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Innovation / Technology

A Rolls Royce concept for an autonomous ship

What Will the Autonomous Ship of the Future Look Like?

Shipbuilding companies are experimenting with self-driving, remotely-operated and crewless vessels

The back of an ancient sundial reveals a cheat sheet of locations and latitude coordinates.

Early Tech Adopters in Ancient Rome Had Portable Sundials

A little gadget could make you look smart, rich, and tech-savvy—all without necessarily fulfilling its real function

A solid state radio frequency oven would allow you to cook a whole meal at once.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Oven Could Change How We Cook

By using radio frequency technology, it can prepare all the components of a dinner, at the same time, just right

Too sick to attend school in person, but perfectly able to participate with a robot’s help.

How Robots Could Help Chronically Ill Kids Attend School

Students with chronic illness often get only a few hours of education a week. Telepresence robots could let them participate fully

Smart Startup

Will This App Turn More Readers On to Serialized Fiction?

Releasing a chapter at a time, Radish could have us binge reading romance and mystery novels

Could This Tiny Drone Covered in Sticky Goop Do the Work of Bees?

Well, it may not replace bees. But it’s a fun project nonetheless

DragonflEye

Turning Dragonflies Into Drones

The DragonflEye project equips the insects with solar-powered backpacks that control their flight

As 19th century urban living became more cramped, some women began to reinvent the domestic sphere with technology.

Women Who Shaped History

These Four Black Women Inventors Reimagined the Technology of the Home

By designating the realm of technology as ‘male,’ we overlook key inventions that took place in the domestic sphere

Australia Wants to Streamline Its Border Control Using Biometrics

The country envisions a system that would eliminate the need for paper passports or identity cards for a number of the 35 million who visit each year

Chinese researchers have harnessed the power of deep learning to help doctors identify this rare disease.

New Research

Can Eagle-Eyed Artificial Intelligence Help Prevent Children From Going Blind?

Deep learning pinpoints cataracts more accurately than humans, and could help prevent this form of vision loss in children

The structure of the battery is formed from a sheet of chromatography paper, divided into a grid of creases.

This Spit-Powered Biobattery Is Made From a Single Sheet of Paper

Researchers at Binghamton University are developing inexpensive paper biobatteries to power simple sensors that monitor things like blood sugar

While the peaks and valleys on people's ECGs may look identical to the untrained eye, they’re actually anything but.

Using Your Heartbeat as a Password

Researchers have developed a way of turning the unique rhythms of your heart into a form of identification

While it has some kinks to work out, this sleek new device could help in the bid to limit landfill-bound waste.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Can This Trash Can Turn Food Waste Into Garden Treasure?

The Zera Food Recycler may not transform scraps into ready-to-use soil, but it could still help take a bite out of landfill-bound waste

Clarius is the first ultrasound developer to go wireless, pairing its handheld device with a smartphone.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Handheld Ultrasound Scanner Could Be the Next Stethoscope

Clarius co-founder and CEO Laurent Pelissier believes the affordable, wireless device could revolutionize health care

The suit Alan Eustace wore during his record-breaking freefall jump in October 2014 is on view at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Souped-Up Scuba Suit Made a Stratospheric Leap

The record-breaking Alan Eustace found just the right fit for his 25-mile free fall by marrying scuba technology with a space suit

Earwax: Coming To a Home Air Filtration System Near You?

A clogged ear on a scuba trip led a Georgia Institute of Technology engineer to study the dust-filtering properties of the waxy substance

A gecko uses millions of tiny hairs to cling powerfully to surfaces. A new device exploits this adaptation by using ultraviolet light as a switch.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Scientists Can Turn This Gecko-Inspired Gripping Device On or Off With the Flick of a Light

The mighty lizard inspires yet another innovation that could prove a boon to robotics and manufacturing

Stanford researcher Michael Snyder led a study on how wearable sensors could help predict illnesses.

What If an App Could Tell You When You’re Getting Sick?

A Stanford geneticist may be onto something. Body data collected by smartwatches and other sensors can tip us off to brewing colds or infections

North Sense, about a square inch in size and enclosed in body-compatible silicone, can be anchored to the chest via titanium piercings.

This Artificial Sixth Sense Helps Humans Orient Themselves in the World

A London-based company is selling North Sense, a body-anchored device that vibrates when it faces magnetic north

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