Science

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Latest in Science

A yellow-ish pepper named Pepper X sits on a crystal dish. Pepper X is the new hottest chili pepper in the world. It was crossbreed with Carolina Reaper and a mystery pepper.
Science

The world’s hottest chili pepper is worse than bear spray

By Laura Baisas

Red-capped Hall effect thrusters being attached to a spacecraft body by two engineers.
Science

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will blaze an unusual blue trail across the solar system

By Briley Lewis

Coral Beach on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, dotted with various types of seaweed.
Environment

Europeans ate a lot more seaweed 8,000 years ago

By Laura Baisas

A fluorescent microscopic image, magnified 20 times, of a rodent nerve.
Science

Unraveled nerves and mesmerizing caffeine crystals: 10 sensational glimpses of the microscopic realm

By Popular Science Team

Microscopes for kids sliced header
Gear

The best microscopes for kids in 2024

By Carsen Joenk

Three stage of digital reconstruction. From left, the Pierolapithecus cranium shortly after discovery, after initial preparation, and after virtual reconstruction.
Science

12-million-year-old ape skull bares its fangs in virtual reconstruction

By Laura Baisas

Two Celestron telescopes on a white background
Gear

Save up to $101 on a Celestron x PopSci telescope with this post-eclipse sale at Amazon

By Stan Horaczek

Galapagos giant tortoises are restoring their own ecosystem
Environment

Galapagos giant tortoises are restoring their own ecosystem

By Syris Valentine/Hakai Magazine

Climate change could help fungal diseases thrive
Environment

Climate change could help fungal diseases thrive

By Shreya Dasgupta/Knowable Magazine

Charred scroll from Herculaneum undergoing laser scan
Technology

AI revealed the colorful first word of an ancient scroll torched by Mount Vesuvius

By Andrew Paul

A Secchi Disk and a measuring tape on a gray wooden floating pier next to a moored boat.
DIY

You can help measure the ocean’s health with this homemade gadget

By Alisha McDarris

AI-designed multi-legged robots on table
Technology

AI design for a ‘walking’ robot is a squishy purple glob

By Andrew Paul

The cave lion remains from Siegsdorf, Germany are displayed alongside a reproduction of a wooden spear similar to those used by Neanderthals.
Science

Neanderthals may have hunted mighty cave lions

By Laura Baisas

Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota celebrates during a pumpkin-weighing contest in Half Moon Bay, California.
Environment

This year’s heaviest pumpkin could be baked into 700 pies

By Laura Baisas

A pinkish human brain against a black background.
Health

New human brain atlas is the most detailed one we’ve seen yet

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Two frogs mating in a body of water.
Environment

Female frogs appear to play dead to avoid mating

By Laura Baisas

Patient wearing a highly integrated bionic hand in between many others
Technology

Titanium-fused bone tissue connects this bionic hand directly to a patient’s nerves

By Andrew Paul

Tail of black cat on red, star-specked background forms a heart shape. Illustration.
Environment

This tell-tail sign means your cat likes you

By Brandon Keim

A young Black person with short dyed-blonde hair wearing a yellow jacket and eclipse glasses while looking up at an eclipse in front of some residential buildings.
DIY

How to watch Saturday’s ‘ring of fire’ eclipse from wherever you are

By John Kennedy

The metal capsule containing asteroid samples of Bennu.
Science

NASA’s first asteroid-return sample is a goldmine of life-sustaining materials

By Jon Kelvey

Sweet potato, brown eggs, and corn in a husk on a stove. Traces of sweet potato, peanut, chili peppers, papaya, and more were found in coprolite samples from Puerto Rico.
Science

Mummified poop reveals a diverse ancient Caribbean diet

By Laura Baisas

Parker Solar Probe in front of sun concept art
Technology

The fastest ever human-made object keeps breaking its own speed record

By Andrew Paul

This new infrared image of NGC 346 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) traces emission from cool gas and dust. In this image blue represents silicates and sooty chemical molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. More diffuse red emission shines from warm dust heated by the brightest and most massive stars in the heart of the region. Bright patches and filaments mark areas with abundant numbers of protostars.
Science

Star-making hot spot looks like a glowing raven in new JWST image

By Laura Baisas

A person tweezing their own armpit hair.
Science

Ancient Romans tweezed their armpits until they screamed

By Popular Science Team

Grazer looking chunky and getting ready for winter on September 14, 2023. The bear is in the river intensely staring for salmon.
Environment

Fierce mama Grazer takes 2023’s Fat Bear Week crown

By Laura Baisas

Centenarian blood tests give hints of the secrets to longevity
Health

Centenarian blood tests give hints of the secrets to longevity

By Karin Modig/The Conversation

This image shows many looping and overlapping orbits encircling the Sun, all of different colors (to differentiate between asteroids). The center of the image – representing an area within the orbit of Jupiter – is very densely packed with orbits, while the outer edges remain clearer, showing the background plane of the Milky Way.
Science

A mission to map the universe unveils star clusters, asteroids, and tricks of gravity

By Laura Baisas

Human hand bones during an archaeological dig.
Science

Sensitive to pain? It could be your Neanderthal gene variants.

By Laura Baisas

An orange ring around the dark moon eclipsing the sun.
Science

We can predict solar eclipses to the second. Here’s how.

