Engineering

Marc Abrahams, creator of the Ig Nobel Prizes, speaks at the 2003 ceremony. The first ceremony was held in 1991.

Smart Toilets and Licking Rocks: Ig Nobel Prizes Celebrate Strange Scientific Achievements

Winning research projects reanimated dead spiders and examined how anchovy sexual activity influences ocean mixing

Across the United States, around 70 percent of coal travels by rail.

Using A.I. to Track Air Pollution From Open-Top Coal Trains

Scientists in California are working with communities—and a suite of tools—to better monitor air quality

Firefighters, still dressed in their smoke- and soot-stained bunker gear, take a breather after a harrowing day of battling a particularly stubborn brush fire.

15 Scenes of Americans at Work

These highlights from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest commemorate Labor Day

Artist Oscar Nilsson based the facial reconstruction on DNA and skeletal analyses.

See the Face of a Woman Who Died in a Shipwreck in 1628

A new facial reconstruction vividly resurrects Gertrude, one of 30 people killed during the sinking of the Swedish warship "Vasa"

The research team stands alongside the SARS-CoV-2 wet cyclone aerosol sampler they developed.

New Device Can Detect Covid in the Air Within Five Minutes

Researchers report the technology is 77 to 83 percent accurate in finding any of the coronavirus variants in a room

A Fuller-style geodesic dome known as Weatherbreak is gradually rising 25 feet in the air in the Flag Hall of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on the National Mall.

The Architectural Genius of the Geodesic Dome and the Challenge of Putting It All Back Together

A new exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History puts the engineering innovation back on display after decades in storage

An animated rendering of one of Leonardo's designs for a flying machine

Explore Animated Models, Digitized Sketches and More in Leonardo da Vinci's Largest-Ever Online Retrospective

The new Google Arts & Culture hub features high-resolution scans, 3D renderings and artificial intelligence experiments

Why do chickens have wings if they can’t use them to fly?

Why Are Chickens So Bad at Flying? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

The white spots on the edges of a monarch butterfly's wings might give it an advantage while migrating, according to new research.

Monarch Butterflies’ Signature White Spots May Help Them Fly

These long-distance migrants could get a boost from their striking coloration, which may reduce drag by heating and cooling air unevenly

Turkish world-record-holding free-diver Sahika Ercumen swims amid plastic waste on June 27, 2020, to raise awareness about plastic pollution.

Scientists Discover Microbes That Could Revolutionize Plastic Recycling

These bacteria and fungi can break down certain plastics at cool temperatures, saving money and energy compared to some current methods

Range anxiety is still a major hurdle for prospective EV buyers.

What Will It Take to Charge Electric Vehicles Faster?

To get more EVs on the road, these scientists are working to charge a car in the same time that it takes to fuel up at a gas station

The concrete and mortar used to build this 387-square-foot, single-story house contains 8 percent diaper shreds.

See the House Engineers Built From Dirty Diapers

Using concrete and mortar made with shredded diapers could address issues like plastic waste and sand shortages, per a new study

Infinitely many copies of a 13-sided shape can be arranged with no overlaps or gaps in a pattern that never repeats.

At Long Last, Mathematicians Have Found a Shape With a Pattern That Never Repeats

Experts have searched for decades for a polygon that only makes non-repeating patterns. But no one knew it was possible until now

A $25 million plan to uncover 1,100 feet of Jordan Creek and build three bridges is moving forward in Springfield, Missouri.

How 'Daylighting' Buried Waterways Is Revitalizing Cities Across America

Urban centers are exhuming creeks and streams once covered up to control floodwater—and bringing life back in the process

Sharpshooters use an appendage called an anal stylus to catapult droplets of pee.

These Tiny Bugs Urinate by Flinging Droplets of Pee

Sharpshooters are the first example of “superpropulsion” in a living organism, according to new research

Large-scale production of green hydrogen is seen as an alternative to the use of fossil fuels in the coming decades. Latin America is well-positioned to play a large part in this new industry and already has several projects in the works.

Can Green Hydrogen Help Power Latin America?

In anticipation of future demand, several projects are underway in the region to produce this clean energy source

Living Carbon's modified trees on the left next to unmodified trees on the right.

Genetically Modified Trees Are Taking Root to Capture Carbon

A start-up created the plants to help combat the climate crisis, but they have so far only been tested in a lab setting

Neal V. Loving in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1954

In 1946, a Black Pilot Returned to the Cockpit After a Double Amputation

Neal V. Loving, whose memoir will soon be released by Smithsonian Books, built his own planes, ran a flight school and conducted research for the Air Force

On January 9, 2023, Spanish aeronautic engineer Juan de la Cierva became the first person to fly an autogiro.

How Quixote’s Windmills Inspired a Spanish Inventor to Envision Vertical Flight

The autogiro finds new fans a century after its first liftoff

Innovators may want to create soft robots that more accurately replicate the dynamics of an elephant’s trunk.

Seven Scientific Discoveries From 2022 That May Lead to New Inventions

Nature is a breeding ground for innovative solutions to everything from aging to plastic pollution

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