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Innovation / Technology

Is This the Future of Robotic Legs?

Hugh Herr’s bionic limbs have already revolutionized life for amputees (including himself). Now he’s envisioning new capabilities for everyone else

The U.S. Navy expects to have swarm boats in operation as soon as next year.

Who Needs a Driver? These Navy Boats Are Programmed to Swarm Like Bees

Using algorithms based on the swarming behavior of ants and bees, the U.S. Navy is turning to driverless boats to protect its ships

A robot skims along a ship's hull, using ultrasound to identify hollow spots where goods might be smuggled.

This Stealthy Robot Could Boost Security at Our Ports

MIT researchers have developed a craft to spot pockets of contraband inside ships’ hulls

International Space Station astronauts captured this photograph of Earth's atmospheric layers. The troposphere is the orange-red layer. The gray, just above that, is the stratosphere. Then, the blue is the mesosphere.

10 Weird Things Humans Have Sent Into the Stratosphere

Tied to high-altitude balloons, bacon and LEGO figures have reached heights nearing 100,000 feet

DUBS Acoustic Filters have a fit and finish that help them resemble high-end earphones more than conventional earplugs.

Tech Watch

Building a Better Earplug

Using a series of acoustic filters, DUBS lower the intensity of sounds without muddying them

More and more people are dealing with routine health ailments through video calls.

Need a Quick Diagnosis? A Prescription for What Ails You? The Doctor Will Video Chat With You Now

One of the hottest trends in health care is telemedicine networks of doctors who diagnose ailments over the phone

There are more than 400 species of mantis shrimp, including some with claws that can strike with the speed of a bullet and crack glass. But it’s the animal's vision, sensitive to polarized light, that is helping scientists build a compact camera that can see cancer.

A Mantis Shrimp Inspires a New Camera for Detecting Cancer

The mantis shrimp’s eyes, which can see differences in polarized light, are informing researchers building a tiny, easy-to-use camera that can spot cancer

A team at the University of Arizona is developing seven state of the art mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope, currently under construction in Chile.

Making Super-Telescopes Requires Some Creative Engineering

The Giant Magellan Telescope, under construction in Chile, could help scientists answer big questions about the universe

Researchers have made an important first step towards engineering direct, brain-to-brain communication between humans.

Scientists Prove That Telepathic Communication Is Within Reach

An international research team develops a way to say “hello” with your mind

"Today we can use light to create an artificial sun on Earth, if only for a split-second," writes Steven Johnson. Here, Vaughn Draggoo examines a test site for light-induced nuclear fusion at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California.

The World Is What It Is Today Because of These Six Innovations

In a new book, Steven Johnson describes the many technologies that glass, refrigeration and other fundamental inventions have made possible

The movement to dramatically reduce car traffic is picking up speed.

Anthropocene

Helsinki Has a Plan to Get People to Stop Owning Cars

A system being developed in Finland would allow people to subscribe to all kinds of mobility options and pay for everything on their phones

The transparent solar concentrator material doesn’t block visible light, but turns light in other parts of the spectrum into electricity.

Tech Watch

This Clear Plastic Material Harvests Solar Energy Without You Even Knowing It’s There

Researchers are developing transparent solar collectors that let sunlight in, while turning ultraviolet and near-infrared light into electricity

A bobtail squid hides on the ocean floor.

Research Into How Squid Camouflage Leads to An Ultra-Sharp Display for Televisions and Smartphones

Researchers at Rice University have created pixels 40 times smaller than those found in today’s LCD displays

These satellite images were captured by DigitalGlobe’s GeoEye-1 satellite on Oct. 6, 2014.

How the Artist Behind the Giant Landscape Portrait on the Mall Used a Super-Precise GPS Satellite System as a Paintbrush

To create the National Portrait Gallery’s “facescape,” artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada got some high-tech help

The Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, P.A. is celebrating its city in a long-term exhibition, "Pittsburgh a Tradition of Innovation."

Celebrating Pittsburgh, the City Behind Pro Football, Big Macs and the Polio Vaccine

The Pennsylvanian city had more lives than a cat and thrives as a hub of innovation

In Melissa Hill¹s class at Knight Enloe Elementary School in Roanoke, Alabama, kindergarteners were issued MIT-programmed tablets without any instructions.

Are Tablets the Way Out of Child Illiteracy?

Give them technology that they may have never seen before, and students’ brains will work wonders

An artist renders the proposed master plan of Masdar City.

Building the World’s First Carbon-Neutral City

Masdar City, near Abu Dhabi, boasts green buildings, a fleet of electric cars and massive solar arrays. But will the experiment work?

With ambient-light and motion sensors onboard, the Alba bulb will know when it should turn on—and just how bright it should be.

Tech Watch

This Smart Lightbulb Adjusts To You

Armed with motion and ambient light sensors, Stack’s Alba bulb learns and follows your patterns

The corner in downtown Hartford where the first pay phone was installed

The Pay Phone’s Journey From Patent to Urban Relic

The history of the device that is well on its way to becoming, well, history

The power of science fiction comes from the license to dream.

Round Table

What Idea From Science Fiction Would You Most Like To See Become Reality?

Astronomers, writers and an astronaut weigh in with some interesting answers

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