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Innovation / Technology

The AOL Instant Messenger icon became so well known it was made into a plush toy.

AOL Instant Messenger Taught Us How To Communicate in the Modern World

As AIM sunsets, let’s reflect on its role in preparing people for today’s digital messaging methods

Amazon may be coming to a garden near you.

Amazon Now Has a Patent For a “Garden Service”

The massive online retailer might recommend recipes and tools based on pictures of your plot

Hurricane Maria, September 2017

Turning Hurricane Data Into Music

Can listening to storms help us understand them better? A meteorologist and a music technologist think so

With a low cost attachment, Joshua Broder can upgrade a 2D ultrasound machine to 3D.

How a Wii Handset Inspired a Low-Cost 3D Ultrasound

After playing games with his son, a Duke physician invented a medical tool that could put ultrasound imaging in the hands of more doctors

What is that sound?

This App Can Diagnose Your Car Trouble

MIT engineers have developed an app that uses smartphone sensors to determine why your car’s making that funny noise

One proposed feature is a system where trash would be separated and removed through underground tunnels.

Five Questions You Should Have About Google’s Plan to Reinvent Cities

A waterfront neighborhood in Toronto will be a test bed for technological innovations. It also raises concerns about privacy.

For the first time, human beings harnessed the power of atomic fission.

The Science Behind the First Nuclear Chain Reaction, Which Ushered in the Atomic Age 75 Years Ago

That fateful discovery helped give us nuclear power reactors and the atomic bomb

Jony Ive

American Ingenuity Awards

Why Jony Ive Is Apple’s Design Genius

His work has become the seeds of a tech revolution that is rapidly changing our lives

Stanford radiologist Matthew Lungren, left, meets with graduate students Jeremy Irvin and Pranav Rajpurkar to discuss the results of detections made by the algorithm.

Can an Algorithm Diagnose Pneumonia?

Stanford researchers claim they can detect the lung infection more accurately than an experienced radiologist. Some radiologists aren’t so sure.

The Ten Best STEM Toys of 2017

Kid tested and parent approved, these tech toys stand out for holiday wish lists

A medium-size passenger jet burns roughly 750 gallons of fuel per hour.

Future of Energy

Can Sugarcane Fuel Airplanes?

Scientists have engineered sugarcane to increase its oil content, and they are developing renewable jet aircraft fuel from the oil

The way a fruit fly fires neurons could inform machine learning.

How Fruit Fly Brains Could Improve Our Search Engines

Fruit flies have a unique way of matching data, which could teach scientists to create better, faster search algorithms

The minimLET toilet kit

A Sleek Portable Toilet and Other Design Solutions for Disaster Victims

The toilet kit, from a Japanese design studio, is part of wave of interest in design fixes for the problems created by disasters

Existing cars can stop when they detect pedestrians.

Computer Systems and Sensors Could Put a Stop To Car-Based Attacks

Driver aid systems and self-driving vehicle control systems could override a driver who is trying to strike people

How a Ripped-Off Sequel of Don Quixote Predicted Piracy in the Digital Age

An anonymous writer’s spinoff of Cervantes’ masterpiece showed the peril and potential of new printing technology

That black light you had as a teenager might help put an end to that foul barnyard odors in the future.

Is Black Light the Path to a Stink-Free Livestock Farm?

Researchers at Iowa State University are using a new technique involving the UV-light producing device to curb bad odors

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