in San Diego was on geoengineering, the study of ways to engineer the planet to manipulate climate. Intentional ways to do so, I should say—as many of the speakers pointed out, ...
February 23, 2010 |
By Laura Helmuth
The Science of the Olympics
I've always been a fan of the Winter Olympics, but a bout with the flu in 2002 that kept me at home watching TV for a week made me an addict. But it's not just about watching hours of skiing and skating. There's science, too, and it seems to be everywhere this year. Here are some good resources and...
February 17, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Finding Art Fakes through Computer Analysis
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a 16th-century painter from the Netherlands known for his landscape paintings populated by peasants (though you may also be familiar with his version of the Tower of Babel). He also produced dozens of drawings and prints. In the early 1990s, though, several Alpine drawi...
January 05, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
NASA's New Lunar Rover
The Smithsonian Institution pitches in to help NASA prepare for its next lunar mission with a new "home on wheels"
January 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
Christmas Dinner on the International Space Station
Ever wondered what astronauts might be eating for Christmas dinner? I found out recently when I had the chance to speak with NASA's Vickie Kloeris, who manages the food system for the International Space Station.Q: What goes into managing the space station's food system?A: We have a food lab here o...
December 24, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