By Rahul Rao

An underwater closeup of Cayo margarita (a new species) in the coral reef of the Florida Keys. Note the two long tentacles, used by the snail to spread the mucus net for feeding.
Environment

New neon-yellow snail from the Florida Keys gets a happy hour-ready name

By Laura Baisas

A capybara standing on a riverbank. Capybaras are semi-aquatic rodents that can weigh up to 174 pounds.
Environment

4 capybara facts you’ll love, and 1 you’d like to forget

By Laura Baisas

Reading sci-fi novels can help kids understand real science
Science

Reading sci-fi novels can help kids understand real science

By Emily Midkiff/The Conversation

A dove is released at noon from a window of the Nobel Peace Center following the announcement of the laureates of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo on October 6, 2023. The Nobel Peace Prize was on October 6 awarded to imprisoned rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi, honored for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran.
Science

Meet the 2023 Nobel Prize winners

By Laura Baisas

Blue bins of fish and other seafood caught near the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan
Environment

This nuclear byproduct is fueling debate over Fukushima’s seafood

By Rahul Rao

A movie still from 'Psycho,' showing the silhouette of a man holding a knife.
Science

How horror movie soundtracks prey on our fears

By Ben Guarino

Close up of Axiom Space Prada lunar spacesuit glove
Science

Moon-bound Artemis III spacesuits have some functional luxury sewn in

By Andrew Paul

A newly discovered sauropod dinosaur left behind some epic footprints
Science

A newly discovered sauropod dinosaur left behind some epic footprints

By Laura Baisas

A NASA astronaut in a white spacesuit in orbit above blue Earth.
Science

Why we need a code of ethics to study space tourists

By Jon Kelvey

White Sands NPS staff excavating fossilized human footprints from lakebed
Science

Do the ancient human footprints at White Sands date back to the last ice age?

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Sweat sensor worn like a ring on finger
Technology

A new noninvasive patch could monitor a vital hormone

By Andrew Paul

Orbital cubesat plasma brake concept art
Science

A new satellite’s ‘plasma brake’ uses Earth’s atmosphere to avoid becoming space junk

By Andrew Paul

Exposed sedimentary rock on a mountain slope. High erosion in southern France exposes these sedimentary rocks to weathering, releasing carbon dioxide as the ancient organic carbon breaks down.
Environment

Rocks may be able to release carbon dioxide as well as store it

By Laura Baisas

mass-casualty triage occurring via different technologies
Technology

DARPA wants to modernize how first responders do triage during disasters

By Sarah Scoles

The study of smell loss still struggles for support
Health

The study of smell loss still struggles for support

By Hannah Docter-Loeb/Undark

Electronic artificial tongue sensor
Technology

An ‘electronic tongue’ could help robots taste food like humans

By Andrew Paul

Two chimpanzees share a meal. A new study found that same-sex sexual behavior helps establish and maintain positive social relationships in animals including chimpanzees, bighorn sheep, lions, and wolves.
Environment

Mammals may use same-sex sexual behavior for conflict resolution, bonding, and more

By Laura Baisas

The Morona-Santiago stubfoot toad (Atelopus halihelos) in Ecuador is listed as critically endangered.
Environment

How we can help the most endangered class of animals survive climate change

By Laura Baisas

Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Alexei Ekimov will share the 2023 Nobel prize in chemistry.
Science

Discoverers of colorful quantum dot nanotech win 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry

By Laura Baisas

A green monk parakeet standing in dirt. Parrots could have a unique tone of voice just like humans do.
Environment

No two parakeets sound exactly the same

By Laura Baisas

Illustration of trackable objects orbiting Earth
Technology

The FCC just dished out their first space junk fine

By Andrew Paul

T. rex model, T. rex skull, and Triceratops skull at dinosaur display in the Museum of Natural History in Vienna
Science

4 reasons dinosaurs never really ruled the Earth

By Riley Black

A purplish spiral galaxy with red and yellow space objects.
Science

JWST takes a jab at the mystery of the universe’s expansion rate

By Briley Lewis

Artist conception of early starbursting galaxies. The image is rendered from FIRE simulation data used for this research that can explain recent JWST results. Stars and galaxies are shown in the bright white points of light, while the more diffuse dark matter and gas are shown in purples and reds.
Science

Bursting stars could explain why it was so bright after the big bang

By Laura Baisas

An illustration of Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L´Huillier. The three will share the 2023 Nobel prize in physics.
Science

Winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in physics measured electrons by the attosecond

By Laura Baisas

A map of Britain in the late 13th century.
Science

Grisly medieval murders detailed in new interactive maps

By Laura Baisas

A spacecraft in a white room as technicians wearing cleanroom suits look on.
Science

NASA’s mission to a weird metal asteroid has blasted off

By Jon Kelvey

Otzi the Iceman remains laid out on a stretcher
Science

‘Dark’ archaeologists scour melting ice for ancient artifacts

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Purple, blue, and white meteors fall at night during October stargazing
Science

A ‘ring of fire’ eclipse and Hunter’s Moon will bring lunar drama to October’s skies

By Laura Baisas

Inside the small world of simulating other worlds
Science

Inside the small world of simulating other worlds

By Sarah Scoles/Undark

A killer whale in the Salish Sea is observed harassing a porpoise, a behavior that has long perplexed scientists.
Environment

Why are these orcas harassing porpoises? Scientists have 3 theories.

By Laura Baisas

This 6-million-year-old turtle shell still has some DNA
Environment

This 6-million-year-old turtle shell still has some DNA

By Laura Baisas

A person receiving chest compressions.
Health

What really happens during a near-death experience

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

A volcano spews lava and ash. In roughly 250 million years, massive tectonic activity could push together all of our current landmasses into a supercontinent like Pangea and make the climate inhospitable to humans and other mammals.
Science

A boiling hot supercontinent could kill all mammals in 250 million years

By Laura Baisas

Solar sail concept art from NASA
Science

How tiny spacecraft could ‘sail’ to Mars surprisingly quickly

By Andrew Paul

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