Four years later, I had trained on Concept2 ergometers for countless hours, rowed in dozens of races, and earned a few medals. By the time I graduated, I was so sick of the Concept machine that I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to see one again. The NordicTrack RW900 Rower changed my mind, thoroughly and completely. 

NordicTrack RW900 Rower (2026)

A premium connected rower built around a big, pivoting touchscreen

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Pros

• High-quality materials
• Pivoting 24-inch screen
• 26 resistance levels
• Oversized, generous foot pedals
• Syncs with Strava, Garmin, and Apple Health apps
• Smoother and quieter than other rowing machines

Cons

• Pricey app
• Features are basic without app buy-in
• Heavy frame
• Must be plugged in
• Large footprint may be unsuitable for those with limited space

Tech Specs

Verdict: If the $10,000+ Pent Fitness Visla is the Rolls-Royce of rowing machines and a Concept2 the equivalent of a Toyota Camry, then the NordicTrack RW900 is a Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The pull strap enables steady, smooth strokes versus a chain pull, and the NordicTrack’s construction is top notch. Connecting to iFit is on the pricey side, but it’s a robust app that includes virtual rowing sessions with Olympians and includes other types of fitness as well. 

The NordicTrack Rower’s design

Boasting a large, padded seat and a smooth slide rail, the RW900 is comfortable to use while you’re sweating off the calories. The slide rail declines slightly toward the flywheel, which means the recovery portion of the stroke causes less strain on the hips. Its foot pedals are oversized to accommodate a variety of sizes, and they pivot slightly as you bend your knees. Substantial hook-and-loop straps tighten easily and adjust quickly. 

I particularly like the soft-touch rubberized grip on the handle, which is spoiling me a bit compared to the feel of a wood oar. I’m even more impressed with the strap that connects the handle to the flywheel; it looks similar to a car’s seat belt webbing and is just as durable. Unless you have a thing for that incessant clackety-clack sound of a chain, the strap is definitely the better option for an even and balanced stroke. 

It’s not easy to stay motivated, but the RW900 is equipped with a 24-inch display that connects to the iFit app via Bluetooth. Rowing along with Olympic gold medalist Olli Zeidler reminds me of the strength I used to have many years ago and inspires me to keep my form precise. Getting back to 18-year-old beast mode isn’t my goal; being mindful about keeping my body in shape is.

Assembly and footprint

The rowers do not come assembled, so you have two choices: follow the instructions and link to step-by-step videos to assemble it yourself. Tools come pack in the box. Or, select the “delivery and assembly” and a professional technician will do it for you. That was my choice, and they did a terrific job but for the styrofoam confetti that was left on the floor. 

NordicTrack’s RW900 rower has a long footprint–80.1 inches–and is rather heavy at 158 pounds out of the box. If you choose to take on assembly on your own, you’re going to need help to move it into place. This rowing machine doesn’t fold and you don’t want to tip it to lean it against the wall. Make your peace with the fact that this takes up some room and enjoy it. 

What to know about the NordicTrack warranty

The warranty includes 10 years for the frame, 2 years for parts, 1 year for the display screen, and 1 year for labor and repairs. Just remember the guarantee doesn’t cover intentional damage (for instance: throwing a rock at it in frustration); damage during transport (if you’re moving, for example); improper installation, assembly, or connection; improper abnormal usage; non-compliance with the instructions in your users manual (such as the use of cleaning and maintenance products other than those recommended or failure to turn off the product after use); or use outside the home, as in commercial, professional, rental, or institutional settings. 

The warranty is also voided if you don’t use an iFIT-authorised service provider or use parts not provided or authorized by iFIT. Acts of nature like lightning storms, floods, and fire cancel the warranty, too. Lastly, and this is definitely worth noting: if you store your rower in an “improper” location like somewhere outdoors or in an area with unstable temperatures (NordicTrack mentions garages, cellars, sheds, summerhouses, porches, and patios) or excess dust. 

So, who should buy the NordicTrack Rower? 

You don’t have to be a former member of a collegiate crew to appreciate the benefits of a gym rower like this. NordicTrack points out that its RW900 engages 85 percent of the body’s muscles in one workout, engaging your arms, shoulders, back, legs, glutes, and core. That’s pretty efficient. Using the rower with the iFit app is much more fun as you can visualize yourself rowing on a lake in Switzerland or other gorgeous bodies of water. However, you can use the rower without it using manual workouts. The NordicTrack rower will track distance, pace, and speed.

The post NordicTrack RW900 Rower (2026) review: Real exertion with virtual convenience appeared first on Popular Science.

The goblin shark was first identified in 1898, but sightings remain few and far between. The fish typically remain at a depth of around 3,000 feet, and any encounters with humans have been the result of accidental fishing line snags. The 13-foot-long predators also die quickly after reaching the surface.

However, marine biologists at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa recently captured videos revealing not one, but two goblin sharks swimming in their native habitats. The clips accompany a study published in the Journal of Fish Biology, and showcase the surreal encounters in the Pacific Ocean.One goblin shark was spotted near Jarvis Island (halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands) and the other on the slope of the Tonga Trench southeast of Fiji.

“Seeing the most iconic of all the deep-sea sharks alive and looking healthy in its natural habitat is a unique honor,” said University of Hawaii at Mānoa oceanographer and study co-author Aaron Judah.

Spotted on separate expeditions in 2024 and 2025, both videos offer new information on the goblin shark simply based on where they were located. The Jarvis Island sighting extends the animal’s known habitat to the Central Pacific Ocean, while the Tonga Trench recording occurred nearly 2,300 feet deeper than expected.

“The goblin shark is one of these deep-sea charismatic animals that I never thought we’d see alive,” said study-coauthor and Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep-Sea Research Center founder Alan Jamieson, who spotted the Tonga Trench shark. “To do so was amazing, but to then learn that colleagues in Hawaii also saw one was just incredible.”

The post Goblin shark filmed in its native habitat for the first time appeared first on Popular Science.

At a first glance, the painting that producer and filmmaker Thomas Schuhbauer found in his parents’ house in Germany seemed innocent enough. It was painted by Erich Mercker (1891–1973), a successful artist from Munich, and it was a wedding present gifted to Schuhbauer’s parents in 1966. 

It showcases a motif that is found in some of his other works, too: a view of Munich’s the Feldherrnhalle (Field Marshals’ Hall) monument. The landmark is an arched hall built in the early 1840s in honor of the Bavarian army. However, in 1933, a smaller monument called the Mahnmal der Bewegung was added inside Felderrnhalle. The monument paid tribute to the rebels who died during the failed Nazi coup d’état in November of 1923. 

Nonetheless, the painting doesn’t have any blatant Nazi references. The flag waving at the side of the monument is the Bavarian one and not the more familiar Nazi flag. One feature, however, suggests that not all is as it seems. Beneath the closest arch to the viewer is a statue on the pedestal—the top of the Mahnmal der Bewegung. Given that the Mahnmal der Bewegung was destroyed right after World War II, this indicates that Mercker painted it during the Nazi era. 

If you look closer at the Bavarian flag’s white and blue colors, you can also find traces of reddish color. Indeed it was the traces of red that made Schuhbauer think there was more than meets the eye, according to Ioanna Mantouvalou, a physicist at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin research center and first author of a study on the painting recently published in Nature Journal Heritage Science..

Schuhbauer thus turned to the research center, where Mantouvalou and a colleague used X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). It consists of a non-destructive technique that, simply put, reveals the presence of elements in things, and comes in handy when researchers want to study hidden layers. 

“I investigated the painting together with Yannick Wagener, a masters student at the TU Berlin, and we found that large areas of the original painting had been hidden,” Mantouvalou tells Popular Science. 

Namely, the Bavarian flag hides a red Nazi flag, and someone also covered up soldiers, Nazi salutes by passersby, and wreaths on the Mahnmal der Bewegung monument. 

At least one version of this painting in its original Nazi version exists, but did Mercker himself modify the Schuhbauer’s copy? The materials in the painting suggest that it could have been altered. The oil paints used to cover these elements had notable quantities of titanium white, a pigment that isn’t in any other part of the painting. However, a tube of oil paint labelled “Titanium White 10103 Schmincke” came to light among the artist’s paint tubes. What’s more, the back of the painting shows a number code which was deciphered in the project to reveal the year of production—1934. 

Mantouvalou explains that the paper presents, “the first definite proof that a painting by Erich Mercker was overpainted in order to hide Nazi symbols. The person who conducted the overpainting probably did it with great haste, as a monument, which was destroyed right after the end of the war, is still visible. We cannot prove unambiguously that Erich Mercker himself did it, but all findings point to this theory.”

After World War II, Mercker also created versions of the same perspective that were free of Nazi symbols. The Nazi-versions were titled “Die Stätte des 9. November” (The Site of November 9), while the post-war versions were titled “Feldherrnhalle” (Field Marshals’ Hall), or “München am Odeonsplatz” (Munich at Odeonsplatz, the square where Feldherrnhalle hall is), among others.  

According to the researchers, a significant number of artists that collaborated with the Nazis largely avoided backlash for decades. Once the war had ended, many German artists, including Mercker, carried on with business as usual. 

“From a purely monetary point of view, it makes sense to overpaint symbols in an oil painting which are not acceptable due to a change in political systems. The fact implies that moral considerations were not important enough to destroy the painting or completely redo the scene,” says Mantouvalou. “This does shed light on the way people come to terms with history and their personal involvement.” 

The post Hidden Nazi symbols discovered in famous German artist’s painting appeared first on Popular Science.

But just how much fungi is actually doing all of this heavy lifting? New analysis published today by the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) reveals there are over 621 trillion miles of fungal pathways containing around 300 megatons of carbon within Earth’s topsoils. That’s nearly a billion times the Earth’s distance from the sun carrying four to six times the mass of all humans. For the first time, these pathways are visualized in a new global mapping project called A Hidden Infrastructure.

“It is hard to overstate the importance and enormity of these fungi. There could be up to 10 meters (32 feet) of mycorrhizal network in just a teaspoon of soil,” said Justin Stewart, a SPUN mycologist and the co-author of an accompanying study published today in the journal Science.

The carbon-nutrient supply chains in these formations are fast, too. Previous research shows speeds reaching 120 micrometers a second. That’s around 248 miles per hour when scaled to human proportions. Every year, these fungi move around four billion tons of carbon dioxide into the soil—about 11 percent the amount of human-produced emissions.

As incredible as these figures are, they make sense to mycologist and Popular Science contributor Matt Kasson.

“Nothing really surprises me when it comes to fungi. They are some of the most underappreciated yet important organisms on this planet,” he says. “The numbers are staggering, nevertheless. 110 quadrillion kilometers of fungal hyphae in the top 15 centimeters of Earth’s soils is absolutely mind-blowing.”

Where is all of this fungi? According to the team’s modeling, grasslands contain about 40 percent of Earth’s AM infrastructures, with particularly high concentrations predicted in the Florida Everglades, the Tibetan plateau in Asia, and South Sudan in Africa. The project team stressed that this poses a problem, however. Grasslands remain some of the planet’s least protected areas, and are being turned into farmland at a rate four times that of forests. Once turned into farmlands, these underground networks are frequently reduced by half. The mapping estimates underscore previous research indicating 95 percent of AM fungi hotspots exist outside properly safeguarded regions.

“Mycorrhizal fungi have shaped life on earth for hundreds of millions of years, but we still understand too little about how the infrastructure of these living transport systems is distributed across the planet,” said biologist and study co-author Merlin Sheldrake, adding that the recent modeling breakthroughs can help address these challenges. 

But while a major step forward, Kasson believes there is much work still to be done on the road to understanding these ecosystems.

“Studies like this one certainly move the needle, but less than 10 percent of known fungi have been formally described,” he says. “Without that information, it’s hard to convince the public that not only are fungi critical for maintaining resilient plant communities, but that fungal conservation is in their best interest.”

The post 621 trillion miles of fungi networks crisscross the planet appeared first on Popular Science.

“It’s a different process, but you get the same richness and concentration of a normal espresso in under three minutes,” chemical engineer and study co-author Francisco Trujillo said in a university profile.

This isn’t Trujillo’s first time introducing ultrasonic frequencies to coffee. He previously patented a similar system for cold-brew coffee. However, those conditions were tailored for the popular drink’s smoother, more diluted flavor with around one-fifth of espresso’s caffeine concentration.

That said, the underlying principles and technology remain the same for ultrasonic espresso. Researchers converted a standard filter basket into a soundwave generator using a transducer. After placing the small metal mechanism against the basket, ultrasound soundwaves shake the container strongly enough to pass along the vibrations through both the coffee grounds and water. This generates a phenomenon called acoustic cavitation, in which microscopic bubbles quickly form and pop in the liquid. The collapsing bubbles then function like miniscule brushes whenever they come into contact with the coffee grounds, which break open to release their flavor molecules, caffeine, and oils.

“The most important [part] was the brew ratio—that is how much water is used per gram of coffee—because this helps ensure the final drink is concentrated and not too diluted,” explained Trujillo, adding that the team also tinkered with additional factors including the coffee ground’s consistency and length of exposure to soundwaves.

After settling on the optimum ingredient balance and brewing time, researchers conducted a blind taste-test with 100 coffee drinkers using traditional espresso and filter coffee, as well as their ultrasonic alternatives. The team noted that the participants could not consistently differentiate between standard and ultrasonic espressos, and actually had an even harder time assessing between filter and frequency-aided coffee.

Ultrasonic brewing machines may make their way into home kitchens, but the real promise is the technique’s scalability. Trujillo hopes mass production coffeemakers can eventually use his designs to manufacture their drinks much more quickly while using barely 25-percent of the normal energy.

“These findings showed that using ultrasound did not harm taste, and in some cases even improved it, despite brewing at room temperature and without the heat normally associated with coffee making,” said Trujillo.

The post Espresso brewed with soundwaves instead of heat tastes just as good appeared first on Popular Science.

“We’re all together as a community. We mourn together, we laugh together, we cry together. So it’s emotional and deep. It’s hard to explain in words, really,” Voisard tells Popular Science.

A former corporate marketing consultant from Oregon, Voisard now works as the media manager for Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV). The non-profit is dedicated to conserving the land around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. However, the organization is most famous for its eagles. FOBBV livestreams a pair of bald eagles named Jackie and Shadow in their nest to millions of viewers around the world 24/7. After their first egg of 2026 was snatched by Ravens, Jackie laid two more eggs that hatched in April and will likely fledge from the nest in July.

Voisard originally joined as a volunteer to help answer questions and learn about eagles. But life and FOBBV had other plans. 

“I never could have believed in a million years that this is my life and this is what I’d be doing, even just a few years ago,” says Voisard. “So it’s just a testament to Sandy and her vision and her when she starts something.”

The Sandy who Voisard is referring to is not the eaglet who hatched this spring, but FOBBV’s former executive director Sandy Steers. Sandy died on February 11 after battling cancer. A life-long wildlife activist, she helped launch the cameras in 2015 and was FOBBV’s resident bald eagle expert. She devoted countless hours and energy to educating the public on the animals that call this slice of the San Bernardino National Forest home.

“She was very intuitive on how people learned,” says Voisard. “What she really wanted to do was blend science and storytelling and make it so that it would resonate. She hoped people would understand what they were watching, but then maybe they would pay attention more to the birds in their own backyard. Ultimately, what she thought was that if people cared about what was happening with nature, they’d want to take care of it.”

One of Sandy’s passion projects was protecting the last undeveloped northern shoreline along Big Bear Lake from development. Called Moon Camp, this stretch of land has been sought after by luxury housing and marina developers for nearly 25 years. The land sits less than one mile away from Jackie and Shadow’s nest, and this part of the lake is home to all of the fish that the eagles and their eaglets rely on for sustenance. It is also home to undisturbed forest that support birds, squirrels, and other animals, as well as the ash-gray indian paintbrush (Castilleja cinerea), a rare and threatened endemic plant only found here. 

FOBBV is concerned about further human encroachment on the animal and plant species in the area, particularly the eagles. Bald eagles have made a remarkable comeback due to conservation efforts, but still face several threats including lead poisoning, collisions with cars, avian influenza, eating fishing line, and habitat loss.

“There used to be 20 to 35 visiting bald eagles that used to come to Big Bear Lake during the winter, and now we’re down to six to 10 at best,” says Voisard. “And bald eagles are increasing everywhere else.”

The land is currently owned by RCK Properties and discussions about its development stretch back to 2002. In September 2025, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors met to discuss the proposed development of over 50 homes and a 55-slip marina to the unincorporated community of Fawnskin.

At the time of the hearing, RCK Properties’ Steve Foulkes told CBS News Los Angeles that he believes it is a sound project from an environmental standpoint, that the building will be slow, and the project will provide jobs and income over a longer period of time. 

Foulkes tells Popular Science that, “RCK Properties has no comment on the fundraising effort beyond confirming that we entered into an Option Agreement with the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust.”

Sandy and the San Bernardino Mountain Land Trust negotiated a limited purchase agreement with the developer and are fundraising to purchase the land for its appraised value of $10 million. The fundraiser has already raised over $3 million with more than one month to go. 

“Sandy passed away right after the agreement was signed, so we’re doing this in her honor,” says Voisard. “She put all of that on her shoulders because she wanted to save everything.”

