Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 653)

Projects

9 cool ways your family can help scientists collect data

Projects both kids and adults can learn from.

By Jean Levasseur

Ask Us Anything

Ask Us Anything: What happens in your brain when you daydream?

It doesn't just lay low.

By Claire Maldarelli, Jessica Boddy

Technology

The ship blocking the Suez is finally unstuck, but we could see bottlenecks like this again

The incident was a reminder of the power of choke points to disrupt our fragile global shipping systems.

By Rob Verger

An image of the praying mantis surrounded by leaves.

Insects

This female praying mantis has a persuasive body part it uses to find mates

Is that a pheromone gland or are you just happy to see me?

By Nikita Amir

Archaeology

Archaeologists finally uncovered some of the mystery behind Laos’s Plain of Jars

This cryptic megalithic site is thousands of years old, but its origin story is still not fully known.

By Hannah Seo

Venus Crater Farm image taken by the Magellan spacecraft for NASA

Solar System

The hellish Venus surface in 5 vintage photos

It's been nearly 40 years since we got a photographic close-up of the volcanic planet.

By Amy Shira Teitel

An artist's illustration depicting Voyager 1 in interstellar space

NASA

How the most distant object ever made by humans is spending its dying days

Voyager 1 continues to observe the farthest corners of the solar system—but it may not for long.

By Rahul Rao

This periodic table of elements is now outdated.

Science

Four New Elements Added To The Periodic Table

That's some heavy stuff

By Alexandra Ossola

Security

The new iOS 14.5 update offers iPhone users serious privacy and security upgrades

Take advantage of privacy features you won’t find anywhere else (yet).

By Violet Blue

Pollution

Tiny air pollutants may come from different sources, but they all show a similar biased trend

The study found that unequal exposures to fine particulate matter air pollution aren’t driven by a single source.

By Ellie Shechet

Ask Us Anything

Ask Us Anything: Can viruses be good for us?

They're not all bad—but there's a gray area, too.

By Claire Maldarelli, Jessica Boddy

Medicine

Which allergy medication works the best? It’s complicated.

But here’s our best advice.

By Sara Chodosh

Agriculture

‘Forest gardens’ planted by Canada’s Indigenous people before the 1800s still benefit ecosystems today

And they could help those communities reclaim their lands.

By Philip Kiefer

People in a public building at night, maybe using public Wi-Fi.

Tech Hacks

Public Wi-Fi can expose your data. Here’s how to stay safe.

The more you know, the more prepared you'll be.

By David Nield

Birds

15 bird photos that will make your heart sing

It's a bird's world, and we're just living in it.

By Candice Wang

Birds

On Instagram, this quirky bird soars above the rest

20,000 bird photos show that it’s not all about beauty.

By Hannah Seo

Vaccines

If you’re fully vaccinated, you (mostly) don’t need to wear a mask outdoors

New guidance from the CDC says that unless you're in a crowd, vaccinated people don't need to wear masks outside.

By Sara Chodosh

NASA

Ask Us Anything: What happens to your body when you die in space?

And should colonists on Mars be allowed to eat each other?

By Shannon Stirone

Environment

Mushrooms might save the world—if they don’t kill us first

Some musings on our favorite mycological marvels.

By Eleanor Cummins

$Nautilus shell fractal$

Ocean

The nautilus’s impressive memory has survived five mass extinctions

But one thing's for sure: This creature of the deep has an incredible memory.