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Innovations

This large mosaic of the Crab Nebula, which formed after a supernova explosion, was assembled from 24 individual exposures captured by Hubble Space Telescope over three months.

When Will the Next Supernova in Our Galaxy Occur?

Scientists have new tools at their disposal to detect and study the dramatic explosion of a star

In the upcoming exhibition, "Nation of Speed," the Sharp DR 90 Nemesis (above: museum workers install the aircraft in the new gallery) will go on view when the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum reopens this fall. 

How the Nemesis Air Racers Redefined Speed

For Jon and Patricia Sharp, crafting and flying the sleek airplanes was as much about sport as it was about ingenuity

This mosaic depicts the International Space Station pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab.

Scientists Just Sent Two Batches of Stem Cells Into Space

Experiments on the International Space Station will help show how human cells grow and age in zero gravity

Surgeon Bartley Griffith examines the pig heart before the transplant.

Why Did the First Human Patient to Receive a Pig Heart Transplant Die?

Scientists have come up with at least four explanations

A green crab, Carcinus maenas

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

New Hampshire Distillery Makes Whiskey Out of Invasive Crabs

Each bottle uses about one pound of green crabs

The James Webb Space Telescope's first Deep Field image

NASA Releases First Breathtaking Images Taken by James Webb Space Telescope

The five pictures from the most powerful space observatory ever launched offer a deep look back in time and the promise of stellar things to come

An artist's illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope to Release Color Images Tuesday

Scientists offer a few details about the types of images that will be shared

Researchers say photo recognition could help scientists learn more about how seals move around.

Introducing Facial Recognition Software for Seals

A neural network, trained using thousands of photos of harbor seals, offers a noninvasive way of telling the pinnipeds apart

About 3.8 million concussions from sports-related injuries occur every year in the U.S.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

This Wearable Sensor May Help Detect Concussions Early in Athletes

Researchers developed a small, flexible patch that sticks on the back of an athlete’s neck and can identify whiplash

A robotic finger coated with living human skin heals itself after researchers covered it with a collagen bandage.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

How Humanlike Do We Really Want Robots to Be?

The latest development in robotics wraps a mechanical finger in human skin, leading to broader questions about the future of cyborg technology

Researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College will study how the four-day workweek affects workplace productivity, employee wellbeing, gender equality and the environment.   

The U.K. Is Launching the World’s Largest Four-Day Workweek Experiment

More than 3,300 employees at 70 companies get an extra day off each week for the next six months—without a reduction in pay

Macintosh computers—and the company that created them—changed the PC world.

New Polish Museum Bytes Into the History of Apple Products

Over 1,000 artifacts get to the core of the iconic brand’s popularity

Like a regular sail uses wind to navigate across an ocean, solar sails use the pressure exerted by sunlight to move through space. (Pictured: a conceptual illustration of a diffractive solar sail)

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

NASA’s New Solar Sail Could Soon Navigate in Space

Scientists say the flashy tech could help them study the sun’s polar regions

A 3D animation created using data from LiDAR shows the urban center of Cotoca.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

Lost Cities of the Amazon Discovered From the Air

Mapping technology cut through the canopy to detect sprawling urban structures in Bolivia that suggest sophisticated cultures once existed

Scientists are turning scientific date, like DNA sequences, into sound.

Why Scientists Are Turning Molecules Into Music

Converting DNA sequences and particle vibrations into notes allows researchers to recognize unseen patterns and create songs for outreach

A patient uses the gameChange virtual reality program.

The Future of Mental Health

Inside the Effort to Expand Virtual Reality Treatments for Mental Health

Medical professionals are embracing the technology to help patients deal with PTSD, anxiety disorders and more

The four-day Smithsonian Craft Show opens April 20 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., offering the works of 120 artists (above: an array of offerings).

Nine Artists on What It Means to Create

Forty years of bringing critical attention to the nation’s best-known makers in the arts is celebrated at this year’s Smithsonian Craft Show

This fall, visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., can see the glider and other treasures, when the “Early Flight” exhibition opens in the museum's newly transformed west wing.

This Quirky Contraption Lifted 19th-Century Pilots Into the Air for a Short, Exhilarating Glide

The rare Lilienthal glider, one of only a few originals known to exist, is newly conserved and ready for its public debut

Researchers are getting closer to creating a birth control pill for those with testes, according to findings presented this week at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Male Birth Control Pill Expected to Start Human Trials This Year

The new non-hormonal pill was 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy in mice

This illustration shows NASA's InSight spacecraft with its instruments deployed on the Martian surface.

This Important Geophysical Robot on Mars May Die Soon

The InSight observatory has a seismometer and a heat probe, which have enabled it to gather data on rock layers below the planet’s soil

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