If they do not raise enough money by the end of July, Voisard says that the money will go towards a financing option with the land owners. With this option, the land trust would pay a higher interest rate quarterly. 

A celebration of Sandy’s life will be held on Saturday, June 13 at Veterans Park in Big Bear, California. The event will also be livestreamed—just like Jackie, Shadow, Sandy, and Luna’s nest. 

“I hope that they remember her love of life and nature and everyone and her kindness and her just big open heart,” Voisard says. 

The post Bald eagles Jackie and Shadow need $10 million appeared first on Popular Science.

In 2018, the Field Museum in Chicago opened a new exhibit centered around Sue, a 13-foot-tall, 40-foot-long T. rex fossil. Sue is one of the most complete T. rex fossils ever found, and Ben Miller, an exhibition developer at the museum, wanted to make Sue’s exhibit as immersive as possible by stimulating visitors’ senses, including their sense of smell. 

“Everybody knows what a T. rex is about, but have they considered what its breath smells like?” he asks Popular Science. 

T. rex had very stinky breath

The exhibit incorporated a total of four different scents. Three were plant odors, and the fourth represented Sue’s breath. This last smell was, in short, awful. 

“T. rex has fairly widely spaced teeth,” says Miller. “It would be eating mostly by swallowing things whole, and the result of that would probably be that it got a lot of bits of meat stuck in its mouth for long periods of time.” 

The team aimed to fashion a rotting meat smell to recreate this slightly unhygienic oral arrangement. The solution came from an unlikely source. 

“As it turns out, the way you can get that is there is a synthetic rotting corpse smell that is produced to train disaster response dogs.” 

The corpse stink was, at first, slightly too repulsive to unleash on the Field Museum’s unsuspecting visitors, so it was toned down slightly. 

What did a Late Cretaceous forest smell like?

Sue likely was too busy hunting to notice she was very much in need of a breath mint. But the massive dinosaur certainly would’ve been able to smell the world around her with great accuracy. So what did Sue’s forest world smell like?

While the fauna of this ancient world was different from ours, we can find approximations of many of these long-gone scents today. 

The other three scents Miller developed for the Field’s exhibit reflected the prehistoric forests T. rex once stalked across North America. In fact, the scents are more familiar than you might think. 

“By this point in time, 66 million years ago, flowering plants had pretty much taken over,” says Miller. To recreate the smell of the ancient forest, the team used three scents: ginger root, tulip poplar, and cypress.

The smells have been a part of Sue’s exhibit ever since, and have proved a hit with kids visiting the museum. 

What did dinner smell like to T. rex?

The Field isn’t the only museum to send visitors’ noses back in time. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis’s Dinosphere exhibit incorporates scents into its immersive world, which transports visitors back to the Late Cretaceous period between 68 and 66 million years ago. 

In part of this display, a kiosk asks visitors to choose between three scented containers and decide which one represents something a T. rex would want to eat. 

Melissa Pederson, an exhibit developer at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, says that two scents were plants—magnolia and pine—which would be of little interest to the carnivorous T. rex. 

Pederson’s team wanted the third scent to mimic the dung of the duckbill dinosaur, Hadrosaurus. Pedersen says that the museum contacted a scent fabricator, who recommended that the best way to mimic the droppings of this large, plant-eating beast would be to use the scent excreted by a non-extinct, similarly large vegetarian. The team ended up with a jar of elephant dung scent. 

The jar’s odor wasn’t totally unpleasant, says Pederson. It’s “kind of a sweet scent,” she explains. 

Pederson says her museum’s scent experiments help immerse visitors in its exhibits. 

“It’s always the goal, in at least some capacity, to evoke emotion in our spaces.” 

Opening a window into a time long past, only to discover that some scents persist for millions of years, consistently draws a reaction from the kids and families exploring the museum. 

“In a lot of our spaces, the emotions we try to evoke are surprise and delight. We see a lot of that,” Pederson says.

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post What did T. rex’s breath smell like? appeared first on Popular Science.

Want to learn more? Read about our visit to Abbey Road, where we experienced Bowers & Wilkins’ 801 D4, the studio’s monitors of choice, then check out the specs of the next-generation D5.

Like the Focal Mu-so Hekla we saw at CES 2026, the DALI VEGA is a new breed of all-in-one active speaker that makes it easier to get big hi-fi sound into smaller spaces. The $4,500 400W WiFi-connected BluOS system can sit on a credenza or be mounted on a wall, thanks to Adaptive Orientation Adjustment and Adaptive Stereo Enhancement. The four 4.5-inch bass/mid drivers, four 25mm soft-dome tweeters, and two passive radiators sound great in any position, delivering the Danish brand’s signature organic expression.

Want to learn more? Check out the specs of the DALI VEGA. DALI

The post 15 standout products from High-End Vienna, the yearly showcase of glorious audiophile indulgence appeared first on Popular Science.

In the zoo’s video, a three-year-old female sand cat (Felis margarita) plays with a catnip-filled ball. Sand cats are the sole only species that live in the true desert. They can withstand both exceptional heat and cold, from 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) to -13 degrees Fahrenheit (-25 degrees Celsius). They are found across northern Africa as well as southwest and central Asia.

“The keepers added catnip to this ball to give the sand cats a novel item to stimulate them physically and mentally. Cats respond to a chemical in catnip called nepetalactone,” according to the post. “Its primary function is to repel insects from the plant. Many cats, though not all, are highly attracted to it, and it is safe and non-toxic for them to enjoy.”

Catnip is part of the mint family. According to Jessica Moody, curator of primates and small mammals at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), not all felid species have the same sensitivity to the plant. Moody tells Popular Science that sex and age also impact the response on an individual level. Bronx Zoo (part of the WCS) animal keepers frequently employ catnip, officially called Nepeta cataria, as well as other scents to incite natural behaviors such as investigation and play. 

It’s clearly working with this particular feline, whose species the IUCN Red List categorizes as a species of least concern. However, “it is difficult given their low population density and harsh environment to track true wild populations,” Moody explains. “Primary threats to the survival of sand cats in the wild include habitat loss and a decline in prey caused by human disturbances like livestock grazing.” 

The post Even wild desert cats love catnip appeared first on Popular Science.

“I am convinced that sport and physical activity can open up mathematics for pupils who are not otherwise engaged by the subject,” explained University of Copenhagen sports exercise researcher Jacob Wienecke.Wienecke is also the co-author of an accompanying study on the fraction experiment published in the journal Educational Psychology Review.

The project involved over 300 students between ages 11 and 13, who attended a one hour, once-a-week meetup that tied fraction lessons to specific basketball drills. For example, teachers asked kids to throw 10 shots at a hoop, then determine the fraction of successful versus unsuccessful attempts. They then practiced converting those numbers into percentages.

The subject area improvements also went beyond fractions. Study participants also saw around five percent improvement in other math concepts after the workshop. And, of course, their skills on the court benefitted from the extra hoop time.

“Our research shows that you can easily invite other subjects into physical education and make it work,” said Wienecke“And it can actually make children experience that subject in a completely different way, while still preserving their motivation and enjoyment of learning.”

Who knows? By expanding similar programs to more school districts, future NBA Finals teams may also be filled with mathletes.

The post Basketball can make you better at math appeared first on Popular Science.

The study recently published in the journal Geology is nearly 10 years in the making and focuses on a meteorite classified as NWA 12593. Found in the west African nation in 2017, experts soon recognized the space rock as an especially unique specimen. NWA 12593 is one of only 53 known lunar breccia—a meteorite formed by the amalgamation of multiple moon fragments during separate impacts billions of years ago. 

“Breccias are similar to what you would see if you went and chipped out a chunk of concrete. You would see all these little rocks, and then they’re fused together by the cement,” Carolyn Crow, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and study co-author, said in a statement.

Crow and her colleagues used radiometric dating and chemical analysis on NWA 12593 to successfully identify evidence of three major impact events in the moon’s past. The earliest occurred around 3.5 billion years ago amid an era that also produced the first known fossil evidence of life on Earth. This collision was powerful enough to reduce the moon’s surface to molten rock similar to a lava flow.

The impact also created cubic zirconia, a mineral that only forms during extremely high temperatures. Known for its uses in jewelry, cubic zirconia doesn’t last in cold, uncontrolled temperatures. While the mineral disappeared as the lunar surface eventually solidified and cooled, researchers pinpointed lingering traces of its existence in NWA 12593.

The second impact event formed the breccia itself. In the aftermath of that meteor strike, slabs of lunar rock slammed into one another to create a mosaic of materials.

“The meteorite is fused together by the impact process. You get all these chunks of different kinds of rocks that the impact hit into,” explained Crow.

The third event explains how the lunar breccia reached Earth. At some point in the more recent past, yet another impact cracked off a piece of our moon itself and sent it hurtling towards the planet.

A portion of the meteorite’s story also aligns with a tumultuous chapter in Earth’s geological history. The 3.5-billion-year-old impact identified in the breccia occurred around the same time as known impacts on both Earth and the asteroid 4 Vesta, fourth-largest member of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This was a particularly chaotic time in the solar system, with planets still forming amid near-constant collisions Knowing this, further examination of NWA 12593 can help contextualize the history of Earth, the moon, and the wider cosmic neighborhood.

The post Rare lunar meteorite was smacked three times before finally hitting Earth appeared first on Popular Science.

While researchers know a lot about the communities of Iron Age Britain (800 BCE–43 CE), not quite as much is known about the actual people who lived there. The region’s moist environmental conditions ensure that bodies decompose far more quickly than in other parts of the world. Northwest Scotland is a different situation, however. Burial practices inside stone cairns helped safeguard at least some skeletal remains from the elements.

“We knew that in the northwest of Scotland, including the Northern and Western Isles, the circulation and deposition of human remains were particularly prominent,” Laura Castells Navarro, a study co-author and University of York archaeologist, said in a statement.

Navarro’s team has spent years examining a pair of individuals excavated a few miles inland from the Norwegian Sea near Loch Borralie. Using osteology (the study of bones)as well as isotopic and DNA analysis, they successfully identified the pair as an adult female and a juvenile male who likely died between 50 BCE and 70 CE. This timeline places them at a pivotal era just before the Romans invaded southern and eastern Scotland in 79 CE.

Genetic material confirmed the individuals are most likely maternal second cousins, although their burial site is far from their original homes. Isotopic analysis indicates that they grew up about 50 miles southeast of Loch Borralie.Additional evidence indicates they share genes with people from Orkney (about 110 miles northeast of the loch) and Applecross, about140 miles to the southwest.

“More broadly, our research shows that prehistoric maritime communities periodically moved around the north coast and Northern Isles of Scotland, possibly in small groups”, said Castells Navarro, adding that this migration facilitated the spread of cultural traditions and rituals.

Some of those practices are dramatically visible in the adult woman’s remains. Scratches inside her cranium point to the removal of her brain, while long bones like the humeri, femur, and ulna were carved down to sharp points. Although the exact motivations for these practices are still difficult to discern, they illustrate complex societal belief structures and observances.

“The care with which she was reassembled and deposited in the cairn possibly suggests she commanded a level of reverence and respect by her community,” Castells Navarro said, adding the remains highlight Iron Age society’s “continued interaction between the living and the dead.”

The post Brain removal likely used in Iron Age Scottish burial appeared first on Popular Science.

Now, scientists in the Indian Ocean have discovered an enormous whale graveyard. The collection of bones and communities supported by these whale falls stretches 745 miles across the seafloor 13,779 to 22,965 feet deep. The oldest whale fossil is roughly 5.3 million years old and the graveyard even includes a new species of extinct whale. The findings are detailed in a study published today in the journal Nature. 

“The deep sea is far from barren—it’s dynamic, full of life and history,” Dr. Xiaotong Peng, a study co-author and engineer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), tells Popular Science. “When a whale dies and sinks, it becomes an oasis, supporting unique communities for decades or centuries.”

In 2023, CAS team was studying the geology and biology of the southeast Indian Ocean’s hadal zone—the ocean’s deepest zone, extending from 19,680 to 36,000 feet-deep. While inside of a submersible, the divers spotted the first whale fossil 22,972 feet below the surface.

According to study co-author and geologist Dr. Peng Zhou, the remains were actually “quite easy to find” once the team began to search. “They looked unusual, so when the dive scientists first encountered them, they wanted to figure out what they were,” Zhou tells Popular Science. 

Peng adds, “We immediately pivoted our objectives to systematically map, document, and sample these whale remains. So it really came down to curiosity meeting the technological capability to explore depths that had been largely inaccessible.”

They documented 485 whale fossil sites from five active whale falls. The whale carcasses are home to a large community of jellyfish, brittle stars, bone-boring worms, and bivalves. Some of these species living in the carcasses may even be new to science, but that has not been confirmed. The oldest have been in the area for about 5.3 million years ago (the Pliocene era).

Most of the whale fossils come from several species of deep-diving beaked whales. Some of the bones belong to beaked whales that still exist today. Others are from extinct whales, including a species new to science named Pterocetus diamantinae.

“Finding both extinct genera like Pterocetus and living species like Mesoplodon bowdoini preserved together in the same region, across 1,200 kilometres [745 miles] of seafloor at such extreme depths—that was truly unexpected,” says Zhou.

This fossil record is also continuous, so the team can track the population dynamics and evolution of deep-diving whales over time. 

“These fossils give us a direct window into the Pliocene, about 5.3 million years ago,” study co-author and biologist Dr. Xikun Song tells Popular Science. “They show that beaked whales were already specialized deep‑divers in the Indian Ocean by that time. Beyond the whales themselves, the associated fossil fauna also tells us about the structure of ancient deep‑sea whale‑fall communities and broader deep‑sea biodiversity back then.”

This whale graveyard could reshape our understanding of both living and extinct beaked-whales. There are roughly 24 species of beaked-whale living today. However, their deep-sea habitat, likely low population numbers, and reclusive behavior make them difficult to study. Having such a large fossil deposit like this could help explain more about their reclusive lives.

The fossils are also shedding more light on the mysterious ecosystems living at the ocean’s deepest depths.

“Discoveries like this are possible because of curiosity, collaboration, and technology,” Peng concludes. “We’ve barely scratched the surface of the deep ocean, and there’s so much more waiting to be found.”

The post 745-mile whale graveyard found at the bottom of Indian Ocean appeared first on Popular Science.

Ring Outdoor Cam (Stick Up Cam) $39.99 (was $79.99)

Battery-powered 1080p security camera at its lowest price ever, 50% off

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The Ring Outdoor Cam (Stick Up Cam) at $39.99 is the easiest deal to recommend in the whole sale, and at 50% off it matches the lowest price Amazon has ever listed. It’s a battery-powered 1080p camera you can mount almost anywhere, including a fence, a porch rail, or a flat shelf by the back door, without running wires. You get Live View, color night vision, two-way talk, and motion alerts through the Ring app, and it works with Alexa if you have an Echo. A Ring Protect subscription (sold separately) unlocks saved video history, though real-time alerts and live view are free. For $40, it’s the cheapest way to put a real camera on the part of your house you keep meaning to watch.

Wüsthof Gourmet 4-Piece Chef's Knife Set $99.00 (was $185.00)

German-forged-quality starter set back to its lowest price, 46% off

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The Wüsthof Gourmet 4-Piece Chef’s Knife Set at $99 is the pick for anyone still cooking on a hand-me-down knife block, and at 46% off it’s back to the lowest price it has hit. The set covers the three knives you actually reach for, an 8-inch chef’s, a 4.5-inch utility, and a 2.75-inch paring, plus a honing steel to keep them sharp. These are stamped rather than forged, which is why the set lands at $99 instead of $300, but they use the same high-carbon German steel and carry the same lifetime warranty as the pricier Wüsthof lines. It’s a real upgrade that doesn’t require committing to a $600 block. This is the Prime-exclusive price, so a membership is required.

Amazon eero Pro 6E Mesh Wi-Fi System (2-Pack) $239.99 (was $329.99)

Wi-Fi 6E mesh for up to 4,000 sq. ft., 27% off and an all-time low

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The Amazon eero Pro 6E two-pack at $239.99 is the networking deal worth jumping on, covering up to 4,000 square feet with Wi-Fi 6E at the lowest price Amazon has listed. It supports internet plans up to 2.5 Gbps and handles 100-plus devices, so it keeps up whether you’re on multi-gig fiber or just tired of the dead spot in the back bedroom. The 6 GHz band gives newer phones and laptops a clear lane, and setup runs through the eero app in a few minutes with automatic updates after that. At 27% off, it’s $90 under list. If your house is bigger, the three-pack covers 6,000 square feet, and for an apartment the single Pro 6E router is enough.

Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2) Sapphire, 47mm $614.60 (was $999.99)

The premium training watch in the sale, 39% off its $999.99 list

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The Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2) Sapphire Edition at $614.60 is the splurge of the bunch, down 39% from its $999.99 list price. The 47mm version pairs a bright AMOLED display and a scratch-resistant sapphire lens with the deepest training data Garmin makes, including hill score, endurance score, training readiness, and HRV status, plus a built-in LED flashlight that earns its keep on early-morning runs. Battery life runs one to two weeks depending on how hard you lean on GPS, which is the real argument for it over an Apple Watch. It’s overkill for casual step-counting and priced like it. But if you’re training for something and want full maps on your wrist, this is the Garmin to get, and it rarely drops below $700.

