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Innovation

Honorable Mention. Sand Babel: Solar-Powered 3D Printed Tower.

Free From the Rules of Physics and Practicality, 20 Architects Radically Reimagine the Skyscraper

These high-rise designs are sci-fi visions of the future

An Arizona State University student's toothpaste tube prototype forces every last bit to come out by folding down like an accordion.

A Toothpaste Tube That Gets Every Last Bit Out

Tired of wasting leftover toothpaste, a student invents a new origami-inspired design that leaves nothing behind

Five Health Benefits of Standing Desks

Spending more of your day standing could reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer

A new process is giving human voices to people with speech disabilities.

Tech Watch

How to Build a Human Voice

Using sounds from “donors,” scientists are constructing personalized voices for those who can’t speak

WiTricity's “resonance inductive coupling" technology allows devices to receive energy wirelessly across long distances.

Tech Watch

No Outlet, No Problem: This New Technology Could Power Your Gadgets Wirelessly

A startup says its innovative system can deliver power to devices up to 7 feet away

Tech Watch

This Flashlight Is Powered by the Touch of Your Hand

A high school student has invented an LED device that uses body heat to light up

Measuring 745 feet across, Janet Echelman's Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks is her largest aerial sculpture to date.

Art Meets Science

A Massive Aerial Sculpture Is Hoisted in Downtown Vancouver

Artist Janet Echelman combines ancient techniques with modern technology to create her largest-ever net sculpture for TED’s 30th anniversary

Kamakura Shirts owner Yoshio Sadasue opened a New York store on Madison Avenue.

How Japan Copied American Culture and Made it Better

If you’re looking for some of America’s best bourbon, denim and burgers, go to Japan, where designers are re-engineering our culture in loving detail

A venture capital firm plans to launch hundreds of miniature satellites—capable of beaming websites to the world's most remote areas for free—into space by 2015.

Tech Watch

Could Mini Satellites Provide Free Internet to All?

A venture capital firm plans to make the World Wide Web available to anyone with a WiFi-enabled device

Altering activity in the gut has been shown to affect mood and behavior. Can it also improve learning?

New Research

Checking the Claim: Can Probiotics Make You Smarter?

A researcher says a certain strain of gut bacteria can enhance brain power—but some critics aren’t sold

The Aurora headband is designed to help you remember your dreams.

Tech Watch

Can a Headband Really Help You Take Control of Your Dreams?

A new device claims to give cues when a person enters REM sleep

A Falcon UAV unpiloted aircraft is bungee launched in a midday demonstration flight.

The One Use of Drones Everyone Can Agree on, Except for Poachers

Conservationists are looking to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for help in keeping an eye on endangered species

Using hydroponics and LED, two entrepreneurs are growing produce underneath London.

Would You Eat a Salad Grown in a Bomb Shelter?

In London’s old, abandoned bomb shelters, a local food movement is taking root

The Intel Science Talent Search honored the top winner and nine esteemed runners-up of its 2014 competition at a black-tie affair in Washington, D.C.

These Teenagers Have Already Accomplished More Than You Ever Will

The winners of this year’s Intel Science Talent Search take on flu vaccines, stem cells and tools for diagnosing cancer

This "heart sock" is dotted with sensors that can detect the intricate inner workings of the heart.

Tech Watch

This Wearable ‘Heart Sock’ May Someday Save Lives

Inventors say a new device can detect irregularities and even intervene before heart attacks turn deadly

Neuroscientist Aaron Seitz argues that training the brain to better adapt to changing eyes is no different than exercising the body to be stronger or faster.

Tech Watch

This New App Promises to Sharpen Your Eyesight

Forget Lasik. A neuroscientist from the University of California Riverside swears that his exercises can improve your vision

Where do you want to go? The cargo-hauling Airlander can stay aloft for three weeks.

Tech Watch

An Airship The Size of a Football Field Could Revolutionize Travel

A new fuel-efficient airship, capable of carrying up to 50 tons, can stay aloft for weeks and land just about anywhere

Toothbrushes that, along with an app, track your dental hygiene are coming soon.

Tech Watch

Just How Smart Can a Toothbrush Be?

Two companies compete to get the first smart electric toothbrush—complete with a smartphone app—on the market

Elizabeth Holmes holds a vial of one drop of blood—all that's needed for a new method of simultaneously testing for a gamut of health threats, such as STDs, heart disease and diabetes.

Tech Watch

How To Run 30 Health Tests On a Single Drop of Blood

Say goodbye to lengthy blood work. A new lab called Theranos says its method is faster, more accurate and much less painful

The traditional geographic coordinate system identifies locations on the globe with a pair of long numbers. what3words proposes using language instead.

A Plan To Replace Geographic Coordinates on Earth With Unique Strings of Three Words

The startup what3words wants to change the way we talk about locations

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