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Technology

Critterpedia allows users to identify Australian spider and snake species with the snap of a photo.

This Australian App Is Like ‘Shazam’ for Spiders and Snakes

New AI tool will help users identify venomous species

Two sociable weaver birds being recognized by a new artificial intelligence-powered software.

New Research

This A.I. Can Recognize Individual Birds of the Same Species

Humans can’t reliably tell birds of the same species apart, limiting our ability to study their behavior, but the new A.I. is 90 percent accurate

Sperm swimming illusion when seen from above. The sperm tails seems to move symmetrically from one side to another. This view on how sperm moves was established since first observed by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1677, more than three centuries ago.

Researchers Discover How Human Sperm Really Swim

A new 3-D microscopy study overturns hundreds of years of reproductive science

John Rogers and his colleague Shuai Xu’s tech startup Sonica Health is submitting the device with a pulse oximeter and its algorithms to the FDA for approval later this month.

Covid-19

This Band-Aid-Like Patch Could Detect Early COVID-19 Symptoms

Northwestern University scientist John Rogers has developed a wearable that adheres to the throat and relays data to a physician

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, rode the self-balancing personal transportation device outside his home in 2002.

As Segway Retires, Its Inventor Gears Up to Grow Organs

Dean Kamen, inventor of the soon-to-be obsolete Segway, has assembled a team to mass-produce human organs for transplant

Video visits with doctors and other health-care workers saw a sharp uptick as the COVID-19 pandemic took off.

Covid-19

Is COVID-19 the Tipping Point for Telemedicine?

Sheltering in place has pushed virtual health care into the mainstream, making us wonder if we’ll ever go back to waiting rooms

Google's Wing drones can carry packages weighing up to three pounds.

Covid-19

Virginia School District Will Use Drones to Deliver Summer Reading

Montgomery County has partnered with Google’s Wing service to distribute library books

Ground-penetrating radar map of the newly discovered temple in Falerii Novi, Italy

Archaeologists Discover Details of Buried Roman City Without Digging

Ground-penetrating radar revealed Falerii Novi’s elaborate architecture, including a bath complex, theater and network of water pipes

Maintaining social distancing is a challenge as workplaces reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.

Covid-19

How Workplaces Will Use Emerging Tech to Monitor Social Distancing

But do these technologies, apps and wearables respect employee privacy?

Signs on the floor encourage social distancing.

Covid-19

The New Normal of Dining Out

Restaurants and bars worldwide are instituting unique safety measures against the spread of COVID-19. But will they be effective?

Our Stories students gather at Maunakea with kūpuna Calvin Hoe (center).

In Hawai’i, Young Storytellers Document the Lives of Their Elders

Through a Smithsonian program, students filmed a climactic moment in the protests over the building of a controversial observatory

People who run businesses and other organizations want to know whether the spaces they manage and use are safe on a daily basis.

Covid-19

How Accurate Are Tests to Detect Coronavirus on Surfaces?

Labs and companies are already distributing some, but they vary drastically in price and potential performance

A nurse (left) operates a robot used to interact remotely with coronavirus patients while a physician looks on.

Covid-19

How Robots Are on the Front Lines in the Battle Against COVID-19

Helping health care workers treat patients and public safety officials contain the pandemic, these robots offer lessons for future disasters

Canada-based drone tech firm Draganfly is hoping to roll out the stationary cameras and drones in the next two to three months that can detect people with COVID-19 symptoms.

Covid-19

How Innovators Are Adapting Existing Technologies to Fight COVID-19

Engineers around the world are tweaking drones, robots and smart tools to help prevent the spread of the virus

A U.S. government-issue IBA (Interceptor Body Armor) bulletproof vest used by U.S. Forces in Iraq

The Long, Fraught History of the Bulletproof Vest

The question of bulletproofing vexed physicians and public figures for years, before pioneering inventors experimented with silk

Isle au Haut thoroughfare

A Tiny Island Off the Coast of Maine Could Be a Renewable Energy Model for the Rest of the World

Remote Isle au Haut is integrating time-tested technology with emerging innovations to create its own microgrid

The "knapsack problem" is a widespread computing challenge—and no, it doesn't have to do just with literal backpacks.

How the Mathematical Conundrum Called the ‘Knapsack Problem’ Is All Around Us

A litany of issues in business, finance, container ship loading and aircraft loading derive from this one simple dilemma

Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man

Science in the Movies

‘The Invisible Man’ Isn’t Real, but This Invisibility Technology Is

A new take on H.G. Wells’ classic novel is in theaters, but how far has real-life cloaking tech come?

Researcher Peter Robinson led the team that developed the first app version of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Education During Coronavirus

A New App Guides Readers Through Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’

The tool includes a 45-minute audio performance of the work’s General Prologue in Middle English

The Most Anticipated Museum Openings of 2020

Slated for this year are new institutions dedicated to ancient Egyptian, the Olympics, African American music and the Army

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