Science(Page 7)

Science spans our understanding of how Earth and the cosmos work. Get the biggest news on biology, physics, space, dinosaurs, and more—along with the latest episodes of the Ask Us Anything and Weirdest Thing podcasts.

Latest in Science

a skull next to a yellow note that reads: "Skull from Ephesus.”
Science

Sorry, this skull does not belong to Cleopatra’s sister

By Laura Baisas

Planet Mercury in the background with its grey, cratered, pockmarked surface. In the foreground are some spacecraft parts
Science

Mercury stuns in incredibly detailed new images

By Laura Baisas

a yellow cardinal sits on a tree branch
Environment

Extremely rare yellow cardinal flies into a Michigan backyard

By Laura Baisas

Close up of hand holding pencil solving crossword puzzle
Science

Why crossword puzzles get easier as you solve them, according to physics

By Andrew Paul

a scientist weather a larger winder coat and hat examines a cylindrical piece of ice
Environment

1.2-million-year-old ice pulled up from under Antarctica

By Laura Baisas

Dimmable car sun visor
Technology

This company wants to redesign the humble car sun visor

By Andrew Paul

Atmospheric photo of the site at dusk, showing the location at the convergence of two gorges. 2023 excavations of inner fortress are visible in foreground.
Science

Drone reveals ancient fortress is 40x larger than archaeologists once thought

By Mack DeGeurin

a green glow of bioluminescence from a mushroom
Environment

Artists find a green, glowing mushroom in a Swiss forest

By Laura Baisas

Three red ants interacting with one another
Science

Even ants may hold grudges

By Andrew Paul

Certain medications can interfere with with normal sleep architecture.
Health

Why your brain flushes itself of waste during sleep

By Tom Hawking

cancer cells microscope
Technology

AI is already changing the ways we fight cancer

By Mack DeGeurin

a small brown fish swimming in a tank
Environment

These fish can mate 19 times per day

By Laura Baisas

a tomb in a desert
Science

Archaeologists find the 4,000-year-old tomb of an overachieving Egyptian magician

By Laura Baisas

a long whale shark with gray spots swims in the ocean
Environment

Whale shark pre-mating ritual observed for the first time

By Laura Baisas

a bird with white and black plummage and an egg on a nest and three other birds standing around her
Environment

Which animals reproduce at the oldest age?

By Laura Baisas

A general view of (L-R) the church of Santi Luca e Martina, the Arch of Septimius Severus, the ruins of the Temple of Saturn and - in the background - the Amphitheatrum Flavium, commonly known as Colosseum (in Italian: Colosseo), on March 31, 2024 in Rome, Italy.
Science

Ancient lead pollution may have lowered IQs across the Roman Empire

By Lauren Leffer

Roman stone coffin being excavated in England
Science

Construction crew discovers Roman stone coffin under British road

By Andrew Paul

Concept art of Artemis astronauts in lunar crater with lunar rover
Science

NASA is calibrating new clocks so people can live on the moon

By Andrew Paul

a baby pygmy hippo in an indoor tank with its mother nearby
Environment

Newest pygmy hippo born on US soil gets a name

By Laura Baisas

a woman nuzzles a dog
Science

Meet the former musher investigating sled dog genetics

By Laura Baisas

a puffin, whale tail at sunset, and a sea turtle
Environment

13 dramatic photos that capture the beauty of marine sanctuaries

By Popular Science Team

Roboticists at the Tallinn University of Technology have developed a new class of bio-inspired feet that significantly enhance robot mobility on challenging terrains like mud and wet snow.
Technology

Dog robots can trek through mud using moose-inspired hooves

By Andrew Paul

Statue of Emperor Liu He
Science

Researchers make brandy in replica of disgraced emperor’s 2,000-year-old tomb distillery

By Andrew Paul

a brown dog ups up onto a tree and sniffs it, while its human handler points to what it is sniffing
Environment

Sniffing dogs join the fight against invasive spotted lanternflies

By Laura Baisas

Hula hooping robot video still
Science

Scientists identify the perfect hula hoop ‘body type’

By Andrew Paul

a dark brown moray eel
Environment

New ‘Hades’ moray eel discovered by accident

By Laura Baisas

meteors fall in the night sky near a lighthouse
Science

January stargazing: Ring in 2025 with a meteor shower, ‘planet parade,’ and best chance to spot Mars

By Laura Baisas

planes and astronauts collage
Technology

5 aerospace breakthroughs of 2024

By Popular Science Team

(Original Caption) 1938-Close-up of the very front end of a 1938 Cadillac La Salle. This smaller counterpart to the Cadillac features a smaller radiator grille, and four headlights, as well as the hood ornament and bumper.
Science

Why don’t cars have hood ornaments anymore? 

By Kristin Shaw

Lamborghini Miura junkyard auction car
Science

10 of the year’s most interesting auctions: Dinosaurs, coins, and Einstein’s love letters

By Andrew Paul

SLIM landed upside down.
Science

10 chaotic space-related mishaps of 2024

By Tom Hawking

Voyager Golden Record cover on black background
Science

What is on the Voyager Golden Record? Shockingly, not The Beatles.

