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Innovation

David Lerner uses a conductivity and temperature meter to test for sewage in water, a method that's more costly and less effective than using tampons.

How Scientists Are Monitoring Water Quality With Tampons

The feminine hygiene products glow under ultra-violet light after absorbing pollutants called optical brighteners

An early draft of the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Personal Writings of Arthur C. Clarke Reveal the Evolution of “2001: A Space Odyssey”

Works donated from the author’s archives in Sri Lanka include letters to Kubrick and an early draft of his most famous novel

At least 300 buildings at Tajalei village in Sudan's Abyei region were intentionally destroyed by fire, according to Satellite Sentinel Project analysis of this DigitalGlobe satellite image, taken March 6, 2011 and analyzed by UNITAR/UNOSAT and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

The U.N. Uses Satellites to Track Humanitarian Crises Around the World

With help from George Clooney, the United nations embarks on a new frontier in monitoring the world from above

This device makes it possible to communicate with your mind.

This Stroke of Genius Could Allow You to Write With Your Brain

Not Impossible Labs has developed a breakthrough approach to communication

Garrett Foshay rides the Hendo, which hovers about an inch off the ground.

The Hoverboard Fantasy Comes True, Just As “Back to the Future” Predicted

Hold onto your flux capacitors; the future is here

A 2013 satellite view of a settlement of uncontacted people in Acre, Brazil.

Protecting the World’s Last Isolated Communities From Above

Advances in satellite technology mean that untouched villages can remain that way

An X-ray of the knee bone.

We’re Not That Far From Being Able to Grow Human Bones in a Lab

The company EpiBone could be on the verge of a major breakthrough

How Farms Became the New Hot Suburb

A new real estate trend has developments planted around working farms. But are these communities sustainable?

Could we bring back the woolly mammoth?

These Are the Extinct Animals We Can, and Should, Resurrect

Biologist Beth Shapiro offers a guide to the science and ethics of using DNA for de-extinction

Soon, Your Doctor Could Print a Human Organ on Demand

At a laboratory in North Carolina, scientists are working furiously to create a future in which replacement organs come from a machine

Why Brain-to-Brain Communication Is No Longer Unthinkable

Exploring uncharted territory, neuroscientists are making strides with human subjects who can “talk” directly by using their minds

Human cortical neurons in the brain.

The Quest to Upload Your Mind Into the Digital Space

The idea is about as science fiction as it gets. But surprising progress in neuroscience has some entrepreneurs ready to press “send”

How to Predict a Famine Before It Even Strikes

Hundred of miles about Earth, orbiting satellites are becoming a bold new weapon in the age-old fight against drought, disease and death

New Research

What Does It Feel Like to Be Invisible?

Volunteers in Sweden were tricked into thinking their bodies had vanished, and the “superpower” seemed to ease social fears

The sperm, taken from a nine-year old panda named Hui Hui will be used to impregnate the Zoo’s 16-year-old female panda Mei Xiang (above).

To Transport Frozen Panda Semen From China, Zoo Officials Went All the Way

After consulting a “stud book,” the Zoo brought a male panda’s sperm back to D.C., setting an exciting precedent

Steven Devor, front, developed the automated treadmill using off-the-shelf parts, including an inexpensive sonar range finder and an existing treadmill. (Photo by Jo McCulty, Courtesy of Ohio State University)

This New Treadmill Automatically Adjusts to Your Speed

A prototype developed at Ohio State makes indoor workouts more like outdoor runs by using sonar to detect where you are on the belt and keep pace

Signs with arrows pointing the way to popular destinations, along with average walking times, popped up in Raleigh.

Tactical Urbanists Are Improving Cities, One Rogue Fix at a Time

And city governments are paying attention, turning homemade infrastructure changes into permanent solutions

The party doesn't start until Disco Dog walks in.

This Week in Crowdfunding

A LED Vest for Puppies and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

A new tool for runners moves beyond calories to measure the intensity of workouts

Albert Einstein's Pipe, one of the museum's most requested artifacts, is on loan to Philadelphia's National Museum of American Jewish History.

Why Albert Einstein, the Genius Behind the Theory of Relativity, Loved His Pipe

Einstein reportedly believed that pipe smoking contributed to a calm and objective judgment, but his doctor said give it up

Scientists are sharpening their focus on ways to revive a memory gone awry.

Brain Implants May Be Able to Shock Damaged Memories Back Into Shape

With funding from the Defense Department, scientists have begun work on devices that would use electric pulses to realign a memory process gone awry

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