Tech and accessory deals

Beyond the camera and watch up top, the tech deals skew toward small upgrades sitting at their lowest tracked prices. The Logitech MX Master 3S, the mouse a lot of people consider the best for desk work, is 25% off, and both Lenovo silent mice are down to roughly ten bucks. If the Pro 6E two-pack is more coverage than you need, the single eero Pro 6E router is here too.

• Logitech MX Master 3S Wireless Mouse $89.99 (was $119.99)
• Amazon eero Pro 6E Mesh Wi-Fi Router, 1-Pack (2,000 sq. ft.) $149.99 (was $199.99)
• Ring Indoor Cam, 2-Pack (1080p HD) $49.98 (was $79.99)
• Thermaltake SWAFAN EX 12 RGB Cooling Fan, 3-Pack $39.99 (was $109.99)
• Lenovo 600 Bluetooth Silent Mouse $12.49 (was $24.99)
• Lenovo Bluetooth Silent Mouse (WL300) $9.99 (was $19.99)

Camera and lens deals

The camera deals are lens-heavy and aimed at Micro Four Thirds and Sony shooters. Both OM System M.Zuiko primes and both Zeiss Batis lenses for Sony E-mount are at or near their lowest tracked prices, with the OM System 60mm macro the standout for close-up work at $200 off.

• OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro $449.99 (was $649.99)
• OM System M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 R $169.99 (was $239.99)
• Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 (Sony E Mount) $928.99 (was $1,249.00)
• Zeiss Batis 40mm f/2.0 (Sony E Mount) $928.99 (was $1,349.00)

Kitchen knife deals

Wüsthof and Shun are running the deepest knife discounts of the early sale, most at all-time lows. If the Gourmet set up top is more or less than you need, the rest of the lineup runs from a $49 paring trio to a pro-grade Shun steak set, all at 43 to 47% off.

• Wüsthof Classic 6-Piece In-Drawer Knife Set $329.00 (was $625.00)
• Shun Premier 4-Piece Steak Knife Set $399.95 (was $700.00)
• Shun Shima 4-Piece Steak Knife Set $254.95 (was $464.00)
• Wüsthof Classic 3-Piece BBQ Carving Knife Set $249.00 (was $435.00)
• Wüsthof Gourmet 3-Piece Paring Knife Set $49.00 (was $90.00)

Power tool and accessory deals

The tool deals run heavy on Bosch blades and bits, most at 55 to 60% off and all at their lowest tracked prices. The CRAFTSMAN 9-piece impact socket set at $29.98 and the brand’s 20V MAX impact driver kit at $59 are the picks if you’re building out a kit rather than restocking blades.

• Bosch HC8501 SDS-Max Core Cutter (1-3/4 in.) $99.99 (was $246.43)
• Bosch HS2171 Spike/Pin Driver Hammer Steel $62.49 (was $137.48)
• CRAFTSMAN 20V MAX Impact Driver Kit (CMCF800C1) $59.00 (was $69.00)
• CRAFTSMAN 3/8 in. 9-Piece Impact Socket Set (Metric) $29.98 (was $67.20)
• Bosch OSL134CC Starlock Carbide Oscillating Blade $16.79 (was $41.63)
• Bosch HDG12 1/2 in. Diamond Hole Saw $15.59 (was $38.33)
• DEWALT 6-1/2 in. 40T Circular Saw Blade $14.98 (was $30.10)
• Bosch RDN6V 6 in. Reciprocating Saw Blades, 5-Pack $11.89 (was $28.74)

Lawn and garden deals

Makita and Greenworks cordless yard tools anchor the outdoor deals, all four at the lowest prices we’ve tracked. The Makita 18V LXT string trimmer and blower kits both ship with a 4.0Ah battery and charger, which is most of why they land at roughly half off.

• Makita XBU03SM1 18V LXT Brushless Blower Kit (4.0Ah) $188.00 (was $388.00)
• Greenworks 80V Brushless Cordless String Trimmer (2.0Ah) $189.99 (was $319.99)
• Makita XRU23SM1 18V LXT Brushless String Trimmer Kit (4.0Ah) $179.00 (was $386.00)
• Greenworks 60V Brushless Cordless Edger (2.0Ah) $179.99 (was $319.99)

Automotive deals

The automotive picks are small but useful, both from Nilight and both at all-time lows. The recovery traction boards are the standout if you ever get stuck in mud, sand, or snow, at $34 for a pair.

• Nilight Recovery Traction Boards, 2-Pack $33.98 (was $89.99)
• Nilight USCAR-to-RV 7-Way Trailer Plug Adapter $8.08 (was $13.99)

Toy and gift deals

The toy deals are the steepest in the sale, all four at 70% off or more and all at their lowest tracked prices. The 20-inch Squishmallows and the Green Toys sets make easy gifts at under $13 each.

• Squishmallows 20-Inch Medina the Lemonade Slushie $12.99 (was $49.99)
• Squishmallows 20-Inch Marill Pokémon Plush $12.99 (was $49.99)
• Green Toys Toy Maker Dough Set $11.99 (was $39.99)
• Green Toys Car Carrier $11.49 (was $43.99)

Prices move daily during Prime Day and lightning deals rotate out without much warning, so check the current price before you commit. If you only grab one thing from the early wave, make it the $39.99 Ring Outdoor Cam or the $99 Wüsthof Gourmet knife set. Both are back to their lowest prices ever and both stay useful long after the sale ends.

The post These early Prime Day deals are already live on Amazon: Kitchen gadgets, fitness gear, power tools, and more appeared first on Popular Science.

It wouldn’t be the first time a wild animal species manipulated humanity for its own benefit. Dogs did it at least 14,000 years ago, discovering that befriending garbage-producing humans resulted in tastier, more abundant scraps and less arduous lives on their own. New genetic data indicates that cats feeding off the abundant rodents plundering human food stores domesticated themselves for similar reasons around 10,000 years ago. 

Dogs and cats hanging around worked out pretty well for humans, too. The first dogs served as early-warning systems, protectors, and hunting buddies. Cats, on the other hand, helped keep food fresher and reduced the spread of disease. Over time, through a combination of natural selection and human intervention, they evolved into the cute and cuddly companion animals of today.

Could urban raccoons be headed down the same evolutionary path straight into the American home? 

Raccoons as pets

With their expressive masked faces and dexterous little fingers, pet raccoons are already found en masse on social media: sleeping in open dresser drawers and picking Fruit Loops out of cereal bowls. But the algorithm only shows one side of what Lauren Stanton, postdoctoral fellow at the Schell Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, describes as “very active and intelligent animals with complex needs.” 

Problem number one? Raccoons are nocturnal. They sleep in tight spaces during the day and venture out at dusk to forage, hunt, explore, and socialize across vast territories that can stretch as many as three square miles. And they don’t do it quietly. Raccoons have all sorts of vocalizations: purrs, chirps, hisses, and straight-up screams. A hollering, busybody raccoon does not a good night’s sleep make. 

And then there are those paws which, despite a lack of opposable thumbs, are remarkably agile. A pet raccoon would be able to untie knots, unlatch locks, unscrew jars of food, and open doors in the middle of the night to let their wild compatriots in for raucous, sexy parties during mating season.

As highly-opportunistic omnivores, raccoons hunt insects, aquatic animals, small mammals, and birds. They also scavenge just about anything they can find. Not only would the food in fridges and cabinets fall victim to their nightly raids, they could never be trusted around a gerbil or bird cage—and god forbid there’s a fish tank around. 

Nor would they discriminate about the water chosen for dipping their food, a common behavior which increases paw sensitivity while eating. Toilet bowl, sink full of dirty dishes, or that poor, beleaguered fish tank—it’s all the same to them.

Altogether, this web of destructive, innate behaviors is one that not even ongoing domestication would be likely to ever make compatible with the human home—not that people are likely to stop trying.

“I have talked to many people over the years who have attempted to own raccoons, and their story often ends the same: The raccoon got too difficult to manage and so they ‘released it back to the wild,’” says Stanton, a deadly problem for human-raised raccoons that never learned essential survival skills.

Domestication vs. Domesticated

The evolutionary path of virtually every domesticated animal has undergone “domestication syndrome”—a pattern of physical changes seen across diverse species that includes the development of floppier ears, flatter and rounder faces, and curlier tails over time. 

A 2025 study of the snout-to-skull-length ratio of close to 20,000 images of American raccoons posted on the citizen science platform iNaturalist found the snouts of urban raccoons were 3.56 percent shorter than those of rural raccoons—possibly an early symptom of domestication syndrome.

But Stanton isn’t completely convinced that’s actually what’s happening in these urban populations. 

“Although morphological changes might have a genetic basis, there are multiple reasons why such changes could occur,” she explains. “Changes in skull shape, for example, could be due to changes in an animal’s diet, since many urban species shift towards eating softer, carbohydrate-rich foods found in our garbage.” 

Changes in urban raccoon behavior can’t automatically be chalked up to domestication either. 

“If raccoons become habituated to people or learn to associate them with food, they might behave in a more docile or tame manner around people, but this does not mean that they are domesticated,” Stanton continues. Additional empirical evidence, including examination of the raccoon genome, is needed to know for sure.

Regardless, Stanton is adamant that there is no hypothetical future in which raccoons could realistically become good house pets. 

“In my opinion, what makes raccoons so charismatic is their curiosity and unruly nature,” she says. 

“If we attempt to strip away their wildness through ownership or attempts at domestication, then we may lose some of the qualities that make them so special in the first place.” 

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Could raccoons become the new dogs? appeared first on Popular Science.

The two chicks hatched in early April. Their names, Sandy and Luna, were bestowed on May 1. Now we know that Sandy is a female and Luna is male. Or at least we can confidentially guess. FOBBV, the non-profit who runs Jackie and Shadow’s 24/7 livecam, closely observed the duo since birth and noted traits that offered clues to the birds’ sexes.

“Male and female bald eagles have significant differences in vocal pitch; we have all heard the difference in vocals with Jackie and Shadow,” FOBBV wrote on Facebook. “Females are larger than males and so are their voice boxes (Syrinx), which results in deeper lower-pitched vocalizations We used frequency applications to record and analyze Sandy and Luna’s vocals and there were consistent differences in vocal pitch.”

FOBBV also notes that the only way to confirm Sandy and Luna’s sexes would be a blood test. But at 9 weeks old, the eaglets’ bone structure and foot pads have fully grown (and they can even see as well as their parents), so FOBBV can be confident in their assessment.

Jackie and Shadow’s 2026 babies: Everything you need to know

It’s been another roller coaster nesting season for Jackie and Shadow, a pair of internet-famous bald eagle parents living in San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. After ravens destroyed two of their eggs in January, Jackie and Shadow laid two new eggs that successfully hatched.

Chick 1 hatched on April 4 at 9:33 p.m. PDT, while Chick 2 followed on April 5 at 8:30 a.m. PDT. Their large nest in Big Bear Valley east of Los Angeles is livestreamed 24 hours a day by nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) and has captivated millions. 

On May 1, FOBBV announced the chicks’ names: Sandy and Luna. The names were selected by elementary school students after thousands of submissions from fans.

How long will the chicks stay in the nest? 

Chicks usually stay in the nest until 10 to 14 weeks of age. This year’s chicks will likely fledge sometime between mid-June and mid-July.

What challenges do the eaglets face?

Before leaving the nest, the chicks face threats from other birds of prey, including hawks, ravens, other eagles, and owls. Inclement weather can also present challenges for the chicks. In 2025, a March snowstorm resulted in the death of one of Jackie and Shadow’s three chicks.

During fledging, only 70 percent of eaglets survive. One of the greatest threats is from cars that can injure or kill the birds while they scavenge for food on roadkill. 

Who are Jackie and Shadow? 

The pair first got together in 2018 and successfully raised chicks in 2019 and 2022. However, their eggs failed to hatch in 2023 and 2024. Only 50 percent of eagle eggs successfully hatch, so this pair has already beaten the odds.

What happened to Jackie and Shadow’s 2025 eaglets?

In 2025, Jackie laid three eggs that all hatched in early March. On March 13, a strong snowstorm dumped up to two feet of snow and battered the nest with strong winds. Only two of the chicks were visible on the live cam when the storm passed by the next morning. FOBBV later confirmed the passing of one of the chicks. The two surviving chicks were later named Sunny and Gizmo after 54,000 names were submitted by fans.

What happens after chicks fledge? 

Young eagles usually fledge–or leave the nest and fly–when they can flatten their wings and have feathers capable of flight. This typically occurs when the birds hit 10 to 14 weeks of age. Males also tend to take their first flight a little sooner than females. So we might expect to see Luna take flight first.

According to FOBBV, fledglings from Southern California have been spotted as far south as Baja California, as far north as British Columbia, and as far east as Yellowstone National Park.

About 70 percent of bald eagles survive the fledgling stage. FOBBV does not tag their eagles, so it’s not possible to follow the chicks’ journeys after they flee the nest.

Can I help Jackie and Shadow?

Yes. Environmental groups are currently fundraising $10 million to protect Jackie and Shadow’s foraging area from development. Learn more at SaveMoonCamp.org.

The post Jackie and Shadow’s chicks’ genders revealed: It’s a boy…and a girl! appeared first on Popular Science.

The roleplaying game is particularly famous for its reliance on the 20-sided die, but there are all types of sizes depending on the situation. That said, the situations when someone might need to toss a 120-sided variant are few and far between. However, a collective of game designers called The Mint Tin Guys decided to make just such an accessory available for D&D fans. But why stop there? All those sides deserve some decorative flourishes, so the team recently debuted a unique, aluminum-crafted D120 die highlighting all 118 elements currently listed on the Periodic Table of Elements.

According to its creators, the elemental D120 is “perfect for tabletop RPGs, science classrooms, chemistry enthusiasts, or anyone who enjoys the fusion of geek culture and education.” It’s also a great way to bone up on the universe’s building blocks. Interested dice-throwers can head over to Etsy to snag one for about $150.

However, the designers took one small liberty.. At last count, the Periodic Table currently stands at 118 elements. The synthetically-created Oganesson was added to the reference table in 2002. With only 118 elements and a 120-sided die, two sides are essentially “wildcards,” but that adds to the overall charm. And with a 1-in-120 chance of landing on a non-element, the chances that you’ll encounter one of them often are pretty slim. Then again, anything is possible during a good D&D campaign.

The post Giant 120-sided ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ dice highlights every element appeared first on Popular Science.

Located in southern Saxony, Germany, Gnandstein Castle’s earliest iteration was built during the 13th century to overlook the Wyhra Valley. Generations of modifications eventually transformed the fortification into a manor, although many medieval architectural elements are still visible throughout the former residence. Gnandstein Castle received around a decade of renovations between 1994 and 2004, during which archeologists scoured the grounds for important historical relics.

More recent construction efforts took place in a previously demolished, 2,400-square-foot portion of the grounds. There, archaeologists found remnants of early modern brick paving and floor tiles dating to the early 16th century. But one additional artifact was particularly interesting—a glazed ceramic vessel with a rounded body, tapered neck, and three feet on the bottom, allowing it to stand upright. Its overall shape and design strongly suggest prolonged, controlled usage instead of storing liquids like wine or cooking oils.

Archaeologists suspect that the container was part of a larger distillation setup. Similar items from the era held liquid that was then heated from flames underneath it. After placing a rounded cap over the neck, vapors would transport up the neck and condense in the cooler top known as a helm or head. Final results frequently included plant extracts, mineral oils, medicines, and alcohol.

The Saxony State Office noted the artifact closely aligns to equipment used in “alchemical and proto-chemical practice” during the 15th and 16th centuries. Popular culture often depicts medieval alchemy as mystical pseudoscience, but a great deal of it actually forms the basis for present-day chemistry, pharmacy, and laboratory research. The ceramic relic itself supports this, as its creator likely chose the material knowing that metal containers sometimes release toxic or contaminating substances during various hot or acidic preparations. The Saxony region also had strong ties to mining and metallurgy around that time, further suggesting alchemical influences.

Unfortunately, the team cautioned that the object’s true use remains unclear. Researchers didn’t find any residual material inside the vessel, so there currently is no way of knowing what it once held. Despite the mystery, it’s now clear someone in Gnandstein Castle hoped to distill something—and possessed the equipment to accomplish it.

The post Odd-shaped vessel hints at alchemy in medieval German castle appeared first on Popular Science.

Parmitano was selected to the ESA astronaut corps in May 2009 and is also a colonel and test pilot for the Italian Air Force. He is the first ESA astronaut assigned to an Artemis mission and immediately pointed to his family as motivation. 

“I am honored by the role that I have been given,” Parmitano said during the press conference. “The rocket figuratively and literally is NASA. I am grateful that NASA is allowing me to be part of this incredible group of people and this crew and for letting me fly. But we wouldn’t be going anywhere without fuel and the fuel that lets everything move is right here–Maia, Sarah, Marta, and my extended family here in the crowd. You are the energy that feeds my soul and your love is the spark that ignites every passion.”

Parmitano has already proven that he possesses coolness under pressure. On July 16, 2013, he nearly drowned during a space walk, after data about a previous spacesuit did not make its way up the International Space Station’s chain of command. Water chemistry issues caused a leak in the spacesuit’s cooling system. 

The issue started near the end of a spacewalk on July 9. At the time, the crew concluded that the water came from Parmitano’s drink bag. That initial assessment was incorrect. The leak occurred due to contamination build up that blocked a filter. The blockage allowed water to go into a line that feeds air to the astronaut’s helmet.

