Innovation
“Traditionally, when the economy goes bad, everyone cuts down on science and R&D. The message now is that new knowledge and innovation are the way out of this crisis.” — David Nordfors
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On Rethinking IP
January 31, 2011
Licensing patents for the developing world can help bring innovations in nutrition, medicine, and countless other fields to the people who need them the most.
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On Competitive Collaboration
November 26, 2010
Hundreds of multinational collaborators, thousands of scientists, and a $10 billion particle accelerator at CERN have produced a new working model for science—and for globalization.
competition, global reset, innovation, lhc, physical science
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Two Wrongs from the Right
July 23, 2010
The deaths of a climate scientist and of meaningful climate-change legislation bode poorly for a prosperous energy-independent future.
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Beneath the Surface
June 15, 2010
Powerful computer simulations may be the best method available to quantify the amount of oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon—and to predict where it will go.
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Pandora’s Seed
June 07, 2010
From obesity to chronique fatigue syndrome, jihadism to urban ennui, the costs of civilization are becoming ever more apparent. Spencer Wells explores adapting to a world where accelerating change is the new status quo.
agriculture, diplomacy, evolution, health, innovation, scale
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Greener Pastures
June 03, 2010
Dominant theory says that desertification is caused by overgrazing. Operation Hope, winner of the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, has upended this idea—restoring degraded African grasslands into lush, green pasture.
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Books to Read Now
June 01, 2010
June releases follow cave divers into the bowels of the Earth; chart the geography of hunger; and explore the science of false memories, inflated confidence, and distorted senses.
agriculture, climate, food, geography, innovation, neuroscience, psychology, technology
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Bottom of the Barrel
May 21, 2010
A new book argues that marketplace innovations will make the future brighter, better, and more prosperous, but is such unbounded optimism rational?
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Dynamic by Design
May 07, 2010
Jessica Banks and Andrew Laska, the co-founders of the design firm RockPaperRobot, are using science and technology to change the meaning of “furniture.”
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The Scent of Design
April 29, 2010
Commissioned by HEADSPACE, five designers—dubbed “accidental perfumers”—joined bona fide scent experts to explore the intersection of creativity and smell.
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Watered by the Sun
April 05, 2010
Linking the efficiency of drip-irrigation to the reliability of solar panels, a new technology—and a creative science-development partnership—is helping women to grow more food in rural Benin.
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Scent as Design
March 23, 2010
This week, scientists, designers, and artists will gather in New York to discuss how our lives could be transformed by recognizing scent as design.
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Current TV’s Network Science
January 25, 2010
The host’s of Current TV’s Max and Jason: Still Up are on a mission to inspire the planet by connecting science and culture, and having a good time while doing it. How social networks are driving the exponential growth of ideas.
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The Back-Channel of Science
January 20, 2010
Scientists are exploiting online tools to facilitate research and communication in an increasingly flat media landscape. What are the implications for science?
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The Mom-and-Pop Water Shop
December 08, 2009
Microbiologist Ranjiv Khush and hydrologist Jeff Alberts are bringing an entrepreneurial approach to an age-old dilemma: how to bring clean, safe water to the developing world.
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Everything Is Illuminated
December 03, 2009
Martin Chalfie, the Nobelist who helped transform biology with a glowing protein, talks with us about his lab and his favorite animal—the roundworm.
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Our Adapting Future
November 19, 2009
Current developments in autonomous, biological, and evolutionary robotics will have a profound impact on the future of interactive and dynamic architectural space.
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Bioplastics Man
November 10, 2009
Biochemist Oliver Peoples explains how his polymer-producing microbes could transform the plastics industry and why both oceans and landfills will benefit.
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Lo and Behold: the Internet
October 29, 2009
On the 40th anniversary of the first internet connection, a look back on how a flash of insight and a 20-minute meeting got it all started.
communication, information, innovation, networks, technology
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Catching the Wind in Rural Malawi
October 13, 2009
With a tinkerer’s imagination and farmer’s grit, William Kamkwamba transformed junk into the beginning of one small town’s green energy revolution.
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Folding Our Way to a Revolution
October 12, 2009
With a few strands of nucleic acids and some ingenious programming, DNA origami is remaking nanotechnology, from drug delivery to chip design.
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Why In-Vitro Meat Is Good for You
August 31, 2009
Jason Matheny on the world’s addiction to meat and how to grow ground beef in a test tube.
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Here Comes the Sun (and Wind)
August 27, 2009
Four experts discuss the balance between pristine land and renewable energy, the pros and cons of photovoltaics versus solar thermal, and how much rooftop solar can help.
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Designing Responsible Behavior
August 24, 2009
We visit the somewhat chaotic desk of an industrial designer who is leveraging the power of design to convince people to live greener lives.
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A Bloom in Biofuels
August 05, 2009
The same organisms that created the oil and gas now powering our industrial society and warming the globe can also be used to make carbon-neutral fuels.
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Ideas
I Tried Almost Everything Else
John Rinn, snowboarder, skateboarder, and “genomic origamist,” on why we should dumpster-dive in our genomes and the inspiration of a middle-distance runner.
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Ideas
Going, Going, Gone
The second most common element in the universe is increasingly rare on Earth—except, for now, in America.
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Ideas
Earth-like Planets Aren’t Rare
Renowned planetary scientist James Kasting on the odds of finding another Earth-like planet and the power of science fiction.
