Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 553)

Virgin Galactic will fly you to space for the price of a house
Private Space Flight

Virgin Galactic will fly you to space for the price of a house

Ticket sales for the rocket-powered excursions, which cost $450,000, open up tomorrow. You'll need to put $150,000 down first.

apple watch
Tech Hacks

There’s a secret way to browse the web from your Apple Watch

It is possible—barely.

JBL Charge 5 in teal on a bookshelf
Speakers

JBL Charge 5 review: Rugged, portable Bluetooth speaker with battery to spare

From the backyard to the beach, the JBL Charge 5 will keep you energized.

Megadrought in the US West is a 1,200-year record.
Global Warming

The American West is drier than it’s been in at least 1,200 years

The record megadrought is straining reservoirs and inflaming wildfires.

Heron resting on floating solar panel.
Renewables

Floating solar panels could be the next big thing in clean energy

For places with limited land space, water-bound solar may be the next frontier.

person holding bouquet of peonies
Projects

How to make cut flowers last longer

Roses are red, violets are blue, your flowers will die, but hopefully not soon.

A woman with red lipstick on standing very close to a TV screen that's playing black and white static, as she gently touches the screen with her hand.
Life Skills

How to clean a TV screen

Yes it has food on it, no you shouldn't lick it off.

Ursa Major star shown 18 times in first James Webb Space Telescope composite image
Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope showed us its first star

Engineers are using gyroscopes and fine-grain precision to align all 18 mirrors and get the telescope running.

A white car sitting in a parking space being charged from a pole with a cable.
Electric Vehicles

Could swappable EV batteries replace charging stations?

India is the latest of several countries to consider the workaround for fast-charging.

A woman looking at her phone while sitting at the window bar inside a Starbucks.
Tech Hacks

7 useful tasks your phone can handle automatically

Teach your old phone some new tricks.

Google data center and server farm in St. Ghislain, Belgium, with cooling towers lit up at night
Climate Change

Inside the physical footprint of the Cloud

Anthropologist Steven Gonzalez Monserrate draws on five years of research and fieldwork in server farms to illustrate some of the diverse environmental impacts of data storage.

six raw oysters in a circle around a lemon next to a glass of champagne to be used as aphrodisiacs for sex
Medicine

Research on aphrodisiacs is kind of unsatisfying

There's more to love potions than physical arousal.

a Tesla pulling a trailer
Electric Vehicles

Airstream’s camper concept is a sophisticated electric machine

The eStream is designed for the age of EVs, but unfortunately it's not a production prototype.

mechanical keyboard with rbg
Projects

A beginner’s guide to the world of custom mechanical keyboards

Linear, clicky, or tactile? There's the rub.

Figure skater's boots and blades on an ice rink
Physics

Why the quadruple axel jump is nearly impossible to land

There's a razor-thin margin of error for figure skaters attempting these feats.

A woman cheering while sitting on a brown couch and watching a hockey game on a large flat-screen TV
Tech Hacks

How to watch TV with friends—even when you can’t be together

Stay social without going out.

Cemetary with large stone chapel and headstones.
COVID-19

COVID-19 is overcrowding cemeteries and causing heavy metal pollution

'At this rate, dead people are slowly poisoning those who are alive.'

Rolls-Royce hood ornament
Electric Vehicles

Hood ornaments can be a drag, so Rolls-Royce made theirs sleeker

It's called the Spirit of Ecstasy, and while the change may seem silly, it's a reminder that a vehicle's aerodynamics matter.

Venus with a slight halo-like glow in a Parker Solar Probe black and white image
NASA

We finally know why Venus is absolutely radiant

Full-light images from the Parker Solar Probe confirm an age-old astronomy legend.

An Amazon Echo Dot on top of some books.
Tech Hacks

Simplify your life by creating routines for Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant

How to build shortcuts for your digital assistant.