The story of invention in America typically features larger-than-life caricatures of white men like Thomas Edison while largely ignoring the contributions of women and people of color.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Invention
Displaying 1 - 20 of 41 articles
Curved origami isn't just elegant art. It's also a versatile way to vary the amount of force applied by robots and other machines.
What if roads and bridges could signal structural problems that need repair?
Drawing thoughtfully on the Powerhouse Museum's collection, this exhibition lovingly exposes the humanity behind biomedical technology.
Many great innovators have personality traits in common. Comfort with uncertainty is critical, but passion, curiosity and a number of other learnable skills can prime you for an innovate idea.
DIY labs have disrupted industries from alcohol to pharmaceuticals. During the coronavirus pandemic, curious people have more opportunities to innovate from home.
Inventors in states with more socially liberal laws on the books end up with more diverse collaborators – and more higher-impact patents.
During a pandemic, what would MacGyver do? He'd cobble together masks and ventilators from the things around him. Now health-care workers are doing the same. But there are risks.
A team of physicists, virologists and computer scientists are seeking to develop a coronavirus diagnostic tool that could deliver rapid results.
A simple chemical reaction turns the red pigment of beets into a new, nontoxic blue dye.
Inspired by amber and hard candy, researchers figured out a new, needle-free, shelf-stable way to preserve vaccines, making them easier to ship and administer around the world.
When it comes to innovation, Santa Clara County is way ahead of the rest of the US. Between 2000 and 2015, more than 140,000 patents were granted there – triple the number of the next-ranked county.
You know you've hit it big when your designs find their way into millions of kitchens – and the Museum of Modern Art.
One of America's favourite sons is slowly losing his reputation, and he might just deserve it.
Limitations improve creativity: we think up solutions we would never have thought of in a lab.
While today we sweat, early modern Europeans froze. Furs to the rescue.
We don't know much about the origins of most human achievements – scientific and otherwise. Like evolution, does progress occur as random insights are selected for or against?
A lack of "breakthrough" moments in innovation may be caused by the increase of specialised workforces.
It's been five decades of microwave popcorn and piping hot leftovers in home kitchens. A serendipitous discovery helped engineers harness radar to create this now ubiquitous timesaving appliance.
American slaves couldn't hold property – including patents on their own inventions. But that didn't stop black Americans from innovating since the beginning of the country's history.
Top contributors
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Professor Emeritus, The University of Queensland
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Assoc. Vice Provost, University of Texas at Austin
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Policy Officer at IP Australia, Monash University
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Honorary Associate, Department of History, University of Sydney
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Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University
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Researcher, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University
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Professor of Science Communication and Chemistry, University of Hull
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Senior Visiting Fellow, UNSW
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Visiting Professor, University of Technology Sydney
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Associate Professor of Public Policy and Women's Studies, University of Michigan
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Senior Researcher in Innovation Management, University of Brighton
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Adjunct Senior Research Fellow , School of Mathematical Sciences, Monash University
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Professor Emeritus of the History of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Jack E. Brown Professor of Law, Arizona State University
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Associate Professor of Art History, Penn State
