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Welcome to our blog, where you will find our latest musings on how invention and innovation—past, present, and future—influence our lives.

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  • Invention Stories
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  • Beyond Words
Patent drawings of a pointe shoe from the side and front.
Blog

A Better Pointe Shoe Is Sorely Needed

Ballet is an art form steeped in tradition, but pointe shoes need not be out of step with the times.

Detail from a World War I poster showing a Red Cross nurse
Blog

Nurse Innovations Crucial to Pandemic Response

During times of crisis, nurses turn to their innate innovative behaviors to derive new solutions for the needs of their patients.

Detail of Figure 1, US Patent 1,242,872, showing entrance signage
Blog

One-Way Supermarket Aisles

The return of an invention from the 1910s.

A young woman playing Pandemic
Blog

Disaster Board Games

Board game inventions can help us cope with crises.

Brightly colored simple drawings of hands in s cricle
Blog

Lupe Hernandez and the Invention of Hand Sanitizer

Sorting out the facts in an oft-told story.

U-Sketch pick your color green orange blue lavender purple black

Story Tags

  • African American inventors (Relevance: 32%)
  • Architecture, construction, and building materials (Relevance: 16%)
  • Archives@NMAH (Relevance: 52%)
  • Behind-the-scenes (Relevance: 32%)
  • Computers (Relevance: 16%)
  • DIY/Maker Movement (Relevance: 16%)
  • Design (Relevance: 20%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 24%)
  • Game Changers exhibition (Relevance: 40%)
  • Household technology (Relevance: 24%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 20%)
  • Invention process (Relevance: 40%)
  • Kid-friendly (Relevance: 24%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 28%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 20%)
  • Play (Relevance: 24%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 100%)
  • Spark!Lab National Network (Relevance: 16%)
  • Sports (Relevance: 40%)
  • Toys and games (Relevance: 20%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 36%)
Rectangular black-and-beige plastic box with keypad on right and register tape on left.
Blog

When Technology Disrupts the Vibe

Growing pains in the digital age from the not-so-distant past . . .

Triangular Brownie Inventor Badge
Blog

Calling All Brownie Girl Scout Inventors

Bring your Brownie troop to Spark!Lab, where everyone is an inventor!

Branch Rickey holding his chin and looking at a blackboard with lists of players’ names
Blog

Branch Rickey, Baseball Innovator

By introducing several innovations, baseball executive Branch Rickey transformed America’s national pastime.

3D printed wearable components
Blog

Game Controllers for All

Developing an adaptive game controller activity

Gold pocket watch with an elaborate face, with letters A to Z and numbers 1 to 24
Blog

How Do We Know Exactly When the New Year Begins?

Appreciating the invention of standardized time zones as the calendar turns to 2020.

Men working inside the tunnel
Blog

Battling Under the River

Looking back at the tunneling boom of the early 1900s—and the "sandhogs" who made it happen.

Newsprint ad for the “Snow Surfer,” retailing at $5.77. Text reads, in part, “Enjy the fun of skiing, tobogganing, and sledding all rolled into one with this exciting new sport.”
Blog

Sherman Poppen’s Snurfer

A look at the slippery slope of commercializing an invention.

Cover for book Not a Box showing a line drawing of a rabbit standing next to a box
Blog

My Favorite Invention Books

We’ve filled the Spark!Lab Thinking Spot with children’s books that promote inventive creativity.

3 Sparky stick figures tumbling around a drawing of a light bulb.
Blog

How Many People Does It Take to Rotate a Spark!Lab?

Counting heads and hands that took part in the August transition.

Detail of drawing for Edison's "Autographic Printing" patent, 1876
Blog

What’s Edison Got to Do with Tattoos?

Sorry Mom! At least my tattoos are helping me with something work-related!

Detail of Print ad for the Traver Circle Swing, “The Best Park Attraction,” includes a photo of the swing tower in operation in Rockford, Illinois.
Blog

A Swinging Amusement

The Traver Circle Swing Company, builders of the world's greatest amusement, brought thrills to the masses.

Computer-generated drawing of a swimmer in a LZR suit in the water, legs and arms extended.
Blog

The Impact of Invention on Sport

A look at the Speedo LZR Racer, an invention that made too big of a splash.

Detail of cartoon drawing of men sitting around an old-time general store. One man is nailing up a sign that reads, in part, “Pump Salesmen Wanted. Must be experts upon water meters, filters, . . . engines . . . compressors . . . etc.”
Blog

Looking Beyond Steam Pumps

Buried inside the unprocessed papers of a steam pump manufacturer were drawings and illustrations illuminating the work culture and life within the company.

James McLurkin
Blog

Inspirational “Innovative Lives”

Celebrating twenty-four years—and counting—of highlighting diverse inventors and innovators in the Lemelson Center’s “Innovative Lives” program series.

An older woman and a very young boy work together on a hands-on activity
Blog

What Does It Take to Make a Spark!Lab?

Looking at your world through the lens of invention.

See More Stories

VIEW 2411 Matching Results

Found 2411 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.3090004147657%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.5947739527167%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 2.8204064703443%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 2.9448361675653%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.2998755703028%)
  • Maritime (Relevance: 2.8618830360846%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.4794690999585%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.3181252592285%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.5669846536707%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 12.028204064703%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.5255080879303%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.8158440481128%)
  • Research and development (Relevance: 3.027789299046%)
  • Telegraph, telephone, and telecommunications (Relevance: 3.1522189962671%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.3181252592285%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 6.0970551638324%)
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