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Innovation

David Korins' striking design—involving a double turntable, a second level catwalk, scaffolding and ropes, calls to mind the ships that brought the Founding Fathers to America.

Future of Art

Hamilton’s David Korins Explains What Makes the Smash Hit’s Design So Versatile

The renowned designer dishes about the new Hamilton exhibition, precision and metaphor on stage and how the turntables almost didn’t happen

Flying Dog plans to release a seasonal beer each year with hops grown from the project.

The East Coast May Be On the Brink of a Hop Renaissance

Can a farmer and a brewer come together to bring hops back to the eastern United States?

A scene from Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan.

Teaching Refugees How To Map Their World Could Have Huge Benefits

A pilot project trained Syrian refugees at a Jordan camp to create maps—an invaluable tool in a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis

Reebok marketed their slim, pliable Freestyle shoes to aerobics lovers in the 1980s.

A Brief History of America’s Obsession With Sneakers

Invented for athletics, sneakers eventually became status symbols and an integral part of street style

A very happy World Bee Day to you. Let's talk pollinators.

How to Protect Your Local Pollinators in Ten Easy Ways

As the first annual World Bee Day looms, insect and garden lovers are abuzz with excitement

The new water purification technique involves draping a sheet of carbon-dipped paper in an upside-down "V." The paper's bottom edges soak up water, while the carbon coating absorbs solar energy and transforms it into heat for evaporation.

Could This Low-Cost Device Provide Clean Drinking Water To Those In Need?

Engineers have created an upgraded solar still that uses carbon paper and the sun to purify water at an unprecedented rate

“All ten of this year’s winners present a powerful design perspective and body of work that is at once inclusive and deeply personal,” says the museum's director Caroline Baumann.

Future of Art

America’s Top Designers Are Both Embracing and Breaking With Tradition

Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt announces ten National Design Award winners

A Hangover Pill Is Working on Drunk Mice

The new antidote may lower blood alcohol levels, helping a hangover and preventing alcohol overdose deaths

Sumit Bhatnagar, a PhD student in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, inspects tumor cells used in developing a new diagnostic pill.

Could a Pill Help Detect Breast Cancer?

University of Michigan researchers are developing a pill that when ingested causes tumors to glow under infrared light

“We design the garments around what parents want for their children, what occupational therapists are asking for, what children are saying they’re most comfortable in,” says Sasha Radwan, founder of SpecialKids.Company.

Designing “Adaptive Clothing” For Those With Special Needs

Companies are releasing new inclusive lines that solve some of the dressing challenges that people with physical and mental disabilities face

Scientists Have a New Way of Knowing How Many Sharks Are in the Sea

The predators are elusive, but marine ecologists are finding more of them by analyzing the “environmental DNA” in ocean water samples

The science of DNA facial reconstruction is advancing rapidly.

How Accurately Can Scientists Reconstruct A Person’s Face From DNA?

Predicting physical features from genetic data certainly has its limitations, but it is advancing. What does this mean for our privacy?

IBM would like to teach its tool to design entire garments given just a few specifications.

Future of Art

Artificial Intelligence Could Help Generate the Next Big Fashion Trends

With a tool called Cognitive Prints, designers will be able to riff off of past styles and incorporate outside inspiration like never before

A pelagic snail ensnares food with with a mucous web.

These Strange Ocean Creatures Trap Their Food In a Net of Mucus

Biologists are finding that these invertebrate grazers can actually be picky eaters—and their choices might influence ocean food webs

A new show at the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt in New York City looks at how design interacts with other senses beyond vision, like this "smell" map of Amsterdam by Kate McLean that reveals the aroma of the city's restaurants, old book stores, laundromats and other neighborhood sites.

Could Our Housewares Keep Us Healthier?

Some designers are harnessing sound, color, smell and touch in products that promote well-being and independence for all

Long-eared Myotis bat (Myotis septentrionalis), photographed in Arizona.

Where Clean Drinking Water Is Hard To Find, Bats Could Lead the Way

A wildlife biologist argues that tracking bats, which cover wide areas and need clean water, could be useful in locating potable sources

ELIA's blocky characters echo the Roman alphabet, with the goal of making it easier to learn for people who lost sight late in life.

Could This New Tactile Font Help People Who Lose Their Sight Late In Life?

ELIA Frames may serve some blind readers better than braille, but the new system has its skeptics

RUBE GOLDBERG ® is a registered trademark of Rube Goldberg Inc. All materials used with permission. rubegoldberg.com. The Art of Rube Goldberg on view March 15–July 8, 2018 at The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco.

The Story Behind Rube Goldberg’s Complicated Contraptions

In his time he was a world-famous cartoonist, but today he’s best known for these wacky inventions

This Conductive Paint Turns Walls Into Giant Touchscreens

The interactive surfaces could make “smart” home features much more subtle and affordable

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