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Inventions

A Detachable Airplane Cabin and Other Strange Aviation Ideas

A recently unveiled concept for a removable, parachute-equipped airplane cabin is only the latest in a long line of far-out designs

This Powerful Metal Glue Sets at Room Temperature

MesoGlue uses nanorod technology to fuse items together without heat, potentially replacing soldering

Madison Hill of Samsung demonstrates a Family Hub Refrigerator at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Six Cool Gadgets From This Year’s CES

The Consumer Electronics Show has long been the launchpad for some of our most beloved electronics products

New Research

This Pen Can Draw Electrical Circuits

A silver salt based ink lets users draw any circuit they can dream

Dot is an affordable active Braille smartwatch.

A Smartwatch for the Visually Impaired

Developed by University of Washington students, Dot translates texts, tweets and e-books to Braille

Teen Inventors Create Live Closed-Captioning Glasses for the Deaf

Seventeen-year-old Daniil Frants and his buddies hope to help the hard-of-hearing engage in naturally flowing conversations

An electronic weapon from Taser International

Cool Finds

The Word “Taser” Comes From a Young Adult Sci-Fi Novel

Massively popular at the time, the Tom Swift books have not aged very well

Screenshot from "Fairy Lights in Femtoseconds: Tangible Holographic Plasma (SIGGRAPH)"

New Research

This Holograph Can Be Touched and Manipulated

Tiny interactive displays use lasers to create touchable plasma

What do you think this thingamabobber does?

Holiday Gift Guide

Nine Gifts for Gadget Lovers

From a connected kitchen scale to a “Coolbox,” these products make perfect presents for the technophiles in your life

An 1877 mousetrap called “The Delusion.” Directions read “Put as large a piece of cheese you can crowd into the box…”

The Unceasing American Quest to Build a Better Mousetrap

There has always been some truth to the apocryphal Emerson quote

Round Table

Why Does America Prize Creativity and Invention?

Our politics encourage it, there’s a high tolerance of failure, and we idealize the lone inventor

American Ingenuity Awards

The Young Inventor Who Is a “Minder” of a Business of Her Own

At age 11, Lilianna Zyszkowski designed a new life-saving device to help people track their medication. That was just the beginning

Four engineering students from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada invented a printer that produces circuit boards in minutes.

This Year’s James Dyson Award Goes to a Circuit Board Printer

Four engineering students in Canada win the prestigious international award with their invention, which they hope will speed up electronics manufacturing

Hedy Lamarr, mother of modern wifi.

Cool Finds

Happy Birthday Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood Star Turned Scientist

The beauty had brains—after all, she invented the tech behind Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS

Cool Finds

This Extremely Slow Rube Goldberg Device Lasts More Than Six Weeks

The whimsical invention uses molasses, a tortoise, and sprouting grass to move a golf ball

Cool Finds

How Contact Lenses Were Made in 1948

Would you put this on your eye?

Burn Calories Just By Wearing This New Sports Gear

Here’s an idea: A New York University medical student is integrating resistance bands into clothing

The Innovative Spirit

New Software Makes Cyberbullies Think Twice

Teen programmer Trisha Prabhu created a program called ReThink to make cyberbullies reconsider before posting cruel messages

Topmix Permeable

This Concrete Can Absorb a Flood

A UK company has developed a permeable pavement that can drink 1,000 liters of water per square meter in a minute

The Innovative Spirit

The Smithsonian’s Innovation Festival Demystifies the Invention Process

Inventors of a number of new technologies shared their stories at a two-day event at the National Museum of American History

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