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An old DC-6 cargo plane converted into lodging rests in the snow under a glowing aurora, its windows and engines illuminated against a dark, starry winter sky.
Aviation

A pilot turned an old plane into a two-bedroom apartment

Jon Kotwicki jokes that converting an aluminum plane in Alaska is the “worst idea that a person could possibly have.”

By Laura Kiniry

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Vintage vaccine skeptics thought medicine would turn kids into demon cows

Plus horror movie empaths 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

Frog eating hornet in cage
Wildlife

Pond frogs devour murder hornets, stinger and all

Insect venom means nothing to some amphibians.

By Andrew Paul

several full fish laying on ice. the fish are orange, white, and multicolored
Fish

Afraid your fish is too fishy? Smart sensors might save your nose

Microneedles can tell when things start getting rancid long before we notice smells.

By Mack DeGeurin

Photograph of the fresco Trionfo della Morte, taken at its original location in the Camposanto Monumentale in Pisa. The fresco, known as the “Triumph of Death” and attributed to the painter Buonamico Buffalmacco, is not precisely dated; scholarly estimates range from 1335 to 1350. While it does not depict the Black Death explicitly, the selected detail shows victims of an epidemic from diverse social backgrounds, their souls carried off by demons.
Climate Change

Medieval volcanoes may have ignited the Black Death

More than just rats and fleas added to the ‘perfect storm’ plague.

By Andrew Paul

A macro, close-up photograph of the bottom of a human nose, clearly showing the two nostrils and the texture of the surrounding skin. The eyes are closed in the background.
Ask Us Anything

Why we have two nostrils instead of one big hole

Our nostrils share the workload like coworkers on rotation.

By Sarah Philip

Portrait of monkey. Close-up monkey have a rest. Fooling around. Eating bananas. Thailand
Wildlife

The surprising world of animal penises and what they reveal about humans

It’s true-birds don’t have a penis.

By Michelle Spear / The Conversation

Arm in noninvasive glucose monitoring device
Diabetes

Goodbye, finger pricks? Diabetes patients could monitor glucose with lightwaves.

Future versions of the noninvasive prototype may be as small as a watch.

By Andrew Paul

Nov. 19 image obtained by Pau Montplet from Breda (Girona) using a C6 telescope at f:7. Original image is in the lower right inset, while a false color 0.6º wide Larson-Sekanina filtered image at 9º shows 3I in negative to remark the antitail pointing to the subsolar point, and several jets getting out from the false nucleus. Two additional arrows mark wavy structures in the jets. Image resolution is 0.7 arcsec/pix. Credit: arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2511.19112
Solar System

Infamous 3I/ATLAS comet is covered in ice volcanoes, surprising astronomers

It’s still not aliens, but the interstellar comet keeps getting weirder.

By Andrew Paul

a mom and daughter camping with their dog. a tall mountain is in the foreground
Dogs

Pet dogs can help teens’ mental health

Dogs can increase bacteria that help teen brains and bellies stay in sync

By Laura Baisas

Close up of young rhesus macaque monkey eating peanut
Wildlife

Escaped lab monkey finds new home at New Jersey animal sanctuary

Forrest spent a week on the run in southeast Mississippi last October.

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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