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A medium shot of a dark-furred cat standing on a desk cluttered with vintage papers and an inkwell. The cat is looking alertly to its right, with its whiskers and fur illuminated by a dramatic light source against a dark, moody background.
Cats

The CIA once trained cats to be Cold War spies

Project Acoustic Kitty went about as well as you’d expect.

By Tom Hawking

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Having to pee makes you scientifically better at video games

Plus what space smells like and other weird things we learned this week.

Rachel Feltman

Rachel Feltman

Host

At Popular Science, we report and write dozens of stories every week. And while a lot of the fun facts we stumble across make it into our articles, there are lots of other weird facts that we just keep around the office. So we figured, why not share those with you? Welcome to The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week.

Latest Articles

In the light of the setting sun, the sky forms a veil of Saharan dust over the Wurmberg in Lower Saxony, Germany. The Sahara dust colors the sky red.
Weather

NASA shows how Sahara desert dust spread all over Europe

The dust coated the Alps and caused ‘blood rain’ in England.

By Laura Baisas

Majella National Park, Abruzzo, Italy. Sunset in Springtime
Environment

Why do mountaintops stay snowy?

The answer has to do with the air we breathe and that bright white snowpack, as an atmospheric scientist in Colorado explains.

By Allie Mazurek / The Conversation

A wolf chases magpies and ravens from an elk carcass near Soda Butte.
Birds

Yellowstone’s ravens may memorize wolf hunting hotspots—to feast

The birds will fly over 90 miles to dine where wolves have drawn blood.

By Nidhi Sharma

robot working on rubik's cube
Robots

Brothers build a robot to solve Rubik’s cubes in record-setting time

The robot completed the puzzle in just 45.3 seconds, breaking its own record of 55 seconds made just moments earlier. 

By Mack DeGeurin

A close-up photograph of a Halobates, an ocean water strider, resting on the surface of the water. The insect has a long, slender dark body and very thin, wire-like legs that create slight indentations on the water's surface tension. Its reflection is visible on the surface, and the background is a soft, out-of-focus light blue and white.
Evolution

Do any bugs live in the ocean? Short answer: Not really.

Crustaceans and insects share a common ancestor, but bugs are happier on land.

By Andrew Coletti

Illustration showing ancient hominid drinking water at river's edge with crocodile lurking nearby in the water
Evolution

An odd-nosed crocodile ate our prehistoric ancestors

‘Lucy’ probably needed to watch her back.

By Andrew Paul

Artist’s conception of a magnetar surrounded by an accretion disk that is wobbling, or precessing, because of the effects of general relativity. Some models of magnetars suggest that high-speed jets of charged particles emanate from the magnetar along its rotation axis.
Black Holes

For the first time, astronomers witnessed the birth of a ‘magnetar’

These fast spinning, magnetic neutron stars may power some of the brightest supernovae in the cosmos.

By Andrew Paul

a small black car with a number 4 on it
Electric Vehicles

British man powers DIY car with discarded vapes

The souped-up G-Wiz EV has a range of 18 miles and topped 40 miles per hour.

By Mack DeGeurin

a screenshot of a website showing a human brain, heart, colon, lung, kidney, prostate, placenta, and liver
Medicine

Explore the human body in stunning, 3D detail with a new online tool

The free Human Organ Atlas gives users an up-close-and-personal look at 56 human organs.

By Laura Baisas

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Popular Science has been demystifying the worlds of science and technology since 1872. We explain the inner workings of the phone in your pocket, explore world-changing innovations, and examine everything from the marvels of deep space to the secret lives of staples like bread. We deliver an engaging, approachable, and inclusive look at emerging technologies and scientific advances.
Daily, Popular Science unpacks the science behind the top current new stories, dissects the latest technology and digital trends, and helps readers live smarter, safer, and happier through clever DIY projects.

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