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Innovation / Technology

Part rocking chair, part charging station

10 Gifts to Celebrate Innovation

From glasses that fight jet lag to a plant that waters itself to a rocking chair that fires up the iPad, here are presents no one will forget

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Your Cell Phone Could Soon Become Part of a Massive Earthquake Detection System

In the future, your cell phone’s accelerometer could help detect earthquakes

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Take Two Pills and Charge Me in the Morning

Health and medical mobile apps are booming. But what happens when they shift from tracking data to diagnosing diseases?

IQ scores have significantly risen from one generation to the next.

Are You Smarter Than Your Grandfather? Probably Not.

Senility isn’t the answer; IQ scores are increasing with each generation. In a new book, political scientist James Flynn explains why

Elon Musk is a man of all trades when it comes to technology.

Elon Musk, the Rocket Man With a Sweet Ride

The winner of the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award for technology hopes to launch a revolution with his spaceship and electric car

Because cooking chores often fall to women, they are among the primary victims of smoke-related illnesses.

Open-Fire Stoves Kill Millions. How Do We Fix it?

Pollutants from crude stoves are responsible for many deaths – a D.C.-based NGO has a solution

The doodle that became Twitter

8 Ways People Are Taking Twitter Seriously

Born in desperation and long mocked, the social media platform has become a popular research and intelligence-gathering tool

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Shopping Gets Personal

Retailers are mining personal data to learn everything about you so they can help you help yourself to their products.

Are you ready for some travel?

10 Ways Travel Is Getting Better

Sure, it can get aggravating, but here are some innovations that are making it easier and more enjoyable to take a trip

A dark Manhattan after Superstorm Sandy

Can We Ever Stop Worrying About Blackouts?

Only if utility companies are able to make their power grids smart enough to spot outages and “heal” themselves

In the Future, You Will 3D Print Yourself as an Action Figure

In Tokyo, a reservation-only photo booth spits out three-dimensional replicas of its subjects

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The Sharing of the Screens

Get ready for the day when your big screen and your small screens work together to connect you with shows and products.

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We Can Bank Online. Why Can’t We Vote Online?

Voting experts David Becker and Thad Hall discuss the technologies that could forever change the way we register and cast our votes

Can a brain be Republican or Democrat?

Are Your Political Beliefs Hardwired?

Brain scans suggest Democrats and Republicans actually are different biologically. Welcome to the world of political neuroscience.

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Tracking the Twists and Turns of Hurricanes

Incredibly powerful supercomputers and a willingness to acknowledge that they’re not perfect has made weather scientists become much more effective in forecasting hurricanes.

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Turning Your Hand Into a Remote Control

A Microsoft prototype called Digits could put the power to control everything from TV screens to smart phones in a device you wear on your wrist

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Take That, Cancer!

The war on cancer has been going on for more than 40 years. Here are 10 small—and maybe not so small—victories scientists have had this year

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One Step Closer to a Brain

It sounds funny, but when Google created a huge computer network that was able to identify cats from YouTube videos, it was a big leap forward for artificial intelligence.

Meet the Qube drone, specially designed for police departments.

Drawing the Line on Drones

A lot of police departments will soon have their own flying robots. How far should they be allowed to go in shooting video from the sky?

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Patient, Heal Thyself

Cutting-edge research in regenerative medicine suggests that the future of health care may lie in getting the body to grow new parts and heal itself.

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