Popular Science. Demystifying the worlds of science and technology since 1872.
Why does Air Force One take so long to replace? It’s not just bureaucracy.
The president’s high-tech aircraft might just be ‘the most unusual plane ever built’
Chicago’s pollution could be keeping river monsters at bay
Plus 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.
POPULAR SCIENCE VIDEOS
Popular Science on YouTube is a laboratory of stories from the future, past, and present. It’s like a time travel learning machine—in video form.
New evidence for water lurking under the moon’s poles
Chandrayaan-3’s lunar surface temperature data hints at some unexpected H20.
Highly expressive ancient puppets found in Salvadorian pyramid
Researchers believe the figurines’ bodies and heads were controlled by using a string.
Extreme heat silently accelerates aging on a molecular level
New research explores how heat affects biological aging.
NASA squeezes more life from 47-year-old Voyager probes
Both spacecraft are running on two-thirds of their original power.
Mysterious cosmic body is a rogue ‘Super-Jupiter’
SIMP 0136 shows just how complex our universe really is.
1.5 million years ago, human ancestors used hippo bones to make tools
New data revises the timeline for when our prehistoric relatives started using animal bones.
New 22-foot-long titanosaur discovered in Argentina
The ‘titan of salt’ stomped around 78 million years ago.
Where does black fall on the color spectrum? A color scientist explains.
Some colors you can perceive aren’t part of the classic rainbow.
Earth’s ‘Great Dying’ killed 80-90% of life. How some amphibians survived.
Bulbous temnospondyls looked like a cross between a crocodile and a salamander.
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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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