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Stories Tagged as

Innovation

Shelf Life

How William Perkin’s search for a malaria cure led to the color mauve

by Bridget Bodnar
Mar 12, 2018
A teenager tinkering in his lab invented a brilliant synthetic shade of purple in Victorian England.
The original mauve — similar to the shade depicted in this image — was much brighter than the color we know today.
William Thomas Cain/Getty Images
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Can we get enough of cup holders?

by Kai Ryssdal and Josie Fan
Mar 1, 2018
Whether it’s to fit an extra Big Gulp cup or to store your kids’ playthings, it seems like we always want more cup holders in our cars — and car makers are trying to meet this demand. Chester Dawson is a reporter from Wall Street Journal‘s Detroit Bureau. He writes about the new trend of […]
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Marketplace Tech Blogs

How does a government shutdown affect our ability to innovate?

by Molly Wood and Stephanie Hughes
Jan 23, 2018
Even a short shutdown can have lasting effects on science and technology.
In this NASA handout, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft on board, launches at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 3, 2017.
Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images
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Big cuts ahead for energy innovation programs

by Marketplace Contributor
Jul 10, 2017
Funding for the much-lauded ARPA-E innovation program, which funds energy projects with serious potential, will be removed.
Aaron Palumbo looks into a furnace he helped develop in a lab on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. His company, Big Blue Technologies, received a $3.6 million ARPA-E grant in 2014.
Dan Boyce for Marketplace
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The Next Big Tech Hub

The next big tech hub might surprise us all

by Ben Johnson and Janet Nguyen
Apr 18, 2017
Don't count out New Orleans, or Omaha, Nebraska.
Thomas Edison works on the electric light bulb in his laboratory. 
Rischgitz/Getty Images
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McDonald's moves into mobile ordering and delivery to boost sales

by Sally Herships
Mar 3, 2017
In an attempt to reverse a continuing slump in sales, McDonald’s is making an innovation push: letting people order and pay on their phones for curbside pickup and even delivery. Starbucks already uses an app. It’s been so successful, it’s caused congestion in stores. So will all these new strategies help or hurt McDonald’s?  Click […]
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Why workers are less productive

by Gigi Douban
Aug 9, 2016
Unfortunately, companies aren't investing in growth, and innovation is incremental these days
Investment + innovation = productivity        
startupstockphotos.com
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The fight to 'unlock' the set-top box

by Molly Wood
Feb 8, 2016
Thinking outside the box, or opening Pandora’s? FCC chairman Tom Wheeler weighs in.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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U.S. Army recruits young innovators

by Amy Scott
Jul 2, 2015
Armament research lab wants to help kids patent and sell their ideas.
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Six Routes

Finding the beta version of Silicon Valley

by Marketplace Contributor
Mar 20, 2015
Does the American dream still exist in America? Location, location, location.
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