Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 812)

San Francisco sourdough
Biology

The secret to San Francisco’s famous sourdough: bug poop

Meet the wee, multilegged chefs behind the world's most sought-after loaves.

Your car’s exhaust is giving kids asthma
Pollution

Your car’s exhaust is giving kids asthma

New research shows pollution from cars is responsible for 4 million new cases of childhood asthma each year.

Vapes are full of flavors—and fungi
Cancer

Vapes are full of flavors—and fungi

Your lungs could be the ones to suffer.

Rats love climate change
Climate Change

Rats love climate change

Warmer winters allow rats to breed into the previously too-cold months.

How Nike engineered its latest record-breaking marathon shoe
Technology

How Nike engineered its latest record-breaking marathon shoe

The shoe company's newest—and priciest—racing shoe has more energy returning foam and a more weather-proof outer material.

two new white-eyes
Animals

Two newly discovered birds are a product of Indonesia’s ‘evolutionary playground’

Megapixels: White eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

What SpaceX’s latest failure means for the rest of American spaceflight
Space X

What SpaceX’s latest failure means for the rest of American spaceflight

The Crew Dragon’s engine test anomaly this past weekend will have dramatic consequences over the next year, and beyond.

The weirdest things we learned this week: Rats with fetishes and America’s first banana
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

The weirdest things we learned this week: Rats with fetishes and America’s first banana

Our editors scrounged up some truly bizarre facts.

How to keep mosquitoes away
Life Skills

How to keep mosquitoes away

Tell those skeeters to buzz off.

Doctors can ignore your DNR order if you’re pregnant
Medicine

Doctors can ignore your DNR order if you’re pregnant

Laws around the country restrict treatment decisions for incapacitated women who are also pregnant.

Researchers sequenced giant redwood genomes to kickstart a 23andMe for trees
Environment

Researchers sequenced giant redwood genomes to kickstart a 23andMe for trees

A future genetic testing kit could help park rangers and researchers manage forests in the face of climate change

Grass isn’t always greener—here’s what to plant instead
Projects

Grass isn’t always greener—here’s what to plant instead

Lawn gone.

running on the treadmill
Science

Try this illusion on the treadmill and running will never be the same

The treadmill works out your brain, too.

Greenland’s ice sheet is melting faster than we thought and shows no signs of stopping
Global Warming

Greenland’s ice sheet is melting faster than we thought and shows no signs of stopping

The thawing will likely continue for decades.

Celebrate Earth day with tonight’s amazing meteor shower
Science

Celebrate Earth day with tonight’s amazing meteor shower

The ancient Lyrid meteors have never failed to amaze us.

Meal kits are full of wasteful packaging—but they might still beat the grocery store
Pollution

Meal kits are full of wasteful packaging—but they might still beat the grocery store

Don't subscribe just yet.

frankenbridge
Engineering

Our bridges are failing. Here’s how we could fix them.

Everyone wants to build, and no one wants to do maintenance.

Archaeologists unearth more evidence that when a civilization drinks together, it stays together
Archaeology

Archaeologists unearth more evidence that when a civilization drinks together, it stays together

The Wari people used their corn-based beer to spread their culture across Peru.

Say ‘aloha!’ to this not-actually-extinct Hawaiian flower
Drones

Say ‘aloha!’ to this not-actually-extinct Hawaiian flower

Megapixels: It was rediscovered by a drone.

john snow
Diseases

You know nothing. Meet the real John Snow.

Forget the mother of dragons. This is the father of epidemiology.