Each year, Popular Science picks the 100 greatest new innovations in technology to feature in our Best Of What’s New issue. Discover the most exciting developments in consumer gadgets, sustainability, medicine, automobiles and more.
Follow links in the captions to our special Best Of What’s New website for in-depth analysis, Q&As, and our Grand Award winners.
Apple Mac Pro
By streamlining cooling into a single aluminum thermal core, the wizards at Apple packed a powerful desktop computer into their smallest package yet.
Intel Core M
Speaking of small, this wafer of a processor cuts power consumption by 60 percent and size by half, paving the way for thinner, cooler tablets and laptops.
Corsair Gaming K95 RGB
This mechanical keyboard features 16.8 million possible color combinations from its programmable LED backlights—perfect for the truly hardcore gamer who likes to keep things organized.
POC Helmet Integrity System
Helmets wear out, but normal ones don’t tell you when they do. POC’s Helmet Integrity System seeks to change all that.
Abominable Labs F-BOM
If you ski, you’re probably accustomed to the frustration of fog and snow on your goggles. These heated F-BOM goggles provide the solution.
Vision Aerial SwitchBlade-Pro
Vision Aerial introduces a tricopter, GoPro-capable drone tailored to follow your high-speed exploits.
Acer XB280HK
From Acer: the first 4K monitor to sync framerates in real time with your graphics card, for cinematic gaming.
KONE UltraRope
This super-light, super-strong elevator cable cuts the shackles limiting architects’ sky-high visions.
Whooshh Fish Transport System
Dam lacking a fish ladder? Too broke to build one? Enter the salmon cannon.
U.S. Naval Research Lab Electrochemical Acidification Carbon Capture Skid
Seawater is full of carbon dioxide and hydrogen, which just happen to be two key ingredients in hydrocarbon fuels. Soon, this innovation could allow ships to mass-produce their own fuel at sea.
Solar Roadways
Solar Roadways wants to turn your street into a giant solar panel, and with serious funding coming their way they might just get it done.
Philips and Green Sense Farms
For the first time, vertical agriculture outperforms its flat, boring cousin.
Nikken Sekkei BioSkin
This building wrap fights urban heat island effects, and it looks nice too.
Newlight Technologies Aircarbon
Carbon captured from a dairy farm’s refuse forms the basis of the plastic in this chair. How’s that for recycling?
One Central Park, Sydney
Hydroponic gardens are just the first of many biomimicry technologies underpinning this futuristic complex.
Motiv Electric Powertrain Control System
Electric cars are so passé. Electric powertrains are helping brutes like this garbage truck go green.
Aquion Energy AHI Technology
Today’s batteries are the least green part of green energy. This non-toxic, scalable, safe, saltwater system could mean a brighter future for energy storage.
Eating Crickets
Cricket cooking culture is on the rise. Read our Q&A with Mario Hernandez of New York City’s Black Ant restaurant, one of the chefs driving the bug-eating frenzy.
Ecosphere Powercube
Modern generators are hugely inefficient, while remaining critical in wartime and disaster zones. This portable machine takes only a minute’s set up before pumping out power, clean water, and communications.
Ford F-150
America’s leading truck for 32 years swapped out steel in its frame for an aluminum alloy that performs even better and cuts 700 pounds from the vehicle’s weight.
Toyota FCV
Hydrogen fuel cells are no longer science fiction. Toyota’s rolling out production FCVs in Japan early next year and in the U.S. in late 2015.
Evatran Plugless L2
This wireless charging adapter can fit to almost any electric vehicle and allow drivers to skip the plug after a long commute.
Porsche 918 Spyder
This futuristic supercar retains the ability to ramp up from zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds in a hybrid system.
Spark-Renault SRT 01E
This electric racecar packs the massive torque to outperform Formula One vehicles in some conditions, and its just the beginning.
Michelin Premiere A/S Tire
This new tire‘s grooves widen over time, the reverse of other models, letting it grip the road better longer.
Volvo Drive-E Engine
This four-cylinder engine manages the power of a conventional five or six, while cutting 100 pounds of weight.
Rolls-Royce Wraith
This super-smart luxury car senses bumps and dips before they arrive, adjusting its transmission and suspension to match. This means a smoother ride and more power power from the engine.
Dolby Atmos For Home
Dolby pioneered surround-sound technology years ago, and now they’re taking it into the third dimension for true immersion
Lego Fusion
Augmented reality comes to the play den as kids gain the power to upload their physical creations into virtual worlds.
Blue Microphones Mo-Fi
These headphones include on-board amplification in order to bring true hi-fi to low-powered devices.
Netflix Ultra-HD Streaming
A new kind of compression puts Netflix at the forefront of ultra high definition delivery.
