Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 144)

As the tide of invasive Pacific pink salmon threatens to overwhelm Norway’s rivers, the locals—above on the Vestre Jakobselv—net or trap as many possible before the fish spawn and die, potentially changing the ecology of the region.
Fish

Where the rivers run pink

Non-native pink salmon have swarmed Norway’s rivers, prompting a relentless—and potentially fruitless—fight to beat back the invaders.

two stalk-eyed flies fight on a stick. these flies have long antennae with eyeballs on the tips
Insects

Flies with shorter eye-stalks act aggressively because females are less attracted to them

Spirited fighting may compensate for physical attributes.

two rocks in foreground, milky way in background
Space

12 breathtaking images from the 2024 Astrophotography Prize Photographer of the Year awards

Space is absolutely stunning.

A fusion experiment ran so hot that the wall materials facing the plasma retained defects.
Energy

How can we make nuclear fusion a reliable energy source one day?

Scientists will first need to design heat- and radiation-resilient materials.

the google docs logo with cartoon people around it
Tech Hacks

Stop using Arial: How to change the default fonts in Google Docs

You can tweak Google Docs in more ways than you might think.

three photos: a rat holding orange string, a woman with a robot rat on her head and a robot rat with wires coming out of it
Engineering

Meet the engineer who crafted a genius animatronic ‘Ratatouille’ Halloween costume

Christina Ernst used a 3D printer, tiny motors, and coding to bring Remy to life.

Equipment including an electrochemical reactor where seawater is split via electrolysis to capture carbon on a barge for UCLA's SeaChange climate change carbon removal project at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California on April 12, 2023. The project is now known as Equatic.
Environment

Marine carbon dioxide removal is about to go big

Following its Singaporean pilot project, carbon sequestration start-up Equatic aims to build a massive plant in Quebec.

The Winchcombe meteorite sits on display at the Natural History Museum on May 13, 2021 in London, England. The meteorite is a rare type, the first to fall in 30 years.
Space

When a meteor smashes into your driveway

An excerpt from 'How to Kill an Asteroid: The Real Science of Planetary Defense' transports you to the scene in Winchcombe, England.

HMS Trooper submarine wreckage
Military

WWII submarine discovered 81 years after vanishing on a secret mission

The wreck of the HMS 'Trooper' is located at the bottom of the Icarian Sea near Greece.

Close up of FBI windbreaker jacket
Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin bro searched ‘how can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI’ before FBI arrest

Eric Council, Jr., allegedly used a SIM swap to help access the SEC’s X account in January.

the gemini logo on black background with a phone next to it
Tech Hacks

How to use Gemini AI to ask questions about your Gmail inbox

Save time and effort by getting AI to search through and summarize your emails.

First responders and residents alike are using drones to assess hurricane damage and search for missing persons.
Weather

Drones are playing a critical role in Milton and Helene recovery

The aircraft are being used to find missing persons, assess damage, and airdrop supplies.

The best smart air purifiers on a plain white background.
Smart Home

The best smart air purifiers, tested and reviewed

These expert-approved picks keep your home air clean with a few taps on your phone screen.

Migraine pain, a leading cause of disability, is now thought to start in the membranes surrounding the brain.
Science

Studies of migraine’s many triggers offer paths to new therapies

One class of drugs has already found success in treating the painful, disorienting and common attacks. Excitement is building about a slew of additional drug targets.

several orange and black monarch butterflies dot large green leaves
Endangered Species

Scientists build rest stops for monarch butterflies on a volcano

These new 'overwintering' sites near Mexico City could help the struggling insects.

Ai-Da robot standing in front of two of its paintings at the United Nations
AI

A humanoid robot’s painting called ‘AI God’ may sell for over $120,000

Sotheby's auction will be the first of its kind.

a close up of four pieces of sliced bread
Evolution

Our love of delicious carbs may go back 800,000 years

The gene that kick off starch digestion potentially duplicated for the first time long before farming.

This photo taken during a media tour on October 11, 2024 shows the neutrino detector, a stainless steel and acrylic sphere around 35 meters in diameter, at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (Juno) in Kaiping, in southern China's Guangdong province.
Particle Physics

China races to unlock one of the biggest mysteries in particle physics

JUNO, the underground facility in Kaiping, will boot up in 2025.

A photograph showing two big and two little Pyrocystis noctiluca.
Ocean

Why these plankton puff up to 6x bigger than normal

Pyrocystis noctiluca's cells work like ‘little submarines.’

A US Navy officer releases a weather balloon over the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. Today, the United States launches around 76,600 balloons annually to gather high-altitude weather data on air temperature, pressure, and humidity.
Conservation

Weather forecasting is deadly for marine wildlife

Latex balloons designed to collect high-altitude data become a threat to marine animals after they burst—though the scale of their impact remains unknown.