Innovations

Loss-of-Confidence Project Aims to Foster Culture of Self-Correction in the Scientific Record

Psychologists can submit a statement on how they lost confidence in one of their own findings to help end the stigma around admitting errors

New Animal Overpass Is Already Protecting Critters in Washington State

The bridge over Interstate 90 will allow animals to cross the busy roadway and connects wildlife in the North and South Cascades

"Let’s Get Lost" by linn meyers at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Museum Visitors Can Play This Wall Art Like an Instrument

An artist, musician, experience designer and app developer meet for coffee. This multi-sensory installation is the result

Record companies released stereo demonstration albums that showcased how sound could move from left to right, creating a sense of movement.

How Savvy Advertising Helped Make Stereo Technology Mainstream

Stereo demonstrations and colorful ads sold customers on the two-channel sound technology when it was introduced 60 years ago

Clean and compelling, Spacewar! pitted two player-controlled ships against one another and rewarded superior strategists. The PDP-1 lacked the memory to accommodate AI opponents.

How the First Popular Video Game Kicked Off Generations of Virtual Adventure

A simple contest of sci-fi strategy, ‘Spacewar!’ ushered in what is now a 140 billion dollar industry

The advantages of gear-and-lever voting machine, c. 1898, over the ballot box were many, including that it kept a running count, thus speeding up the reporting of results.

When Pulling a Lever Tallied the Vote

An innovative 1890s gear-and-lever voting machine mechanized the counting of the ballots so they could be tallied in minutes, not hours or days

Sans Forgetica is the Typeface You Won't Forget

This “memory-boosting” font is stylized with a left-leaning slant and gaps in each letter meant to encourage your eyes to linger longer

In the installation, astronaut Mae Jemison appears as a 3D rendering (above, left) and discusses her career and those of other women involved in the space program.

A Hologram of the First Woman of Color in Space Debuted on Museum Day

An installation at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum featuring Mae Jemison highlights diversity in space exploration

A Boeing 747 takes flight.

Traveling the World Was Never the Same Once the Boeing 747 Debuted

Wave goodbye to the beloved jet that took us to new heights

RangerBot is an autonomous underwater vehicle designed to identify and kill crown-of-thorns starfish by lethal injection.

Sea-Star Murdering Robots Are Deployed in the Great Barrier Reef

The RangerBot is a new line of defense against coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish

Could This Brain Implant Stop Epilepsy Seizures?

A new approach, which involves an implantable device delivering neurotransmitters to the brain, proves effective in mice

The next generation of robotic hands will have to be extremely dexterous, but also simple to build. The three-fingered version designed by engineer Matei Ciocarlie can adapt to a wide array of objects, yet hold each of them in a firm grasp (composite image shows the more open hold on an apple and a tighter pinch on a marker). Its semi-soft fingers are controlled by a series of wire “tendons” that lead to a single motor in a robot’s wrist.

The Quest to Build Robotic Hands

Humans can readily manipulate all kinds of objects. But robots need better mechanics—and a lot more intelligence

When Was the Earliest Internet Search?

Years before the birth of the Google, a forgotten experiment laid the groundwork for the ubiquitous search engine

Betsy Congdon, lead engineer for Parker Solar Probe’s heat shield, looks on as technician Tony Ahan attaches the interface plates that will allow the heat shield above them to eventually be installed onto the spacecraft.

Behind the Scenes With the Spacecraft That Will Soar Through the Sun's Atmosphere

The probe, which launches Sunday, will attempt to solve enduring mysteries about the sun

Fears materialized when a series of deadly botulism cases struck unassuming consumers throughout the country.

The Botulism Outbreak That Gave Rise to America’s Food Safety System

In late 1919 and early 1920, scientists and canners worked with the government to protect the public from the deadly toxin

Most garages can double as EV charging stations.

For Electric Vehicles to Take Off, Apartments Need to Come with Charging Stations

As EVs make more inroads, giving tenants somewhere to plug in their cars could become a selling point

Forest near Sarayaku, Ecuador

This Simulation Maps the Rise and Fall of Species Over 800,000 Years

Biogeographers have built a virtual world to trace the emergence and extinction of species during the last eight glacial cycles

The Unexpected Afterlife of Ill-Gotten Wildlife Goods

Contraband pelts and scales can serve as educational tools, add to research collections and even offer clues back to smugglers

Humans and other animals share large amounts of genetic material, making geneticists rethink the traditional notion of inheritance.

Genes That Jump Between Species Could Rewrite Our Understanding of Evolution

Horizontal movement of genetic material is widespread across animals, challenging traditional notions of inheritance

‘Earthrise,’ which appeared on the cover of the second and third Whole Earth Catalog, was taken by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders during lunar orbit, Dec. 24, 1968.

50 Years Ago, the Whole Earth Catalog Launched and Reinvented the Environmental Movement

The publication gave rise to a new community of environmental thinkers, where hippies and technophiles found common ground

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