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

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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

In 2019 alone, malaria killed 400,000 people, with most individuals residing in sub-Saharan Africa. Children under five are more vulnerable to the detrimental effects of malaria, and most deaths occur within this age group.

The World Health Organization Endorses the World's First Malaria Vaccine

Elizabeth Gamillo

The device includes a hemofilter made up of silicon semiconductor membranes that remove waste products from blood and a bioreactor containing renal tubule cells that regulate water volume, electrolyte balance and other metabolic functions.

This Bioartificial Organ Could One Day Save 'Millions' Living With Kidney Disorders

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

Environment

LifeLab Design's WarmLife vests are 30 percent warmer than clothing of comparable weight and bulk.

This Apparel Company Wants to Have a Profound Effect on Your Energy Use

Frederick Reimers

NOAA and Saildrone deployed the fleet of five hurricane-class vessels in the Atlantic’s “hurricane belt” in the summer months leading up to this year’s tropical storm season.

'Saildrone' Captures First-Ever Video From Inside a Category 4 Hurricane

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan for their independent work that revolutionized the construction of molecules.

Scientists Behind 'Ingenious' Molecule-Building Tool Win Nobel Prize in Chemistry

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

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