Thought Innovation

Why Does America Prize Creativity and Invention?

Our politics encourage it, there's a high tolerance of failure, and we idealize the lone inventor

Prototyping is a vital part of Stanford d.school courses. Students build physical and digital products and test them.

How Are Universities Grooming the Next Great Innovators?

Design and entrepreneurship courses at Stanford and other institutions are fundamentally changing higher education

Seven Inspiring Innovations In Education From Around the Globe

American schools, start taking notes! There may be some things to learn from these successful programs

25 Millennials Just Crossed the United States By Rail Hoping to Leave Their Marks in Cities Along the Way

Young leaders take a 10-day whistle-stop tour with on-train seminars and service projects in communities across the nation

This winter jacket is light, thin and made of the same special ingredient that insulates astronaut spacesuits.

A Winter Jacket Made From the Same Material as NASA Spacesuits and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Plus, a high-tech update to the tried-and-true jump rope

Christopher Gray, one of the Scholly founders, pitches on Shark Tank.

An App Matches Students with College Scholarships They Can Use

More than $100 million in scholarships go unclaimed every year. Scholly is connecting students with these and other funds

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

A Moon Landing in Virtual Reality, Bookniture and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Could a new material that uses static charge to stick to any surface spell doom for Post-it notes?

A student uses the Skill Champ app, which emphasizes visual learning.

These Apps Help Kids With Autism Learn Basic Skills

Infiniteach, a Chicago startup, is building learning tools for the one in 68 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders today

Each Librii site will include an anchor building for housing collections, an e-hub with computers and an agora equipped with WiFi.

Building Libraries Along Fiber-Optic Lines in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Washington, D.C.-based startup, Librii, is rethinking what a library looks like

Kevin Ashton Describes "the Internet of Things"

The innovator weighs in on what human life will be like a century from now

Handaxe #5 and Blade #9, BC-AD Contemporary Flint Tool Design series, designed by Dov Ganchrow and Ami Drach, 2011

Nearly Two Million Years of Innovation, As Told Through Tools

Cooper Hewitt, the Smithsonian Design Museum, will exhibit 175 objects that range from Paleolithic tools to space-age satellites

This past weekend an innovation festival at the National Air and Space Museum celebrated inventions from across the United States.

Here’s What You Missed at the Smithsonian Innovation Festival

Inventors and museum staff alike inspired the crowd to see the world through the prism of innovation

"Today we can use light to create an artificial sun on Earth, if only for a split-second," writes Steven Johnson. Here, Vaughn Draggoo examines a test site for light-induced nuclear fusion at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California.

The World Is What It Is Today Because of These Six Innovations

In a new book, Steven Johnson describes the many technologies that glass, refrigeration and other fundamental inventions have made possible

The Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, P.A. is celebrating its city in a long-term exhibition, "Pittsburgh a Tradition of Innovation."

Celebrating Pittsburgh, the City Behind Pro Football, Big Macs and the Polio Vaccine

The Pennsylvanian city had more lives than a cat and thrives as a hub of innovation

This year, Smithsonian magazine's festival is themed "Science Meets Science Fiction."

The Future is (Still) Here: Day Two of Smithsonian's Second Annual Conference

Instead of holding its own global fest this year, Nerd Nite descended on our nation's capital.

Atlas V Launches the New Horizons Mission to Pluto.

Take a Peek Into the Future's Present With Our Live Coverage of Smithsonian's Two-Day Festival

The magazine's 2nd annual conference brings together experts, authors and visionaries in the fields of science, science fiction and technology.

A new exhibition explores how failure relates to success.

Why It's Time to Show Failure Some Respect

An Irish exhibition titled "Fail Better" argues that flubs make success possible

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From our readers

Since laws limit the height of new structures in Mexico City, an architect has proposed building a 65-story Earthscraper.

The Next Frontier in Urban Design Will Send You Undeground

Move over Morlocks, humans are headed to your neighborhood

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