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. Daily, Popular Science unpacks the science behind the top current news stories, dissects the latest technology and digital trends, and helps readers live smarter, safer, and happier through clever DIY projects.
Below is an overview of how we make money and the standards we fulfill to protect our editorial integrity. For more, read our Editorial Standards.
Key Principles and Guardrails:
- Key Principles and Guardrails: Editorial Independence: Editorial coverage, including stories, videos, product reviews, recommendations, and advice, is determined solely by our editorial organization for the benefit of the audience, without any advertising, marketing, or other business considerations.
- Transparency: Disclosures are always clear, conspicuous, and unambiguous to ensure that our audience understands when content is paid for by an advertiser, when independent content is made possible by an advertiser, or when the publisher earns a commission.
- Clear Distinction: We maintain a clear distinction between independent editorial content and paid and/or branded content. When independent editorial content is made possible by a partner, we tell you.
Revenue Sources. Descriptions and related disclosures:
Affiliate Links:
Popular Science prides itself on independent, expert reviews and recommendations. Our product testing labs, writers, and editors use their years of product evaluation experience to recommend the best products available to readers, and to analyze whether deals on those products are actually good deals. We may earn a commission when our audience purchases a product or service through a link promoted on our platforms (e.g., in product reviews, “best lists,” buying guides, or writing about deals).
Disclosure: We include a prominent disclosure before or in sight of the first link. Standard disclosure language includes: “We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.”
Made Possible By:
Popular Science creates original, helpful, unique, and necessary content based on our decades of experience covering technology and the Internet. Partners and advertisers can choose to support organic, editorial production of a category, feature, or package in order to increase the breadth and depth of Popular Science’s independent, human-authored journalism across key technology categories and topics.
In these cases, partners and advertisers do not have editorial control or pre-publishing approval, nor can they mandate inclusion of specific products or information not already chosen or planned by the editorial team. At no point do advertisers view this content before it is published. Advertisers or partners may provide support to broad topics, specific categories of coverage, or story types, as when they choose to support expanded coverage of a topic or the creation of a planned feature package.
Disclosure: If a brand chooses to support our content on our site or on social media, we include a clear, visible disclosure near the content or pieces of content in a category with language explaining that the content was made possible by a partner.
Sponsored Buying Guides & Gift Guide Placements/Featured Deals:
Some sponsors would like their products to be included or featured in our expert-written product Buying Guides and Gift Guides. If the sponsor’s product is already independently recommended by our journalists, sponsors may pay a fee to be featured higher in a list or in a more visible spot and will be clearly labeled with a disclosure.
If the sponsor’s product is not already recommended by our journalists but aligns with our standards, sponsored placements sold by business teams appear outside the list and are clearly labeled with a disclosure to prevent implication of editorial endorsement.
Disclosure: These entries are clearly marked as “sponsored” or “featured deal.”
Partner Offers
Popular Science rigorously evaluates which deals bring the most value to our readers. Sometimes an advertiser will pay to have a deal considered by the editorial team. Our editorial experts then vet these deals and choose to write about them only if they meet our standards for a good value. Writers and editors evaluating these deals do not know that partners have submitted deals through this program.
Disclosure: These articles are marked “Partner Offer” and include an on-page disclosure: “An advertiser paid for editorial consideration of this deal. Our editorial experts vetted the deal based on our independent expertise. Because we determined that the deal will save money for the consumer, we wrote the content.”
Paid Content (Branded Content / Custom Content / Native Advertising):
Brand X, CNET Group’s in-house paid content studio, creates work on behalf of advertisers and publishes content that is informed by the brand or advertiser and delivered in a tone that aligns with CNET Group brands and audience interests. Advertisers pay a premium for creative control over production, product inclusion, point-of-view, visual design, and final pre-publishing approval.
Disclosure: We clearly label any paid content using FTC-compliant terms including “Advertisement,” “Ad Content,” “Sponsored Ad,” or “Special Advertising Content from Popular Science.” The standard on-page disclosure is: “This is ad content, written and produced by Popular Science BrandX in collaboration with the sponsor. If you buy a product featured here, we may earn a commission.” We always include a Brand X byline.