Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 314)

People walk past the K5 robot used by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in the Times Square subway station in New York on November 28. 2023.
Robots

NYPD retires big, egg-shaped subway surveillance robot—for now

Privacy advocates have criticized the 'trash can on wheels.'

An ermine moth with white wings and black spots sits on a yellow dandelion.
Biology

Moths fight against echolocating bats with sounds of their own

Biologists and engineers join forces to study this natural mystery.

Three screenshots of Tesla driver wearing Apple Vision Pro
Electric Vehicles

Don’t worry, that Tesla driver only wore the Apple Vision Pro for ’30-40 seconds’

In a viral video meant to be a 'skit,' an influencer drove in Autopilot while wearing the $3,499 spacial computing headset.

Rivian admitted to an error in its software that led to infotainment and main display malfunctions last year.
Electric Vehicles

The EV industry faces a core challenge: software bugs

Automakers like Ford, GM, and Volvo are rethinking their pace.

Two different versions of the eROSITA map. Extended X-ray emissions (left) and point-like X-ray sources (right).
Space Telescope

New map of half the known universe shines with cosmic energy

More than one million sources of energy are featured in the first X-ray images from the eROSITA space telescope.

Stem cells found in menstrual blood could unlock new therapies and diagnostic tests.
Stem Cells

The untapped potential of stem cells in menstrual blood

Long overlooked, menstrual stem cells could have important medical applications, including diagnosing endometriosis.

Ambient mode offers another way to watch YouTube.
Tech Hacks

YouTube has a hidden ambient mode: Here’s how to turn it on (and off)

It's a more immersive experience, on desktop or mobile—if that’s something you’re looking for.

In May 1951, Popular Science featured Aetna’s next generation simulator, the Roadometer.
Vehicles

Why don’t we use more driving simulators to teach teenage drivers?

These simulators popped in the 1950s, but there's a reason you won't see them in accredited driving schools today.

For many people, bed bugs are becoming a fact of life again.
Insects

Getting rid of bed bugs is trickier than ever

The blood-sucking insects now show up in two varieties and are resistant to many pesticides. New eradication strategies include fungal spores and nasty human odors.

Chronic wasting disease currently is known to infect only members of the cervid family—elk, deer, reindeer, caribou, and moose.
Diseases

Possibility of wildlife-to-human crossover heightens concern about chronic wasting disease

'The bottom-line message is we are quite unprepared.'

The best recliner for sleep in 2024 on a plain white background.
Home

The best recliners for sleeping

If you’re looking for great chairs for lounging, relaxing, and gathering, don’t sleep on our top picks … until you do.

SLIM lunar lander final moon photo
Moons

This may be SLIM’s farewell transmission from the moon

Japan’s lunar lander made history and defied the odds, but it may finally be down for the count.

Photo of an 18mo baby wearing a head-mounted camera
AI

How a baby with a headcam taught AI to learn words

An AI model identified objects 62% of the time after being trained on video and audio captured by a camera strapped to a toddler’s head.

Comcast Xfinity utility vehicle in parking lot
Internet

No, ’10G internet’ is not a thing

Comcast received a slap on the wrist this week for its 'misleading' Xfinity 10G Network brand campaign.

The first interstellar interloper detected passing through the Solar System, 1l/‘Oumuamua, came within 24 million miles of the Sun in 2017. It’s difficult to know exactly what ‘Oumuamua looked like, but it was probably oddly shaped and elongated, as depicted in this illustration.
Space

Why interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua and Borisov may hold clues to exoplanets

The detection of two celestial interlopers careening through our solar system have scientists eagerly anticipating more.

Santa Cruz Heckler on a plain background in red
Outdoor Gear

The best full-suspension e-bikes

These electric bikes will tackle any terrain.

Three common clownfish with orange coloring and white stripes swimming in a sea anemone.
Fish

Can clownfish count?

These feisty anemone-dwellers might alter their behavior based on the number of white stripes on other clownfish.

In tracing signed vocabularies’ evolutions, researchers applied phylogenetic analysis typically associated with biologically inherited traits to physically conveyed communications.
Internet

Computer modeling is tracing the hidden evolution of sign languages

A new program analyzed 19 different sign languages from around the world to help understand their connections.

The new policy proposal, if accepted, would make AI-generated robocalls easier to investigate and prosecute.
AI

FCC wants to make AI-generated robocalls illegal

New AI voice-cloning tools are making already frustrating robocalls more dangerous.

‘Jaws’ portrayed sharks as monsters 50 years ago, but it also inspired a generation of shark scientists
Sharks

‘Jaws’ portrayed sharks as monsters 50 years ago, but it also inspired a generation of shark scientists

Sharks rarely bite humans. Here's how shark science is evolving over time.