Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 22)

Saline, Michigan USA - 1 December 2025 - A sign on a rural Michigan road opposes a planned $7 billion data center on southeast Michigan farm land. Opponents say the Data Center could raise residential electricity rates and endanger the water supply.
Pollution

Data centers are facing an image problem. The tech industry is spending millions to rebrand them.

Through television ads and online campaigns, industry-backed groups are promising jobs, clean energy, and lower electricity bills.

Close up of woman brushing teeth using electric toothbrush
Health

New whitening powder activates with your electric toothbrush

It may even repair damaged enamel and improve your oral microbiome.

Abalone shells with numerical tags
Endangered Species

Mysterious, numbered mollusk discovered on Australian beach

Researchers are urging beachgoers to report the endangered, tagged sea snails.

ReadyWise emergency food bucket with oat meal
Outdoor Gear

Stock up on ReadyWise emergency food supplies during this Walmart flash clearance sale

These shelf-stable rations come in durable, waterproof containers so you can stick them in your basement and forget about them until you need them.

This image is the sum of 86 observations added together, representing over three million seconds of Chandra observing time. It spans just about 60 light-years across, which is a veritable pinprick on the entire sky. The underlying image contains lower-, medium-, and higher-energy X-rays in red, green, and blue respectively. The annotations on the image show where Chandra has detected over 3,300 individual sources in this field of view over a 22-year timeframe.
Space Telescope

Gaze into the Milky Way’s black hole with NASA’s ‘back catalog’ of X-ray data

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has gathered over 1.3 million detections in 27 years.

man standing under drone umbrella in the rain
Projects

We may not have flying cars, but we have flying umbrellas

Inventor John Tse has gone high-tech to keep raindrops from falling on your head. 

a bald eagle with an egg
Birds

Bald eagle chick watch 2026: Jackie lays first eggs

The fascinating lives of the Big Bear Valley birds are livestreamed 24/7.

a grandmother and grand child lay with colorful blocks
Diseases

Babysitting grandkids can boost brain health

Grandparents who play with, read to, and look after their grandkids score better on cognitive tests.

View of the city skyline partially obscured by smog, New York, mid-1930s to late 1940s. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
Pollution

What air pollution does to the human body

The Clean Air Act first passed in 1970.

REI Co-op pants, fleece, jackets on sale
Outdoor Gear

REI is blowing out its branded jackets, fleeces pants, and more for clearance prices during this winter sale

REI's in-house products regularly over-perform their price tags and they're up to half-off during this flash sale.

a shark with brownish yellow scales and spots curled up among coral
Fish

‘Walking sharks’ lay eggs without breaking a sweat

Epaulette sharks surprise scientists with their easy peasy reproductive lives.

A line of red-nosed US military jet aircraft sits on a snow-covered runway at Thule Air Base in northwest Greenland in the 1950s, with low buildings to the left and Arctic ice stretching into the distance.
Land

How a secret U.S. military base in Greenland fractured Inuit life forever

A clandestine Cold War project still haunts the world's largest island.

several nesting pairs of birds on grass with a clear blue ocean water in the background
Birds

Snowed in? Watch albatrosses nest on a sunny Pacific island instead

As many as 75,000 mating pairs are waiting for eggs.

A vibrant culinary photograph featuring a bowl of fresh ceviche made from white fish, red onion, and herbs, surrounded by the raw ingredients used to prepare it. Several whole, striped lionfish with their distinctive venomous spines are arranged around the bowl alongside whole limes, red onions, and bright orange habanero peppers.
Wildlife

Should you eat invasive species? We asked an ecologist.

Tuck into some kudzu dip or feral hog sausage—they're delicious and good for the planet.

Ninja DG551 Foodi Smart XL 6-in-1 Indoor Grill
Home

Amazon just dropped this $300 Ninja indoor grill/air fryer down to $150 on clearance

This one handy Ninja appliance air fries, roasts, bakes, and even dehydrates. It's half-off right now for a limited time at Amazon.

Young woman sitting on a sofa and looking at a smartphone with a confused expression
Tech Hacks

How to stop annoying spam calls

Whether you use iOS or Android, don't waste your time with scammers.

3d sculpture of young couple, made of balls , concept for Love Story.
AI

AI can teach our students the art of dialogue

The same technology that’s ruining essay writing as a pedagogical tool can help students learn how to reason via conversations.

a jellyfish with a red center, blue circle on the outer part of its body, and small tentavles
Ocean

Perplexing blue button jelly looks like something out of ‘Lord of the Rings’

Coincidentally, these odd jellyfish relatives are gobbled up by blue dragons.

View_of_Whitehall_from_Trafalgar_Square_which_is_blurred_with_pedestrian_and_carriage_traffic__London__1839
AI

This AI thinks it’s the 1800s

What happens when you train an LLM only on limited historical data?

a stingray swimming in clear blue water
Biology

Stingray-inspired robot cracks the mystery of how rays swim

‘Nature seems to have already solved the problem.’