Popular Science. Demystifying the worlds of science and technology since 1872.
The strange Wild West tale of the first cow-buffalo hybrid
Inside cowboy Charles Jesse “Buffalo” Jones’s get-rich-quick scheme to restore the plains 100 years ago.
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
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
Pompeii’s ruins challenge Rome’s famous concrete recipe
The empire’s most famous architect may have had it wrong.
Elizabethan era gold coin sold for record-breaking price
The coin minted between 1584 and 1586 celebrates England’s naval superiority.
Air New Zealand tests a new generation of electric planes
Battery and hydrogen-powered aircraft are cleared for takeoff.
40,000 Roman-era coins discovered in French village
The town was important to the Celtic Mediomatrici tribe before it was conquered by Julius Caesar.
Pair of exploding stars baffle astronomers
New images of two novae are ‘like going from a grainy black-and-white photo to high-definition video.’
Swiss startup turns urine into plant fertilizer
The space-inspired wastewater treatment uses the nutrients and loses the odor.
What is shivering? Why our bodies shake when it’s cold.
Involuntary muscle contractions keep us warm and even fight infections.
Nature’s greatest method actors: the insects that cosplay bumblebees
Hoverflies don’t just look like bumblebees—they visit the same flowers and even act like them to fool predators.
Ancient ‘dirty dishes’ may have led archaeologists astray for decades
A new study questions if Bronze Age dishes really do have traces of olive oil.
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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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