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Innovation / Health & Medicine

In 1963, Herbert A. Gilbert filed a patent for “a safe and harmless means for and method of smoking.”

Plans for the First E-cigarette Went Up in Smoke 50 Years Ago

Herbert A. Gilbert invented his “Smokeless” in 1963, but he couldn’t convince any companies to bring the device to market

“I didn’t sleep at all,” says Albert Maguire, recalling the night after he and Jean Bennett treated their first gene therapy patient. The operation was a success.

2018 Smithsonian Ingenuity Awards

A New Treatment for Blindness Comes From Gene Therapy

A wife-and-husband research team cracks the code to allow certain patients to see again

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Ingenious Minds

Jose Gomez-Marquez Wants to Turn Doctors and Nurses into Makers

Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter interviews the co-founder of MIT’s Little Devices Lab about democratizing health technology

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Ingenious Minds

The Future Is Bright If More Teens Could Think About High School the Way Kavya Kopparapu Does

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma talks with the founder of the Girls Computing League about the promise of her generation

Neither is the U.S.

There’s a New Ranking System For Best Countries to Live In, and Norway Isn’t Number One

Most researchers use the UN’s Human Development Index to measure each country’s progress, but that system has flaws. A new index aims to do it better

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Ingenious Minds

Restaurateur José Andrés Dreams of Milking the Clouds

In a conversation with architect David Rockwell, the philanthropic chef urges an invested effort in technology that could collect water from the clouds

The new research is geared to helping clinicians, not replacing them.

Can Artificial Intelligence Detect Depression in a Person’s Voice?

MIT scientists have trained an AI model to spot the condition through how people speak rather than what they tell a doctor

Freya, a Springer Spaniel, who has been trained to detect malaria parasites in sock samples taken from children in The Gambia. Freya did not participate in the initial study but was trained afterwards to help sniff out malaria in the future.

Good Dogs Could Help Identify Malaria Carriers

In a small proof-of-concept study, trained dogs neared the accuracy rate recommended by the World Health Organization for detecting the malaria parasite

The Woman Who Made a Device to Help Disabled Veterans Feed Themselves—and Gave It Away for Free

World War II nurse Bessie Blount went on to become an inventor and forensic handwriting expert

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The Innovative Spirit

The Innovative Spirit: Changing Our World For the Better

In partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, we look at the innovative spirit within the Smithsonian and beyond

Jason Moore, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State, David Pepley, a doctoral student studying mechanical engineering, and Yichun (Leo) Tang, an undergraduate student studying mechanical engineering, work with the needle simulator training device.

This New Needle Simulator Could Train Medical Students To Have a Steady Hand

Penn State researchers have developed a device that could help future doctors perfect their needle insertion technique—before they start on people

The bendable patch consists of a thin elastomer sheet with small “islands” of electrodes and piezoelectric transducers that create ultrasound waves from electricity.

This Ultrasound Patch Monitors Blood Pressure in Deep Arteries

The flexible wearable could be an alternative to current invasive methods of measuring central blood pressure within the human body

The project aims to map the "Big Four," or the four most common venomous snakes in India—the spectacled cobra, saw-scaled viper, Russell’s viper (shown here) and common krait.

This App Is Saving Thousands of Snakes (and Humans) in India

The Big Four Mapping Project’s conservation tool helps prevent snakebites and the killing of common venomous species

The test, called TimeSignature, can come within an hour and a half of assessing a person’s biological time.

A New Blood Test Can Determine Your Biological Clock

Scientists say it could help pinpoint the best time to take medicine, and also predict disease risk

James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo win the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their foundational work on cancer immunotherapy.

What Makes the Nobel-Winning Breakthroughs in Immunotherapy So Revolutionary

Targeting the immune system to fight cancer could be the first step to defeating the disease

A satellite image of Los Angeles

What Can Satellite Imagery Tell Us About Obesity in Cities?

A new AI can figure out which elements of the built environment might influence a city’s obesity rate

"The Right Trousers"

These Robotic Pants Could Help Some Disabled People Walk Again

‘The Right Trousers’ combine soft artificial muscles and electric stimulation to get people moving

Ketamine syringe, 10mg held by a healthcare professional.

Ketamine Works as a Fast-Acting Antidepressant, But the Full Effects Are Still Unknown

A new study suggests that ketamine activates the brain’s opioid receptors, complicating its use to treat clinical depression

Rice University scientists have programmed drones to coordinate their tracking efforts with each other.

Teaching Drones to Sniff Out Toxic Air

Swarms of the flying devices, using sensors and AI, will learn to find and track harmful gases

A concussion occurs when the brain impacts the inside of the skull with enough force to temporarily affect brain function.

How Virtual Reality and Sideline Brain Scans Could Help Diagnose Concussions

Determining if an athlete or soldier has a concussion often depends on what they tell you, but new technologies could provide a more objective approach

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