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Innovation

Smithsonian Voices

The Quarter-Century Reign of the All-Women Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles

Far from a “girl band” or pop novelty, the group’s success is a hard-earned triumph of gender justice

Through Smithsonian programs, like ARTLAB and the National Youth Summit, museum educators demonstrate how adult mentors can elevate the voices of teens in their communities.

Smithsonian Voices

How Educators Can Boost and Activate Teen Voices

Amplify the voices of teens, share their suggestions on how to support young leaders’ efforts without disrupting their individual agency

Sophia Kianni is the founder of Climate Cardinals, a member of the UN Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, and hosts her own podcast.

Smithsonian Voices

Meet Sophia Kianni, the Young Climate Change Changemaker

The founder of Climate Cardinals assembled a team of global volunteers to breakdown language barriers by translating climate science and research

Seventeen-year-old Dasia Taylor was named one of 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the country’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

Innovation for Good

This High Schooler Invented Color-Changing Sutures to Detect Infection

After winning a state science fair and becoming a finalist in a national competition, Dasia Taylor now has her sights set on a patent

This dress, with a matching necklace and ruby red high heels, was worn by Cornell to her prom in 2018.

Smithsonian Voices

How Isabella Aiukli Cornell Made Prom Political

As citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a prom dress became the perfect vehicle to signal the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women

A vaccine passport would be a digital or paper document showing that the bearer had received a Covid-19 vaccination or, in some cases, has antibodies to the virus or recently tested negative.

Five Things to Know About Vaccine Passports

As travelers venture out, countries and states are experimenting with forms of documentation that show proof of Covid-19 vaccination

A participant from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum's "Eva Zeisel: Designing in the Air" workshop explores connections between a Zeisel ceramic prototype and her carpet sample design.

Smithsonian Voices

Understanding the Power of Primary Sources

Artifacts and archives are silent until they come out from the attic, the shoebox, or a museum’s archive to find life again through shared discovery

Suffragist Rosalie Barrow Edge founded the world's first refuge for birds of prey.

Planet Positive

How Mrs. Edge Saved the Birds

Meet a forgotten hero of our natural world whose brave campaign to protect birds charted a new course for the environmental movement

One of the most versatile harmonica players in pop history is Stevie Wonder, shown here in Paris in 1963 at age 13.

A Brief History of the Harmonica

How the world’s handiest instrument took over American music

Ocean creatures are noisier than scientists first thought.

Women Who Shaped History

Biologist Marie Fish Catalogued the Sounds of the Ocean for the World to Hear

Scientists once thought marine life kept quiet. Then the Navy tapped an aptly named researcher with an open mind

Across the globe, culling has become the default strategy for the egg industry to eliminate the unwanted hatchlings.

Can New Technologies Eliminate the Grim Practice of Chick Culling?

As the U.S. egg industry continues to kill male chicks, scientists are racing to develop accurate and affordable ways to sex a chick before it hatches

In makeshift home laboratories, a team of scientists discovered that cotton flannel is the optimal fabric, and their latest study says that the moisture from our breath makes the mask more effective.

How to Build a Better Homemade Face Mask, According to Science

When Covid-19 hit, Smithsonian researchers set up makeshift home laboratories to conduct groundbreaking studies on mask fabric materials

Newbery Honoree Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again and the new picture book Jump at the Sun, the first biography of Zora Neale Hurston written for children.

Smithsonian Voices

How Alicia D. Williams Is Reviving Storytelling for Black Children

Williams wanted a different story for her daughter—and for herself. So, she set out to write it

Because of their honeycomb shape, the huts can fit together like a beehive, expanding to fit growing needs.

Innovation for Good

The World’s First 3-D Printed School May Soon Be a Reality

Thinking Huts, a nonprofit founded by a 15-year-old, plans to kick off construction in Madagascar this summer

Ida Holdgreve answered an ad for "plain sewing"–a typo that turned a new page in women’s history.

Women Who Shaped History

How Ida Holdgreve’s Stitches Helped the Wright Brothers Get Off the Ground

In 1910, Orville and Wilbur Wright hired an Ohio seamstress, who is only now being recognized as the first female worker in the American aviation industry

Children participate in a hands-on science activity with the Smithsonian Latino Center for a Dia del Niño festival hosted by LA Plaza de Cultura y Arte in Los Angeles, California.

Smithsonian Voices

How to Take the Museum to Learners Who Can’t Be There

Educators can make a big difference in the lives of young students who have never met a scientist, seen a microscope, or been to a museum

Smithsonian Summer Virtual Adventures will be held from June 21 through Aug. 27.

Smithsonian Voices

Smithsonian Summer Virtual Adventures Offer Live Learning Experiences for Kids

These online experiences offer children opportunities to explore, discover, create and go behind the scenes at the museums—online

Grooming miles of track is a job that starts long before January, when drivers start taking to the ice.

Why Automakers Flock to This Small Swedish Town Every Winter

From January to April, the population of Arjeplog more than quadruples, as almost every brand test drives its vehicles on the region’s frozen lakes

Sea beans, otherwise known as sea asparagus and pickleweed, belong to the genus Salicornia, marsh plants that thrive in salty soils.

How One Farmer Is Introducing Americans to Sea Beans

In Charleston, South Carolina, Heron Farms is attempting to grow a gangly, salt-tolerant plant in the face of sea level rise

What if literature was an invention for making us happier and healthier?

Eight of Literature’s Most Powerful Inventions—and the Neuroscience Behind How They Work

These reoccuring story elements have proven effects on our imagination, our emotions and other parts of our psyche

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