Devices of Wonder - "Discover the surprising and seductive ancestors of modern cinema, cyborgs, computers, and other optical devices" in this Getty Museum exhibition.

Invention and Play - Play exciting interactive games and learn how play connects to the creative impulse of inventors. This site was developed by the Lemelson Center at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in partnership with the Science Museum of Minnesota. You'll need the free Flash Player.

Kids Design Network (KDN) - "Find out about real life engineering challenges, explore a kid's engineering challenge, design a gadget to meet the challenge, build your gadget, draw a design for your gadget, talk to an engineer, see what other kid engineers have designed and built to meet the challenge." By the DuPage Children's Museum.

Inventive Kids - From the tasty chocolate chip cookie to computer programming, inventions by women are everywhere! Play fun, interactive games at this site to learn more. By the Canadian company Inventive Women Inc. You'll need the free Flash Player.

Cool Robot of the Week - Each week, the NASA Space Telerobotics Program features a new robotics-related Web site. The archive contains hundreds of past selections.

Medical Breakthroughs - Who was the first person to transplant an artificial heart into a human? How was it done? Do you know who developed procedures to separate and ship large quantities of plasma from whole blood? Who fought a decision by American Red Cross to segregate blood between African Americans and whites? Find out the answer to these and more intriguing questions at this site!

Museum of Ancient Inventions - Did you know the first battery was invented around 250 B.C.E.? Can you imagine what it looked like? This cool virtual museum of ancient inventions has photos of replicas of fascinating inventions and tells how these models were made.

Wearable Computing - Can a person wear a computer? Find out at this incredible site.

Innovative Lives - Want to get inspired? Come to this site to read about the lives and inventions of modern-day inventors.

Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders - Before compact disks, before records and tapes there were wax cylinders. Visit this site to learn how music was recorded in the late 1800s. Look at the photos of early recording devices and listen to recordings from the early 1900s!

Invention Dimension - Learn who invented what at this MIT Web site. You can browse by the invention or last name of the inventor, or perform a search.

Robotics: Sensing, Thinking, Acting - Explore robotics! Learn the history of robotics and ffind out about the ethical dialogue emerging around modern robotics.You can also check out the studios of several Bay Area "robot artists," and play an on-line game.

Humanioder Robot from Honda - Meet the P3 humanoid robot by Honda, and watch videos of it in action. To check out the P1 and P2 and get more technical information about the robots, go to http://world.honda.com/robot/

Kismet: A Robot for Social Interactions with Humans - Explore the fascinating work being done to construct "robots that engage in meaningful social exchanges with humans." Catch a glimpse of the future of robotics at this site by viewing the researcher and the robot interacting with and learning from each other using an infant-caretaker modeled system.

Edison's International Kids Power Lab - Have you ever heard of a solar-powered Ferris Wheel or an electric car? Find out all about them at this fun site. Read about important people who have shaped the way we use energy, and play cool games.

Dropzone: Skyhook 5 - This wild site features an emergency system for landing planes with ballistic parachutes and parafoils! You can learn why planes crash and read about this proposed system of prevention. You can also look at a QuickTime Player video of this system and lots of pictures of parachute assisted plane landings.

Sandia National Laboratories Intelligent Machine Initiative - "Imagine a machine so small that it is imperceptible to the human eye. Imagine working machines with gears no bigger than a grain of pollen." At this site you can learn about the technology of MEMS, MicroElectroMechanical Systems, take a virtual tour of the facility, and watch videos of these devices in action. Be sure to watch the video of the "World's Smallest Mite-Go-Round" in the "bugs on devices section."

US Patent and Trademark Office Kids' Pages -Want to understand exactly what a patent is, and how to get one? Did you know that the youngest patent-holder was a four year-old girl? This site, though a bit on the clunky side, has some nifty information, games, and puzzles.

Temari - Explore the fascinating geometrical art of Temari balls. Never heard of Temari balls? Check it out.

Latitude: The Art and Science of 15th Century

Navigation - Learn about the development of the mapmaking and navigation techniques which opened up the world for European exploration (and, more ambivalently, colonization). This site is impressively detailed and thorough.

The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices - Wander through this wonderful on-line compendium of countless strange and fraudulent medical devices, including the Psychograph and the Radium-Ore Revigorator.

A Century of Radiology - Discover the stories behind the development of X-ray imaging technology.

Cyber Telephone Museum - Ignore the goofy title and melodramatic title font, and you will be rewarded by the content of this site, which offers amazing pictures and stories from the history of the telephone.

FirstFlight - This visually attractive site explores the Wright brothers' first flight. You can check out the experiments that lead to the successful flight. The site includes a flight simulator that requires the Shockwave Player.

The ALLSTAR Network: The Principles of Flight - Ever wonder how planes fly? Hands-on experiments with wings, airfoils, and model planes will help you understand the principles of flight. You'll also find an extensive history of human flight and information on how to become a pilot. The site makes uses of Java, but those without Java-capable browsers won't be disappointed.

Flying Contraptions - Learn about a variety of flying machines. Personally, "William's Wasp" was a highlight, you have to love those rocket-packs!

National Inventors Hall of Fame - Find out who did what, when. An extensive list of inventors linked to biographical information.

The Lemelson-MIT Prize Program / Invention Dimension - The Invention Dimension highlights a different American inventor every week. Subjects range from historical figures to "living legends." The inventor of the week archives are an excellent resource.

The Perpetual Motion Page - Plans and explanations for four perpetual-motion machines are on this page. The page includes an important disclaimer.

The Father of Light - An interesting look at Edison's invention of the incandescent light bulb. The page is well written and includes some interesting images.

Nikola Tesla: Inventor, Engineer, Scientist - We thought it only fair, since we included Edison in our 10 Cool Sites, to include a page on Tesla. This page is comprehensive and includes a biography, photo album, and much more.
Cool Site: April 1996

To Fly is Everything... - This interesting site describes in detail the invention of the airplane. It has about 500 photographs as well as articles by the Wright brothers, and other supporting material. A very informative site.