Inventions

The Hyperloop Will Be Only the Latest Innovation That's Pretty Much a Series of Tubes

The idea of using pneumatics to send objects has been around for ages. But people?

Maker’s Week at the Zoo is Business as Usual

When the right product doesn't exist for a fish ultrasound or other procedure, scientists build it themselves

An open source cardboard dino from KitRex stands outside the New York Hall of Science during the World Maker Faire in September 2014.

What Is a Maker Faire, Exactly?

Billed as the world’s greatest show and tell, the DIY extravaganza might just make a maker out of you

Japanese Elevators May Soon Have Toilets

Earthquake-trapped travelers could have access to running water in elevators

A rendering of the USS Nautilus, the world's first atomic submarine. The real Nautilus is now open to the public, docked in Connecticut so that visitors can walk around inside and explore the torpedoes and living quarters.

Step Inside a Famous Submarine

Where to visit historic subs this summer—or ride in a modern one

Turn on this baby patting machine and slowly, quietly back away.

26 Inventions Mothers Can Appreciate

From an apparatus to birth a child with centrifugal force to a board game to teach driver safety, these product ideas have parents in mind

These Magic Toothbrushes Work Without Toothpaste

A new brush—and an old one, too—that don't rely on possibly harmful pastes to make your smile shine

What is the Nine Millionth Patent?

The landmark announcement is part of the United States Patent and Trademark Office's celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Patent Act

This apparatus can be used to lay Easter bunny tracks. It dispenses flour in a pattern that resembles paw prints. The same device can be repurposed for Christmas, when it lays Santa's tracks or reindeer hoof prints.

14 Easter Inventions That Never Quite Took Off

This holiday take a look at these products, from egg coloring devices to tomb pendants

Farmers use the machine and provide feedback.

Farmers Can Shell Coffee in a Fraction of the Time With This Bike-Powered Machine

A team at an MIT International Development Design Summit is making coffee production a little easier for small-scale farmers in Tanzania

Are QR Codes Safe and Other Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Xerox founder Joe Wilson with the 914, which could make copies up to 9 by 14 inches.

How the Photocopier Changed the Way We Worked—and Played

Decades before 3-D printers brought manufacturing closer to home, copiers transformed offices, politics and art

This Teeny Chair Can Assemble Itself

A tiny prototype developed at MIT marks one of the first steps into a world where we’ll never need an Allen wrench again

The Inventor Who Has Developed a Sweet-Smelling "Fart Pill"

One eccentric French man wants to take the guilt out of gas with a tablet designed to make farts smell like flowers, ginger or chocolate

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A Man With ALS Says "I Love You" to His Wife for the First Time in 15 Years

A new invention from Not Impossible Labs allows Don Moir to script an audible love letter

What is the Most Important Innovation in the History of Rock 'n' Roll?

Musicians, historians and critics tell us what they consider to be the greatest game changers for the industry

This personal robot can listen, talk, take photos and even feel temperature.

Five Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded: From an Automated Home Brewery to a Personal (Robot) Assistant

Two other quirky inventions teach music in novel ways

Art Molella delivers his speech on innovation.

The Recipe for Innovation Calls for a Little Chaos and Some Wall Bashing

Scholar Art Molella chronicles the habits, habitats and behaviors of the men and women who invent

Graphophone, recorded in October 1881. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy. I am a graphophone and my mother was a phonograph." Voice of Alexander Graham Bell's father.

Until Now, There Was No Play Button for the Recordings Bell and Edison Made in their Lab

An exhibition on sound kicks off the American History Museum's Year of Innovation, enabling visitors to hear some of the earliest recordings

Le Grand Baigneur (The Large Bather) by Paul Cezanne illustrates the kind of bathing suit that inspired the creation of the modern brief.

Tighty-Whities First Hit the Market More Than 80 Years Ago

Even a blizzard couldn’t dampen the excitement from the release of the first pair of men’s briefs in 1935

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