“When the water reached my face, it spread over my nose and up into my nostrils in an instant. I was almost blinded, I couldn’t hear anything and I couldn’t breathe through my nose,” Parmitano wrote in a March 2026 commentary on the event published in New Scientist. “I already knew I needed to reach the airlock and get back inside the International Space Station. The key question: how long did I have before the water reached my mouth and I couldn’t breathe at all?”

In a report released several months later, investigators said that ISS management should not have given the go ahead for the July 16 spacewalk following the incident on July 9. The report also criticized management for not immediately stopping the dangerous task as soon as Parmitano reported water in his helmet. The report ultimately included 49 recommendations to help prevent a similar incident.

Artemis III will undertake a series of challenging tests in Earth orbit in 2027. These tests are essential for Artemis IV in 2028, the first planned crewed mission to the lunar South Pole.

The agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will propel the Orion spacecraft and its crew from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center into low Earth orbit. After Orion systems checkout, the spacecraft will demonstrate rendezvous and test docking capabilities for the first time. It will use test versions from one, or both, American commercial human landing systems in development by Blue Origin and SpaceX. 

“This highly choreographed mission includes a dramatic multi-launch campaign of the world’s most powerful rockets, testing integrated hardware between Orion and the landers, including system interfaces, software, propulsion, and communications,” NASA writes. 

“Artemis III will push the boundaries of spacecraft operations in orbit. Luca’s assignment as pilot reflects the depth of European expertise in human spaceflight and draws on his extensive operational experience in high-pressure situations,” ESA’s director general Josef Aschbacher said in a statement. 

“At the same time, ESA’s European Service Module will once again provide the critical capabilities that power Orion, demonstrating Europe’s enduring role at the very heart of the Artemis program. The news out of Houston today is a powerful recognition of ESA’s role in enabling humanity’s return to the Moon – and a key advancement in our partnership with NASA. Europeans can take pride in being part of this exciting journey.”

The post Astronaut who nearly drowned in space selected for Artemis III crew appeared first on Popular Science.

Why did evolution remain so stable for so long? It might be simply because Earth’s first creatures simply weren’t having much sex.

“Life was pretty nice during the Ediacaran, so the need for sex was rather limited,” Emily Mitchell, a paleozoologist at the University of Cambridge, explained in a statement. “There was relatively little competition, so there was no real pressure to change anything.”

Along with her colleague Andrea Manica, Mitchell recently combined spatial analysis and laser scanning with machine learning to analyze 574-million-year-old fossils excavated from southernmost Newfoundland’s Mistaken Point. Their findings, published today in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, show that the earliest animals’ reliance on asexual reproduction kept things largely uniform, and reduced the struggle for resources.

They offered Fractofusus as a prime example. At over 6.5 feet tall, the fern-like creatures dwarfed most of their oceanic relatives and likely lacked organs or mouths. They also absorbed food from the surrounding water while remaining anchored in place, reproducing through clones distributed by stolons or runners like present-day strawberry plants.

“If you’re connected to your neighbor by these runners, then you’re sharing nutrients and you don’t need to compete with them,” said Manica.

From there, the team constructed a machine learning model to approximate how Fractofusus and its fellow Ediacaran animals possibly behaved through varying reproductive strategies. The program’s neural network then identified simulations that aligned with known fossil record diversity patterns. Known as Approximate Bayesian Computation let them basically travel back in time to estimate how animals proliferated and squared off for limited resources.

They now believe the Ediacaran Period’s overall tranquility (and sexlessness) began to get complicated as species gradually migrated from deep waters to shallower regions. Once there, ancient animals endured new stressors like temperature swings, nutrient deficits, tides, and even storms. Life then adapted to face these increased threats—and left behind more fossils. The story they tell indicates that environmental stress often precedes a rise in sexual reproduction versus other methods of procreation. 

“When that happens, we can see a massive increase in dispersal distances as animals attempt to colonize new areas due to an increase in competition,” said Mitchell.

These shifting trends eventually ushered in what’s known as the Ediacaran “second wave” of animal evolution, which further amplified millions of years later during the Cambrian era, as animals started physically moving through their environments.

“If you’re suddenly in an environment where you’re essentially getting killed a couple of times per year, then that changes everything,” Mitchell explained.

The post Sex jumpstarted Earth’s animal biodiversity appeared first on Popular Science.

A rodent time capsule

Arctic ground squirrels (Urocitellus parryii) are still alive today. They are widely found within Beringia, a region spanning the Yukon in Canada and Alaska in the United States. They are opportunistic feeders that eat a wide variety of plants, fungi, and insects. They will also eat meat, including dead flesh, whale meat, and even other rodents. They can also hibernate for up to seven months. Their wide diet and long-term hibernation in frozen burrows have helped create a detailed biological record of their environment.

“I’ve been describing them as acting a bit like tiny Arctic pack rats,” Tyler Murchie, a study co-author and McMaster University biomolecular archaeologist, tells Popular Science. “These squirrels are interesting both because of what they collected from the environment and because of their own evolutionary histories and how they adapted to the far north during previous glacial periods.”

The proof is in the poop

In the study, Murchie and his team analyzed 13 Arctic ground squirrel coprolite samples from the central Yukon. This research took place on the territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and was conducted with permission. 

Compared to bones or sediments, fossilized feces like these coprolites are not used as often for DNA analysis since they can degrade more easily. However, the ground squirrel burrows in Arctic regions can remain frozen and sealed for thousands of years, preserving genetic material in the poop. The ground squirrel burrows here span several glacial periods, and the organic material inside can remain frozen and sealed for thousands of years. The samples in this study date back 30,000 to approximately 700,000 years ago and the biomolecules from ancient animals can be preserved in the coprolites.  

“Ancient squirrel poop was one of those ideas that sounded a bit ridiculous at first,” says Murchie. “Scott [Cocker, a study co-author] and I did it initially in part for fun and out of curiosity, not knowing what to expect. But scientifically, it made a lot of sense that these sorts of remains would be really information dense given how dense the burrows can be with macro-remains and given that they’ve been frozen continually for millenia. The squirrels were basically collecting pieces of the landscape and storing them in frozen burrows.”

To tell that something is coprolite, context matters. The scientists didn’t find a random poop pellet here or there, but found the droppings as part of a greater burrow system. 

“They are small pellets, roughly rabbit-dropping sized, and they look like dried or fossilized fecal pellets rather than random sediment clumps or plant fragments,” Murchie explains. “When you’re working with them though, they very much seem like frozen poop. When we subsample them and go to digest a portion to extract DNA, it smells like poop. So the organics are all still in there.”

Inside of these DNA samples they not only found smaller organisms like plants and microbes, but larger animals—woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), American cheetahs (Miracinonyx), horses (Equus), steppe bison (Bison priscus), and more. The team was able to reconstruct 18 mitochondrial genomes from the poop samples, including 12 ground squirrels, one hare, two bison, and three horses.

A humbling timeline

The team also found a previously unknown genetic diversity among Arctic ground squirrels, including one lineage that dates back 700,000 years. While this squirrel does not live in the Yukon, its relatives can be found in western Siberia.

“There’s something humbling in the timescale. Some of these samples are older than our species. Homo sapiens in our modern anatomical form are usually placed at around 300,000 years ago, and our oldest sample is roughly 700,000 years old,” says Murchie. “So these squirrels were living, collecting, eating, caching, and leaving behind these tiny biological archives long before humans like us existed.”

The team acknowledges that some of the DNA may have been picked up from the coprolite’s surface at a later time and species identification may be affected by incomplete genetic reference databases for animals that lived so long ago. However, these findings show that permafrost coprolites can be part of a high-resolution snapshot of prehistoric environments and complement more typical findings like bones and teeth. 

“Science is sometimes at its best when it takes something ordinary, weird, or even funny, and shows that it contains a much larger story,” says Murchie. “In this case, squirrel poop can turn out to be a window into deep time, climate change, extinction, evolution, and ecosystems that no longer exist.”

The post 700,000-year-old squirrel poop helps scientist recreate an ancient world appeared first on Popular Science.

After completing his dissertation in 1958, “Automated Urban Circulation,” Fichter spent years turning that idea into a complete transit system design he called Veyar. At its core, Veyar would offer small automated cars running on lightweight guideways. The electric cars would be available at any hour and travel directly from origin to destination without stops, schedules, or drivers. “Personalized transit,” he called it, in which each car “is a self-operating vehicle which can go unattended.” To keep infrastructure construction costs low, he explained, “they have to utilize existing public right of way: the streets.” Fichter self-published the design in 1964, calling it “Individualized Automatic Transit and the City.”

For 60 years, personalized transit systems like Veyar gained support from generation after generation of transportation engineers, but none were ever built. That’s because personal rapid transit systems demanded infrastructure cities couldn’t afford and automation technology that didn’t yet exist. What finally solved both problems wasn’t a transit agency or a federal program, but rather the autonomous vehicle industry. Companies like Zoox and Waymo built Fichter’s system more practically, starting with the automation and letting existing streets serve as the guideways.

The origins of personal rapid transit

Donn Fichter was born in Minneapolis in 1926. After serving in the Army during World War II, he earned engineering degrees from Brown and Northwestern. He was the first serious advocate of what urban planners would eventually call personal rapid transit, or PRT—a vision of on-demand, automated, point-to-point city travel. 

Fichter conceived Veyar at a time when traffic choked American cities. Cars gave riders individual freedom at the expense of gridlock. Buses, subways, and elevated rails offered more efficiency but subjected riders to fixed schedules and routes. 

What no one had yet built, Fichter argued, was a third system that combined the automobile’s spontaneity and the subway’s separation from traffic, available to anyone at any hour without a driver, a schedule, or a transfer. Gridlock notwithstanding, the environmental stakes, he believed, made the solution urgent. 

Even before the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, Fichter foresaw the “ecological imperative” to reduce our dependence on private automobiles. He made this case explicitly in a 1968 PRT planning paper, “Small Car Automatic Transit.” Fichter claimed that small, electrically-propelled, autonomous cars running on guideways would mean cleaner air, quieter streets, and cities less congested with the machinery of driving and parking.

Personal rapid transit systems catch on in the 1970s

“Your car is waiting,” wrote journalist Paul Wahl in a 1971 Popular Science feature on personal rapid transit systems. “On entering the car, you push a button to select your destination, then take a seat. The cabin is roomy, automobile-like in accommodations.” 

Wahl went on to describe how a PRT trip might unfold: “The automatic vehicle moves away on the station spur, accelerating until it enters the stream of traffic on the guideway.” The car would then switch off the guideway at its destination spur, “with a central computer doing the driving.” 

The experience Wahl described was precisely what Fichter’s Veyar system proposed. Small electric cars—sized for just a few riders—would run on slender elevated tramways threaded along existing streets. Stations every few blocks would keep cars queued and ready. Just like an elevator, a rider would board, close the door, press a button, and go. The car would merge into mainline traffic automatically, travel nonstop to the destination, and pull itself into the arrival station without further instruction. Then it would wait, callable for whoever needed it next. A computer would control the entire network. What the elevator had done for the skyscraper, Veyar would do for the city.

The federal bet on personal rapid transit begins with the Nixon administration

By the early 1970s, the idea attracted serious attention. As Wahl wrote, experts were “banking on it to relieve our metropolitan areas from the twin stranglehold of pollution and congestion.” The federal government committed $6 million to build and demonstrate four competing PRT systems at Transpo72, an international transportation exposition held at Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport in 1972. One of those prototypes was destined for a small college town in West Virginia, where West Virginia University needed a better way to move students between its multiple campuses and downtown Morgantown, West Virginia. 

At the same time, planners in Minnesota began drawing up blueprints for a city to be built from scratch on 50,000 acres of rural land—a place called the Minnesota Experimental City, or MXC. The new city was the brainchild of Athelstan Spilhaus, a polymath University of Minnesota dean who had already helped design the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and co-invented submarine warfare instruments. Spilhaus wanted MXC to be a living laboratory, not a utopia, and personal rapid transit was to be its arteries. 

The federal commitment to PRT in the early 1970s produced a brief but remarkable flurry of competing designs. Engineers at aerospace firms, university labs, and automotive companies developed more than two dozen distinct guideway systems—Monocab, TTI, Dashaveyor, Cabinentaxi, Aramis, staRRcar, and others—each with its own switching designs, propulsion method, and structural approach. No two were compatible. The proliferation reflected a significant engineering problem—no one had cracked the code on the automated control systems required to make PRT work. Wahl called this control system the “super-robot trainmaster.”

“The heart of any personal rapid transit system,” Wahl wrote, “is the central computer facility that runs things efficiently and economically, making it practical.”  He described a fully autonomous system that not only controls all the cars, “but also handles vehicle distribution and scheduling.” In fact, the central computer would manage just about everything, he explained, leaving little to human operators who are prone to make mistakes. Unfortunately, at the time, such sophisticated automation technology did not exist. 

Besides lacking the necessary automation, PRT systems demanded infrastructure cities couldn’t afford to build at scale, even with available federal funding. A network of lightweight guideways would need to be built above city streets, with stations every few blocks, for PRT to deliver on its promise. By the mid-1970s, federal funding had dried up, Transpo72 had come and gone without producing a single municipal contract, the Minnesota Experimental City project had been canceled, and PRT’s moment of official enthusiasm had passed—with one notable exception.

America’s first and only personal rapid transit system

The West Virginia University Personal Rapid Transit system, which opened in Morgantown in 1975, became the closest thing to a guideway-based automated transit system ever built for regular urban use in the United States. It connects the university’s three campuses and the downtown central business district via 8.7 miles of dedicated guideway and five stations, carrying riders in small electric vehicles on demand, without stops between origin and destination. And most importantly: The system works. 

Since its debut in 1975 WVU’s personal rapid transit system has logged more than 100 million trips, using electric vehicles that carry roughly 12,000 passengers a day during the school year. Despite its impressive track record, Morgantown also illustrated the trap at the heart of every PRT proposal. The project ran wildly over budget—partly because engineers rushed to meet a politically mandated deadline tied to the Nixon administration—and the cost per rider was never remotely competitive with conventional mass transit. 

More fundamentally, Morgantown succeeded because it was built for a specific, constrained geography: a university town with four fixed nodes and a captive ridership. That configuration bears almost no resemblance to the open-city, go-anywhere network with stops every few blocks that Fichter had imagined, and it offers no blueprint for replication in a traditional urban setting. For a major city to build what Fichter described, it would have had to retrofit onto automobile-centric city streets dozens or even hundreds of miles of elevated guideway. It’s something no city has ever tried.

Driverless cars: PRT without the tracks?

And yet, six decades after Donn Fichter sketched his first Veyar pods, you can summon one of their descendants with your phone. Today, Waymo operates driverless electric vehicles across six major American cities, completing nearly half a million rides per week in 2025. 

Amazon’s Zoox has deployed a uniquely designed robotaxi—no steering wheel, no pedals, carriage seating for four, bidirectional so it never needs to turn around—on the streets of San Francisco and Las Vegas. Between them and a growing field of competitors, the age of individualized automated transit has arrived—just not as anyone planned.

But do robotaxis really fit Fichter’s vision? A car can be summoned with the push of a button. It travels straight from origin to destination without stops. It is “a self-operating vehicle which can go unattended” as Fichter described Veyar in 1964. 

Fichter would recognize robotaxis instantly as personalized transit. What’s missing is the “rapid” promise of a PRT system. Driverless taxis are subject to the same traffic-choked congestion that has plagued American cities for nearly a century. 

In his 1964 specifications, Fichter worried that driverless vehicles “could not expect to share the streets with other motor vehicles,” which is why he proposed elevated guideways. Today, his concern seems prescient. 

Waymo has faced recalls for vehicles driving into flooded roadways, investigations into repeated failures to yield to school buses, incidents where robotaxis blocked emergency responders at active crime scenes, and acted as getaway cars. A citywide power outage in San Francisco in 2025 triggered a wave of vehicles simultaneously requesting remote confirmation checks, snarling traffic for hours. The riding experience remains geofenced to specific neighborhoods in specific cities. 

When issues arise, the system relies on remote human operators—Waymo employs about 70, half of them based in the Philippines—to step in. But these are engineering problems being worked through, not evidence the concept is broken. Arguably, city streets become the guideways when they are filled almost exclusively with robocars, which would complete Fichter’s vision in spirit, if not in intent.

But robotaxis were built as a for-profit product, not as civic infrastructure. They are privately owned, unevenly distributed in cities, expensive on a per-ride basis, and poorly regulated across most of the United States. 

What Fichter envisioned was a public system woven into the city—the way elevators are woven into buildings—affordable to everyone, and available at the push of a button. Waymo, Zoox, and their competitors have built something remarkable. But whether it someday resembles the civic infrastructure Fichter had in mind, or remains just another profit-based enterprise siphoning riders and revenue from transit agencies, is ultimately a policy question—one that cities and regulators have so far shown little urgency to answer.

In A Century in Motion, Popular Science revisits fascinating transportation stories from our archives, from hybrid cars to moving sidewalks, and explores how these inventions are re-emerging today in surprising ways.

The post Robotaxis almost happened in 1964—with help from the U.S. government appeared first on Popular Science.

