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Transplanting pig organs into people may soon become routine.

The Future of Transplanting Pig Organs in People

After years of research into xenotransplantation, the field is at a turning point—yet risks and ethical issues remain

Stanleya pinnata, or "prince's plume," takes up large amounts of selenium from the soil.

About One Billion People Are Deficient in Selenium. Genetic Engineering Could Change That

Hoping to stave off a global health crisis, scientists are breeding a new generation of crops that suck the mineral, which helps the thyroid and immune system, from soil

Current experiments are focused on tomatoes, lettuce and other small-scale crops, with hopes to extend to high-calorie crops like grains and sweet potatoes in the future. 

Can Electro-Agriculture Revolutionize the Way We Grow Food?

A new technology is pushing the boundaries of farming by using electricity to grow crops without photosynthesis

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Five Unusual Ways People Used Lead—and Suffered For It

Cultures throughout history have put lead to use for wacky and often deeply poisonous purposes

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How Text Messaging Took Over the Way We Talk

From its start more than 30 years ago, texting has slowly but surely become the dominant form of communication

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The Talented and Valiant Female Surgeon Who Joined Allied Forces in WWII and Broke Barriers Along the Way

Prohibited from serving with the U.S. Army as a medical officer, Barbara Stimson was commissioned by the British—and helped open the American military to female doctors

The crusading physician pictured circa 1915, just a few years after she began her game-changing research among industrial workers. 

How Alice Hamilton Waged a One-Woman Campaign to Get the Lead Out of Everything

At first a crusader for workplace safety, the trained physician railed against the use of the toxic and ubiquitous material

SATED can cook a perfectly crisp pizza in a low- to no-gravity environment.

Could This Space Oven Allow Astronauts to Finally Cook in Space?

An aerospace engineer has invented an appliance that can whip up quiches, pizzas and more in a zero-gravity environment

More than 40 variations are played around the world today, although the core tiles and the way the tiles are shuffled and stacked to begin the game remain the same.

The Asian Game of Mahjong, Which Creates Order Out of Chaos, Is Trending in the West

The 200-year-old tile game is popping up in clubs, hotels and parties as a way for Gen Zers and millennials to connect

Ray Fearon plays Macbeth and Tara Fitzgerald plays Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare's Macbeth directed by Iqban Khan at the Globe Theatre in June 2016 in London, England.

Businesses Have a Lot to Learn From the Impromptu 'Teaming' That Happens in Theater

A Shakespeare scholar at Harvard University explains how the creative collaboration that happens in theater can be a model for companies developing innovative new products

Embers from the Eaton Fire fly down a residential street in Altadena, California, on January 8.

How A.I. Can Help Humans Battle Wildfires, From Advanced Camera Systems to Forecasting Models

A variety of new technologies aim to improve wildfire detection and help map the spread of blazes

BlueGreen Water Technologies treats a harmful algal bloom in Doctors Lake in Clay County, Florida.

How Cleaning Up Harmful Algal Blooms Could Help Fight Climate Change

A company called BlueGreen Water Technologies aims to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while also fighting algae’s toxic effects on people and the environment

The systems have been especially successful in Latin America, where massive cities and dramatic landscapes make building roads, rail lines and subway tunnels difficult. Mi Teléferico, shown here, connects more than two million people across the La Paz metro in Bolivia.

Seven Cities in the World Where You Can Ride an Aerial Cable Car

Urban planners from Mexico City to Toulouse are adopting the high-flying mode of transit. Will it catch on elsewhere?

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, this week.

The Eight Coolest Inventions From the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show

A needle-free injection system, a bug-watching garden camera, a wearable that helps with memory lapses and more were unveiled at the annual Las Vegas trade show

In 2024, engineers used a fluorescent protein found in some jellyfish to create a non-toxic spray that highlights fingerprints at a crime scene.

Seven Scientific Discoveries From 2024 That Could Lead to New Inventions

From indestructible tardigrades to body-merging comb jellies, animals can teach humans so much about medicine, robotics, aging and survival

The Original Vienna Snow Globe Factory produces roughly 300,000 snow globes per year.

How an Experiment to Amplify Light in Hospital Operating Rooms Led to the Accidental Invention of the Snow Globe

The origins of the decoration lie in Vienna’s 17th district, where the inventor’s descendants are still making them for collectors around the world

Daniel Bachman at home in Madison County, Virginia, with his trusty Martin D-18 guitar.

A Brilliant Folk Musician Turned the Natural Sounds of the Blue Ridge Mountains Into Powerful Songs

Daniel Bachman is on a mission to evoke Virginia’s past through strange medleys of sounds

Maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen discovered this 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, in June 2021.

Archaeologists Are Finding Dugout Canoes in the American Midwest as Old as the Great Pyramids of Egypt

In the waterways connected to the Great Lakes, researchers uncover boats that tell the story of millennia of Indigenous history

Air Ring 48 attaches to the base of a construction helmet, providing crucial airflow to the sweatiest areas of the head and neck.

Could This New Wearable Device Reduce Heat Stress in Construction Workers?

Architecture students at the University of Hong Kong invented a cooling apparatus that attaches to a construction helmet

The plant-based egg substitutes available today are less than perfect. Food scientists are working hard to improve them — and, maybe, make them better tasting and more nutritious than the real thing.

Scientists Are Trying to Crack the Recipe for the Perfect Plant-Based Eggs

With new ingredients and processes, the next generation of substitutes will be not just more egg-like, but potentially more nutritious