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Innovation / Technology

Rising global temperatures may make many cities too warm to host the Winter Games in the future.

The Beijing Winter Olympics

In a World Striving To Cut Carbon Emissions, Do the Olympics Make Sense?

Perhaps there is still a case for the greenhouse-gas gushing games if host cities amplify their efforts to showcase green tech and innovations

The home bioreactor in its intended environment. It also provides light for herbs.

In the Future, Will We Be Growing Fruit in Home Bioreactors?

A team of molecular biologists wants you to forget about strawberries and, instead, take “cell jam” for a whirl

Could drone delivery help the environment?

Future of Energy

Is Drone Delivery Good for the Environment?

Reducing the need for trucking by delivering some packages with electric drones could save fuel, and potentially carbon emissions. But how much?

Spot co-founders hope that the current cultural reckoning with issues of harassment will spur employers to take these problems seriously.

This AI Bot Fights Workplace Harassment

A new app, Spot, uses AI to help harassment and discrimination victims create and file reports without having to talk to a human

The Olympic Flame was lit from the sun's rays using a parabolic mirror, during the final dress rehearsal for the lighting ceremony at Ancient Olympia, in southwestern Greece, on Monday, Oct. 23, 2017.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Your Burning Questions About the Olympic Torch, Answered

Curious minds will want to know that the blaze is lit not with matches or a lighter, but using a method that dates to Ancient Greece

Times Square traffic jam

Should U.S. Cities Use Congestion Pricing To Ease Traffic?

New York may soon charge a fee to drive into central Manhattan as a way of reducing traffic and raising funds for public transit

Skiing robots will race in a sideline competition.

Winter Olympics

Meet the Robots of the 2018 Olympics

The Pyeongchang games will have bots to clean, dance, serve drinks, provide translation and more

Video games can help train the brain to hear better.

Can a Video Game Train You To Hear Better In a Crowded Room?

A new study finds it’s possible to teach the brain to better distinguish between speech and background noise

Staff from nearly every major museum in the world has visited CMA to study how they might incorporate digital.

The Cleveland Museum of Art Wants You To Play With Its Art

The digital-savvy museum is using more than a dozen interactive games to collect data on how visitors digest artwork

Reports of weird, wondrous, and worrying objects in the skies date to ancient times.

How UFO Reports Change With the Technology of the Times

Fears of Zeppelins, rockets and drones have replaced the “celestial wonders” of ancient times

Is this the future of grocery shopping?

Five Questions You Should Have About Amazon’s New AI-Powered Store

Will it destroy retail as we know it? Is it spying on you? Will it weaken your resolve not to buy that $8 gourmet chocolate bar?

A printed ring through the color-change process

These 3D-Printed Objects Can Turn Any Color You Want

MIT researchers hope a process that uses a special photochromic dye to change an object’s color in response to light will one day reduce waste

The spandex in Under Armor suits U.S. speedskaters will wear has a slightly gritty texture, which designers claim makes them more aerodynamic by breaking the vacuum that can form around skaters’ arms and legs.

Winter Olympics

Look at the High-Tech Gear Olympians Will Be Wearing

From jackets heated with electronic ink to personal airbags for skiers, these are some of the most innovative wearables you’ll be seeing in PyeongChang

Could a secret ingredient make crumbling concrete a thing of the past?

With Fungi in the Mix, Concrete Can Fill Its Own Cracks

Adding fungus might be one way to endow concrete with the ability to repair any damage, without the need for human intervention

Can you tell which is the face of someone who is sick? Take a good look. Images of 16 individuals (eight women) photographed twice were averaged, during experimentally induced (a) acute sickness and (b) placebo.

The Next Pandemic

Could AI One Day Detect the Flu…Before You Even Feel Sick?

New research into the subtle facial signs of illness could one day help train artificial intelligence systems to scan for infections

Google's latest app seems to think National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet has a lot in common with former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Future of Art

Here’s My Problem With the Google Arts & Culture Face-Matching App

Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, offers ideas to make it better

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