If you’ve followed Apple’s AI fits and starts, you know the company often announce features a year before they’re ready for wide distribution. Most of this lands this fall in iOS 27 and its sibling updates, though Siri AI itself slips to a beta “later this year.” We haven’t tested any of it yet, but I’m looking forward to trying the developer beta soon. Here are the 10 changes from the keynote most likely to matter once they actually ship.

1. Siri AI is a ground-up rebuild, not another patch

Siri AI is the biggest thing Apple announced today. Apple says it rebuilt the assistant from the ground up on a new architecture, rather than bolting more features onto the old one. It leans on what Apple calls personal context, so you can ask it to surface a hotel confirmation number buried in an old email or pull up the photos from a recent trip, and it remembers the thread of a conversation so you can keep asking follow-ups. This will be a real relief if it works.

It also reads your screen and takes action across apps. Get a text about a potluck and you can brainstorm what to bring with Siri, then drop a recipe into Notes without leaving the conversation. On iPhone you start it by saying “Hey Siri,” pressing the side button, or swiping down from the Dynamic Island, and there’s now a standalone Siri app that syncs your conversation history across devices through iCloud. That makes it look a lot more like ChatGPT or Gemini than the Siri you’ve been yelling directions at since 2011.

2. Apple’s new AI leans on Google’s Gemini

The next generation of Apple Intelligence runs on Apple Foundation Models that the company says were “custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models.” For a company that sells its in-house silicon and on-device processing as a core advantage, leaning on a rival’s models is a real philosophical shift. Bloomberg reported before WWDC that the arrangement was expected to cost Apple roughly $1 billion a year. Apple has not confirmed a figure.

The outside-models thread runs through the developer side too. In its developer-tools announcement, Apple said Xcode 27 brings coding agents from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI into the workflow, and that developers can build on models like Claude and Gemini alongside Apple’s own. Even the hidden watermark Apple applies to AI images in iOS 27 is Google’s SynthID. Apple’s AI is now stitched together with outside models in a way the company would not have admitted to a few years ago.

3. Check whether your iPhone actually makes the cut

Apple Intelligence and Siri AI require an iPhone 16 model or later, or an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max. That leaves out the standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, the entire iPhone 14 line, and anything older. iOS 27 itself installs on phones going back to the iPhone 11, so plenty of people will get the update this fall without the AI features that headlined the keynote.

The split goes deeper than that. Siri’s most-promoted extras, the expressive customizable voices and a big jump in dictation accuracy, require Apple’s most advanced on-device model, which Apple lists as iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, plus iPads with an M4 chip or later and Macs with M3 or later that have at least 12GB of unified memory, and the M5 Apple Vision Pro. If you bought a midrange iPhone in the last couple of years, read the fine print before you get attached to the demos.

4. EU iPhone and iPad owners are locked out

Siri AI will not ship on iPhone or iPad in the European Union with the release of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, and Apple says it does not currently have a timeline to change that. The company blames the Digital Markets Act directly, arguing that under the EU’s reading of the law it would have to give any third-party assistant the same deep access to your data and apps that Siri gets, which Apple says it can’t do without putting users at risk.

Apple proposed a workaround it calls Trusted System Agent, plus an 18-month phased rollout, and says the European Commission rejected all of it. EU users will still get Siri AI on Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro, just not on the two devices most people use most. It was the most openly combative Apple got all day, and it’s worth tracking if you live in or travel through the EU’s 27 member states. Siri AI and the other new Apple Intelligence features also won’t launch in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements there.

5. AirPods finally get a real custom EQ

After about a decade of people asking, AirPods owners are getting a true custom equalizer in iOS 27, not the hands-off Adaptive EQ Apple has shipped for years. Apple’s release keeps the details thin, but keynote coverage described a graph-style interface with separate low, mid, and high bands and a live waveform that moves as you adjust it, so you can see and hear the change you’re dialing in.

Cheaper earbuds have offered this for years while AirPods made you live with Apple’s house tuning, so it’s overdue. If you’ve wanted more bass for the gym or a brighter top end for podcasts, you’ll finally be able to set it yourself. Separately, the AirPods Pro 3 can now sync your heart rate to iPhone through GymKit during a workout.

I typically like the EQ decisions Apple hardware makes natively, but I know some enthusiasts who can’t wait for this to materialize.

6. Image Playground goes photorealistic and tags everything it makes

Image Playground, Apple’s image generator, can now make photorealistic pictures instead of just cartoon-style art, using a new model that runs on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers. You can edit by describing a change in plain language, or by tapping, circling, or brushing an object to move or resize it.

The part that matters beyond the novelty: Apple says images generated in Image Playground and photos edited with Apple Intelligence both carry a hidden SynthID watermark, Google’s provenance tag, so a file can be identified as AI-touched down the line. As convincing fakes get easier to produce, baking provenance into the file at the moment of creation is a bigger deal than the picture quality.

7. The Passwords app can fix weak logins for you

Apple’s Passwords app already flags weak and breached passwords. In iOS 27 it can fix them, navigating to the site, signing in, and swapping in a strong password with a single tap. Apple is using Siri AI and Safari to carry out that action on your behalf, which is one of the clearest examples of the assistant doing a task for you rather than just answering a question.

If you have ever ignored a “this password appeared in a data breach” warning, then this is for you (and me). It only works on supported sites at launch, so it won’t sweep your entire login list in one pass, but it turns a recurring to-do into a button.

8. Safari learns to wrangle tabs and watch pages for you

Safari picks up three Apple Intelligence tricks in iOS 27 worth knowing about. The most useful is Notify Me: tell Safari to keep an eye on a page and it pings you when something changes, like a restock or a price drop, so you can stop manually refreshing a sold-out product page.

It also auto-groups your open tabs into topics, so a pile of weekend-trip research collapses into one cluster, and a feature called Describe an Extension lets you spin up a simple custom Safari extension by typing what you want it to do. None of these are flashy, but the tab organizer and the restock alerts are the kind of thing you’ll reach for most weeks. You might finally get that NeeDoh without paying inflated after market prices.

9. Old hardware gets a speed increase

Not all of this is AI. Apple says apps launch up to 30 percent faster, photos load up to 70 percent faster right after you take them, and AirDrop transfers move up to 80 percent faster in this year’s releases. On iPad, copying files to and from an external drive runs up to 5x faster, which Apple says finally matches Finder on a Mac.

Apple ran its app-launch test on an iPhone 11 Pro Max, a phone from 2019, which suggests the speed gains reach aging hardware and not only the newest models. These are Apple’s own numbers and the usual marketing caveats apply, but a free performance bump on an old phone is the rare WWDC item that everyone with a supported device gets, no Pro model required.

10. Parents get real new screen-time controls

Apple overhauled its parental controls in iOS 27, and the standout addition is Ask to Browse, which makes a kid request permission before opening a new website in Safari, the same way Ask to Buy already gates app downloads. There’s also a redesigned Screen Time dashboard and Time Allowances that cap usage by category, including Games, Entertainment, and Social Media.

Communication Safety, already on by default for users under 18, now blurs and blocks gore and violent content, not only nudity. And a new Declared Age Range API lets apps tailor themselves to a kid’s age bracket without the parent handing over an exact birthday. Apple says the time recommendations are based on expert research, and that it’s working with the American Academy of Pediatrics to adapt the group’s Family Media Plan into a guide for parents.

The post Everything you need to know about Apple’s 2026 WWDC keynote announcements: A new Siri, iOS EQ controls, and more appeared first on Popular Science.

Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 $499.00 (was $799.00)

The mainstream pick, $300 off its list price

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The Explorer 1000 v2 is the size most people should start with, and at $499 it’s down 38% from $799. You get 1,070Wh of capacity and a 1,500W output (3,000W surge) in a 23.8-pound box, enough to run a refrigerator for a few hours or keep phones, a router, and a couple of laptops going through an outage. Jackery rates it for a full wall recharge in about 1.7 hours, or roughly an hour in the app’s emergency mode. It’s the model we’d point most people to first, and it sits in the same class as the units in our guide to the best portable power stations.

Jackery Explorer 300D + 40W Air Solar Panel Bundle $199.00 (was $359.00)

Solar-ready backup for phones and laptops, under $200

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The Explorer 300D bundle pairs a 288Wh LFP power station with a 40W solar panel for $199, the lowest price it’s hit in the past 30 days and 45% off the $359 list. This is a DC unit, with 300W spread across three USB-C ports and one USB-A and no wall outlet, so it’s built for phones, laptops, cameras, drones, and a Starlink Mini rather than a fridge. It weighs 5.5 pounds, its strap doubles as a 140W charging cable, and it refills from zero to 80% in about an hour. I have been using this for an upcoming review and I really like the form factor and performance so far.

Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 $799.00 (was $1,499.00)

Day-long fridge backup at nearly half off

See It

The Explorer 2000 v2 is the one to get if you want real home backup, and 47% off brings it to $799 from $1,499. Its 2,042Wh capacity and 2,200W output can run a full-size refrigerator for most of a day, and the 20-millisecond UPS switching is quick enough to keep a desktop or router from dropping out when the power cuts. A folding handle means you can move it from the office to the kitchen when you need to, and Jackery quotes a 1.7-hour wall recharge, so you’re not waiting on it all afternoon.

More Jackery Deals at Amazon

The rest of the Amazon discounts cover the middle of the lineup. The Explorer 1000 v2 with a 200W solar panel is $699 (46% off) if you want panels in the box, and the HomePower 3600 Plus, a modular system that expands to 21kWh, drops to $1,799 from $2,799.

• Jackery Explorer 240D $129.00 (was $209.00, 38% off)
• Jackery Explorer 300 + 40W Air Solar Panel $299.00
• Jackery Explorer 300 $199.00 (was $259.00, 23% off)
• Jackery Explorer 500 v2 $319.00 (was $449.00, 29% off)
• Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 + 200W Solar Panel $699.00 (was $1,299.00, 46% off)
• Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus $899.00
• Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus $1,799.00 (was $2,799.00, 36% off)
• Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus $2,879.00 (was $3,199.00, 10% off)

Jackery.com Exclusive Bundles

Jackery’s steepest discounts live on its own site, where the price covers a power station plus stacked battery packs and panels. The Explorer 2000 Plus 6kWh kit with two 200W panels is the standout at $2,599, down from $6,599, and the rest of these solar generator kits are worth a look if whole-home runtime is the goal. For how the big units stack up, see our guide to the best solar generators.

• Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus (6kWh) + 2x 200W Solar Panels $2,599.00 (was $6,599.00, 61% off)
• Jackery Solar Generator 3000 + 2x 200W Solar Panels $1,699.00 (was $2,999.00, 43% off)
• Jackery Solar Generator 3600 Plus (7.2kWh) + 500 X Solar Panel $3,299.00 (was $5,899.00, 44% off)
• Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus + 2x 500 X Solar Panels $4,299.00 (was $5,699.00, 24% off)

The post Jackery already dropped its Prime Day deals on our favorite solar generators and portable power stations appeared first on Popular Science.

A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society points to a more skillful removal of skulls as part of an unknown ritual, instead of a violent decapitation by an enemy. 

The large Neolithic settlement at Vráble is one of the most important excavation sites of the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) in Central Europe. The LBK first arose around 5500 BCE and lasted until roughly 4500 BCE. Archaeologists consider the LBK one of Europe’s earliest farming cultures that moved along the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to more settled agricultural communities.

Researchers from Kiel University in Germany and the Slovakian Academy of Sciences in Nitra have been investigating the region since 2012. The site is made up of the outlines of over 300 former houses in three neighborhoods. The settlement existed for several centuries between roughly 5250 and 4950 BCE. One of the neighborhoods was surrounded by a ditch that archaeologists believe served as a border. 

After finding sporadic human remains in early digs, the team found the remains of at least 78 individuals at the entrance to the settlement. The skeletons were not in any discernible order and 77 of them lacked a head. The team only found one skeleton of a child with a preserved skull. The initial evidence suggests that not a lot of time passed between death and interment. 

“The features clearly exhibit an intentional manipulation of the bodies,” Dr. Katharina Fuchs, a study co-author and biological anthropologist at Kiel University, said in a statement. “First analyses suggest, above all, that violent ‘decapitations’ were not conducted here, but rather skilful removals of the skulls.”

The meaning behind this skull-removing practice is still up for debate. One thought is that the heads may have been stored separately. This burial practice has not been verified at Vráble, but did occur in other cultures. However, the details of the practices differ greatly between peoples. 

The team believes that this arrangement of body parts may have been one part of a more complex and meaningful practice.

“We must assume that these practices were embedded in completely different contexts of meaning than those of modern societies,” added study co-author and archeologist Martin Furholt. “This is what makes an interpretation of them so challenging.”

Multiple researchers are currently sorting the recovered bones to determine the age at the time of death and biological sexes, and analyzing the cutting marks in more detail. Future studies on the possible impacts of violence and forensic investigations into the decomposition processes are also underway. Additional isotope and DNA analyses should also open a window into the origins, diet, and kinship ties of the Neolithic individuals buried at Vráble.

“But the first results already show that Vráble is an exceptional excavation site,” said Furholt. “It provides us with the keys for the discussion of fundamental questions, for example, how were death and the body understood in the Neolithic and what role did the associated practices play in the social fabric of early farming societies?”

The post 77 headless skeletons found in a field date back 7,000 years appeared first on Popular Science.

Recently, a video showcasing a 200-foot-long, inflatable lazy river available from Costco has spread across social media. Posted by an Instagram page called The Inspiring Designs Net, the clip features a timelapse setup of the pool followed by a woman gleefully enjoying the circuit in her backyard. Despite the account swearing the lazy river is, “an absolute must for hot summer days,” the sad fact is that no such product exists. In reality, it’s yet another example of AI-generated clickbait that continues to flood the internet.

Many social media accounts now routinely churn out similar content solely to rack up page views, which are monetized through ad services. In this case, the faux-Costco lazy river has garnered well over 15 million views so far since it was uploaded on June 4. Many commenters were apparently fooled by the realistic scene, although others highlighted some telltale signs of AI slop. Most notably? The woman in the video looks incredibly dry despite lounging in her backyard lazy river.

Other examples to dupe unsuspecting viewers earlier this year included photos of North Carolina horses wrapped in fiberglass insulation to keep warm during a winter storm, as well as heated aboveground tunnels for dogs in Hungary. But while those are relatively absurd examples, a huge inflatable river admittedly sounds exactly like the type of thing Costco might sell. It may not exist now, but maybe it will inspire a call to action.

The post That Costco 200-foot, inflatable lazy river is AI slop appeared first on Popular Science.

Piping plovers are small migratory shorebirds. The United States is home to three piping plover populations. One lives along the rivers and lakes of the northern Great Plains, another along the East Coast, and one in the Great Lakes. They weigh about 1.5 to 2.25 ounces and are only 5.5- to 7-inches long, and can be nearly invisible until they sprint short distance, stop, and then tilt forward to pull an insect or worm up from the sand. 

The chicks are also considered precocial birds like turkeys. Within hours of hatching, piping plowers chicks can run around and forage for themselves. 

Despite this independence at a young age, the species has struggled. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists them as Near Threatened, and the Great Lakes population is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Nearly 800 nesting pairs once lived along the shores of the Great Lakes, but that number plummeted to 13 in 1990. According to the Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort, the population decline is partially due to nest disturbance and predation as well as habitat deterioration. 

The population has grown to over 80 nesting pairs thanks to their federal protection and conservation efforts. Last year was the fourth consecutive year of growth, with 88 unique nesting pairs recorded in the Great Lakes. 

“It is a joy to observe them racing around in all directions, foraging as soon as they are hatched,” Mary Lundeberg, a photographer, volunteer and co-author of Raised to Be Wild: The Tale of a Great Lakes Piping Plover, told MLive. “Being in the wild with these tiny creatures ignites a piece of the wild in me and brings a smile to my face.”

When observing piping plovers, it’s important to stay a safe distance away for the sake of the birds. Michigan’s Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes recommends using the Rule of Thumb—if you can’t cover-up a bird with your thumb when held at arm’s length, you are too close.

The Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort also likes to remind birdwatchers to watch their step. Chicks don’t observe closed areas, so they could be anywhere on the beach. 

Since the mere presence of a dog can cause them to abandon their nests, keeping dogs on a leash and out of nesting sights is important for the bird’s wellbeing. The plovers often perceive pets as predators, so that heightened danger awareness can make the adults abandon eggs and chicks.

Many Great Lakes beaches will have areas marked off with orange rope or fencing to protect plover nests, with eggs hidden in rocks and sand. Visitors can still walk the shoreline, but are advised to steer clear of the roped off areas. 

The post 12 endangered piping plover chicks hatch in Michigan and Wisconsin appeared first on Popular Science.

Though buses function as an integral means of affordable transit for millions of people, they certainly aren’t the mode of travel for anyone in a hurry. Long-distance operators like Greyhound, traveling from city to city, typically max out at 65 miles per hour, and frequent stops mean a bumpy trip aboard one can easily take twice as long as the same journey by car.

But what if that same bus could reach speeds rivaling a train? That’s an idea currently under consideration by California’s Department of Transportation (Caltrans), which recently held a webinar discussing the feasibility of a “freeway bus service”—a concept envisioning a new fleet of specialized buses traveling down an interstate at speeds approaching 140 miles per hour. These so-called “bullet buses” would have their own dedicated high-speed lanes and could theoretically transport dozens of passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in around three hours and connect smaller rural communities along the way. That same trip on a long-haul bus today takes somewhere between seven and nine hours.

