Technology | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/technology/RSS feed for TechnologyenFri, 26 Jun 2026 21:44:58 +0000Deep in the Mexican Jungle, Archaeologists Discovered a Lost Maya City That May Yield Clues About the Civilization Just Before It Collapsedhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/deep-in-the-mexican-jungle-archaeologists-discovered-a-lost-maya-city-that-may-yield-clues-about-the-civilization-just-before-it-collapsed-180989030/Researchers hacked through more than three miles of vegetation to get to the site, which lies out of bounds of familiar logging tracks. There, they found unique carved stelae and altarsFri, 26 Jun 2026 21:44:58 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/deep-in-the-mexican-jungle-archaeologists-discovered-a-lost-maya-city-that-may-yield-clues-about-the-civilization-just-before-it-collapsed-180989030/Scientists Have Deciphered the Surviving Fragments of a 2,000-Year-Old Philosophical Treatise Frozen in Time by Mount Vesuvius' Eruptionhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-have-deciphered-the-surviving-fragments-of-a-2000-year-old-philosophical-treatise-frozen-in-time-by-mount-vesuvius-eruption-180989036/The papyrus manuscript was part of a vast library preserved by volcanic ash. Now, the remaining passages—which examine ethics, knowledge and human nature—are accessible for the first time since 79 C.E.Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:51:06 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-have-deciphered-the-surviving-fragments-of-a-2000-year-old-philosophical-treatise-frozen-in-time-by-mount-vesuvius-eruption-180989036/Everyone Wanted Alexander Graham Bell to Debut the Telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. He Almost Avoided It Entirelyhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/everyone-wanted-alexander-graham-bell-to-debut-the-telephone-at-the-philadelphia-centennial-exhibition-he-almost-walked-away-first-180989016/The inventor had to be persuaded to make the trip from Boston, then balked at the thought of a delay in debuting his device. But history interceded, and his American innovation got its proper accoladesThu, 25 Jun 2026 15:05:04 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/everyone-wanted-alexander-graham-bell-to-debut-the-telephone-at-the-philadelphia-centennial-exhibition-he-almost-walked-away-first-180989016/Gray Whales Are Getting Struck by Ships in San Francisco Bay. Could This New A.I.-Powered Tech Save Them?https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/gray-whales-are-getting-struck-by-ships-in-san-francisco-bay-could-this-new-ai-powered-tech-save-them-180989009/The recently launched system involves two thermal cameras that can detect gray whales up to four miles away, giving ships enough time to slow down or change course—and avoid running into the marine mammalsThu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/gray-whales-are-getting-struck-by-ships-in-san-francisco-bay-could-this-new-ai-powered-tech-save-them-180989009/100 Years Ago, Students Across the U.S. Took the First SAT. Today, Relatively Few Colleges Require the Test. Where Is It Headed?https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/100-years-ago-students-across-the-us-took-the-first-sat-today-relatively-few-colleges-require-the-test-where-is-it-headed-180988997/The standardized exam has evolved over the past century, all in the name of testing for college readiness. Now, it has become a symbol of the American higher education systemTue, 23 Jun 2026 16:16:05 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/100-years-ago-students-across-the-us-took-the-first-sat-today-relatively-few-colleges-require-the-test-where-is-it-headed-180988997/Five Advances That Helped Turn a Night Out at the Movies Into the All-Enveloping Experience It Has Becomehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/five-advances-that-helped-turn-night-out-movies-into-all-enveloping-experience-it-has-become-180988820/The power of film is often in its ability to feel larger than life. Movie makers have been developing ways to accentuate that aspect for more than a centuryWed, 17 Jun 2026 13:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/five-advances-that-helped-turn-night-out-movies-into-all-enveloping-experience-it-has-become-180988820/Every Generation of Teenagers Redefines Pop Culture Through Its Favorite Music, Fads, Movies and Trendshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/every-generation-teenagers-redefines-pop-culture-through-favorite-music-fads-movies-trends-180988821/When new government policies allowed kids more time to grown up, the teenager was born. And every decade or so, they’ve changed the ways they entertain themselves … and everyone elseWed, 17 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/every-generation-teenagers-redefines-pop-culture-through-favorite-music-fads-movies-trends-180988821/Cellphones Were Created to Untether Us. Then They Got Smart and Evolved Into an Omnipotent Appendagehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/cellphones-were-created-to-untether-us-then-they-got-smart-and-evolved-into-an-omnipotent-appendage-180988882/One device made it possible to hold a telephone, a watch, a calculator, the mailbox, credit cards, a meteorologist, a television, a detailed map of the globe, millions of songs and books … all in one hand.Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/cellphones-were-created-to-untether-us-then-they-got-smart-and-evolved-into-an-omnipotent-appendage-180988882/This Unsung Black Developer Unlocked the Code to Turning a Video Game Console Into a Virtual Living Room Arcadehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/unsung-black-developer-unlocked-code-turning-video-game-consolo-into-virtual-living-room-arcade-180988819/Jerry Lawson’s Channel F system was the first to put games on interchangeable cartridges, paving the way for Atari, Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStationTue, 16 Jun 2026 13:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/unsung-black-developer-unlocked-code-turning-video-game-consolo-into-virtual-living-room-arcade-180988819/When Clarence Birdseye Tasted the Trout That Had Been Frozen by Inuit Fishermen, It Changed the Way We Buy Foodhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/when-clarence-birdseye-tasted-trout-had-been-frozen-inuit-fisherman-changed-way-buy-food-180988815/The inventive entrepreneur concluded that the faster things were frozen, the less damage was done to the structure of the food. Once thawed, they were “exactly like fresh”Mon, 15 Jun 2026 13:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/when-clarence-birdseye-tasted-trout-had-been-frozen-inuit-fisherman-changed-way-buy-food-180988815/How the Hashtag Became the Way to Instantly Invite Literally Everyone Into the Conversationhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-hashtag-became-way-instantly-invite-literally-everyone-into-conversation-180988813/In the nascent days of Twitter, users wanted a quick way to cluster posts about a single subject. Someone suggested using a pound sign, and #TheRestIsHistoryFri, 12 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-hashtag-became-way-instantly-invite-literally-everyone-into-conversation-180988813/Scientists Invented a Disease to Test Whether A.I. Knew It Was Fake. Then, Chatbots Started Saying It Was Realhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-invented-a-disease-to-test-whether-ai-knew-it-was-fake-then-chatbots-started-saying-it-was-real-180988924/The eye condition bixonimania doesn't exist, but neither bots nor some researchers caught that the content was fabricated—despite obvious cluesThu, 11 Jun 2026 17:59:36 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-invented-a-disease-to-test-whether-ai-knew-it-was-fake-then-chatbots-started-saying-it-was-real-180988924/Google Wants to Release 32 Million Mosquitoes in California and Florida. Here's Whyhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/google-wants-to-release-32-million-mosquitoes-in-california-and-florida-heres-why-180988892/The company is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for permission to release millions of sterilized mosquitoes in order to fight their disease-spreading counterpartsWed, 03 Jun 2026 19:04:37 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/google-wants-to-release-32-million-mosquitoes-in-california-and-florida-heres-why-180988892/Mathematicians Puzzled Over a Famous Problem for 80 Years. Now, They've Used A.I. to Identify a Clever Solutionhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mathematicians-puzzled-over-a-famous-problem-for-80-years-now-theyve-used-ai-to-identify-a-clever-solution-180988889/In 1946, the mathematician Paul Erdős posed the unit distance problem—and suggested a winning strategy. An A.I. model has now landed on a better one. Why didn't humans get there first?Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:14:17 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mathematicians-puzzled-over-a-famous-problem-for-80-years-now-theyve-used-ai-to-identify-a-clever-solution-180988889/Scientists Used A.I. to Redesign a Microbe's Machinery to Function Without a Key Ingredient of Lifehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-used-ai-to-redesign-a-microbes-machinery-to-function-without-a-key-ingredient-of-life-180988802/Although the researchers did not create an entire cell that could function without a crucial building block, the findings represent a big step in synthetic biology and provide a glimpse at how Earth’s earliest organisms may have livedWed, 27 May 2026 15:46:47 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-used-ai-to-redesign-a-microbes-machinery-to-function-without-a-key-ingredient-of-life-180988802/The National Museum of American History Is Displaying 250 Objects to Commemorate the Country’s Big Birthday. Here’s the Story Behind Ten of the Artifactshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-national-museum-of-american-history-is-displaying-250-objects-to-commemorate-the-countrys-big-birthday-heres-the-story-behind-ten-of-the-artifacts-180988745/Featuring iconic and everyday items, including a Revolutionary War gunboat and a first-generation iPod, “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness” is open now at the museumThu, 14 May 2026 19:03:48 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-national-museum-of-american-history-is-displaying-250-objects-to-commemorate-the-countrys-big-birthday-heres-the-story-behind-ten-of-the-artifacts-180988745/These Marine Algae Glow When Waves Disturb Them. Their Bioluminescence Could Power Electricity-Free Lamps of the Futurehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-marine-algae-glow-when-waves-disturb-them-their-bioluminescence-could-power-electricity-free-lamps-of-the-future-180988721/The single-celled organisms usually shimmer for mere milliseconds, but researchers figured out how to sustain their illumination. The technology could one day be used to light robots' ways in the deep sea or spaceWed, 13 May 2026 15:43:33 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-marine-algae-glow-when-waves-disturb-them-their-bioluminescence-could-power-electricity-free-lamps-of-the-future-180988721/This Stockholm Neighborhood Was Built on Ambitious Sustainability Goals. When It Came Up Short, It Doubled Down and Became a Blueprint for Othershttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-stockholm-neighborhood-was-built-on-ambitious-sustainability-goals-when-it-came-up-short-it-doubled-down-and-became-a-blueprint-for-others-180988672/The original plan for Hammarby Sjöstad was for an eco-village aimed at attracting the Olympics. They never came, but the locals moved in and, with upgrades, hope to be carbon neutral by 2030Tue, 05 May 2026 14:06:27 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-stockholm-neighborhood-was-built-on-ambitious-sustainability-goals-when-it-came-up-short-it-doubled-down-and-became-a-blueprint-for-others-180988672/