By Andrew Paul

This photo taken on Oct. 11, 2024 shows the northern lights over Fujin City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Northern lights were observed at different places across Heilongjiang.
Science

The 7 coolest space phenomena we saw from Earth in 2024

By Tom Hawking

a mummy with a necklace of cheese
Science

10 fascinating archeological discoveries of 2024

By Laura Baisas

a blue lobster
Science

22 Popular Science stories you loved in 2024

By Popular Science Team

Pyramids in Giza
Science

Bubonic plague discovered in ancient Egyptian mummy DNA

By Andrew Paul

flying with cellphone airplane mode
Science

Why do we still have to use airplane mode?

By Tom Hawking

a black and white photograph of NASA mission control. several men are sitting at various screens and work stations
Science

On Christmas Eve 1968, millions watched the Apollo 8 astronauts broadcast from space

By Laura Baisas

Aerial shot of Viking grave site
Science

Viking women’s gravesites unearthed to find jewelry, coins, and a ‘vulva stone’

By Andrew Paul

An adult female chimpanzee cracks an oil palm nut with a stone hammer and anvil while her infant son looks at the camera.
Environment

Some chimpanzees are great nutcrackers

By Laura Baisas

The first brown dwarfs outside the Milky Way.
Science

Swirling galaxy arms, a cosmic sombrero, and a dead supernova: Our favorite JWST images from 2024

By Tom Hawking

Scientists are studying squirrels and hibernation that could help humans get to deep space
Science

Hibernation scientists studying squirrels could get humans to deep space

By Lauren Leffer

Chaunacops fish with 2024 Look Back article headline
Science

Ghost ships to ghost sharks: 10 wildest underwater discoveries of 2024

By Andrew Paul

a svalbard reindeer with antlers standing on muddy terrain
Environment

Shorter, fatter, and hairier: 5 fun facts about the world’s smallest reindeer

By Laura Baisas

a glacier hiker climbs in the foreground with a headlamp as a rainbow colored aurora dances above
Science

11 sensational images from the Northern Lights Photographer of the Year awards

By Popular Science Team

Stonehenge in Wiltshire of the Great Britain. It is a prehistoric monument, in Wiltshire in South West England. It is under protection of UNESCO.
Science

Archeologists think they solved a 4,500-year-old Stonehenge mystery

By Andrew Paul

a strange fish with a blob on its head sits on a rock
Environment

27 new, exciting, and blobby species discovered in the Peruvian rainforest

By Laura Baisas

Snowcat car in a snow ski resort.
Environment

The science of ski grooming

By Alisha McDarris

Two mastodon teeth found in Orange County, New York
Science

Man discovers giant mastodon jaw in his backyard

By Andrew Paul

An artistic representation of an active centaur like Chiron. The different colors in the coma indicate varying compositions of gas, ice, and dust.
Science

An ‘oddball’ asteroid-comet hybrid dates back 4.6 billion years

By Laura Baisas

The first image depicts star cluster NGC 602 in vibrant and festive colors. The cluster includes a giant dust cloud ring, shown in greens, yellows, blues, and oranges. The green hues and feathery edges of the ring cloud create the appearance of a wreath made of evergreen boughs. Hints of red representing X-rays provide shading, highlighting layers within the wreath-like ring cloud. The image is aglow with specks and dots of colorful, festive light, in blues, golds, whites, oranges, and reds. These lights represent stars within the cluster. Some of the lights gleam with diffraction spikes, while others emit a warm, diffuse glow. Upon closer inspection, many of the glowing specks have spiraling arms, indicating that they are, in fact, distant galaxies.
Science

Happy holidays from space!

By Laura Baisas

The long finger sticking out of the Sun at the bottom left of this image is a coronal mass ejection. It was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on August 31, 2012.
Science

Does the Sun make noise?

By Harriet Weber

A Sombrero ground lizard (Pholidoscelis corvinus) photographed on Sombrero Island in June 2021. This species is endemic to the Carribbean island.
Environment

Population of nearly extinct lizard grows 16X in only six years

By Laura Baisas

backyard chicken flock
Health

The first confirmed, severe human case of bird flu is here

By Lauren Leffer

An Andean bear at the nature reserve Bioparque Wakata, in Briceno municipality near Bogota, Colombia, on June 21, 2023.
Environment

Shy ‘Paddington’ bears need more plants to survive

By Laura Baisas

Close up of white wine bottle pouring into wine glass
Technology

Bacteria-powered artificial tongue can taste-test alcohol for additives

By Andrew Paul

an illustration of a black hole
Science

Enormous black hole napping after eating a ton of gas

By Laura Baisas

Modern Kitchen with wooden table, kitchen utensils, cooking pots and others, white background.
Health

Recent panic over black plastic started with a math error

By Andrew Paul

person drinking ginger ale on a plane
Science

Yes, ginger ale really does taste better on a plane. Here’s why.

By Popular Science Team

a squirrel sits eating a vole, pulling its meat with its teeth
Environment

‘Shocking:’ These squirrels are hunting and eating other rodents

By Laura Baisas

Martian landscape photo taken by Mars rover
Science

Researchers propose building homes on Mars with human blood

By Andrew Paul

Blurry image of NYC at night
Technology

Sorry, but the mystery drones are pretty normal (probably)

By Andrew Paul

a turtle swims in a tank wearing a black weighted harness on its side
Science

Sea turtle with ‘bubble butt syndrome’ gets a 3D-printed custom harness

By Laura Baisas

A reconstruction of the oldest known gorgonopsian in life.
Environment

This dog-like predator is the oldest known mammal ancestor

By Laura Baisas