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Innovation

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Energy Innovation

Las Vegas Gambles on a Future With Car Sharing for Everyone

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is investing $350 million in an ambitious redevelopment plan that includes a new model for getting around Sin City

Science journalist Elizabeth Svoboda claims that we can train to be heroes.

There’s a Hero Inside of Everyone, and We’re Not Saying That to Make You Feel Good

Science journalist Elizabeth Svoboda’s new book examines the roots and reasons of heroism, from evolution and biology to meditation and volunteering

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The CIA’s Most Highly-Trained Spies Weren’t Even Human

As a former trainer reveals, the U.S. government deployed nonhuman operatives—ravens, pigeons, even cats—to spy on cold war adversaries

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913, in Mondovi, now Drean, a town near Algeria's northeast coast.

Why is Albert Camus Still a Stranger in His Native Algeria?

On the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famed novelist, our reporter searches the north African nation for signs of his legacy

The computing power of an infant's brain still astounds.

Sleeping Babies Can Sense When Mommy and Daddy Are Fighting

The infant brain is even more impressionable than previously thought

Staffers are trained to both prepare food and discuss political issues with customers.

Where War Is What’s for Dinner

Pittsburgh’s Conflict Kitchen has a global menu, with dishes from countries that have diplomatic problems with the U.S.

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Is Your Cell Phone Helping to Fund a Civil War?

The rare minerals used to build your cell phone are coming under scrutiny by federal regulators

The National Museum building, now known as the Arts and Industries building, wouldn’t open to the public until October 1881, but made an exception for a big debut: President James A. Garfield’s inaugural ball on March 4, 1881. The building’s West Hall, which faces the central Rotunda, was decorated with “festive buntings, state flags and seals.” Workers constructed a temporary wooden floor for the event’s 7,000 guests (and 10,000 bins for their hats and coats).

The Arts and Industries Building: Innovation Through The Years

A look at the evolution of the second-oldest building on the National Mall

A creative mind at work?

What Your Messy Desk Says About You (It’s a Good Thing)

Recent research suggests that working in a sloppy setting may actually help inspire creative thinking

School girls line up to receive vaccinations between classes.

How Humankind Got Ahead of Infectious Disease

With polio on the verge of eradication, a career immunologist explains the medical marvel of vaccination and the pioneers who made it possible

Interactive map courtesy of Esri. Text by Josie Garthwaite.

Energy Innovation

Interactive: Mapping the Shale Gas Boom

Where in the United States is fracking unlocking natural gas from shale rock?

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Energy Innovation

Could Panda Poop Be the Secret to More Efficient Biofuel?

Unique microbes in a panda’s gut efficiently break down bamboo—mass producing these microbes could help scientists make sustainable biofuels

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This Next-Generation Bug Spray Could Make You Invisible to Mosquitoes

Researchers are analyzing chemicals naturally present on human skin that disrupt mosquitoes’ ability to smell us

The Common Core State Standards is a new initiative that outlines literacy and mathematics expectations for K-12 schools across the country.

Educating Americans for the 21st Century

What to Make of the Debate Over Common Core

Across 45 states and the District of Columbia, teachers are working off the same set of standards. What makes that so controversial?

Michael Faraday's book binding shop. (Courtesy of the Royal Institution of Great Britain.)

Energy Innovation

The Birthplace of Michael Faraday’s Big Ideas

A peek inside the laboratory of the chemist and physicist, whose experiments helped scientists see the link between electricity and magnetism

Google's energy chief Rick Needham (left) has some lofty goals for the future of energy, including self-driving cars like the Google Car, shown here on a driver-less test drive (right).

Energy Innovation

Google’s Rick Needham is Feeling Lucky About the Future of Sustainable Energy

Google’s Rick Needham is Feeling Lucky About the Future of Sustainable Energy

Energy Innovation

Introducing a Special Report on Energy Innovation

Take a look at what is being done to wean the world off of fossil fuels

QBotix robots adjust solar panels for maximum sun exposure—making solar power cheaper and more efficient.

Energy Innovation

WALL-E Goes to Work for Cheaper Solar Power

A startup in California has engineered robots to squeeze more juice from solar panels, bringing new efficiencies to a costly process

The Nest Learning Thermostat takes an active role in saving energy around the house.

Energy Innovation

A Smart, Sleek, Money-Saving Thermostat

The father of the iPod talks about his next-generation thermostat

A young Maasai stands in front of a wind turbine on the Ngong Hills in Kenya.

Energy Innovation

Can Kenya Light the Way Toward a Clean-Energy Economy?

The absence of a robust fossil fuel infrastructure makes the African nation ripe for energy innovation

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