Invention

As a child on a New York farm, Eben Bayer helped his dad shovel wood chips in the barn. That's where he noticed a stretchy web of fungus that became the basis of his biodegradable packing material.

Science

VIDEO: Inventor Inspired By Childhood Memories Of Fungus

10:51am January 24, 2019

by Joe Palca

As a child on a New York farm, Eben Bayer helped his dad shovel wood chips in the barn. That's where he noticed a stretchy web of fungus that became the basis of his biodegradable packing material.

Ayanna Howard, a roboticist at Georgia Tech, was always interested in building robots.

Science

Being Different Helped A NASA Roboticist Achieve Her Dream

9:50am December 19, 2017

Ayanna Howard was 27 when she headed her first team at NASA. She talks about feeling like an outsider, and discovering that diversity drives innovation.

Patients with Type-1 diabetes don't have enough healthy islets of Langerhans cells — hormone-secreting cells of the pancreas. Granules (orange in this image) inside these cells release insulin and other substances into the blood.

A Quest: Insulin-Releasing Implant For Type-1 Diabetes

5:14pm November 06, 2017

by Joe Palca

People who have Type-1 diabetes would love to be free of insulin injections and pumps. Researchers in San Francisco are now testing in animals an implantable pouch of living, insulin-releasing cells.

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Brandi Chastain celebrates after scoring the winning goal of the 1999 World Cup.

40 Years Of Athletic Support: Happy Anniversary To The Sports Bra

6:20pm September 29, 2017

by Jane Lindholm

Here's a more intimate milestone in women's sports: In 1977, three women sewed two jockstraps together, and the first modern sports bra was born.

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Mary Anderson's illustration of her 1903 patented "window cleaning device."

Alabama Woman Stuck In NYC Traffic In 1902 Invented The Windshield Wiper

7:49am July 25, 2017

by Joe Palca

Entrepreneur Mary Anderson thought it made no sense that New York streetcar drivers had to keep jumping off to clean snow from the windshield. She soon won a patent for her "window cleaning device."

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Whoops! 12 Tales Of Accidental Brilliance In Science

6:00pm February 24, 2016

by Adam Cole

You nominated 300 cool stories of scientific surprise for Skunk Bear's Golden Mole Award. Our shortlist has it all: circuits painted with light, imperceptible genitalia, and a terrifying frog.

Smart phones contain a silicon chip inside the camera that might be used to detect rare, high energy particles from outer space.

Want To Do A Little Astrophysics? This App Detects Cosmic Rays

11:40am March 31, 2015

by Joe Palca

Two physicists keen to detect a a very rare, high energy particle think you and I can help. The researchers are working on an app that would allow any smartphone to detect rare particles from space.

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Miller Farm, the terminus of Van Syckel's pipeline, in 1868. The oil was pumped to Miller Farm and then transported by railroad.

National

Even Pickaxes Couldn't Stop The Nation's First Oil Pipeline

8:20pm February 24, 2015

by Uri Berliner

The debate over Keystone XL is nothing compared to the battle over the nation's first commercial oil pipeline. It transformed how energy was transported forever — but not without sabotage and threats.

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