Engineering

Future of Energy

Using Kirigami, the Japanese Art of Paper Cutting, to Build Better Solar Panels

Researchers have used the art technique to make light panels that twist to follow the sun

September 15, 2015

The Innovative Spirit

This Exoskeleton Is Actually Controlled by the Wearer’s Thoughts

Engineer Jose Contreras-Vidal’s “brain-machine interface” uses electrical activity in a person’s brain to move a robotic exoskeleton

September 14, 2015

The Innovative Spirit

When a Trip to the Zoo Resulted in an Engineering Breakthrough

Megan Leftwich, an engineering professor at George Washington University, is building a robotic flipper based on her observations of sea lions

August 10, 2015

New Research

Curly Hair Science Is Revealing How Different Locks React to Heat

A mechanical engineer tackles the understudied problem of how to style curls without frying hair

August 4, 2015

New Research

This Robotic Insect Can Jump on Water

Why? Because it’s cool

August 3, 2015

Could a Wind Turbine Be Coming to a Bridge Near You?

Engineers find, in a simulation, that two wind turbines mounted under a bridge in the Canary Islands could power hundreds of homes

July 31, 2015

Cool Finds

Kids Can Build Their Own Lego Prosthetics

Prototype system brings a bit of fun to prosthetics

July 30, 2015

Legos Go Sustainable, and Everything (Really) is Awesome

To reduce its carbon footprint, the toy company is searching for a sustainable material for its bricks by 2030

July 28, 2015

How Are Universities Grooming the Next Great Innovators?

Design and entrepreneurship courses at Stanford and other institutions are fundamentally changing higher education

July 14, 2015

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

July 10, 2015

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

July 2015

New Research

How Much Water Did Rome’s Aqueducts Really Carry?

Not as much as previously thought

June 11, 2015

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

June 3, 2015

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

May 29, 2015

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

May 15, 2015

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

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

March 9, 2015

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

February 14, 2015

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

January 27, 2015

Cool Finds

This Is the World’s Largest Dump Truck

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

January 6, 2015

New Research

Why the Pantheon Hasn’t Crumbled

Ancient Roman concrete has some benefits over modern equivalents

December 16, 2014