Smart News: Ideas & Innovations | Smithsonian Magazine

Why the Humble Sweet Potato Won the World Food Prize

Researchers are helping to fight malnutrion and childhood blindness in Africa with new varieties of starchy, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes

July 5, 2016

From color to sound, the next-gen fireworks are sure to wow

July 1, 2016

Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara during a time trial in Utrecht, Netherlands, during the 2015 Tour de France

Organizers will use thermal cameras developed by the French nuclear agency to detect “mechanical doping” during the 2016 Tour

June 29, 2016

A scientist looks at mirror segments for the NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The mirrors underwent cryogenic testing—made possible by scarce helium gas—to see how they would respond to extreme temperatures. Now, scientists have found a huge cache of helium gas that could make the element more accessible to scientists.

New Research

Scientists Found a Huge Reservoir of Much-Needed Helium

Helium is used in everything from particle accelerators to MRI machines, and a dearth of the gas has long plagued researchers

June 28, 2016

Perhaps it's best that this comet is billions of miles away from Earth.

Cool Finds

This Perfume Smells Like a Comet

Yum?

June 27, 2016

Self-driving busses, cars that communicate with streetlights, and more will be headed to Columbus.

The city beat out 77 others vying for the chance to update its infrastructure with the latest and greatest technology

June 27, 2016

Scientists will attempt to edit T cells in cancer patients in the first-ever human trial of CRISPR in the United States.

The first-ever trial of CRISPR in the U.S. will test if it’s safe to edit T cells in cancer patients

June 23, 2016

A view of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, with two reactors.

One of the most famous, but aging, nuclear power plants in the U.S. will soon see its end

June 22, 2016

Residents of Makoko look on its floating school at night in December. Today, the school is nothing more than an empty, broken platform.

…until it sank

June 20, 2016

Cool Finds

The Contentious History of the Cherry Tomato

The salad topper has a long and fraught history

June 20, 2016

Mongolia Adopts Address System That Uses Three-Word Names

What3words’ geo-coding system divides the Earth’s surface into 57 trillion squares, and assigns each a unique, memorable string of names

June 17, 2016

New Research

A New Hitch in the Plan for Building a Space Elevator

Carbon nanotubes may not be as strong as scientists once thought

June 17, 2016

Artist's rendering of the first U.S. dolphin sanctuary

Under mounting public pressure, the aquarium’s eight bottle-nosed dolphins will soon move to a seaside retreat in the tropics

June 15, 2016

It’s a victory for open internet activists—but will it stick?

June 14, 2016

Robot librarians might one day help human librarians track down misplaced books.

Cool Finds

This Robot Librarian Locates Haphazardly Placed Books

It’s the next best thing since the Dewey Decimal System

June 14, 2016

Cool Finds

This New Satellite Project Helps People Find Patterns in City Spaces

Terrapattern turns a mad world into a satisfying, matchy-matchy nirvana

June 9, 2016

Meet "Opaque Couché," the world's most hideous hue.

Officials hope hideous packs of cigarette packs will make would-be smokers think twice

June 9, 2016

A selection of "Emotikis" inspired by Maori culture and traditions.

Age of Humans

Emotikis and New Keyboards Bring Indigenous Cultures to Text Messaging

From Maori emojis to First Nations languages

June 1, 2016

Technological change takes forever to boot up

May 26, 2016

Kelly Slater tests his new wave machine in Lemoore, California

Cool Finds

Surf Legend Builds Artificial Wave That Could Bring Surfing to the Masses

The World Surf League just bought Kelly Slater’s artificial wave technology, a move that could bring surfing to places like Nebraska

May 26, 2016

Smart News / Smart News Ideas & Innovations