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Innovation / Technology

Cauam Cardoso

Technology for the Poor Should Help, Not Hurt: An Interview With MIT’s Cauam Cardoso

The PhD candidate is working on ways to systematically evaluate new technologies for the developing world

Five Ways National Parks Are Embracing Technology

Cell phones and other screens don’t have to detract from the park experience

Meet SwagBot, the Robot Cowboy That Can Herd and Monitor Cattle On Its Own

University of Sydney engineers have developed a four-wheeled robot to keep tabs on massive farms in Australia’s outback

Rio's favelas, like Santa Marta (shown here), are no longer blank spaces on Google Maps.

Mapping Rio’s Favelas

Ahead of the Olympics, Google and a Brazilian nonprofit have been recruiting locals to pinpoint businesses and other landmarks in the city’s shantytowns

The Fight for the “Right to Repair”

Manufacturers have made it increasingly difficult for individuals or independent repair people to fix electronics. A growing movement is fighting back

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History holds this patent model for a Gorrie ice machine, the first mechanical refrigeration or ice-making machine the U.S. Patent Office patented.

Six of History’s Smartest, Weirdest and Most Interesting Inventions for Beating the Heat

From a bicycle mister to ice energy, here are a few innovative ways for cooling down

Kevin Kelly unpacks 12 technological forces in his new book.

Wired Founder Kevin Kelly On the Technologies That Will Dominate Our Future

The optimistic futurist says we’ll share more, own less and spend far more time on our devices

How Real-time Translation Apps and Online Tools Are Helping Refugees in Turkey Forge New Lives

Refugees and the technology of exile

Wayfair's app lets you see how their products will look in your house.

How Augmented Reality Will Change How You Buy Furniture

Thanks to a new Google 3D technology named Tango, mobile devices will be able to insert virtual images into a real place

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Could This New Armband Prevent Thousands of Workplace Injuries and Fatalities Each Year?

Proxxi CEO Campbell Macdonald describes his cloud-connected wearable that detects high-voltage areas

Using Virtual Reality To Walk in the Shoes of Someone With Alzheimer’s

A British nonprofit has launched an app that simulates life with the neurodegenerative disease

Researchers in Singapore have been able to print the polymer components of a "personalized" pill.

Scientists May Be Able To Pack All Your Medications Into One “Personalized” Pill

And nine other things you never thought could be made on a 3D printer

Is the Internet an Enormous Work of Realist Art?

Journalist Virginia Heffernan makes a compelling case that it is in a new book

The scalding solution that pipes from the vents does not boil because of the mass of water pushing down from above.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Scientists Explore Breathtaking Hydrothermal Vents in Virtual Reality

With a high-tech remotely operated vehicle, a team is able to map a dark, hot and toxic vent field on the ocean floor

Rendering of the BACtrack Skyn

How Drunk Are You? Ask Your Bracelet

The BACtrack Skyn, a wearable similar in style to a Fitbit, tracks your blood alcohol level in real time

Hanqing Jiang (left) and his students, Wenwen Xu and Xu Wang, with their supercapacitor materials

This Edible Supercapacitor Could Transform Ingestible Electronics

The materials for a new electronic component that could power a tiny camera sound more like breakfast than science

A Search Engine That Matches Your Drawings to Photographs Isn’t Too Far Off

Computer scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new program that could let you Google your doodles

A model for how suburbs could one day be designed. The white objects on the left are delivery drones.

Suburbia Gets No Respect, But It Could Become a Very Different Place

For starters, driverless cars would mean a lot less pavement

Mya Le Thai holds her invention.

Future of Energy

Did Scientists Stumble on a Battery that Lasts Forever?

Researchers studying nanowires have found a battery material that can be recharged for years, even decades

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