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Innovation / Technology

Future of Energy

Can an Algae-Powered Lamp Quench Our Thirst For Energy?

A French chemist is developing street lights that can absorb carbon dioxide 200 times more efficiently than trees

A New Car Proves It Can Fly (Barely)

A video demonstration by the Aeromobil may have you thinking it’s best to stay grounded for now

Next Year, Your Smartphone Might Actually Charge Itself Using Solar Power

“Invisible” solar cells may soon turn smartphone displays into battery-assisting solar panels

The Perfect Way to Ripen Fruit and Other Ingenious Inventions Recognized by the Dyson Awards

Entries into the annual inventors competition include an Iron Man-inspired suit and a printer that fits in your bag

This “Death Watch” Allegedly Counts Down the Last Seconds of Your Life

A watch that predicts when its wearer will expire is proving popular with the masses. But why?

Ninety percent of all goods travel via the shipping industry.

How the Shipping Industry is the Secret Force Driving the World Economy

What percent of goods are shipped via the sea? It’s much higher than you think

3D printed object produced by the Peachy Printer

Is a $100 3D Printer Too Good to Be True?

An inventor has created a 3D printer that uses lasers to sculpt objects out of resin

A lot of factors go into making a deal.

10 Things We’ve Learned About Negotiation

Make the first offer. Don’t use “I” too much. And maybe it’s not a good idea to look your counterpart straight in the eye

This Controversial Invention Promises to Banish All Web Ads

Devices like AdTrap takes users back to simpler times, but they also threaten the way much of the internet does business

A new focus of hospitals is keeping you from ending up here.

How Hospitals are Trying to Keep You Out of the Hospital

With a big boost from supercomputers, hospitals are shifting more of their focus to identifying people who need their help staying healthy

“Alexis”

This Photographer Shoots Portraits With a Thermal Camera

Artist Linda Alterwitz uses a camera that detects radiant heat, instead of light, uncovering hidden thermal signatures in everyday scenes

The telegraph key used to send the famous message “What Hath God Wroght” over the prototype telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C. in 1844

How the Telegraph Went From Semaphore to Communication Game Changer

Samuel Morse was an artist by trade, but to the world he’s best known for connecting the dots —and dashes— that forever changed the way we communicate

Blizzident is similar to a mouth-guard, but it is lined with rows of bristles.

Checking the Claim: A 3-D Printed Toothbrush That Cleans Your Mouth in Six Seconds

A startup has developed a custom-fit tool that can brush the entire surface of your teeth all at once

Nest Protect, the latest product to come from Nest Labs, reimagines the lowly household smoke detector.

For $129, Nest’s New Smoke Detector Talks to You

Tony Fadell’s startup unveils the Protect, a smoke detector far less annoying than others on the market

5 Smithsonian Scientific Research Projects Shut Down by the Shutdown

The federal government shutdown has affected astronomy, paleontology fieldwork and research into animal behavior at the Smithsonian

Designer Dave Hakkens bills Phonebloks, his concept for a new smartphone, as “a phone worth keeping.”

Is This the Last Smartphone You’ll Ever Need?

A Dutch designer has come up with a smartphone design that allows every essential function to be easily upgradeable

New sensing technology reveals that the alpine swift, a small migratory bird, can remain aloft for more than 200 days without touching down.

This Bird Can Stay in Flight for Six Months Straight

A lightweight sensor attached to alpine swifts reveals that the small migratory birds can remain aloft for more than 200 days without touching down

What is appropriate Google Glass behavior?

Will Google Glass Make Us Better People? Or Just Creepy?

Some think wearable tech is just the thing to help us break bad habits, others that it will let us invade privacy like never before

New testing of treated wastewater from fracking shows that it contains high levels of radioactive radium, along with chloride and bromide.

Radioactive Wastewater From Fracking Is Found in a Pennsylvania Stream

New testing shows that high levels of radium are being released into the watershed that supplies Pittsburgh’s drinking water

The accelerometer chip in iPhones can accurately detect seismic movement, and perhaps even provide a few crucial seconds of warning before the most energetic waves from an earthquake arrive.

Your Smartphone Could Someday Warn You That Earthquake Waves Are About to Hit

The accelerometer chip in iPhones can detect seismic movement and may even provide a few seconds of warning before the most violent shaking strikes

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