Special Report

Innovation for Good

A look at the researchers, inventors and community leaders who are bringing creativity and ingenuity to today's biggest challenges

Made Possible Through the Support of

Andrew Brookes/Getty Images

Transplanting a human protein, known for promoting growth, into crops may engender larger, heavier and more bountiful plants.

Researchers Transfer a Human Protein Into Plants to Supersize Them

Rasha Alqahtani, an 18-year-old from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, won a third award in the behavioral and social sciences category of the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for her prototype of a video game feature to assess anxiety. In addition to her STEM research, Alqahtani is a poet and artist.

This Teenager Is Developing a Video Game That Assesses Your Mental Health

Game developers consulted with historians to create accurate depictions of 19th-century Native American life. The new version features playable Native characters.

New 'Oregon Trail' Game Revisits Westward Expansion From Native Perspective

Health

The microCOVID project was started by a group of friends and housemates who wanted to be more equitable about safety precautions.

This Calculator Estimates Your Risk of Getting Covid-19

Can a machine be taught to understand the plant world?

Is This Weed-Spotting, Yield-Predicting Rover the Future of Farming?

Elizabeth Gamillo

Firefighters walk towards one of the towers at the World Trade Center before it collapsed on September 11, 2001.

9/11 Changed How Doctors Treat PTSD

Rasha Alqahtani, an 18-year-old from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, won a third award in the behavioral and social sciences category of the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for her prototype of a video game feature to assess anxiety. In addition to her STEM research, Alqahtani is a poet and artist.

This Teenager Is Developing a Video Game That Assesses Your Mental Health

After the cells developed into mini-brains, the optic cups formed 30 days later and fully matured at 50 days.

Mini Brains Grown From Stem Cells Developed Light-Sensitive, Eye-Like Features

Elizabeth Gamillo

Environment

Environmental scientist Alexandra Ordoñez Alvarez from the University of Queensland collects data in Far Northern Great Barrier Reef on Ashmore Bank.

Scientists Complete the First Map of the World's Coral Reefs

Can a machine be taught to understand the plant world?

Is This Weed-Spotting, Yield-Predicting Rover the Future of Farming?

Elizabeth Gamillo

Orca will be able to capture the equivalent of the annual emissions made by 790 cars.

World's Largest Carbon Capture Plant Opens in Iceland

Scientists recreated the famous beef, which is prized for its fat marbling, or sashi.

Scientists Create First 3-D Printed Wagyu Beef

ELSA-d is a demonstration device designed to show that space debris removal is possible.

Can the World's First Space Sweeper Make a Dent in Orbiting Debris?

Education

Through the Freedmen's Bureau, formerly enslaved people were able to obtain formal legal recognition of their marriages.

Newly Digitized Freedmen's Bureau Records Help Black Americans Trace Their Ancestry

Users play as Kendra Turner, an intern who uncovers the dark past—and present—of the fictional Blackhaven Hall Historical Society.

New Video Game Confronts Slavery's Legacy Through a Historical Mystery

The Anacostia Community Museum was able to serve incarcerated audiences through use of newly issued tablets at the D.C. Jail.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Reaching Out to Those Behind Bars

Group portrait of three Chinese children, each holding an American flag and a Chinese flag, in a room in Chicago, 1929

Illinois Becomes First State to Mandate Teaching Asian American History

Isis Davis-Marks

Moments that highlight the joy and excitement of scientific inquiry—such as this student using a Van de Graaff generator—can spark interest in a STEM-related career. Here are some career-focused resources that can supplement that interest.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Why These Myths Perpetuate Who Can Work in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Careers