Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 84)

a white dog with ears perked up and wide eyes against a blue background
Dogs

Cortisol could impact your dog’s behavior

Just like in humans, stress and mood hormones might play a role in your pet’s temperament.

A white pickup truck is driving away from the viewer across a flat sandy plain with tall, smoothly sculpted dunes rising in the background. Small patches of dry grass are scattered in the foreground.
Land

Death Valley National Park needs help ID’ing joyriding vandals

A truck illegally tore through the California park, leaving five miles of tracks and damaging ‘sensitive desert plants.’

A hummingbird’s wings on a micro-CT scanner.
Birds

How do you check a hummingbird for broken bones? Very carefully.

Micro-CT scans can reveal hard-to-spot fractures in tiny, injured hummingbirds.

A close-up of a person's mouth smiling, showing teeth fitted with metal dental braces on both the upper and lower rows. The image focuses on the orthodontic brackets and wires, with the person’s nose and lips framing the smile.
Archaeology

Why our ancestors had straight teeth without braces

Small jaws mean big problems for modern humans.

Lowepro Pro Trekker BP 350 AW camera backpack
Cameras

Adorama is blowing out camera bags during this limited winter clearance sale

Whether you want a high-end camera bag or a simple sling, Adorama has them all at clearance prices.

05 September 2020, Saxony-Anhalt, Halberstadt: Soprano Johanna Vargas (l) and composer Julian Lembke (r) use the organ pipes. Since 2001 the organ has been playing the music piece "ORGAN2/ASLSP" by John Cage without interruption. It is said to last 639 years. On Saturday, September 5, 2020, the 14th sound change of the John Cage Organ Art Project Halberstadt has been completed. In addition to the previous five pipes c'(16'), des'(16'), dis', ais' and e'', there are two new pipes g sharp and e. The next sound lasts until February 5, 2022. Then the g sharp will be dropped again. If everything goes as planned, the performance of the piece will last until the year 2640 Photo: Matthias Bein/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa (Photo by Matthias Bein/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Technology

Pipe organ plays single song for 639 years

The avant-garde composition ‘ORGAN²/ASLSP’ is being stretched to its limits.

a small chick sits on a nest with its parent behind, cleaning its feathers with its beak
Land

Watch an albatross give its brand-new chick a very careful cleanup

The massive seabirds’ powerful beaks can be surprisingly gentle when preening their babies.

Various angles of silver pendant with Roman gem inlay next to measurement references
Archaeology

Metal detectorist finds medieval pendant with a Roman ‘secret’

The discovery is an artifact within an artifact.

a dog sits next to a no dog poop sign
Dogs

Poop DNA tests and AI dog surveillance: The tech changing pet care.

Technology is being repurposed to find lost animals—and owners who don't clean up after their pets.

A photograph of a woman in a red jacket outdoors in a snowy park, grimacing in pain while clutching her knee, illustrating how cold weather can affect joint health.
Health

Why do your joints hurt when it’s cold? We asked a doctor.

And what you can do to ease the aches.

Artist illustration of Archaeopteryx
Evolution

Weird bird mouths go all the way back to the first avian dinosaur

150 million years ago, Archaeopteryx changed evolutionary history.

Poison warning label layered atop brown hair
Diseases

Hair samples reveal the benefits of lead regulation

Before the EPA, Utah saw 100 times more lead exposure.

a man hold a dinosaur footprint in a lab
Dinosaurs

Teen discovers Australia’s oldest dinosaur fossil—almost 70 years ago

An early sauropodomorph likely made the 230-million-year-old footprint.

Green River in Flaming Gorge recreation area, Utah
Environment

The Green River flows ‘uphill.’ Geologists think they finally know why.

The Colorado River tributary in northeastern Utah has baffled geologists for 150 years.

TP-Link Routers on sale at Amazon
Smart Home

Get a powerful TP-Link Deco WiFi 7 mesh router for just $89 during Amazon’s flash clearance sale

Better WiFi will improve your life immediately and these discounted routers from TP-Link can help sling signal better than your current dinosaur.

a swarm of locusts in the sky
Insects

Locust swarms may meet their match in protein-enriched crops

The specialized crops could save farmers millions.

a small primate with large eyes clings to a branch
Endangered Species

This wide-eyed baby primate is cute, cuddly—and venomous

The endangered pygmy slow loris is the only known venomous primate on Earth.

A close-up photograph of a person’s hands tying the light pink laces of a blue and gray patterned running shoe. The person is wearing a black smartwatch on their left wrist, and the background consists of a blurred, light-colored concrete surface.
Psychology

Can shoes alter your mind? What neuroscience says about foot sensation and focus.

There are surprisingly close links between your feet and your brain.

a green caterpillar on a plant's stem
Insects

Caterpillars use tiny hairs to hear

Experiment in one of the world's quietest rooms reveals the hairs detect airborne sounds—like predators.

A young groundhog and its mother lounging in the tall green grass
Wildlife

Groundhogs don’t poop during hibernation and 6 other random facts

Shadow or no shadow, the rodents have a special set of ecological skills.