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An artistic, mixed-media digital collage of an early twentieth-century electric vehicle, specifically a Woods Motor Vehicle Company car. The car is rendered in shades of purple and pink against a textured yellow background that looks like crumpled paper. The image features playful, hand-drawn scribbles in red and black, including the words "VROOM VROOM" and "LET'S RIDE!" near the front wheel. The car itself has a tall, carriage-like cabin with large windows and thin, spoked wheels highlighted with glowing pink circles. Decorative red loops and lines are sketched around the rear of the vehicle to suggest motion.
Hybrid Cars

In 1916, hybrid cars could’ve changed history. But Ford wouldn’t allow it.

Henry Ford’s monopoly on the automobile industry meant that hybrids wouldn’t see the light of day for decades.

By Bill Gourgey

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Americans planted entire forests of exploding Australian trees

Plus beaver skulls and other weird things we learned this week.

Rachel Feltman

Rachel Feltman

Host

At Popular Science, we report and write dozens of stories every week. And while a lot of the fun facts we stumble across make it into our articles, there are lots of other weird facts that we just keep around the office. So we figured, why not share those with you? Welcome to The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week.

Latest Articles

Large group of used dirty sleeping mattresses. Abandoned in wild landfill
Land

Fungi help turn old mattresses into insulation

Every day, 50,000 mattresses are tossed in the trash in the United States. A relative of penicillin could be the cure.

By Andrew Paul

ROV pilots filmed this glass squid at 1,725 meters while exploring the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon off the coast of Argentina. CREDIT: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute Due to our legal status as a 501(c)(3) private operating foundation, no media produced by Schmidt Ocean Institute may be used in attempting to influence legislation or lobbying. Additionally, all visual assets (Images, videos, etc) can only be used as stated by creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Fish

Marine biologists discover 28 new deep sea species—and an old VHS tape

The level of ocean biodiversity near Argentina staggered researchers.

By Andrew Paul

a white dog with ears perked up and wide eyes against a blue background
Dogs

Cortisol could impact your dog’s behavior

Just like in humans, stress and mood hormones might play a role in your pet’s temperament.

By Laura Baisas

A white pickup truck is driving away from the viewer across a flat sandy plain with tall, smoothly sculpted dunes rising in the background. Small patches of dry grass are scattered in the foreground.
Endangered Species

Death Valley National Park needs help ID’ing joyriding vandals

A truck illegally tore through the California park, leaving five miles of tracks and damaging ‘sensitive desert plants.’

By Andrew Paul

A hummingbird’s wings on a micro-CT scanner.
Birds

How do you check a hummingbird for broken bones? Very carefully.

Micro-CT scans can reveal hard-to-spot fractures in tiny, injured hummingbirds.

By Sarah Kuta

A close-up of a person's mouth smiling, showing teeth fitted with metal dental braces on both the upper and lower rows. The image focuses on the orthodontic brackets and wires, with the person’s nose and lips framing the smile.
Ask Us Anything

Why our ancestors had straight teeth without braces

Small jaws mean big problems for modern humans.

By Sara Kiley Watson

05 September 2020, Saxony-Anhalt, Halberstadt: Soprano Johanna Vargas (l) and composer Julian Lembke (r) use the organ pipes. Since 2001 the organ has been playing the music piece "ORGAN2/ASLSP" by John Cage without interruption. It is said to last 639 years. On Saturday, September 5, 2020, the 14th sound change of the John Cage Organ Art Project Halberstadt has been completed. In addition to the previous five pipes c'(16'), des'(16'), dis', ais' and e'', there are two new pipes g sharp and e. The next sound lasts until February 5, 2022. Then the g sharp will be dropped again. If everything goes as planned, the performance of the piece will last until the year 2640 Photo: Matthias Bein/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa (Photo by Matthias Bein/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Science

Pipe organ plays single song for 639 years

The avant-garde composition ‘ORGAN²/ASLSP’ is being stretched to its limits.

By Andrew Paul

a small chick sits on a nest with its parent behind, cleaning its feathers with its beak
Birds

Watch an albatross give its brand-new chick a very careful cleanup

The massive seabirds’ powerful beaks can be surprisingly gentle when preening their babies.

By Laura Baisas

Various angles of silver pendant with Roman gem inlay next to measurement references
Archaeology

Metal detectorist finds medieval pendant with a Roman ‘secret’

The discovery is an artifact within an artifact.

By Andrew Paul

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Popular Science has been demystifying the worlds of science and technology since 1872. We explain the inner workings of the phone in your pocket, explore world-changing innovations, and examine everything from the marvels of deep space to the secret lives of staples like bread. We deliver an engaging, approachable, and inclusive look at emerging technologies and scientific advances.
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