Sony Playstation TV
Streaming comes to video game consoles, courtesy of Sony.
WowWee MiP
You love robots. (It’s not a question.) This self-balancing wonder stays upright, responds to gesture commands, carries small items, and syncs with its buddies.
Dragon V2
It’s like the original Dragon, only better. And NASA chose it to send astronauts into space.
Google X Project Wing
These Google delivery drones fly like airplanes, hover like helicopters, and lower packages by long cables to protect machines and bystanders. What’s not to love?
Chang’e-3
When its rover deployed, China became just the third nation to succeed in a soft landing on the moon.
Icon Aircraft Icon A5
Hobbyists should love this light, versatile, collapsable two-seater airplane.
Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander
The world’s longest, largest aircraft incorporates an innovative shape to keep it aloft for days.
E-volo Volocopter
This commuter copter wildly differs from anything else in the air.
Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD)
NASA built a supersonic brake for landing on faraway planets, and it’s amazing.
Honda Aircraft Company HondaJet
It turns out that when you put the engines on top of the wings the whole airplane improves.
Blackphone
This new Android cell phone encrypts calls and texts, locking out whoever might be listening.
Kyocera Sapphire Shield
This sapphire display survives falls, scratches, and other indignities of everyday cellphone use.
Adobe Ink & Slide
This stylus enables designers and artists to draw precise images on usually clunky touch screens.
Apple iBeacon
These indoor locational awareness systems are brand new, but app developers are already coming up with an amazing range of tasks for the bluetooth gadgets.
Stir Kinetic Desk
This sit-to-stand desk reminds you when it’s time to shift.
Google Cardboard
Cardboard doesn’t usually top the list of materials associated with tech giants, but this ultra-cheap virtual reality system should open new consumer frontiers for the technology.
Virtual Reality
Widespread, immersive virtual reality is on the cusp of becoming a reality. Read our Q&A with Jeremy Bailenson, founder of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab.
Deka “Luke” Arm
This prosthetic so advanced is so advanced, it takes its name from Luke Skywalker’s replacement limb in Star Wars.
Exact Sciences Cologuard
To combat evasion, Exact Sciences introduces this less invasive, home-use colon cancer screening.
Convergent Dental Solea
This laser machine takes the pain, numbing, and loud noise out of dentistry.
GoodLux Technologies SunSprite
This little device lets you know if you’re not getting enough sun for your mental or bodily health.
Medrobotics Flex System
This tooled robotic snake with a high-definition camera allows less invasive surgeries with easier recoveries.
RevMedx XStat
These injectable sponges can enter open wounds to stop internal bleeding in the field for up to four hours.
Sproutling baby monitor
Like a FitBit for babies, this wearable monitor help parents keep their infants safe and tracks their habits.
Black & Decker 20v Max Lithium Cordless Drill With Autosense Technology
The folks at Black & Decker have designed a sensor that detects major shifts in a screw’s torque, stopping the motor before stripping the fastener or splintering wood.
Belkin WeMo Maker
This little apparatus makes any DC-powered device it’s attached to “smart” and controllable by smartphone.
Gorilla Clear Repair Tape
Love duct tape but hate the look? This new adhesive strip from Gorilla performs the same function but is perfectly clear.
Remington iCoffee SteamBrew
This drip-style coffee maker produces the artisanal flavors of a true French press.
CleanAlert FilterScan WiFi
This smart sensor emails you when your filters are clogged, a common cause of HVAC inefficiency.
Kohler Touchless Flush Kit
This kit turns just about any toilet into a hands-free flusher.
LG EcoHybrid Dryer DLHX4072V
This dryer cuts the power-hungry staple’s electricity consumption in half.
T-fal OptiGrill
Sensors in this barbecue tell you when your meat is done to your liking, ending the guesswork in grilling.
Toro Recycler with SmartStow
New motor tech enables this lawnmower to take up half the space in storage.
Google Android Wear
While no hardware leader has emerged in the smartwatch market, Google has standardized the wearable operating system with its ubiquitous software.
Humin
Humin provides a contact list that works like your brain, organizing people by context, not the alphabet.
Titanfall
This console game outsources the bulk of its processing to the cloud, enabling high performance without lag time.
American Science & Engineering Mini Z
This sensor can read backscatter radiation bouncing off objects to see through solid objects in the field.
University of Michigan Nanopillar Arrays With Polymer Multilayers
This label fights counterfeit drugs by proving a medicine’s legitimacy when it’s breathed on.
Foscam FI9821P
This home security camera swivels at the command of a remote user on a tablet or phone
DARPA Flash
This new real-time data exchange system from DARPA aims to save firefighters’ lives by tracking their position against hazards.
