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Innovation / Technology

One of Empa's temperature sensors in the shape of a Braeburn apple

A New Sensor That Looks and Acts Like Fruit Could Reduce In-Transit Produce Waste

Swiss scientists have developed a temperature sensor that provides important data while packed with fruit in transport and storage

Trauma surgeon Sarah Murthi tests an AR headset prototype, which uses a Microsoft HoloLens and custom software with an ultrasound, on a volunteer "patient."

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Augmented Reality Could Change Health Care—Or Be a Faddish Dud

Doctors and engineers at the University of Maryland team up to build a tool that projects images and vital information right above a patient

This honeycomb structure was printed in fused silica glass.

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You Can Now 3D Print Glass

German researchers have developed a technique for 3D printing strong, transparent glass products, such as jewelry, lenses and computer parts

Researchers can remotely detect buried land mines using a bacterial sensor and a laser-based scanning system.

How Glowing Soil Can Help Find Land Mines

Using genetically engineered bacteria and lasers, Israeli scientists have devised a unique way to detect buried explosives

Jonathan Coleman (center) and team show off a printed electronic label.

New Electronic Labels Could Alert You When Your Milk Spoils

New 2D printed electronics made of the nanomaterial graphene could be used in newspapers, self-updating price tags and more

Fish leave bits of DNA behind that researchers can collect.

Scientists Can Tell What Fish Live Where Based On DNA in the Water

A new study of the Hudson River estuary tracked spring migration of ocean fish by collecting water samples

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The Patents and Trademarks Behind Jelly Beans

Inventors have been improving the techniques and technologies used to make jelly beans for more than 150 years

A noninvasive brain-computer interface based on EEG recordings from the scalp.

Melding Mind and Machine: How Close Are We?

Researchers separate what’s science from what’s currently still fiction when it comes to brain-computer interfacing

Developed by Komal Dadlani, Lab4U apps take advantage of a smartphone's built-in sensors.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This App Puts a Science Lab in Your Pocket

Lab4U turns smartphones and tablets into scientific tools

A permanent exhibition at Micropia in Amsterdam, the world’s only museum dedicated to microbes, called “A Fungal Future” showcases an array of everyday objects made from fungi.

Art Meets Science

Is Fungus the Material of the Future?

Scientists in the Netherlands have found a way to make slippers and other household objects using fungi

Autonomous cars aren’t smarter than this.

How Understanding Animals Can Help Us Make the Most of Artificial Intelligence

A former animal trainer explains how we might usefully think about the limitations of artificial intelligence systems

Mesh billboards on the Moroccan mountainside will soon be joined by numerous others—a planned 31 in all—to create the world’s largest fog collection facility.

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This Device Collects Water From the Clouds

CloudFisher does exactly as its name implies—drawing water down from the sky

Israeli company Intuition Robotics developed a talking device named ElliQ, now being tested by older adults.

How Will Artificial Intelligence Help the Aging?

The key, researchers say, is finding the right roles for machines

Smart Startup

Where Should You Live? This App Will Tell You

Enter your budget and a number of your preferences and Teleport will match you with some fitting cities

ASMRtists, as they are called, type on keyboards, tap on brushes and whisper gently to induce "the tingles." But is there any whisper of scientific truth to the trend?

How Researchers Are Beginning to Gently Probe the Science Behind ASMR

Once a mysterious Internet phenomenon, “tingleheads” are starting to get real scientific attention

It will be quick and it will be hot.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Hot Food, Fast: The Home Microwave Oven

A serendipitous discovery helped engineers harness radar to create the now ubiquitous timesaving appliance

Planet launched 88 more satellites in February.

How Daily Images of the Entire Earth Will Change the Way We Look At It

With more satellites than any other company, Planet Labs gives environmental researchers daily data

Could This Chatbot Prevent Some Deportations?

Visabot helps immigrants and visitors to the United States obtain and keep visas

Surfers take to the water in Montauk, where a shark nursery was discovered offshore last summer.

Future of Conservation

Can Social Media Give Sharks a Better Reputation?

A nonprofit called Ocearch is naming tagged sharks and giving them Twitter and Instagram accounts to ease fears and aid in conservation

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