At age 15, Gitanjali Rao isn’t your typical scientist. The brilliant teen was selected as TIME’s Kid of the Year from more than 5,000 kids, ages 8 to 16. Her inventions can sense lead in water, detect early opioid addiction,…
On December 7, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew their first successful airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Now a group of airplane lovers are working to raise $4 million to restore the last authentic Wright Brothers airplane. The plane is…
A new battery could "change the way the world uses energy," according Elon Musk, whose company Tesla Motors Inc. developed the product. The system is called Tesla Energy, and it has the potential to make homes free of fossil fuels. The batteries can store energy from…
American inventors George Eastman and Frank Brownell revolutionized cameras in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Eastman created a light-weight, portable camera that was easier to use than other cameras, which were very heavy and complicated. But Eastman’s Kodak…
You may have seen LED lights illuminating a room or strung on Christmas trees. LED lights are popular today because they use much less energy than other bulbs. For a long time, though, scientists couldn’t make white LED light. They…
Fifteen-year-old Kenneth Shinozuka of California has invented a sensor that tells caregivers when an Alzheimer’s patient starts walking. Kenneth’s grandfather, who has Alzheimer’s and wanders frequently, inspired the invention. People with Alzheimer’s forget how to get home and eventually forget…
Scientific American details the ten greatest inventions of our time. They include the steam turbine, the automobile, the airplane, and less-known machines like the Linotype machine used by newspapers. Read more here.
The first version of an invention is rarely perfect. Thomas Edison famously developed many prototypes before arriving at a successful design for his light bulb. But this article highlights eight inventions that got it right the first time and are largely…