CURRENT ISSUE
December 2016
Features
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The 2016 American Ingenuity Awards
Meet 17 people changing your universe
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Rocketeer: Jeff Bezos | Technology
No one had ever launched, landed and relaunched a rocket into space until Blue Origin’s historic achievement—a feat essential to the future of space exploration
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Space Archaelogist: Sarah Parcak | History
The Indiana Jones of low Earth orbit harnesses satellites and high-tech sensing tools to uncover long-buried treasures
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Miracle Maker: Anthony Atala | Life Sciences
In the future, when you can order a new body part online and have it printed out at the hospital, you’ll have this surgeon to thank
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Modern Romantic: Aziz Ansari | Performing Arts
The star of the breakout TV series “Master of None” has created a new American original—a comedic man-child with immigrant parents, a millennial’s aspirations and serious questions about life
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Financial Aide: Christopher Gray | Youth
The entrepreneur’s new digital platform has helped needy college students land $50 million in scholarships
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Wave Catchers: LIGO Team | Physical Sciences
This year, a team of scientists announced they had finally discovered the gravitational waves that Einstein predicted a century ago. Our universe will never be the same
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Whistleblowers: Marc Edwards + LeeAnne Walters | Social Progress
A concerned mother and a renowned scientist spearheaded the investigation that exposed the dangers lurking in the water supply of Flint, Michigan
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Peacemaker: David Lynch | Education
The acclaimed director has become the champion of Transcendental Meditation, practiced by thousands of school kids to reduce stress
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High Fliers: Damian Kulash Jr. + Trish Sie | Visual Arts
What does it take to push the music-video envelope? A borrowed Russian transport jet, spreadsheets and calculus, the antic genius of the rock band OK Go—and a lot of motion-sickness medicine
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Mighty Mouse
The first patented animal is still leading us through the maze of cancer research
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Wild Wild Horses
Once nearly extinct, Przewalski's horse is making a remarkable comeback on the dusty steppes of Mongolia
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American Ballad
Smithsonian journeyed from Maine to California to update a landmark study of American life. We found workers singing the old songs of struggle and hard times—but with a modern twist
Departments
Discussion
Reader responses to our October and November issues
Mind the Monkey Business
Great apes show an ability to discern what others are thinking that we once only attributed to humans
Countdown to Infamy
The high-stakes gamble and false assumptions that detonated Pearl Harbor 75 years ago
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