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Engineering

Cradle to Cradle laid out a strategy for reducing waste through smarter product design. Case in point: the book itself is plastic and waterproof; the pages can be recycled and the ink can be washed off for reuse.

The Inventors of Upcycling Published Their Manifesto In a Plastic Book. Why?

You might have heard the term in relation to crafting, but it means a lot more

A Rolls Royce concept for an autonomous ship

What Will the Autonomous Ship of the Future Look Like?

Shipbuilding companies are experimenting with self-driving, remotely-operated and crewless vessels

Iowa State University scientists modeled their artificial leaves after cottonwood leaves.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Are Artificial Trees the Future of Renewable Energy?

While a new device’s flapping leaves can generate a lot of energy, extracting it is far from a breeze

DragonflEye

Turning Dragonflies Into Drones

The DragonflEye project equips the insects with solar-powered backpacks that control their flight

Smart Glasses

The Innovative Spirit fy17

These “Smart Glasses” Adjust To Your Vision Automatically

The glasses’ liquid lenses change shape according to the distance of objects, making reading glasses and bifocals unnecessary

A view into Flint drinking water pipes, showing various types of iron corrosion and rust.

New Research

Scientists Now Know Exactly How Lead Got Into Flint’s Water

New report points blames corrosion and warns that fixing lead poisoning nationwide will require more work than we hoped

The structure of the battery is formed from a sheet of chromatography paper, divided into a grid of creases.

This Spit-Powered Biobattery Is Made From a Single Sheet of Paper

Researchers at Binghamton University are developing inexpensive paper biobatteries to power simple sensors that monitor things like blood sugar

While the peaks and valleys on people's ECGs may look identical to the untrained eye, they’re actually anything but.

Using Your Heartbeat as a Password

Researchers have developed a way of turning the unique rhythms of your heart into a form of identification

Earwax: Coming To a Home Air Filtration System Near You?

A clogged ear on a scuba trip led a Georgia Institute of Technology engineer to study the dust-filtering properties of the waxy substance

Soldiers schlepping heavy gear could one day use suits like these to help them walk farther, carry more, and experience less fatigue.

This Soft Exosuit Could Help People Walk Farther, Easier

Researchers at Harvard are developing an energy-saving supersuit that you might just wear one day

North Sense, about a square inch in size and enclosed in body-compatible silicone, can be anchored to the chest via titanium piercings.

This Artificial Sixth Sense Helps Humans Orient Themselves in the World

A London-based company is selling North Sense, a body-anchored device that vibrates when it faces magnetic north

Manu Prakesh spins his Paperfuge

New Research

How a Children’s Toy Could Help Fight Malaria

A 20-cent whirligig-like centrifuge could help doctors in remote regions diagnose disease

Was This Hidden Tunnel Used by the Knights Templar?

It’s unclear if the Knights Templar created the secret tunnel in Acre, Israel, as an escape route or a way to secretly export valuable items

A technique for implanting a 3D-printed "ear" with stem cells could revolutionize treatment for microtia patients.

New Research

Hear This, 2017: Scientists Are Creating New Ears With 3D-Printing and Human Stem Cells

Two decades after the “earmouse,” researchers have mastered a powerful technique for growing ears from fat-derived stem cells

Andreas Velten and his lab at the University of Wisconsin use this setup, complete with a fog chamber, to test their camera.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Camera Can See Around Corners

How a superfast, supersensitive camera could shake up automotive and exploration industries, as well as photography as we know it

Besides exceptional facial hair, what could these two gentlemen have in common?

Think Big

The Hidden Connections Between Darwin and the Physicist Who Championed Entropy

These magnificently bearded men both introduced a dose of randomness and irreversibility into the universe

Students of design at the Berlin Weissensee School of Art have prototyped a new device that tracks gestures in an amputated limb and translates them to computer commands.

This Digital Prosthesis Could Help Amputees Control Computers

Designers are developing a new device that tracks gestures in an amputated limb and translates them to computer commands, like scroll and click

The aftermath of the 1919 Great Molasses Flood

New Research

The Sticky Science Behind the Deadly Boston Molasses Disaster

Nearly 100 years after the massive molasses tank ruptured, scientists are finally sussing out how this tragedy occurred

In the team's new approach, the whole shape of the wing can be changed, and twisted uniformly along its length, by activating two small motors that apply a twisting pressure to each wingtip.

NASA’s New, Super-Efficient Airplane Wing Comes With a Twist

The agency and several universities have designed a flexible wing that could reduce the cost of building and fueling airplanes

Eric the robot stands tall once again

Cool Finds

Britain’s First Robot Lives Again

A recreation of the spark-spitting Eric the Robot is once again delighting audiences

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