Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 650)

This high-tech gunsight could allow soldiers to shoot around corners, Matrix-style
Weapons

This high-tech gunsight could allow soldiers to shoot around corners, Matrix-style

The system includes an AR display, and it's designed to attach to a traditional rifle, like an M4 carbine.

This 120-million-year-old bird may have been one of the first to shake its tail feathers
Birds

This 120-million-year-old bird may have been one of the first to shake its tail feathers

The magpie-sized Yuanchuavis probably wasn’t a strong flyer, but it did dress to impress.

A bright rocket launches against a dark night sky.
Space X

SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission and launch in 9 photos

It's not easy training to be an astronaut in a few months; it's a lot of hard work and fun.

Taara's internet towers in Kenya.
Internet

Beams of light—not cables—are carrying the internet across a river in the Congo

Project Taara’s cable-free tech can give users internet at “fiber-like speeds.”

An illustration of a quasar in space, blinding light that shoots out top and bottom, with matter swirling around perpendicularly.
Black Holes

Blindingly bright black holes could help cosmologists see deeper into the universe’s past

Most humongous black holes, astronomers suggest, have acted the same way throughout the eons.

Former college basketball player and current doctor Aaron Bolds
Medicine

America needs more Black male doctors. College sports can help.

To boost Black men in medicine, advocates are turning to athletes.

A person using a neck gaiter as a face mask.
Life Skills

All the ways a neck gaiter is a multifunctional wonder

It’ll protect your head, your neck, and your butt.

An illustration of an extinct species of giant penguins. Two penguins stand upright and one huddles down on a rocky island.
Birds

Schoolkids in New Zealand discovered a new species of giant penguin

The new fossil is one of the most intact specimens of giant penguins we have.

A person pouring a bunch of salt into a metal cooking pot on a gas stove.
Life Skills

Quick fixes for common cooking mistakes

Culinary creation can be a delicate balancing act.

Why a record number of container ships are backed up off the coast of California
Ocean

Why a record number of container ships are backed up off the coast of California

With a dearth of places to anchor, some of the giant vessels are just drifting.

Cyclones can be fatal for seabirds, but not in the way you think
Birds

Cyclones can be fatal for seabirds, but not in the way you think

An analysis of puffins and other birds could explain mysterious mass die-offs.

Potty-trained cows could seriously help the planet
Agriculture

Potty-trained cows could seriously help the planet

Ammonia is a big problem for pollution and climate change. But teaching a cow to use the 'MooLoo' could change that.

Some dinosaurs on the PopSci Ask Us Anything podcast background.
Ask Us Anything

What would a dinosaur taste like?

Don't tell us you've never thought about it.

satellite image of smoke from the australian wildfires
Environment

Australian wildfires fueled an algae bloom bigger than the continent itself

Smoke spread across the Southern Ocean fed iron to the algae, causing a massive boom.

art illustration of woman with open mouth and laptop
Ask Us Anything

What would happen if I ate my computer? Asking for a friend.

Microchips and dip.

A folded American flag rests on top of a grave stone, with other gravestones in the background.
Vaccines

COVID-19 has now killed 1 in 500 Americans

The pandemic is far from over.

A humpback whale breaches water and hangs in mid-air, in front of forested cliffs.
Whales

A rare humpback whale ‘megapod’ was spotted snacking off the Australian coast

The gobble gathering may also be a foreboding sign of climate change.

How North Korea’s cruise missiles could surprise its enemies
Weapons

How North Korea’s cruise missiles could surprise its enemies

The DPRK recently tested cruise missiles, which can sneak up all too easily on a target by hugging the terrain below.

point reyes national seashore lighthouse
Conservation

Why Point Reyes’ new land management plan is so controversial

The elk population is in constant tension with the local ranchers who profit off the land.

A person with glasses and curly, shoulder-length hair holding a flower and smelling it with their eyes closed.
Life Skills

How to enhance your senses of smell and taste

Upgrade your olfactory software.