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Innovation / Technology

Eight New Uses For Virtual Reality

Fasten your headsets. VR technology is coming at us from all directions

Jim Naughten’s 2017 stereograph, The Toucans, mimics the look of a Victorian image.

Stereographs Were the Original Virtual Reality

The shocking power of immersing oneself in another world was all the buzz once before—about 150 years ago

Don’t overlook immediate safety in a search for something better.

Some of the Best Parts of Autonomous Vehicles Are Already Here

Consumers with high hopes of driverless cars improving safety might be looking past the boring near-term advances that could make a real difference

Metropoles like Shanghai have survived and thrived in large part because of their massive populations. But what happens when people start to become a liability rather than an asset?

Can the World’s Megacities Survive the Digital Age?

Like companies, megacities must adapt

Manasi Kulkarni on her farm in Nandgaon, Maharashtra, India

The Intrepid Teachers Bringing Internet Access To Women In Rural India

The gender disparity among internet users in the country’s small villages is staggering. A program called Internet Saathi aims to help

Art Meets Science

See the Sounds of the Amazon in This Mesmerizing Video

Artist Andy Thomas helps people experience nature in a new way

Researchers have devised a new way to monitor sleep stages without sensors attached to the body.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Device Uses Radio Waves To Track How You’re Sleeping

Scientists think it could help them better understand progression of chronic diseases like Parkinson’s

The smart bin prototype

The Innovative Spirit fy17

A Smart Recycling Bin Could Sort Your Waste for You

It’s sometimes difficult to know where to put different types of plastic, but computer vision could remove any confusion

A new startup is making it easy for customers to shop their local family farmers—right from their homes.

New Startup WildKale Lets Farmers Sell Directly to Customers Through an App

Yes, it’s like “Uber for farmer’s markets.”

Could this brace alleviate "crouch gait?"

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Robotic Exoskeleton Helps Kids With Cerebral Palsy Walk Upright

Children with cerebral palsy often walk in a crouched position, which is difficult to maintain over long distances. A robot suit can help.

SoftBank's humanoid robot "Pepper" can lead funerals.

Nine Tasks Robots Can Do That May Surprise You

Machines can cook your dinner, fill your prescriptions, make your shoes and much, much more

Printed graphene supercapacitor

Future of Energy

Flexible Batteries May Soon Be Printed Right On Your Clothes

Graphene supercapacitors, printed directly on textiles, could power medical devices, wearable computers, even phone-charging shirts

Made of sugar, these milk pods could someday replace traditional creamer cups.

Milk and Sugar Pods That Dissolve in Coffee Could Replace Single-Serve Containers

Why use plastic when you can use sugar?

Robots can also lend a hand of sorts.

How Robots Could Help the Elderly Age in Their Homes

But these helpful machines won’t be the humanoid butlers of science fiction

And you thought your alarm clock was rough.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

11 Cool, Funny or Just Plain Strange Patents for Back to School

From alarm clocks that pummel you in the head to ingenious devices to save your crayon nubs, a peek into the patent archives for back to school season

Natural Cycles App

Apps Can Help You Get Pregnant. But Should You Use Them as a Contraceptive?

An increasing number of women are relying on apps to track their menstrual cycles. Now, there’s even an app approved as birth control.

A TEMS device mounted on eyeglasses, with the electrical signal recorded.

Blink Once For Yes: You Can ‘Talk’ to This New Computer Interface With Your Eyes

A tiny sensor mounted to eyeglasses can track eye blinks, allowing communication from locked-in patients

Gwen Johnson, 11, and other members of the 4-H club in Pleasant Hill, CA, planted lettuces at a public park this past spring.

The Complicated Growth of 4-H

4-H boasts a far more complicated backstory than those blue ribbons would have you believe

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