Innovation

The Civil War

Looking at the Battle of Gettysburg Through Robert E. Lee’s Eyes

Anne Kelly Knowles, the winner of Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards, uses GIS technology to change our view of history

December 2012

The Ozone Problem is Back – And Worse Than Ever

James Anderson, the winner of a Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award, has discovered the alarming link between climate change and ozone loss

December 2012

Esperanza Spalding Took on Bieber, Now Takes on Jazz

The innovative bassist and winner of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for performing arts is taking jazz to a whole new place

December 2012

Elon Musk, the Rocket Man With a Sweet Ride

The winner of the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award for technology hopes to launch a revolution with his spaceship and electric car

December 2012

Jack Andraka, the Teen Prodigy of Pancreatic Cancer

A high school sophomore won the youth achievement Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for inventing a new method to detect a lethal cancer

December 2012

Why Mass Incarceration Defines Us As a Society

Bryan Stevenson, the winner of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in social justice, has taken his fight all the way to the Supreme Court

December 2012

Pardis Sabeti, the Rollerblading Rock Star Scientist of Harvard

The recipient of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for natural sciences blazed a new view of how to treat infectious diseases via genetics

December 2012

How Benh Zeitlin Made Beasts of the Southern Wild

The Oscar nominee for Best Director transformed filmmaking as he assembled a new myth out of Hurricane Katrina

December 2012

Open-Fire Stoves Kill Millions. How Do We Fix it?

Pollutants from crude stoves are responsible for many deaths – a D.C.-based NGO has a solution

December 2012

8 Ways People Are Taking Twitter Seriously

Born in desperation and long mocked, the social media platform has become a popular research and intelligence-gathering tool

November 30, 2012

The 2012 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards Liveblog

Follow along as we award the best innovators of the year

November 28, 2012

Shopping Gets Personal

Retailers are mining personal data to learn everything about you so they can help you help yourself to their products.

November 27, 2012

10 Ways Travel Is Getting Better

Sure, it can get aggravating, but here are some innovations that are making it easier and more enjoyable to take a trip

November 20, 2012

Can We Ever Stop Worrying About Blackouts?

Only if utility companies are able to make their power grids smart enough to spot outages and “heal” themselves

November 16, 2012

The Sharing of the Screens

Get ready for the day when your big screen and your small screens work together to connect you with shows and products.

November 9, 2012

We Can Bank Online. Why Can’t We Vote Online?

Voting experts David Becker and Thad Hall discuss the technologies that could forever change the way we register and cast our votes

November 6, 2012

Are Your Political Beliefs Hardwired?

Brain scans suggest Democrats and Republicans actually are different biologically. Welcome to the world of political neuroscience.

November 5, 2012

Should Cities Prepare For the Worst?

Is the crippling of New York City enough to motivate other cities to protect themselves against extreme weather?

November 2, 2012

Tracking the Twists and Turns of Hurricanes

Incredibly powerful supercomputers and a willingness to acknowledge that they’re not perfect has made weather scientists become much more effective in forecasting hurricanes.

October 29, 2012

The Pros to Being a Psychopath

In a new book, Oxford research psychologist Kevin Dutton argues that psychopaths are poised to perform well under pressure

October 28, 2012