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Innovation

“One Coin for all your cards.”

Soon, You Might Pay for Everything With a Coin

Coin, a new product that allows users to store up to eight cards in one place, could be in use as early as this coming summer

Move and This Interface Will Adjust Its 3D Form Accordingly

MIT students have developed a motion-based interface that allow users from afar to build formations in real time

Sleeping in This Underwater Hotel Room Is Like Staying in an Artificial Reef

Swedish artist Mikael Genberg explains how his underwater room off the coast of Tanzania can actually be good for the environment

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7 Epic Fails Brought to You By the Genius Mind of Thomas Edison

Despite popular belief, the inventor wasn’t the “Wiz” of everything

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The 2013 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards Liveblog

Follow along as we celebrate the best in innovation

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This New Plane Seat Morphs to Make You and Your Seatmate More Comfortable

Shape-shifting seats with adjustable widths promise more choice for passengers, but aren’t they really a sneaky way to discriminate?

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher captures tears of grief, joy, laughter and irritation in extreme detail. Above: Tears of timeless reunion

Art Meets Science

The Microscopic Structures of Dried Human Tears

Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher captures tears of grief, joy, laughter and irritation in extreme detail

People Can Now Simultaneously Watch Different Shows on the Same TV

OLED technology allows up to 10 people to watch different shows on the same TV set

This Bulletproof Suit Lets You Escape the Line of Fire in Style

A Toronto-based fashion house teamed up with a military contractor to make a protective fabric from carbon nanotubes

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2013 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards

We recognize nine of the past year’s shining achievements and the innovators behind them

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Powering the 21st Century

How Microgrids are Bolstering the Nation’s Power Infrastructure

Rather than drain power from a nearby plant, these systems create energy of their own, making for a more sustainable future

The Foodini

Hungry? A Startup Wants You to 3D Print Your Next Meal

The Foodini may allow people to painlessly prepare healthier meals instead of reaching for that factory-processed stuff sitting in the freezer

Rene Redzepi, chef/owner of Noma in Copenhagen, is one of the world’s most influential chefs.

Noma Chef Rene Redzepi on Creativity, Diversity in the Kitchen, and that Time Magazine Story

Before he talks at the Smithsonian about his new book, the famed chef identifies who he sees as the goddesses of food

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10 Things We’ve Learned About Fat

Experts have long known that trans fat isn’t good for us, but research has turned up surprises—chocolate and chili peppers can help us lose fat

The BladeGlider: Nissan’s Concept Car Looks Like a Jet Fighter

The Japanese automaker is working to bring to market a car that actually resembles an aircraft, with its unique aerodynamic styling

This Clever Combination Lock Protects Your Bike’s Parts From Crooks

A German startup has developed the Sphyke C3N to secure your bicycle bits without you having to carry a key

Toyota’s New Concept Car Takes the Driver’s Movements and Emotions Into Consideration

Toyota’s FV2 is engineered to make cars “Fun to Drive, Again.” But it might be too far out to ever become a reality

Scissors That Cut Perfectly Straight Lines—Every Time!

An industrial design major has made it possible to make precise cuts without rulers or a heavy-duty guillotine

Simply by looking at geo-tagged tweets, an algorithm can track the spread of flu and predict which users are going to get sick.

Your Tweets Can Predict When You’ll Get the Flu

Simply by looking at geotagged tweets, an algorithm can track the spread of flu and predict which users are going to get sick

The brain scan on right shows Alzheimer’s damage.

How Lasers Could Be the Answer to Alzheimer’s

They’re now able to detect the clumps of toxic proteins that destroy the brain. One day they may be able to get rid of them

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