Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 136)

knob in car
Vehicles

Goodbye, annoying touchscreens. Welcome back, buttons?

Why some carmakers are bringing back your beloved knobs.

Best gifts for home gift guide header
Home

The 15 best home gifts to upgrade any living space

Skip the gift cards this year and give your giftee something that will upgrade their living space in ways they didn't know they needed but can appreciate year-round.

The Jackery 1000 solar generator in a pattern on a plain background.
Home

This Jackery portable generator is 43% off before Black Friday—and that’s before the extra bonus coupon at Amazon

The Explorer 1000 v2 is a great entry point to solar generators and is under $500 before Black Friday.

a large lump of fat, oil, grease, and other refuse dug up from a sewer on display in a musuem
Engineering

The battle against fatbergs has a new weapon

An experimental zinc coating may reduce the build-up of fat, oil, and grease clumps in sewer pipes.

The best cloud storage for photos in 2024 on a plain white background.
Computers

The best cloud storage for photos in 2025

Whether you're looking to back up your photos or need a way to share your work, the best cloud storage for photos will help you ensure your files are safe and accessible.

Professor Jade Morton (co-author) posing with a phone and a monitoring station at the University of Colorado, Boulder. A monitoring station has a large and expensive antenna. Phones have smaller antennas, which leads to noisier measurements, but phones are present in more parts of the world.
Technology

Google used millions of Android phones to map the worst enemy of GPS

'We can flip this on its head.'

x-ray scans of early human skulls. the teeth are colored red, green, orange, blue, and purple to show the differences among them
Evolution

These 1.77-million-year-old teeth could help demystify human childhoods

The fossil 'jackpot’ is from the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia.

Beluga Whale or White Whale, delphinapterus leucas, Adult
Science

Russian ‘spy whale’ was actually an aquatic guard turned ‘hooligan’

Hvaldimir the beluga whale first made headlines after arriving in Norway in 2019.

The best gifts for travelers on a plain white background.
Gift Guides

The best gifts for travelers

The best travel gifts are small items that can play a big part in making sure a journey is comfortable and collected.

young woman in bed with alarm clock and eyes opened suffering insomnia and sleep disorder thinking about his problem on dark studio lighting in sleeping and nightmare issues
Ask Us Anything

What causes you to jolt awake right before falling asleep?

Hypnagogic jerks are as common as they are mysterious.

A view of the New Croton Reservoir in New York City.
Animals

Invasive species spell trouble for New York’s beloved tap water

Zebra mussels, hydrilla, and now a waterflea have made their homes in New Croton Reservoir.

A record players, Xbox, headphones, and turkey fryer arranged in a header for Walmart's early black friday deals
Gear

Walmart started Black Friday super early. These 20+ deals are worth grabbing before they sell out.

Black Friday started on November 11th at Walmart. Get great deals now on everything from turkey fryers to TVs.

a small baby gibbon with large eyes sits on its mother
Animals

Endangered newborn siamang gibbon is a ‘sign of hope’

These lanky primates are known for their long swings and boisterous duets.

The best smart TVs for seniors in 2024 sliced and diced feature image
Televisions

The best smart TVs for seniors in 2025

These televisions are easy to use, available at multiple screen sizes, and most cost under $500.

a new mollusc with a hood over its head
Biology

New deep-sea slug catches crustaceans like a Venus fly trap

It's the first known sea slug that swims through the ocean’s midnight zone.

da Vinci Surgical System practicing sutures on pork loin
AI

Watch a robot operate on a pork loin

It learned to pick up needles by itself.

Close up of blooming corpse flower
Environment

Scientists crack the mystery of why the corpse flower smells like death

On a chemical level, it is similar to rotting meat.

forest
Environment

How do you save a rainforest? Leave it alone.

Research shows that, instead of replanting rainforests, allowing them to bounce back naturally would store loads of carbon.

two leopards fighting in dirt
Pollution

14 dramatic moments from the 2024 Nature’s Best Photo Awards

A mother tiger, feisty foxes, and wildflower fireworks.

man holds camcorder
Internet

The forgotten technology that made YouTube possible

In 1987, the Videonics DirectED seemed groundbreaking, so what happened to it?