In an email to Popular Science, Caltrans emphasized that its interest in the buses remains very much in the exploratory phase. And while building out such a system would require significant time and financial investment, the agency describes it as “conceptually feasible.” But are these speedy buses actually a good idea and would they even work? In a vast graveyard of failed public transit proposals, could bullet buses buck the trend? And even if they are built, would anyone want to ride in one?

Bullet buses would require sleek new vehicles and wider roads 

Caltrans detailed the prospect of an interstate high-speed bus system in an 18-page report released last year. In it, they envision a dedicated high-speed bus lane connecting cities and rural areas. This multi-purpose lane could serve local routes (stopping every two to four miles), express routes (stopping only at interchanges), or long-distance routes (traveling between cities). The concept essentially applies the tiered service model already used in subway and rail systems to long-distance buses. In theory, this additional transit option would simultaneously put fewer cars on highways and reduce the burden on the state’s still-developing high-speed rail network.

That’s the hope, at least. Getting there would require fundamental changes to both the design of buses and freeway infrastructure. Current freeways are typically only engineered to support speeds of only up to 85 miles per hour. And while plenty of speed demons exceed those limits daily, the caps aren’t just theoretical; they directly shape design considerations like a road’s curve radius and camber, the slight banking that helps vehicles stay stable through turns.

In other words, vehicles traveling at 140 mph on current roads would have far less ability to safely navigate what lies ahead and would struggle to maintain control. Those risks, the report rather drably acknowledges, would make any collision “catastrophic” at those speeds “given the low survivability.” Seatbelt use, they add, would be mandatory. 

All of this means a high-speed freeway bus service would likely require roads redesigned from the ground up. The bus lanes alone, the report notes, would need to be at least 12 feet wide, with an additional 12 feet for both the inside and outside highway shoulders. Entry and exit ramps would also need to be significantly longer to accommodate the higher speeds.

Then there’s the actual buses. Simply adding a turbocharger to the currently in-service bus won’t cut it. These bullet buses would similarly require entirely new design. This updated approach would have to consider factors like drag, turbulence, and airflow, with the exterior chassis constructed in a shape far more aerodynamically efficient than the boxy brutes on the road today. Ironically, these sleeker more curved designs would likely look similar to bullet trains. Carbon fiber would also probably feature prominently to reduce overall weight. 

But the bus body isn’t the only thing that would need an overhaul. The report notes that the brake systems currently used wouldn’t work. Those brakes generally perform well at speeds up to 88 miles per hour, but failure rates rise substantially above 90 mph. And bullet buses would travel considerably faster than that. They would also need new specialized tires capable of withstanding the additional heat and stress that are primary drivers of blowouts.

Bus operators would also look different. Though a human would likely still be needed to board passengers and handle local road driving, the report suggests that travel on high-speed lanes would be handled autonomously. Human drivers, the argument goes, simply don’t have fast enough reaction times to safely operate these bullet buses. And while self-driving vehicles are an increasingly common sight on US roads (and even some Texas highways) none of those systems currently operate anywhere close to the speeds bullet buses would need to reach.

“Pushing a bus to 100–140 mph requires a re-engineering of the vehicle: high-speed rated tires, extremely powerful brakes, active suspension and stability control, aerodynamic streamlining, lightweight but strong construction, and robust safety systems,” the Caltrans report notes. 

Turning all that into reality, especially in an environment where new mass transit efforts notoriously face backlogs and delays, will be challenging. But some experts see real potential upside. DePaul University Professor Joseph Schwieterman, an expert in transportation and urban planning, told Popular Science these fast trains could potentially fill in certain gaps where high speed rail falls short. Buses, operating on roads with wheels, can intimately handle sharper turns easier than trains operating on a fixed track. Buses, even those operating at high speeds, can also accelerate and decelerate much easier and faster than rail. Those factors combined with the ability to operate on already existing road means the buses could potentially get far more passengers closer to to their destinations than spread apart rail stations 

“The concept is intriguing because fast-running buses could complement high-speed rail service, so it is not an “either/or” proposition,” Schwieterman said. “Fast buses are likely to eventually be part of the mobility ecosystem. But the lack of real-world examples of high-speed buses in operation makes California’s high-profile discussion about the technology seem premature.” 

Schwieterman also expressed some skepticism over whether or not the average traveller would necessarily embrace the idea of strapping into an ultra fast bus with open arms. Those with a possibility toward car sickness may also view these travel methods as something out of a nightmare. 

“The evidence is clear that many intercity travelers are reticent to travel by bus on trips longer than three hours,” he said. “The interiors of buses could be configured to support first-class service, but there would still be much uncertainty about the traveler response.”

“The effects of swaying over curves could be particularly troublesome,” he added 

International attempts at faster buses  

The fast train network proposed in California draws some inspiration from a handful of international alternative bus systems, but none have come close to hitting 140 mph over prolonged periods of time. 

In the 1970s, the Brazilian city of Curitiba built what it calls Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a system that uses dedicated bus lanes to transport large groups of passengers long distances. Though these buses only ever approach a maximum of around 60 miles per hour, the dedicated lane means they function similarly to an above-ground subway line. Today, more than 2.5 million passengers across 200 cities use it daily.

Around that same time, halfway across the planet, engineers in Adelaide, South Australia, constructed the “O-Bahn,” a series of high-speed, guided buses that run on tracks. The unusual design essentially takes a standard commuter bus and plops it atop dedicated concrete rails normally intended for trains. This hybrid approach means the buses can cover long stretches quickly without any traffic, and then leave the tracks and use standard wheels to drive on regular roads for more local routes.

In terms of pure speed though, the closest example comes close to what Caltrans envisions in the “Superbus” from the Netherlands. This one-off prototype looks like a cross between a bus, a Formula One car, and a rocket ship. Its speed reflected that. In tests, the all-electric, 23-person black tube could reportedly reach 155 miles per hour. Its sleek, racing-inspired design had 16 gull-wing doors and a drag coefficient similar to that of a super car. But even though the Superbus proved it was at least conceptually possible to move bus quantities of people at high speeds, the project fizzled out because it would have required entirely new “super lane” roadways to be built out for it. Today, the lone superbus gathers dust in a University of Delft warehouse. 

The bullet bus has a bumpy road toward reality 

It’s still unclear how far California wants to pursue its high-speed bus vision. In an email, Caltrans told Popular Science it’s currently “evaluating what would be required before determining whether future testing or implementation” is appropriate. But technical feasibility is only part of the battle. Getting public support for the bus system would also likely face an uphill battle, especially since the state’s now decades-long plan to build a high-speed rail network connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco is still nowhere near completion. That route, once expected to cost $33 billion and be finished by 2020, now has a price tag exceeding $100 billion for a substantially shorter route.

Schwieterman, though optimistic about the concept of a high-speed bus network, said engineers need to slow down and iron out many more specifics before plowing forward. 

“I believe the idea should be quietly dropped until California or another state tests the workability of fast buses in a controlled environment,” Schwieterman said. “Starting with, say, a 50-mile route where buses reach 100 mph and ramping up from there would be more practical than engaging the public now in a debate about ultra-fast buses on long-distance routes.” 

The post Forget high-speed rail: California is exploring 140 mph bullet buses appeared first on Popular Science.

The monumental symbol of ancient Rome is only one example of the surrounding neighborhood’s historical significance. Famous figures including Pompey, Cicero, and Emperor Augustus all lived there, but much of the vital archaeological record remains buried underneath centuries of municipal development. The school, originally built during the late 19th century as a missionary complex, is its own testament to this constant change. Although construction work at the time revealed portions of a large Roman villa home known as a domus, no one conducted extensive surveys of the remnants. Instead, the domus’ true size and condition was a matter of speculation for generations.

Knowing this, local students recently undertook multiple clandestine explorations through passageways underneath the gymnasium and finally confirmed longtime suspicions: an ancient, luxurious Roman abode resides beneath their hallways. After their history and Latin teacher reported the findings to the Special Superintendency of Rome, archaeologists spent months excavating the area earlier this year. Now known as the Domus Liceo Cavour (House of the Cavour High School), is offering experts a remarkable glimpse of Roman life circa the mid-second century CE.

The house is impressively preserved despite its age. Archaeologists documented decorative stucco along the vaulted ceilings, floral wall frescos, and even a detailed mosaic featuring irregularly shaped tiles that were popular with wealthy Romans at the time. An inscription left during the first excavation project in the 19th century reports the home likely belonged to someone in the Umbrius family. Although not much is known about them, they possibly originated in Samnium, an area in south-central Italy near Pompeii.

Archaeologists hope to continue their work sometime in the future, and school officials plan to eventually open the site to the public. Until then, much more of Domus Liceo Cavour remains to be examined—including a fair amount of graffiti from former students and urban explorers.

The post Students discover long-lost Roman villa under high school gym appeared first on Popular Science.

Writing in a recent Endangered Species Research paper, the team is the first to verify the Atlantic sturgeon’s thundering. The noise is probably caused by males thrashing—and their swim bladders’ resonance—as they fertilize eggs, according to researchers. 

“It’s almost that you feel it more than you hear it,” Maija Niemistö, a researcher from the New York State Water Resources Institute and co-author of the study, said in a press release. “You can hear these chirps and squirts and bubbles underwater, but this is a different experience entirely. These are ancient fish, and the thunder – it’s almost like you’re brought back in time, because they’ve been making this sound, communicating with each other, for millions of years. It’s awe-inspiring.”

They are also classified as Endangered. In the spring, these giants leave the ocean to swim up the Hudson River to spawn. For sturgeon, this reproductive behavior involves males and females releasing their necessary parts into the water. In other words, the egg doesn’t fertilize inside of the female fish. 

The team eavesdropped on the crucial life cycle process with passive acoustic monitoring. They recorded sound within the waters of the Hudson River with underwater microphones for long periods of time. Though this noninvasive strategy is a common approach in marine and terrestrial research, it hasn’t been used as much in rivers and lakes with more freshwater. 

Now, the team’s discovery of sturgeon thundering provides the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) with an additional way to help monitor and better understand  Atlantic sturgeon behavior. As we frequently report, the more researchers know about a species, the more equipped they are to protect it. 

And the Atlantic surgeon certainly needs it. In the 19th and 20th century, overfishing greatly decreased their populations. Unfortunately, almost 30 years of protection hasn’t helped the species make a comeback. Part of the problem is that female Atlantic sturgeons can wait up to two decades before their first spawn.

“That’s why they’re so susceptible to overfishing,” added Amanda Higgs, also co-author of the study and a fisheries biologist with NYSDEC Hudson River Fisheries Unit. 

Eggs could represent 20 percent of a female’s substantial weight and fisheries were interested in their caviar. “A female was a lucrative catch,” Higgs added, “and so they got wiped out relatively quickly because they don’t have the ability to reproduce and replace themselves quickly.” 

While experts estimate that 6,000 Atlantic sturgeon spawned in its waters before the late 1800s, today less than 700 spawn here. Nonetheless, the Hudson River is home to the species’ largest population. 

Moving forward, the team can listen for previously unknown spawning grounds, enabling the state to deal out protections for these endangered river giants. 

The post Sturgeon sex creates thundering noise in New York appeared first on Popular Science.

Along with mosquitos and flies, ticks are among our most disliked arachnids. However, their infamy comes with a lot of myths, and with tick season in full swing, it’s important to straighten out a few misconceptions. 

False: Ticks can fly

If you’ve heard that ticks can fly and/or jump, you’ll be relieved to know that they can’t. In fact, their legs are pretty unimpressive appendages, according to Escher Cattle, an entomologist at the Regional Government of Cape Cod.

“They have some pretty good grabbers on their front legs and their other legs are pretty decent as well, but really all a tick has the equipment to do is walk around and grab stuff,” Cattle tells Popular Science. They’re not muscular like those of grasshoppers, for example. As for locomotion more generally, ticks don’t have wings, nor are they aerodynamic. As such, they’re also “not physically geared to be dropping out of trees like some kind of paratrooper.”

While a tick might attach onto an animal that takes it up into a tree and then fall, the chances that the skydiving arachnids will land on you is infinitesimal, Cattle says. In fact, ticks generally exist beneath an elevation of at most three feet. 

The way a tick actually attaches to a host is by climbing to the top of a plant, sticking its arms out, and waiting for something alive to brush by—a behavior called questing. It does so after sensing chemical cues of something warm, moving, and blood-filled. 

False: Opossums help remove ticks by eating them

Speaking of blood-filled things, one tick myth that Cattle is sorry to dispel is one that paints opossums as tick-eating machines. You may have read that opossums are good to have around because they eat lots of ticks. This popular notion is founded on the results of a study in which researchers put ticks on opossums, among other animals, to investigate how these animals reacted to the pest. 

Because the team wasn’t seeing any ticks dropping off the opossums, they assumed the mammals were eating them all. As of now, there is no direct evidence known to researchers of opossums eating any ticks. 

One similar belief is that birds such as turkeys and guinea fowl eat ticks. While that’s true, they also carry them around, so having one in your backyard doesn’t automatically mean you’ll have less ticks.

True: They can carry disease

What isn’t a myth, though, is that ticks can be vectors of disease. These include Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, ehrlichiosis, and most infamously, Lyme disease. 

The good news is that you can decrease your chances of catching the disease from a tick bite if you remove the tick within 24 hours. But sometimes, tick bites go unnoticed, so it’s important to check yourself when you come back indoors during warm weather. 

Ticks are shockingly cold-resistant, but they usually keep to themselves during the colder seasons. They still can come back out as soon as the sun starts shining—including on those randomly very hot February days. 

True: A ‘dorky’ look helps prevent tick bites

If you do find a tick, don’t try to burn or suffocate it off your skin. Use a trusty pair of tweezers, grip it near the mouth parts, and pull it off. If anything gets left behind, your skin will naturally push it out with some time. If you’re not sure how long the tick has been on you, you should contact your doctor. 

As for tick bite prevention, “I know it looks kind of dorky, but tucking your pants into your socks is a really good tip. Making it so that there are barriers between ticks and your skin as much as possible is extremely good as a strategy,” explains Cattle, who also teaches about tick-borne disease prevention for Cape Cod Cooperative Extension. 

You can also apply a synthetic pesticide called permethrin on their clothes and insect repellant on any exposed skin.

Ticks are “very good at what they do,” he concludes, but “I think adopting just a couple habits at a time really makes a difference.”

Update June 9 9:47 a.m. EDT : This story incorrectly identified ticks as insects. They are arachnids.

The post Fact or myth? Ticks can drop out of trees like paratroopers. appeared first on Popular Science.

Psychologists call it cognitive offloading, and it’s been a real boon to the convenient, efficient, and effective cataloging of the ever-swelling amount of information we consume daily.

“Generally, this type of offloading does enhance our performance,” says Julia Soares, Ph.D, assistant professor of psychology at New Mexico State University.

But not without taking a cut. Recent research is providing greater insights into the effects of transferring cognitive function to external media, and there’s evidence they’re not all beneficial.

Is all of this snapping, recording, logging, and storing a net gain for us mentally, or are we handing over too much brainpower to the machines? Well, after recording expert interviews via Zoom, transcribing them with AI, and substantiating it all online, we have answers!

What Is cognitive offloading?

“Cognitive offloading is when we use external devices—sources other than our brain, really—to complete a cognitive task,” Soares says. She notes this can include something as mundane as counting on your fingers, but when we document information, “we’re relying on the prosthetic memory or source available to take some of the responsibility of remembering on our behalf.”

To some extent, this phenomenon has existed as long as cave drawings. But technology is rapidly replacing a lot of the thinking we’ve done since human inception, with different devices and programs shouldering (braining?) different shares of the load.

Of particular focus for researchers studying the effects of digital documentation are the areas of prospective memory, working memory, and factual recall. It may be helpful to think of them as the ghosts of cognition’s past, present, and future. (Unless you’re just going to copy and paste this information somewhere, in which case don’t worry about thinking of them at all.)

• Prospective memory regards information about a future point in time. For instance, remembering an upcoming concert or scheduled business meeting.
• Working memory functions like computer RAM, temporarily holding new and existing information for present use, as with taking notes or following directions.
• Factual recall concerns information you already know and must retrieve, as if from a human hard drive. You use this when playing trivia or remembering where to turn next while driving.

Cognitive offloading subcontracts much of these functions to technology, pinging us with reminders, converting spoken instructions to text, and storing huge, searchable volumes of data.

How does cognitive offloading affect your brain?

When you document, or offload, important information (like photographing where you parked, or adding a number to your phone), your brain’s traffic controller reroutes processing in two ways:

Flush the data. This part of the process signals your brain to jettison the offloaded information from short-term storage, recognizing that a duplicate copy safely exists elsewhere.

Reassign bandwidth. With the high-value information safely offloaded, your brain reallocates the newly freed-up cognitive capacity for additional data and/or functions.

At its best, cognitive offloading helps lighten your mental workload. By farming out data storage to technology, you alter brain function from resource-intensive information maintenance to an open, more flexible state, freeing up limited working memory for other business.

Benefits of cognitive offloading

The benefits of cognitive offloading are as vast and varied as they are obvious.

