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Engineering

Wang with the toy jeep

This New Nanogenerator Could Make Cars Much More Efficient

Electrodes placed on a car’s tires can harness the energy generated when rubber meets road

Hiram Bingham called Machu Picchu “the most important ruin discovered in South America since the Spanish conquest.”

What It’s Like to Travel the Inca Road Today

A rocky rollicking journey to Machu Picchu along one of the greatest engineering feats in the Americas

New Research

How Much Water Did Rome’s Aqueducts Really Carry?

Not as much as previously thought

Cool Finds

How Bug Guts Slow Down Planes and What Engineers are Doing About it

Designing the most fuel-efficient plane means keeping wings free of sticky exploded bugs

New Research

60 NASA Scientists are Trying to Build a Better Parachute

The Supreme Council of Parachute Experts wants to construct a parachute that can help a heavier craft land on Mars

University of Vermont engineering student Joseph Maser gazes down at the prototype of the inflatable airlock for space stations and vehicles that he and three other students built.

Made by College Seniors, These Seven Products Give Us a Glimpse Into the Future

Engineering students at universities across the country took these projects from sketch to reality in one year

None

Ask Smithsonian: Will the Leaning Tower of Pisa Ever Topple?

Imperceptible changes are occurring, but no worries, a collapse is not in the forecast

Revolution Bioengineering is working to genetically engineer petunias that continuously change from pink to blue and back again.

Art Meets Science

Would You Like to Grow Color-Changing Flowers?

A Colorado company is working to genetically engineer petunias that change colors throughout the day

No snowman is perfect, but a bit of physics know-how can help in the construction process.

Ask Smithsonian

Do You Want To Build a Snowman? Physics Can Help

Here’s what you need to know about the science of constructing your very own Olaf

The BelAZ 75710 is the world's largest dump truck — note people in the bottom right for scale.

Cool Finds

This Is the World’s Largest Dump Truck

The mega Earth-mover is hard at work digging a coal mine in Russia

New Research

Why the Pantheon Hasn’t Crumbled

Ancient Roman concrete has some benefits over modern equivalents

A 2013 view of a channel in the middle section of China’s South-North Water Diversion project

Trending Today

China Just Opened the World’s Largest Water Diversion Project

An unprecedented engineering project sends water to China’s parched North

G. Wayne Clough

Anthropocene

Why Engineering Will Be Vital in a Changing Climate

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough offers personal insights on the realities of climate change and the best ways for society to adapt

A full-size Boeing 757 tail equipped with sweeping jets was tested in a wind tunnel at the Ames Research Center.

Designing a Smaller, Lighter Airplane Tail

With engineers from Caltech, Boeing and NASA, Israel Wygnanski is ushering in a new era of fuel-efficient airplane design

The proposed canal routes through Nicaragua.

Cool Finds

Nicaragua Is Going Ahead With a Massive Canal That Will Bisect the Country

According to experts, the project will likely wreak havoc on both Nicaraguans and the country’s environment

The Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool

Cool Finds

How to Protect the Lincoln Memorial From Crazy Flooding

The capital city’s decades-old system of levees to keep water back during storms and flooding is getting an upgrade

A worker installs filters on an experimental carbon capture and storage project in Spremberg, Germany, July 19, 2010.

Trending Today

It’s Still Possible to Stop the Worst of Climate Change

Say so long to fossil fuels

A schematic diagram from US patent application US20140265690 A1

Cool Finds

Finally, a Working (Though Limited) Hoverboard!

If you have a huge aluminum or copper sheet, this hoverboad looks pretty fun

2014 Ingenuity Awards

The 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award Winners

These 10 innovators in science, history, society and the arts are a testament to the imagination and hard work that define the nation’s spirit

The Aral Sea as of August 19, 2014. The black outline shows the lake's extent in 1960.

Trending Today

The Aral Sea Is Pretty Much Gone

The fourth largest lake in the world is less than a tenth of its former size

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