The First Step to Shipping a Chopper? Remove the Blades

When a high-tech helicopter like the Sikorsky S-92 needs to be transported on a cargo plane, it’s crucial that every rotor blade is dismantled

Sirocco, currently MIA, has helped millions connect with the island’s endangered wildlife.

Future of Conservation

Seduced By a Rare Parrot

What can conservationists learn from New Zealand’s official “spokesbird,” a YouTube celebrity who tries to mate with people’s heads?

Fish leave bits of DNA behind that researchers can collect.

Scientists Can Tell What Fish Live Where Based On DNA in the Water

A new study of the Hudson River estuary tracked spring migration of ocean fish by collecting water samples

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The Patents and Trademarks Behind Jelly Beans

Inventors have been improving the techniques and technologies used to make jelly beans for more than 150 years

Marking the centennial of the American patent system, participants gathered for a "Research Parade" in Washington, D.C., November 23, 1936.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

These 20th-Century Technologists Sure Knew How to Throw a Party

To mark the centennial of the American Patent System in 1936, a group of innovators gathered to throw a deliciously creative celebration

What’s the Environmental Footprint of a T-Shirt?

In-depth life cycle analyses are teaching us more about the environmental costs of the things we wear

A noninvasive brain-computer interface based on EEG recordings from the scalp.

Melding Mind and Machine: How Close Are We?

Researchers separate what’s science from what’s currently still fiction when it comes to brain-computer interfacing

The material—the black blocks between the two plates, pictured here—could be used with cooking pots to charge phones or jewelry to power health sensors.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Is This New Material a Game Changer for Thermoelectricity?

Researchers at the University of Utah have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic material that converts heat to electricity

The mechanical lung would function outside the patient's body.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

An Artificial Lung That Fits In a Backpack

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are developing a device that works like the sophisticated organ

Developed by Komal Dadlani, Lab4U apps take advantage of a smartphone's built-in sensors.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This App Puts a Science Lab in Your Pocket

Lab4U turns smartphones and tablets into scientific tools

A permanent exhibition at Micropia in Amsterdam, the world’s only museum dedicated to microbes, called “A Fungal Future” showcases an array of everyday objects made from fungi.

Art Meets Science

Is Fungus the Material of the Future?

Scientists in the Netherlands have found a way to make slippers and other household objects using fungi

This historic map shows London in the 18th century.

Stanford Researchers Map the Feelings Associated With Different Parts of London

The university’s Literary Lab combed British novels from the 18th and 19th centuries to determine if areas elicited happiness or fear

The Carnes arm had a complicated mechanism that controlled the movement of wrist and fingers.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

How World War I Influenced the Evolution of Modern Medicine

Medical technology and roles during World War I are highlighted in a new display at the National Museum of American History

As students find income-share agreements appealing, the option could become more mainstream in higher education.

Smart Startup

This One-Year Alternative to College Promises to Land Students a Well-Paying Job, Debt-Free

Adam Braun is launching MissionU, a program that cuts to the chase and disrupts the higher education industry

A fern repeats its pattern at various scales.

Art Meets Science

Fractal Patterns in Nature and Art Are Aesthetically Pleasing and Stress-Reducing

One researcher takes this finding into account when developing retinal implants that restore vision

Autonomous cars aren’t smarter than this.

How Understanding Animals Can Help Us Make the Most of Artificial Intelligence

A former animal trainer explains how we might usefully think about the limitations of artificial intelligence systems

The image shows a 6 mm long, 12.5 day old mouse embryo obtained with the Mesolens. The inset shows a blow-up of the eye region revealing the individual cell nuclei. It is possible to identify fine structures throughout the embryo such as the developing heart muscle fibers and fine details in the eye such as the corneal endothelium using the Mesolens.

Think Big

Let Us Now Praise the Invention of the Microscope

Early scientists wielded this revolutionary tool to study the invisible world of microbes, and even their own semen

Baby in Pip & Grow's Smitten box

The Finnish Baby Box Is Becoming Popular Around the World

But does a cardboard bassinet actually reduce infant mortality?

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden think that a helmet called the Strokefinder could quickly diagnose intracranial bleeding.

A Microwave Helmet May Help Diagnose Traumatic Brain Injury

Doctors find that a stroke-detection technology could be useful in screening for intracranial bleeding

Mesh billboards on the Moroccan mountainside will soon be joined by numerous others—a planned 31 in all—to create the world’s largest fog collection facility.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Device Collects Water From the Clouds

CloudFisher does exactly as its name implies—drawing water down from the sky

Page 76 of 154