Invention Notebook

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  • The Food Allergy Detective

    The Food Allergy Detective

    This young inventor created an AI-enabled, electronic nose to sniff out allergens lurking in your food.

  • 2021 Women’s History Month: Three Women Who Are Blazing a Trail in Medicine

    2021 Women’s History Month: Three Women Who Are Blazing a Trail in Medicine

    To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting the groundbreaking accomplishments of three women whose work is helping advance human health care. The good news: The number of women inventors is increasing. The not-as-good news: Only about 17% of inventors worldwide are women, according to a report published by World Intellectual Property Indicators. In the United…

  • From Nature to New Materials: This MIT Professor’s Inventions Are Rooted in Biology

    From Nature to New Materials: This MIT Professor’s Inventions Are Rooted in Biology

    An abalone shell inspired Angela Belcher to pursue a career in engineering and cancer research. The notion that nature is full of inspiration is at the heart of Angela Belcher’s work — and it’s what set her own career in motion. A prizewinning inventor, including the 2013 Lemelson-MIT Prize, and MIT’s James Mason Crafts Professor ofMore

  • Microtechnology, Medicine and Mentoring: One Inventor’s Formula for Success

    Microtechnology, Medicine and Mentoring: One Inventor’s Formula for Success

    Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia is a leader in advancing human health care — and a role model for other women interested in STEM. Born near Boston, Massachusetts, to parents who immigrated to the United States from India, Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia is an MIT professor, a physician, a bioengineer, an entrepreneur and a patent-holding inventor. She is…

  • Cultivating Curiosity

    Cultivating Curiosity

    Arlyne Simon doesn’t want to be a statistic. She is a biomedical engineer, patent-holding inventor, author, and entrepreneur. Today, that puts her among a very small number of women — especially women of color — but Simon is on a mission to change that. “I really think inventing is magical. I mean, you identify a…

  • If We Want to Build Back Better, We Need a New Focus on Invention and Innovation

    If We Want to Build Back Better, We Need a New Focus on Invention and Innovation

    A road map to economic resilience and more inclusive prosperity The U.S. is at an economic crossroads, hastened by the effects of the pandemic. As we look for the best ways to revitalize our economy, we are appropriately focused on urgent, short-term needs, like getting people back to work and supporting small businesses such as…

  • Invention Roundup: Three Inventors Who Are Designing a More Inclusive World

    Invention Roundup: Three Inventors Who Are Designing a More Inclusive World

    To commemorate International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we’re spotlighting inventors whose work is redefining what it means to be included and reshaping the world so it’s accessible to all. Millions of people live with some form of disability. According to the World Health Organization’s World Report on Disability, 15 percent of the global population…

  • Meet the Software Engineer Designing with Inclusivity in Mind

    Meet the Software Engineer Designing with Inclusivity in Mind

    At the intersection of empathy and invention, Jason Grieves develops technology that bridges the digital divide for those with mobility or visual impairments. If Jason Grieves could boil his invention philosophy down to one phrase, it would be this: inclusive design. A software engineer who has worked at Apple, Microsoft and IBM, and the holder…

  • How Adversity Led to a Lifetime of Engineering and Invention

    How Adversity Led to a Lifetime of Engineering and Invention

    Dr. Rory A. Cooper is an engineer, a veteran, an athlete and the holder of more than 20 groundbreaking patents in wheelchair and other assistive technology. If you use a wheelchair or know someone who does, chances are it includes technology invented by Dr. Rory Cooper. The founder and director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories,More

  • We Have Ten Years Left To Meet the SDG Deadline

    We Have Ten Years Left To Meet the SDG Deadline

    Four recommendations for my colleagues in the sustainable development sector on the vital role of local, invention-based enterprises By any standard, 2020 has been a landmark year of disruption. For the development community, this disruption occurs at the beginning of the final decade to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our shared blueprint to improve…

  • Inventing for Equity: This Technology Makes Voting More Accessible

    Inventing for Equity: This Technology Makes Voting More Accessible

    Dr. Juan Gilbert created the Prime III software voting system as a model for how to make elections more secure — and more inclusive. During this unprecedented election season, there has been a focus on safety and security for voters and voting systems — but equally paramount should be the issue of accessibility. That beliefMore

  • Six Ways to Advance Equity for Inventive Changemakers

    Six Ways to Advance Equity for Inventive Changemakers

    A Working Blueprint for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programs in Higher Education Fostering brave spaces that welcome a diversity of perspectives, ideas, and lived experiences is essential in any field. In STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, it is vital. Increasingly, entrepreneurship centers and science and technology programs in higher education have recognized a need for more authentic…

  • Solving the Food Supply Chain Through Chemistry

    Solving the Food Supply Chain Through Chemistry

    The New Frontier of Combating Food Waste Chemist Aidan Mouat has created a sustainable product that could save a quarter of a billion pounds of produce from going bad this year alone. Next time you pop a grape into your mouth, consider its path from the field to your palate. From harvest to packing to…