1. Conserves cognitive effort

The brain burns about as many calories as any single organ in the body, so its use comes at a premium. “We’re pretty miserly when it comes to our limited cognitive resources,” says Dr. Evan Risko, Ph.D, professor and chair of psychology at the University of Waterloo.

So, sloughing off tasks like attention and memorization to computing can free us from the interference of nonessential information. Just a few years ago, you may have memorized dozens of numbers that a smartphone’s address book now does the work of remembering.

“Maybe we know a handful of phone numbers, but now when I try to think of my emergency contact number, there isn’t as much interference,” Soares says. “I don’t have as many numbers coming to mind as if I had memorized 50 phone numbers the way I might have before.”

2. Ensures greater accuracy

The human brain is still the most powerful computer on Earth, but it’s as prone to hallucinations—known in human intelligence as confabulations—as any bot. The ones and zeroes of digital information processing and storage make offloaded information more reliable.

“If I can look up information online, so long as it’s accurate I’m going to be less error prone than if I’m relying on memory, which we know can become flawed, which can degrade with time, with interference, with other relevant information coming to mind,” Soares says.

3. Promotes higher-level understanding

If you’re not expending precious brain wattage on recording information, you should, in principle, be able to focus more on the information itself, cultivating a greater mastery of the subject matter. Risko uses the recording of our interview with him as a case in point.

“By offloading this to technology, you’ve saved those resources that you would have invested in parallel note taking, which should benefit your ability to understand what I’m saying and think about it intelligently and respond with follow-up questions,” he says.

Costs of cognitive offloading

Wherein we ruin your plans to meld with the Matrix.

1. Diminished working memory and recall

By documenting moments and facts with digital ease, your brain’s ability to encode and retain that information in long-term memory can become impaired over time. The phenomenon is referred to by cognitive psychologists as digital amnesia or the “Google effect.”

Researchers conducted a test of recall by tasking several groups of participants with reproducing a sequence of colored squares from memory. Those who offloaded more information—measured by the frequency with which they referred to the source sequence—performed better at the immediate task, but retained less information long term.

“The main theory we’re working on with how cognitive offloading impairs memory is called the study-effort hypothesis,” Soares says. “And the idea is that we don’t put as much effort towards studying information that we know is going to be externally available.”

She adds, “When you save little bits of information, like trivia facts on a computer, you’re less likely to remember it when you’re told it’s saved than when you’re told that it’s deleted.”

2. Impaired decision-making

Retrieving information from your brain strengthens memory pathways. When you devolve that recall to external devices, the brain can become conditioned to lean on these tools as an extension of itself.

On a long enough timeline, this dependence on computer-generated responses can inhibit your own judgment, making it harder to improvise when technology invariably fails.

The accuracy threshold for determining whether thought automation is a net benefit or a liability is around 70 percent. That means a computer can misinterpret three out of every 10 things you offload onto it and still be considered worthwhile. That’s good for a C-minus in elementary school.

3. Misprioritization of information

With the ability to more readily chronicle everything we do and see, the threshold for what constitutes a memory worth documenting drops considerably. This is why—or, maybe, because—people who offload important information suddenly show a massive improvement in remembering the minor, low-value details they didn’t store.

A surprise memory test of research participants revealed that, when high-value information was documented externally, the ability to recall it via the brain was reduced. Ironically, recollection of lower-value data that wasn’t deemed worthy of documentation—which, again, we’re supposed to be doing to free our brains up for bigger, better thinking—was preserved instead.

So, it turns out that, while it’s hoovering up our most important learnings and memories en masse, all this technology may actually be training our brains to remember the least important stuff. The result can be a kind of digital hoarding that becomes so overwhelming that the information may as well not have been stored at all.

So, what’s a healthy amount of documenting?

When deciding how much of what you learn, see, and experience to offload onto a drive, camera roll, or social media platform, it helps to understand the trade-offs: the short-term ease and accuracy of limitless peripheral storage vs. the capability and quickness of well-conditioned long-term memory. Not to mention the ever-growing gigabytes of discarded data.

“I think a lot of people suffer from over-documenting,” Soares says. “I still take photos, but I do try not to take so many that I don’t want to review them later on.”

Chances are, however, that we’ll become increasingly accustomed to treating technology like a second brain. And, one day, we may regard remembering what we did last Thursday the way we do multiplying 27 x 82. Sure, we could do it manually, but why would we?

The post How documenting everything changes your brain appeared first on Popular Science.

Some of those uses are grounded in science, while others are little more than persistent household myths. Before you sprinkle Epsom salt on your garden or mix it into a DIY cleaning solution, here’s what it is actually good for and where you should skip it altogether.

Ways to use Epsom salt around the house

1. Soak away sore muscles

Epsom salt’s reputation as a post-workout recovery aid comes from its magnesium content. Magnesium plays a key role in muscle contraction, energy production, and recovery.  Intense exercise can temporarily deplete the body’s magnesium stores. 

A 2024 study found that magnesium soaks after a workout reduced muscle soreness, improved recovery, and provided protective effects against exercise-related muscle damage. To use Epsom salt safely post-workout, dissolve 1 to 2 cups in a warm bath and soak for about 15 to 20 minutes. While an Epsom salt soak is generally considered safe for most people, you should always consult your doctor before using any supplement regularly.

2. Create a mild scouring scrub

Epsom salt works as a gentle abrasive because its crystals are coarse enough to scrub without scratching surfaces. This property makes it a great alternative to steel wool or other abrasive cleaners. 

To use, mix it with dish soap or a gentle liquid cleaner to create a paste, then scrub baked-on food residue in pots and pans, grout lines between tiles, soap scum on tubs and shower walls, or dirt and mildew on plastic and metal outdoor furniture. 

3. Exfoliate rough skin

Epsom salt isn’t just useful to scrub pots and pans; it can also help smooth rough, dry skin. Research has found that Epsom salt can help remove dead skin cells and improve skin texture when used as an exfoliant. It’s naturally abrasive enough to buff away dead skin cells, yet gentle enough to use on areas like your hands, feet, and elbows. 

Skin experts suggest mixing Epsom salt with a small amount of water or a nourishing oil, such as coconut or olive oil, to create an easy DIY exfoliating scrub. For best results, exfoliate gently and follow with a moisturizer to help lock in hydration.

4. Use in crafts and décor

Epsom salt is perfect for crafting! Its crystals are easy to work with and create a frosted, glittery texture that crafters use to dress up mason jars, candle holders, and seasonal centerpieces. An easy way to frost a glass surface is to brush it with a thin layer of craft glue, roll it in dry Epsom salt, and let it dry completely. The result resembles ice or snow, making it a popular choice for winter and holiday décor. 

Ways You Definitely Shouldn’t Use Epsom Salt

1. As a miracle garden fertilizer

Social media has turned Epsom salt into a gardening cure-all, with viral posts promising lusher tomatoes, bigger blooms, and faster growth. The science doesn’t back it up. Epsom salt supplies magnesium and sulfur, nothing more. And, most garden soil already contains sufficient magnesium, especially when amended with organic matter. 

What plants need to grow and thrive are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the core nutrients that true fertilizers provide. Epsom salt delivers none of those. Correcting a magnesium deficiency and fertilizing a plant are two different jobs: the first fixes a specific problem, the second feeds the plant. Save the Epsom salt for the rare case when a soil test confirms a deficiency, and reach for a real fertilizer when your garden needs feeding.

2. To prevent blossom end rot

Blossom end rot is the dark, sunken patch that appears on the bottom of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. There are online claims that suggest crushed eggshells and Epsom salts will help cure this common garden issue. However, blossom end rot signals a calcium deficiency, and that deficiency is a water transport problem in the plant. Epsom salt not only fails to fix it but can also make it worse. Excess magnesium in the soil blocks calcium uptake, worsening the deficiency that caused the rot. To prevent blossom-end rot, keep soil evenly moist, protect roots from damage, and let a soil test guide fertilizer decisions.

3. As a pest repellent

Gardening blogs and social media accounts frequently recommend spraying Epsom salt solutions on roses and vegetables to repel slugs, insects, and other garden pests. According to Washington State University Extension, there is no scientific evidence to substantiate claims that Epsom salt controls any pest species. Worse, the most common application method, spraying Epsom salt solution directly on foliage, can cause leaf scorch, meaning you may end up harming your plants while doing nothing to the pests.

4. As a weed killer

Homemade weed killer recipes combining Epsom salt, vinegar, and dish soap have also spread across social media as a cheap, natural alternative to commercial herbicides. However, they don’t always work as advertised. You can apply enough to damage weeds, but that concentration comes with two serious drawbacks: the cost exceeds that of a conventional weed product, and the amount needed to harm weeds will poison the soil for other plants and soil life. If weeds are the problem, manual removal, mulch, and weed barriers are safer first steps; if you want a chemical solution, a product designed for that purpose will cost less and cause less collateral damage.

5. As a household disinfectant

Epsom salt is only magnesium sulfate. This compound does not kill bacteria, viruses, or fungi, which means no amount of Epsom salt, however concentrated, will disinfect a surface. Disinfectants work by chemically destroying pathogens, and Epsom salt simply lacks the properties to do that. 

For actual disinfection, reach for products that carry an EPA registration number, such as bleach solutions, hydrogen peroxide, and isopropyl alcohol, which are all inexpensive, widely available, and proven to kill germs.

6. To melt ice on driveways

Every winter, the same tip resurfaces on social media: sprinkle Epsom salt on icy driveways and walkways to melt the ice safely. The appeal is understandable;  Epsom salt is cheap, widely available, and feels less harsh than rock salt. The problem is that it barely works. Like all salts, magnesium sulfate does lower the freezing point of water, but it does so far less effectively than rock salt or commercial de-icers, which rely on sodium chloride, calcium chloride, or magnesium chloride, compounds specifically chosen for their ability to melt ice quickly at low temperatures. 

7. As a universal cleaning solution

Epsom salt is a useful tool when the job calls for mild abrasion, but reaching for it as a catch-all cleaner means doing half the job. What it cannot do is clean in any chemical sense. It won’t break down grease, lift stains, or kill germs. As noted earlier, neither magnesium nor sulfate has no antibacterial or antiviral properties, so using Epsom salt as a general-purpose cleaner leaves surfaces physically scrubbed but chemically untreated. 

The post 4 Epsom salt uses around the house (and 7 ways to never use it) appeared first on Popular Science.

Turns out, nobody gets out of that. Animals have personalities, too, and many of the same complex forces that shape our personalities shape theirs.

“They’re not spared,” says Dr. Alison M. Bell, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Illinois Urbana, tells Popular Science. “Life is hard for them, too.”

But life is also “rich,” says Bell, full of ups and downs, wounds and triumphs, just like human lives.

It’s one of those truths that is both surprising and incredibly obvious, especially for those of us with pets. And yet the study of animals’ personalities has faced resistance—in part because accepting it means accepting that animals are far more like us than some are willing to admit.

Personality and social psychologist Dr. Sam Gosling noticed a telling pattern among his colleagues in animal research: On coffee breaks, they’d talk freely and enthusiastically about the personalities of the animals they studied, even their pets at home. Then the break would end.

“They’d finish their tea breaks, put on their scientist white coats, and stop any kind of talk about that,” he says. 

But reluctance to engage with the topic scientifically doesn’t mean the evidence isn’t there. Decades of research across species has made one thing abundantly clear: Animals do have personalities. Here’s what the science has to say about what makes your pet special, whether they’re super smart, a risk taker, or a homebody.

1. Animals are shaped by their early environment

For animals, as for humans, the earliest experiences often form the deepest scars or the greatest strengths. 

Animals are influenced by “the early life environment,” Bell says. “They’re influenced by their early interactions with parents and siblings.”

This principle is perhaps most evident in our pets. Bell cites an example familiar to many of us: the traumatized shelter dog with a troubled past.

“Pets who are coming from an animal shelter, or have maybe experienced abuse, they don’t forget that,” says Bell. “That leaves a lasting effect.” 

Yet many of us don’t extend this understanding to, say, childhood trauma in a squirrel. But according to Bell, the same concepts apply to any animal, wild or domestic. A squirrel neglected by its mother carries that experience forward, just as we do. 

“This principle definitely applies to other organisms,” says Bell. 

2. Genetics are important, but not the main factor 

As with humans, genetics are also an influential force in animal personality. Perhaps you might expect animals to be more genetically hardwired than us, driven by pure instinct and with few individual variations. But according to Bell, genetics accounts for only about 35 percent of animal personality—the same as in humans. 

Teasing apart personality traits that come from genetics versus the environment is easier in animals than in humans, according to Gosling. For example, researchers can swap bird eggs between nests to determine whether chicks end up more like their genetic parents or the birds that raised them.

“Because of the experimental control that animal studies afford, our estimates of these effects can be much more precise than they can [be] in humans,” Gosling says. “In humans, we have to deal with them in the messy world.”

As for which matters more, genetics or environment, the answer is complicated. 

“These studies have shown that there are genetic factors, environmental factors, biological non-genetic factors, and all kinds of other things that influence animal personality,” he says.

3. Personality varies by species

Beyond factors like genetics and environment, animal personality is also shaped by something more fundamental: the species itself. 

As an evolutionary biologist, Bell says she is particularly interested in biological diversity and its role in shaping personality across species.

“What interests me is what are the behaviors animals do that are really, really important for that particular critter, that species?” she says. “If I’m studying a parrot, what’s going to be important is the food they’re eating, the predators they might encounter, their threats, their opportunities, and their habitats. What are the behaviors that matter to that animal?”

The answer, she notes, varies widely depending on the evolutionary needs and challenges of an individual species. Those factors “will be different for a parrot compared to a fish, compared to a whale, compared to a termite,” she says. 

4. Personality is stable, but changeable

Another notable aspect of personality is continuity—the extent to which an individual’s personality remains consistent or changes over time. Bell says animal personality tends to be pretty stable over a lifetime. 

Bell describes a “signature” that persists from the juvenile to the adult stage, even as behavior naturally changes across life stages. In her research on stickleback fish, Bell and her colleagues have observed consistent personality traits in individual fish.

“We can measure them repeatedly,” she said, “and find that the individuals that were risk-takers yesterday are also the risk-takers tomorrow, and next month.”

But that signature is not immutable, says Bell. Experience can alter it. “New environments, social interactions, even changes in health might influence behavior,” Bell says.

Whether animals can change their personalities more or less than humans over a lifetime remains an open question. 

“I don’t see any theoretical reason why we should expect more or less change in humans than in other animals,” says Gosling, though Bell notes that the answer likely varies widely across species. 

5. Human nature may be holding us back

Another factor shaping our understanding of animal personality is surprisingly close to home: human resistance to accepting it.

Part of the problem, according to Bell, is that accepting the concept of animal personality requires a sort of double reckoning: We have to be willing to see ourselves as less exceptional than we thought, while simultaneously being willing to see animals as more complex than we previously believed.

“Both of those things have to happen, and I think that’s challenging to conventional thinking,” she says. 

Why that resistance persists, even in the face of mounting evidence for animal personality, may say more about human psychology than animal behavior. 

“The most surprising thing to me is how surprising it [the fact that animals have unique personalities] is to people,” says Bell. 

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Animals have personalities. Here’s what shapes them. appeared first on Popular Science.

In this year’s One Shot Photo Contest, photographers from 82 countries submitted images for consideration.

“The 2026 One Shot Photo Contest challenges photographers to distill their craft, perspective, and storytelling into a single, definitive image,” a statement read. “A distinguished jury evaluated submissions across multiple categories, ultimately recognizing a select group of photographers whose work exemplifies the power and precision of the single frame.”

Judges from Leica Gallery LA, Aperture, Vogue, SFMoMA, and others selected the 2026 honorees.

The post 11 captivating images from the Exposure One Photography Awards appeared first on Popular Science.

It might sound like a Disney-esque solution, but rehabilitation animals won’t start healing until they are relaxed, and these two chicks—just a day or two old—were very stressed. According to Raven Ridge’s Game Warden, a man found them running down the same road where their mother and a sibling were killed. 

Turkeys are precocial birds, meaning they’re pretty independent soon after they hatch. Unlike baby blue jays or robins, turkey and pheasant chicks eat and move on their own. However, they do rely on their mother for warmth and protection. So when these two chicks arrived at the wildlife rehabilitation center in southeastern Pennsylvania, the staff put them in an incubator to keep them warm. 

This particular incubator hosts a third presence. The staff put in a feather duster with the chickens, that they can hide under as if it were their mother. 

“The incubator is nice and warm, which would be just like mom,” Tracie Young, director of the Raven Ridge Wildlife Center, tells Popular Science. “And to cut down their stress, the feather duster is hanging from the inside of the incubator. It’s more natural, more something that they’re going to recognize, and they’re able to hide under it. So it’s just like mom. It’s safety, it’s warmth. And that really does help with these animals in rehabilitation.” 

Interestingly, Young and her colleagues also put pictures of adult turkeys in the incubator so that, in the absence of a real one, the chicks can still see a sort of adult role model. It’s not unusual for wildlife centers to resort to off-beat solutions for orphaned babies in rehabilitation. In 2024, wildlife care staff wore fox masks while caring for a juvenile red fox so that it doesn’t get used to humans. 

Young says that when dealing with one or just a few ducklings at Raven Ridge, they give them adult duck decoys. As for turkey chicks, “a turkey decoy is not going to fit into an incubator,” she explains, so that’s where the pictures come in.

