Design

After witnessing women in desperate conditions delivering babies in African hospitals, Dr. Laura Stachel knew she needed to help. She and Hal Aronson have designed a solar kit that is portable and...

4 | July 5, 2012 12:03pm

Looking for ways to keep your kids with short-attention spans, more engaged? You might want to try, Kiwi Crate, a subscription service designed for busy parents. Here's how it works. Sign up for a...

4 | May 31, 2012 12:59pm

Robert Full, a professor at University of California at Berkeley, believes that by studying the motion of animals, we can better design robots for search and rescue missions. SmartPlanet visits...

1 | May 3, 2012 3:00pm

Ford has been able to cut the car manufacturing process in half, from six years to three years, using virtual reality during the design phase. SmartPlanet correspondent Sumi Das gets outfitted...

2 | March 19, 2012 8:21am

Engineers are in high-demand in Silicon Valley, but their skills are also needed in the developing world. Engineers without Borders is a nonprofit working on projects big and small all over the...

4 | March 5, 2012 8:36am

Santa Cruz based Plantronics, makers of wireless headsets, is giving its aging facilities a complete design overhaul. The company's head of human resources, Pat Wadors, shows SmartPlanet how the...

5 | February 27, 2012 8:26am

Lugging around a heavy, cumbersome bike lock can be a nuisance, but Kuat aims to solve that. SmartPlanet's Sumi Das tries out their new Bottle Lock.

3 | February 15, 2012 8:49am

Prefabricated homes conjure up images of uninspired architecture, but Simpatico Homes is constructing sustainable houses out of factory-built modules that are beautifully designed. SmartPlanet's...

3 | January 23, 2012 8:21am

Modern design takes a sustainable turn with Artek's Shigeru Ban 10-unit System Chair. SmartPlanet's Sumi Das explores the possible configurations of this modular system.

5 | January 19, 2012 8:24am

New Avenue Homes founder Kevin Casey is rethinking how we live by focusing on multi-generational living, where grandparents, parents, and kids share one piece of land with two homes on it. The...

2 | January 18, 2012 8:56am

At Nest Labs, former Apple product engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers have molded their thermostat with many of the design and technology characteristics of Apple products like the iPod and...

1 | December 6, 2011 8:35am

In his Silicon Valley apartment, inventor Kent Frankovich is trying to make cycling safer--with a spin on the good old-fashioned bike reflector. Frankovich has developed a design that makes it...

7 | November 30, 2011 8:43am

Hosting a holiday soirée but don't want to scrub dishes for a party of 30? Japanese-designed Wasara paper tableware lets you entertain elegantly with an eco-friendly flair.

November 15, 2011 8:31am

Graphic designer Renee Walker says current food labels can be confusing and should instead focus on ingredients. She shows SmartPlanet how she created a new design based on blocks of color.

5 | November 9, 2011 9:49am

MIT's Mediated Matter Group is developing ways to use new materials like concrete in 3D printing. See how researchers are working with biologically inspired designs in this MIT video.

6 | September 14, 2011 3:08pm

Lit Motors CEO Daniel Kim wants to reinvent the motorcycle as we know it today. His idea? To design and manufacture a fully enclosed, two-wheeled motorcycle that runs purely on electric....

12 | September 12, 2011 7:20am

Frog was recently tasked with creating a symbol to promote energy consciousness. SmartPlanet correspondent Priya David Clemens visits the design firm's San Francisco offices to learn about the...

5 | September 8, 2011 10:09am

Steve Zornetzer, associate director of NASA Ames Research Center, talks about the space agency's plan to design eco-friendly buildings on earth using technologies developed for space exploration....

August 29, 2011 3:32pm

New material developed by MIT and Harvard researchers could help millions of people with vocal disorders. The team has altered polyethylene glycol to create a synthetic substance that mimics the...

2 | July 15, 2011 4:23pm

At NASA Ames Research Park, scientist Peter Wasowski has developed an alternative exercise machine called Vasper. The user wears compression cuffs on the arms and legs and core-cooling panels on...

7 | June 13, 2011 3:41pm