Technology

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

Keven Walgamott lost his left hand and part of his arm in an electrical accident 17 years ago

Robotic Hand Restores Wearer’s Sense of Touch

The prosthetic enabled a test subject to pick up an egg without cracking it, send a text message, peel a banana and hold his wife's hand

A government demonstration of the polygraph from the 1970s

Why Lie Detector Tests Can't Be Trusted

Federal agencies embraced the polygraph in the 1950s to reassure the public that they could unmask spies

The exhibit room appears nearly monochromatic and devoid of life before the augmented reality app reveals Ruffner's invented plants.

This Artist Imagines How Nature Evolves Following an Environmental Apocalypse

Ginny Ruffner’s “Reforestation of the Imagination” at the Renwick uses augmented reality to show the plants that might grow after environment devastation

Researchers previously believed that traces of animal fat left in pottery stemmed from feasts held by Stonehenge's builders.

Did Stonehenge’s Builders Use Lard to Move Its Boulders Into Place?

Animal fat residue found on ceramic vessels suggests the ancient Britons who built the monument greased their wooden sledges with lard

Detail from a promotional poster for Thunderball showing James Bond escaping with the help of a jet pack.

In Battles of Man Versus Machine, James Bond Always Wins

We love the suave character because he soothes our anxieties about the power of humans in an increasingly technological world

A child picks out jury candidates before a courtroom audience.

When 6-Year-Olds Chose Jury Candidates

Before computers randomly issued jury summons, some state laws required that children do the picking

The author likes to think the lunar rover's design was informed in part by his father's experience retooling the family station wagon.

From the Family Station Wagon to the Apollo Lunar Rover, My Dad's Engineering Talent Had No Limits

Stricken with polio as an adult, he retired from the military and joined NASA's ingenious design team

At the apex of the Walkman craze, 1987 to ’97, the number of people who reported that they walked for exercise rose by 30 percent.

The Walkman's Invention 40 Years Ago Launched a Cultural Revolution

In 1979, the new device forever changed the way we listened to music

No horns here!

Cell Phones Are Probably Not Making Us Grow Horns

Scientists and doctors cast doubts on study claiming that prolonged cell phone use is creating bone protrusions on young people’s heads

Women compare A.J. Freiman shoes.

'Vis-O-Matic' Was the 1950s Version of Online Shopping

A Canadian department store tried to revolutionize buying when it opened a shop with booths and screens for ordering merchandise

Speech2Face has its limitations, including a gender bias that led it to associate higher-pitched voices with women and lower-pitched ones with men

Artificial Intelligence Generates Humans’ Faces Based on Their Voices

In trials, the algorithm successfully pinpointed speakers’ gender, race and age

A German Circus Uses Stunning Holograms Instead of Live Animal Performers

Circus Roncalli is preserving the tradition of animal acts while eliminating concerns of animal cruelty

A.I. Is Learning Teamwork by Dominating in Multiplayer Video Games

Google's DeepMind labs trained bots play a virtual version of capture the flag, showing them how to work as a unit

The sixty Starlink satellites before being deployed.

Astronomers Worry New SpaceX Satellite Constellation Could Impact Research

The first of SpaceX's 12,000 Starlink broadband satellites launched last week, raising fears they could interfere with ground-based telescopes

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, with a payload of 60 satellites for SpaceX's Starlink broadband network, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, May 23, 2019.

SpaceX Launched 60 Internet-Beaming Satellites Into Orbit

Last night's successful launch was the first big step in SpaceX's plan to provide global internet coverage from space

Family photo of Elsye Mitchell

In 1945, a Japanese Balloon Bomb Killed Six Americans, Five of Them Children, in Oregon

The military kept the true story of their deaths, the only civilians to die at enemy hands on the U.S. mainland, under wraps

There’s still plenty of reason to know how to use this Morse telegraph key.

Morse Code Celebrates 175 Years and Counting

The elegantly simple code works whether flashing a spotlight or blinking your eyes—or even tapping on a smartphone touchscreen

A single counterfeit component in the supply chain is all it takes to turn a fine-tuned aircraft launching system from an asset to a safety hazard.

How Nanoscale 'Signatures' Could Keep Counterfeit Parts Out of Military Equipment

Navy scientist Alison Smith will describe her novel authentication system at Smithsonian's Military Invention Day

This Ingenious System Brings Water to the Chinese Desert

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