Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 117)

A grey Ride1Up Vorsa SUV ebike from the side against a green foliage background
Outdoor Gear

Ride1Up Vorsa review: When one bike needs to do it all

From school drop-offs to weekend joy rides, the Vorsa is built to handle life’s daily demands.

a rectangular cassette tape with lots of loose brown tape coming out
Engineering

A single DNA cassette tape could store billions of photos

Just don't try to pop it in that old Walkman.

a red slug in green grass
Animals

Ding-dong-ditch culprit turns out to be… a slug

The suspect in the late night doorbell ringing is pretty slippery.

A profile shot of a woman with her eyes closed and head tilted back, leaning against a wall and wearing white over-ear headphones. She is lit by a warm, golden sunlight that creates a strong glow around her, suggesting a peaceful, contemplative moment at sunrise or sunset.
Ask Us Anything

Do binaural beats really help you focus?

The auditory illusion can create a phantom tone in your head said to promote focus, relaxation, and cognition.

Hay, straw, flowers and a wooden figure lie in a so-called "cocoon" at a press briefing on the new form of burial "Reerdigung" in the chapel at the Eichhof park cemetery. The provider "My Earth" offers the new form of burial. A corpse is bedded on hay, straw and green cuttings, within 40 days it turns into earth.
Sustainability

When I go, I’m going green

More Americans are choosing burials in which everything is biodegradable.

a robot dog walking with three humans
Engineering

The perfect robot guide dog shouldn’t be cute

Approachable, packed full of navigational features, soft to the touch—and won't cause a scene.

A blurred photo shows a smiling woman with dark hair, wearing a purple shirt, holding a large, ancient-looking wooden tool with a stone head, possibly an ax or hammer. She is wearing white gloves and standing in a laboratory setting with scientific equipment and storage shelves visible in the background.
Archaeology

Stone Age women were buried with as many tools as men

Prehistoric graves show women wielded more than early archeologists gave them credit for.

a pink, green, yellow aurora over mountain and clouds
Deep Space

18 jaw-dropping images from the 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards

From celestial light shows on Earth to an awe-inspiring nebula 1,470 light years away.

Matador bug and a leaf-footed bug with impressive, large, colorful flags on its hind tibia.
Insects

This bug uses ‘red flags’ to tell predators to buzz off

The tropical Matador bug's fancy dance is not a mating ritual.

A mating pair of octopuses with one of the animals raising its arm up
Wildlife

Octopus arms are the animal kingdom’s most flexible

The ‘ultimate multitaskers’ are pretty ambidextrous.

FlexiSpot EN1 desk on sale at Amazon
Home

Get a complete motorized Flexispot standing desk for just $109 while they last at Amazon

Get a full-featured standing desk and other essential office furniture and accessories up to 40 percent off at Amazon.

a leopard seal on an ice flow with its mouth open
Ocean

Leopard seals sing like the Beatles

A concert is raging underneath the sea ice. But will we drown it out?

couple stretching on grass
Fitness & Exercise

Should I exercise if I’m still sore from last time?

When you exercise, tiny tears occur in your muscles.

a border collie in a park gives a human a high five with its paw
Dogs

Pandemic life left its mark on dogs

Data from over 47,000 dogs found that they are pretty adaptable, except for one behavior.

An artist’s impression of how the aurora might appear in the sky above the Perseverance rover.
Mars

Aurora over Mars gives Red Planet a green glow

Planetary scientists can now predict when the aurora will shine over our cosmic neighbor.

a baby koala in a tree
Endangered Species

First koala chlamydia vaccine approved

The disease has been plaguing the endangered marsupials since the 1990s.

Cobra on plain background
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

It took half a century to solve the mystery of Missouri’s deadly snake panic 

Plus chameleons eyeballs and other weird things we learned this week.

A person wearing a dark top is shown at a dining table, holding a black chopstick and picking up a piece of white fish from a large bowl of what appears to be a spicy broth. A single red chile pepper is visible on top of the fish. In the background, the person is holding a small bowl of white rice in their other hand.
Health

Does eating spicy food help you lose weight? Science has a clear answer.

Nutritionists weigh in on the heated debate.

human face in motion blur
Health

Can you be aware of nothing? The rare sleep experience scientists are trying to understand.

Participants reported that their selves seemed to have vanished or dissolved.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen. 2 earbuds in the sun against a blue sky as a plane flies overhear
Earbuds

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) review: Subtle never seemed so obvious

The new Gen. 2 QuietComfort Ultra earbuds reinforce everything Bose active noise cancellation does right.