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Innovation

Vanessa Brandon worried that her cancer was a burden on her family: “I don’t want my sickness to become their sickness.”

Could Immunotherapy Lead the Way to Fighting Cancer?

A new treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer is offering hope to patients with advanced disease

The House Intelligence Committee looked into illegal wiretapping in 1975 as part of its investigation of risks of U.S. intelligence operations.

A Brief History of Surveillance in America

With wiretapping in the headlines and smart speakers in millions of homes, historian Brian Hochman takes us back to the early days of eavesdropping

Top to bottom from upper left: Jim Clark, Brenda Laurel, Tony Fadell; Carol Bartz, Steve Wozniak; Kevin Kelly, Nolan Bushnell, Marissa Mayer; Larry Page, Jaron Lanier, Tiffany Shlain

What Will Be the Next Big Thing to Come Out of Silicon Valley?

The titans of technology tell us what they think is coming soon to a planet near you

1000 embryos and 123 surrogate dogs were required to make the first pair of cloned dogs, in 2005. Last month, Barbra Streisand revealed that her two dogs, Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett, were clones of her late Coton de Tulear Samantha.

The Real Reasons You Shouldn’t Clone Your Dog

It’s easy to understand why someone would want to. It’s harder to justify the actual cloning process, both ethically and scientifically

“Cheaper electricity is better. Clean energy is better,” says Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross.

Future of Energy

Is a Texas Town the Future of Renewable Energy?

A high-wattage Republican Mayor of Georgetown, Texas, has become the unlikeliest hero of the green revolution

What Will Our Society Look Like When Artificial Intelligence Is Everywhere?

Will robots become self-aware? Will they have rights? Will they be in charge? Here are five scenarios from our future dominated by AI

For all their flaws, lab mice have become an invaluable research model for genetics, medicine, neuroscience and more. But few people know the story of the first standardized lab mice.

Women Who Shaped History

The History of Breeding Mice for Science Begins With a Woman in a Barn

Far more than a mouse fancier, Abbie Lathrop helped establish the standard mouse model and pioneered research into cancer inheritance

What the Founding Fathers’ Money Problems Can Teach Us About Bitcoin

The challenges faced by the likes of Ben Franklin have a number of parallels to today’s cryptocurrency boom

Where’s my bus?

Dozens of U.S. Cities Have ‘Transit Deserts’ Where People Get Stranded

Living in these zones makes it hard to access good jobs, health care and other services

Small differences account for a shooter’s consistency.

The Math Behind the Perfect Free Throw

A basketball computer program simulates millions of trajectories in search of the ideal shot

How It All Began: A Colleague Reflects On the Remarkable Life of Stephen Hawking

The physicist probed the mysteries of black holes, expanded our understanding of the universe and captured the world’s imagination, says Martin Rees

Dr. Frankenstein at work in his laboratory

What Frankenstein Can Still Teach Us 200 Years Later

An innovative annotated edition of the novel shows how the Mary Shelley classic has many lessons about the danger of unchecked innovation

What surprises will this year’s tournament have in store?

Can a Computer Model Predict the First Round of This Year’s March Madness?

Two mathematicians at Ohio State University are using machine learning to forecast tournament upsets

Google Japan Now Has Street View From a Dog’s Perspective

It’s like riding an Akita around Japan

Is this machine adding an antenna to the fabric?

Embroidering Electronics Into the Next Generation of ‘Smart’ Fabrics

Is an archaic sewing skill a key to connected, sensing, communicating fabrics of the future?

Alexander Mok (left) tests a cardiopulmonary assessment device with exercise physiologist Casey White (right) at Massachusetts General Hospital.

When Doctors Need New Medical Tools, These Students Are Up To the Challenge

Medical device design courses are more than just good education

Unfortunately, there’s not an unlimited amount of daylight that we can squeeze out of our clocks.

One Hundred Years Later, the Madness of Daylight Saving Time Endures

The original arguments Congress made for ‘springing ahead’ have been thoroughly debunked. So why are they still being used today?

Future of Conservation

Inside the Colorado Vault That Keeps Your Favorite Foods From Going Extinct

From heirloom potatoes to honeybee sperm, this collection works to preserve our invaluable agricultural diversity

Ralph Teetor (right), cruise control in hand, with William Prossner, president of Perfect Circle, in 1957.

The Sightless Visionary Who Invented Cruise Control

Self-driving cars were far from Ralph Teetor’s mind when he patented his speed control device

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