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Innovation / Technology

High school students at the University of Maine Farmington's Upward Bound program play the World Climate simulation.

This Game Is Moving People to Take Action Against Climate Change

In the ‘World Climate’ simulation, people play delegates to UN climate negotiations and work to strike an agreement that meets global climate goals

Anna Du is one of 30 Broadcom Masters finalists.

This 12-Year-Old Girl Built a Robot That Can Find Microplastics In the Ocean

Massachusetts seventh grader Anna Du has developed an ROV that moves through water and detects microplastics on the seafloor

Miami is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to raise roads in response to rising sea levels.

How Cities Are Upgrading Infrastructure to Prepare for Climate Change

The threat of extreme weather and other climate-related events has city planners rethinking the stability of critical infrastructure

WiTricity has partnered with BMW to release the first consumer-ready remote charging system for an electric vehicle.

Is Wireless Charging for Cars Finally Here?

The Massachusetts startup WiTricity has developed a mat that charges electric vehicles using magnetic resonance

A robotic arm performs a transplant operation.

This Robotic Farming System Could Be the Answer to Labor Shortages

Hydroponics startup Iron Ox is automating indoor produce farming

The Woman Who Made a Device to Help Disabled Veterans Feed Themselves—and Gave It Away for Free

World War II nurse Bessie Blount went on to become an inventor and forensic handwriting expert

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The Innovative Spirit

The Innovative Spirit: Changing Our World For the Better

In partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, we look at the innovative spirit within the Smithsonian and beyond

Jason Moore, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State, David Pepley, a doctoral student studying mechanical engineering, and Yichun (Leo) Tang, an undergraduate student studying mechanical engineering, work with the needle simulator training device.

This New Needle Simulator Could Train Medical Students To Have a Steady Hand

Penn State researchers have developed a device that could help future doctors perfect their needle insertion technique—before they start on people

Stanford Ovshinsky, 2008

Stanford Ovshinsky Might Be the Most Prolific Inventor You’ve Never Heard Of

A new book calls attention to the 20th-century genius with more than 400 patents to his name

The project aims to map the "Big Four," or the four most common venomous snakes in India—the spectacled cobra, saw-scaled viper, Russell’s viper (shown here) and common krait.

This App Is Saving Thousands of Snakes (and Humans) in India

The Big Four Mapping Project’s conservation tool helps prevent snakebites and the killing of common venomous species

The coating, if used on enough buildings at once, could also help deal with so-called “urban heat islands.”

This New Coating Could Help Keep Buildings Cool

The porous polymer uses tiny air holes to reflect all wavelengths of sunlight, cooling buildings far better than white paint

The antennas are made from a special two-dimensional metallic material called MXene.

Are Spray-On Antennas the Future of Wearables?

The ultra-thin, flexible antennas can be applied to nearly any surface using an airbrush

A Mobius strip.

The Mathematical Madness of Möbius Strips and Other One-Sided Objects

The discovery of the Möbius strip in the mid-19th century launched a brand new field of mathematics: topology

A satellite image of Los Angeles

What Can Satellite Imagery Tell Us About Obesity in Cities?

A new AI can figure out which elements of the built environment might influence a city’s obesity rate

A long exposure of the Treasury at night illuminated by candlelight

Zooming In on Petra

How digital archaeologists are using drones and cutting-edge cameras to recreate the spectacular 2,000-year-old ruins in Jordan

New "robotic skins" technology developed by Yale researchers allows users to turn everyday objects into robots.

These “Robotic Skins” Turn Everyday Objects Into Robots

A team at Yale University has developed flexible robotic sheets that can make just about anything move

How Wireless Water-to-Air Communication Could Revolutionize Marine Research

Solving a longstanding puzzle, MIT researchers have developed a way of sending signals from underwater to airborne devices

"The Right Trousers"

These Robotic Pants Could Help Some Disabled People Walk Again

‘The Right Trousers’ combine soft artificial muscles and electric stimulation to get people moving

The vibrant Baltimore Oriole can be found migrating throughout large portions of eastern and central North America.

Scientists Can Predict When Birds Will Migrate Up to a Week in Advance

A new forecasting model using years of bird migration data and weather radar could help us protect migrating birds from harm

A jaw of an Eoconodon coryphaeus—a house cat-sized omnivore that lived between about 66 and 63 million years ago—that Williamson collected in the San Juan Basin.

Nuclear Technology May Help Bring Early Mammal Evolution Into Focus

Using a neutron scanner at Los Alamos, paleontologists are generating high-resolution imagery of early mammal fossils

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