Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Innovation

"Deep Pool That Never Dries" nabbed first prize.

Future of Art

These Contest-Winning ‘Fairy Tales’ Might Be Bleak, But They Are Topical

Blank Space’s fifth-annual competition plays with everything from fake news to gravity

Awesome Con provided an opportunity for science fiction and real-life science to play off of one another. The Robot from Netflix's Lost in Space reboot (center) illustrates the former, while the NASA jacket of the con attendee on the right nods to the latter.

The Real Science Behind Your Favorite Nerd Culture at Awesome Con

Astrophysicists, vehicle technicians and biologists joined the party to bring cutting-edge research to fictional worlds

Ten Summer Camps For Little Innovators

Forget swimming and archery. These camps will have your kids building robots, pitching business ideas, even fighting zombies!

Hawking was known not only for his prodigious intellect but also for his passion in communicating what he knew to the world at large.

The Memory of Stephen Hawking Endures in Bold Black Hole Research Efforts

Smithsonian scientists hunting these supermassive objects reflect on the legacy of one of the world’s most inspiring intellects

The emotional interface tracks physiological signals associated with emotional states and translates them into music.

Can Biomusic Offer Kids With Autism a New Way to Communicate?

Biomedical engineers are using the sound of biological rhythms to describe emotional states

When persons with dementia engage with others who share their passion for the game, colorful memories can emerge.

A New Therapy Has People With Dementia Sharing Baseball Memories

Where were you when Willie Mays made ‘The Catch?’ Chatting with other fans, watching footage of old games and even playing wiffle ball can be therapeutic

How a $10 Billion Experimental City Nearly Got Built in Rural Minnesota

A new documentary explores the “city of the future” that was meant to provide a blueprint for urban centers across America

This past fall, astronauts harvested Mizuna mustard, Waldmann's green lettuce and Outredgeous red romaine lettuce from the Veggie plant growth chamber on the International Space Station.

Future Con

If Humans Want To Colonize Other Planets, We Need To Perfect Space Cuisine

At this year’s Future Con, researchers will describe a future of food in space that is anything but bland

A long-range autonomous underwater vehicle carrying an environmental sample processor cruises beneath the surface during field trials in Hawaii.

These Underwater Robots Offer a New Way to Sample Microbes From the Ocean

The health of forests of underwater plankton have a big impact on the environment, and oceanographers are just starting to understand it

Decisions made by engineers today will determine how all cars drive.

The Ethical Challenges Self-Driving Cars Will Face Every Day

The biggest ethical quandaries for self-driving cars arise in mundane situations, not when crashes are unavoidable

Ten Female Innovators to Watch In 2018

These inventors, startup founders and businesswomen have exciting things happening this year. Stay tuned!

Why We Should Test Heart Drugs On a ‘Virtual Human’ Instead of Animals

Thousands of animals are used for heart drug tests each year—but research shows that computer-simulated trials are more accurate

Researchers think nanowood has enormous potential as a green building material.

Future of Energy

Could ‘Nanowood’ Replace Styrofoam?

Scientists at the University of Maryland have developed a biodegradable material that is both strong and a good insulator

This Texas Company Is Fighting Hollywood’s Gender Inequality With Hard Data From Movie Scripts

StoryFit uses artificial intelligence to analyze film scripts for how characters are portrayed by gender

Gene editing, which uses "molecular scissors" to cut and replace pieces of DNA, could be key for curing herpes.

Can We Gene-Edit Herpes Away?

Because the virus hides out deep in our bodies and stays there for life, a vaccine has eluded scientists for decades. But there may be another way

An illustration depicting the life cycle of a cancer cell

This DNA-Based Attack Against Cancer May Just Work

A newly approved treatment is a milestone in gene therapy for cancer

Macrophages begin to fuse with, and inject its toxins into, the cancer cell. The cell starts rounding up and loses its spikes.

Where We Are in the Hunt for a Cancer Vaccine

Two new studies have promising results

Page 58 of 155