Technology

Heliconius charithonia is one of the species of butterflies whose wing patterns scientists scrutinized to better understand the evolutionary process. This butterfly is wild-type; the genetically edited H. charithonia wings have wider swathes of yellow.

What Butterflies' Colorful Wing Patterns Can Teach Us About Evolution

Smithsonian scientists used genetically-engineered butterflies to learn that evolution can take a different path to achieve the same thing

For last-mile delivery, robots of the future may use a new MIT algorithm to beat a path to your front door.

Helping Delivery Robots Find Your Front Door

With a new navigation system from MIT, robots can decipher common landscape features, even in an unfamiliar environment

Sunlight-Tracking Polymer, Inspired by Sunflowers, Could Maximize Solar Power

The SunBOTS bend toward light source and could help solar cells capture more direct sunlight all day long

The markings range from letters to shapes, patterns and symbols.

You Can Now Explore a 3-D Model of Cave Covered in Creepy 'Witches' Marks'

Visitors spotted hundreds of etchings designed to ward off evil while exploring a cave in England's Creswell Crags

Double-Sided Tape Inspired by Spiderwebs Could Revolutionize Surgery

The two-sided adhesive instantly dries tissue then creates a strong bond—in just 5 seconds

AlphaStar, playing as the StarCraft race Protoss, in green, dealing with flying units from the Zerg players with a combination of powerful anti-air units. The AI program mastered all three races in the game, Protoss, Terran and Zerg.

A.I. Mastered Backgammon, Chess and Go. Now It Takes On StarCraft II

DeepMind's AlphaStar learns the complex strategy video game, which has trillions and trillions of possible moves conducted in real time

Understanding plankton is essential to studying how ocean life is sustained.

This Device Has Been Measuring the Ocean's Plankton Since the 1930s

Largely unchanged since it was invented, the Continuous Plankton Recorder collects plankton as it is towed behind a ship

John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino

Development of the Lithium-Ion Battery Earns Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The award honors three scientists whose contributions led to the rechargeable battery that makes our modern world possible

One of the scrolls being scanned by the Diamond Light Source and digitally deciphered.

Light Billions of Times Brighter Than the Sun Used to Read Charred Scrolls From Herculaneum

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. carbonized papyrus scrolls, which may now be readable

Scientists at the University of Central Florida have modeled a path toward self-sufficiency for one million settlers of Mars over the course of 100 Earth years.

What Will Humans Eat on Mars?

Planetary scientist Kevin Cannon talks about the logistics of feeding a population of one million on the Red Planet

How Zookeepers Built Karl, the Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, a New 3-D Beak

For this species, a beak is everything and Karl has had his old one re-tooled for hunting and communication

The skull of the 1.77-million-year-old Stephanorhinus rhino.

1.7-Million-Year-Old Rhino Tooth Provides Oldest Genetic Information Ever Studied

Researchers read the proteins preserved in the tooth enamel of an ancient rhino, a trick that may allow them to sequence fossils millions of years old

In July 2016, a solar-powered airplane flying over the desert region of Andalusia in Spain photographed breathtaking images of the Gemasolar concentrated solar power plant.

How Engineers of New Energy Technology Are Taking Cues From Nature

From sunflower spirals to schooling fish, renewable energy innovators are uncovering ideas for improving efficiency and output in natural phenomena

Wyss Institute engineers selected works from the collections to illustrate a "new approach to Design Science." The clusters of polyhedrons in the 1954 textile Time Capsule reflects the 1950s sentiment for a brighter future built on scientific progress.

How Biology Inspires Future Technology

Bioengineers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute showcase their ingenious medical, industrial and environmental designs at the Cooper Hewitt

A park ranger gives the Obama family a tour of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in 2016.

3-D Map to Digitize Part of Carlsbad Caverns Down to the Millimeter

The National Parks Service is also compiling a modern cultural history of the caverns

Loop the Loop at Coney Island, 1903

14 Fun Facts About Roller Coasters

For starters, one of the oldest coasters in America carried coal before it carried passengers

Speakers featured in the Celebrating Indigenous Languages project.

At-Risk Indigenous Languages Spotlighted on New Google Earth Platform

The new initiative features recordings of native languages from around the globe

The "Mark Twain" launched in early 1882 as an 18-size, key-wound movement with a subsidiary seconds function.

Mark Twain's Quest to Bring Affordable Watches to the Masses

At one time, he even invested in a watch company that launched a signature 'Mark Twain' pocket watch

Csilla Ari D’Agostino sits in front of the Aquarius habitat and uses a waterproof iPad for cognitive tests as part of her research on NEEMO 23.

NASA Scientists and Astronauts Practice for Space Missions on the Seafloor

A female-led crew trained for nine days in an undersea laboratory in the Atlantic to get a sense of what it's like to live and work in microgravity

The 8-bit system looks dated by today’s standards.

Thirty Years Ago, Game Boy Changed the Way America Played Video Games

Nintendo's handheld gaming system proved to be a huge success, thanks to its durability and battery life

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