This isn’t the first time the team has reached for the feather duster in such a scenario, nor will it be the last. In fact, the wildlife center also just received another baby bird—its first ever ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus). That means they’ll have to procure another feather duster. 

The baby chicks will likely be at the wildlife center until closer to the fall, when they’ll be returned to the wild. Once the birds become bigger and able to keep themselves warm, the team will transfer them into a larger cage and then outside. For now, however, the featherduster is helping. 

“They were running out from underneath their duster, running back underneath the feather duster,” she says, “but we noticed, too, that after putting the feather duster in they were a lot calmer, they were eating more, and their weight is going up.” 

The post Orphaned baby turkeys think a feather duster is their mom appeared first on Popular Science.

The truth is, ticks aren’t randomly scattered across lawns. In fact, they thrive in specific microhabitats. The good news is that small landscaping and maintenance changes can dramatically reduce how hospitable a yard is to them.

Why ticks love certain yards

Ticks need moisture, shade, and a steady supply of hosts to survive. And for them, the average backyard can feel like paradise. There are an estimated 899 tick species worldwide, with more than 90 found in the continental U.S. That diversity makes clear how adaptable these parasites are across different environments. Unlike mosquitoes, ticks dry out easily, so they gravitate toward humid environments like leaf litter, tall grass, overgrown shrubs, and dense ground cover where moisture lingers.

 A tick-friendly yard is basically a miniature wildlife corridor: one that provides shelter, humidity, and easy transportation for ticks to move safely between animal hosts. Ticks use a behavior called “questing,” climbing onto grass blades or low shrubs and waiting with their front legs outstretched for a passing host to brush by. Deer, mice, squirrels, and even neighborhood pets can carry ticks directly into a yard without anyone noticing. That’s why a perfectly manicured lawn alone usually won’t solve the problem.

Landscaping fixes that cut tick risk

Clear Out Damp Hiding Spots

One of the most effective ways to reduce ticks is to make your yard less hospitable to them. Ticks thrive in cool, damp environments, so piles of leaves, overgrown brush, and dense vegetation create ideal shelter. Start by removing leaf litter, trimming overgrown edges, and clearing brush near fences, stone walls, and wooded boundaries. These shaded areas protect ticks from heat and dehydration, allowing them to survive longer and wait for passing hosts.

Add a Dry Buffer

Creating a dry barrier between wooded areas and the lawn can also help slow ticks down. A three-foot strip of gravel, mulch, or wood chips acts like a miniature moat between tick-heavy habitat and the spaces where people and pets spend time. Because ticks dry out easily, they struggle to cross hot, exposed surfaces.

Mow Smart, Not Extreme

Regular mowing helps reduce humidity at ground level and makes it harder for ticks to hide in tall grass. But there’s a balance. Cutting a lawn too short can stress grass, damage soil health, and reduce habitat for pollinators. The goal isn’t a perfectly sterile yard; it’s reducing the cool, moist conditions that ticks prefer.

Limit Wildlife Visitors

Wildlife plays a major role in bringing ticks into residential spaces. Bird feeders, while enjoyable, can attract rodents such as white-footed mice, which are among the primary carriers of Lyme disease in many regions. Feeding birds during the winter, when tick activity is lower, and removing feeders during warmer months can help reduce rodent traffic. Deer-resistant plants and fencing can also discourage deer from wandering through the yard and dropping off ticks along the way.

What works and what doesn’t

The reality is that no single solution eliminates ticks completely. However, targeted pesticide treatments, when applied professionally in high-risk areas, and tick tubes, which use treated cotton to kill ticks on rodents, can meaningfully reduce tick populations when used correctly. These approaches work best as part of a broader prevention plan rather than a one-time fix.

Other popular solutions have far less evidence behind them. Ultrasonic repellents, for example, have shown limited and inconsistent results in studies, with some devices producing only weak repellency that researchers say is insufficient for reliable protection. There are “tick-repelling” plants that may slightly discourage ticks in small areas, but planting a few herbs or flowers alone will not protect an entire yard. The same goes for many DIY internet hacks involving essential oils sprayed around large properties. At best, they may offer temporary, localized effects. The most effective approach is layered and practical: reduce habitat, limit wildlife traffic, and use targeted treatments when needed.

Reduce your exposure

Tick encounters are increasing partly because warming temperatures and changing habitats are allowing some tick species to expand into new regions and remain active longer throughout the year. Even a well-managed yard can still contain ticks, so personal protection matters too. After spending time outdoors, it’s a good idea to do a full tick check on both yourself and your pets, especially around ankles, waistbands, scalp lines, and behind the knees. Wearing light-colored clothing can also make ticks easier to spot before they attach.

For extra protection, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends using EPA-approved repellents when gardening, hiking, or doing yard work. Showering soon after being outside may also help wash away unattached ticks before they bite. 

The post How to keep ticks out of your yard appeared first on Popular Science.

Spirit® E-210 Gas Grill (Liquid Propane) $399.00 (was $449.00)

The cheapest way into a real Weber gas grill

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Two burners give you enough cooking space for a family of four plus a little room to push finished food to the side, and the porcelain-enameled grates and lid should outlast a couple of the cheaper grills people tend to replace every few seasons. At $399, this is one of the lowest prices Weber lists on a current-generation gas grill.

Slate® 30" Rust-Resistant Griddle $649.00 (was $699.00)

The flat-top size most backyards settle on

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The 30-inch Slate is the flat top size most people land on for burgers, breakfast, and stir-fry without crowding the cooktop. The rust-resistant surface is the headline upgrade over older griddles, since seasoning bare steel and keeping it from rusting is the part that scares off first-time buyers. Fifty dollars off a top-seller is not a blowout, but griddles this size rarely list below $649. I have been using this model for several seasons and it’s still in fantastic shape even though I’m not always perfect about covering it.

Searwood® 600 Pellet Grill $899.00 (was $999.00)

Smoke low and slow or sear past 600°F

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The Searwood 600 is Weber’s mainstream pellet grill, and it works as a smoker low and slow or climbs past 600 degrees to sear a steak at the end of a cook. The roughly 600 square inches of cooking space fit a couple of pork shoulders or a packed weekend cookout, and the app-connected controller lets you watch the temperature from the couch. A hundred dollars off brings a top-seller down to $899.

Spirit SX-315 Smart Grill (Natural Gas) $695.20 (was $869.00)

The biggest discount in the sale at 20% off

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This is the steepest discount in the sale, a full 20 percent off rather than the flat $50 to $100 most grills here are getting. The SX-315 is a three-burner stainless grill with Weber’s smart hub built in, so it tracks grill and food temperature and pings your phone when dinner hits its target. The price applies to the natural-gas version, which makes it the pick if you have a gas line and want the deepest cut of the event.

Weber pellet grill and smoker deals

The Searwood XL 600 is the big-capacity pellet pick if you cook for a crowd, while the Smoque line is Weber’s more affordable entry into set-it-and-forget-it smoking. Both Smoque models are $100 off.

• Searwood® XL 600 Pellet Grill $1,199.00 (was $1,299.00)
• Weber Smoque XL Pellet Smoker $899.00 (was $999.00)
• Weber Smoque Pellet Smoker $699.00 (was $799.00)

Weber gas grill deals

This is the deepest part of the sale. The Genesis line gets $100 off across the board, the Spirit grills are $50 off, and the smart EX-325s drops a full 20 percent like its SX-315 sibling above. Watch the fuel type in each name, since liquid propane and natural gas versions are priced separately.

• Genesis S-315 Gas Grill (Natural Gas) $949.00 (was $1,049.00)
• Genesis S-315 Gas Grill (Liquid Propane) $899.00 (was $999.00)
• Genesis E-315 Gas Grill (Natural Gas) $849.00 (was $949.00)
• Genesis E-315 Gas Grill (Liquid Propane) $799.00 (was $899.00)
• Spirit EX-325s Smart Grill (Natural Gas) $695.20 (was $869.00)
• Spirit® EX-325 Smart Gas Grill (Natural Gas) $599.00 (was $649.00)
• Spirit® EX-325 Smart Gas Grill (Liquid Propane) $549.00 (was $599.00)
• Spirit® E-325 Gas Grill (Natural Gas) $549.00 (was $599.00)
• Spirit® E-325 Gas Grill (Liquid Propane) $499.00 (was $549.00)
• Spirit® E-310 Gas Grill (Liquid Propane) $449.00 (was $499.00)

Weber Slate griddle deals

Every Slate griddle is $50 off. The 36-inch models are the move for big-batch breakfasts and Smashburgers, with cabinet, flip-up table, and open-cart versions in both fuel types. The 22-inch and 17-inch tabletop griddles are the picks for tailgates and smaller patios.

• Slate® 36″ Rust-Resistant Griddle with Closed Cabinet (Natural Gas) $999.00 (was $1,049.00)
• Slate® 36″ Rust-Resistant Griddle with Closed Cabinet (Liquid Propane) $949.00 (was $999.00)
• Slate® 36″ Rust-Resistant Griddle with Flip-Up Side Table (Natural Gas) $1,049.00 (was $1,099.00)
• Slate® 36″ Rust-Resistant Griddle with Flip-Up Side Table (Liquid Propane) $999.00 (was $1,049.00)
• Slate® 36″ Rust-Resistant Griddle (Natural Gas) $849.00 (was $899.00)
• Slate® 36″ Rust-Resistant Griddle (Liquid Propane) $799.00 (was $849.00)
• Slate® 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle (Natural Gas) $599.00 (was $649.00)
• Slate® 28″ Rust-Resistant Griddle (Liquid Propane) $549.00 (was $599.00)
• Slate® 22″ Rust-Resistant Tabletop Griddle $329.00 (was $379.00)
• Slate® 17″ Rust-Resistant Tabletop Griddle $249.00 (was $299.00)

Weber griddle insert deals

If you already own a Genesis, Spirit, or Searwood, a drop-in griddle insert turns half the grill into a flat top without buying a separate unit. Each is $50 off, except the round charcoal insert at $20 off. Check the compatibility note before buying, since they are sized to specific grills.

• Rust-Resistant Griddle Insert (4-burner Genesis 2016+) $269.99 (was $319.99)
• Rust-Resistant Griddle Insert (3-burner Genesis 2016+, Summit 2024+) $219.99 (was $269.99)
• Rust-Resistant Griddle Insert (Select Large Spirit, Searwood®) $169.99 (was $219.99)
• Rust-Resistant 22″ Round Griddle Insert (22″ Weber charcoal grills) $149.99 (was $169.99)

Weber grill tool and accessory deals

This is the section to raid if a new grill is not happening this year. Tongs, spatulas, gloves, and baskets are all a few dollars off, which is the easy add to a cart or a low-cost Father’s Day gift on its own.

• Premium Gloves $38.99 (was $48.99)
• Precision 3-Piece Grill Set $34.99 (was $39.99)
• Precision Grill Tongs & Spatula Set $29.99 (was $35.99)
• Deluxe Tool Set $29.99 (was $35.99)
• Deluxe Grilling Basket – Large $24.99 (was $29.99)
• Deluxe Grilling Pan $24.99 (was $29.99)
• Weber Silicone Grilling Gloves $19.99 (was $24.99)
• Precision Grill Tongs $14.99 (was $18.99)
• Precision Grill Spatula $14.99 (was $17.99)
• Burger Press $12.99 (was $14.99)
• Grill Skewers Set $11.99 (was $13.99)
• Grill Basting Brush $9.99 (was $11.99)
• Barbecue Mitt $7.99 (was $9.99)

Weber griddle accessory deals

If you picked up a Slate this year, the griddle accessories are where the cooktop earns its keep. The Smashed Burger Set and Griddle Essentials Set cover most of what a flat top needs, and the cleaning kits keep the rust-resistant surface in shape.

• Smashed Burger Set $59.99 (was $69.99)
• Griddle Essentials Set $49.99 (was $59.99)
• Basting Dome $39.99 (was $49.99)
• 8-pc. Griddle Cleaning Kit $39.99 (was $49.99)
• Griddle Starter Set $35.99 (was $40.99)
• Griddle Butter Roller $34.99 (was $39.99)
• 6-pc. Griddle Cleaning Kit $34.99 (was $39.99)
• Griddle Press $27.99 (was $32.99)
• Griddle Keep Warm Rack $26.99 (was $31.99)
• Griddle Smashed Burger Press $24.99 (was $29.99)
• Griddle Seasoning Wax $19.99 (was $24.99)
• Griddle Spatula $18.99 (was $21.99)
• Griddle Scraper $15.99 (was $18.99)
• Tool Mat $19.99 (was $24.99)
• Griddle Deep Cleaner $11.99 (was $14.99)
• Griddle Chopper $11.99 (was $14.99)

Weber hardwood pellet deals

Every 20-pound bag of Weber hardwood pellets is $5 off at $14.99. The wood you burn changes the flavor as much as the rub does, so this is a low-stakes way to stock up and experiment before a long smoke.

• Apple All-Natural Hardwood Pellets (20 lb) $14.99 (was $19.99)
• Cherry All-Natural Hardwood Pellets (20 lb) $14.99 (was $19.99)
• Hickory All-Natural Hardwood Pellets (20 lb) $14.99 (was $19.99)
• GrillMaster Blend All-Natural Hardwood Pellets (20 lb) $14.99 (was $19.99)
• Mesquite All-Natural Hardwood Pellets (20 lb) $14.99 (was $19.99)

The post Weber’s summer sale drops gas grills, pellet smokers, flat tops, and more to their lowest prices of the season appeared first on Popular Science.

“I would think it would be easier to solve in a Waymo,” Sgt. Tim Faye told the newspaper on June 4.

Anticipating an open-and-shut investigation is understandable, but the situation is actually more complicated than it seems. While police couldn’t comment on an active case, it’s almost certain the robber used a burner account or stolen phone to order the taxi service, which debuted its self-driving option to San Francisco customers in June 2024. The white Jaguar used during the getaway features around 29 high-definition cameras mounted inside and outside the autonomous vehicle that provide 360-degree vantages, but Waymo only temporarily retains recordings. The company erased all interior footage by the time investigators filed a search warrant in April 2026, and data privacy laws ensure that any faces captured on cameras outside the car must remain blurred.

Skeptical customers and safety concerns have restricted autonomous ridesharing to only seven cities across California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Georgia so far. That said, companies like Waymo are still aggressively pursuing plans to expand the service to other parts of the country. One of the only other similar crimes occurred last year in Los Angeles, when a suspect allegedly robbed a grocery store and then left in a Waymo. In that instance, police pursued the vehicle and successfully pulled the car over after turning on its emergency lights.

“It’s highly unusual in the first place that a Waymo is even used by a suspect,” added Sgt. Faye.

The post Police can’t find shoplifter who fled in self-driving Waymo appeared first on Popular Science.

Now, a University of Florida master’s student named Adam Jacobs has built a simulator that clearly visualizes what so many travelers already feel in their gut. Jacobs created a computer model simulating a 186-seat Airbus A320neo and had computer-generated travelers board using three well-documented methods: random, back-to-front, and the lesser-known but academically popular “Steffen method.” Jacobs initially posted the video clip on LinkedIn but it had since gained traction on Instagram and other social platforms. 

The video shows passengers, represented as red dots, making their way through the cabin and sitting in their respective seats. The seats appear as blue squares when they are empty but then turn green once a passenger sits down. Each method plays out at the same time side by side for an up-to-moment comparison. The Steffen method, which prioritizes boarding window seats first, concluded boarding after just 11 minutes and and 16 seconds, by far the fastest of the three. Random seating, which is essentially Southwest Airlines offered until recently, completed in 17 minutes and 59 seconds. 

Loading back-to-front, however, which many intuitively assume should be the most efficient approach, actually performed far worse than the other two, taking 31 minutes and 15 seconds. That sounds bad, but the real-world experience for most travelers is even worse. Numerous studies have shown that front-to-back loading, more or less the standard approach for most airlines, is even less efficient than back-to-front. Zone-based loading, meanwhile, arguably reduces chaos at the gate but does not produce meaningfully faster boarding times.

“Random boarding performs surprisingly well,” Jacobs writes. “People could get to their destination faster if gate agents just said ‘everyone get on the plane now.’ 

Angry at long boarding times? Blame checked bag fees. 

So why is something as seemingly simple as loading people onto a plane so complicated and so frustrating? The answer mostly comes down to two things: the battle for overhead bin space and ever-tightening, profit-maximizing by airlines. Boarding used to be straightforward.  Most carriers would prioritize first class passengers and those needing extra time, then open the cabin to everyone else. But that began to change around 2008, when airlines started charging for checked bags. Checked bags, like so many things that were once included in the base fare, used to be free.

That seemingly small change had ripple effects. Now passengers wanting to sidestep paying for a checked bag had an incentive to bring their bags as carry-ons. But, as any regular traveler knows, there is rarely ever enough overhead bin space to accommodate a bag for every person. That meant a greater interest from passengers to board early. Airlines, seeing untapped demand there, decided to charge fees to non-first class passengers to board early. That evolved into the group and zones and seemingly endless options of prioritized seating. Passengers, trying to avoid paying a checked-bag fee, ended up paying another fee instead to board early. The resulting complexity of all of that translated to longer board times for everyone. 

“Airlines figured out they could make money off of bags,” Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor Massoud Bazargan told CNN in 2023. “That killed any efficiency to do faster boarding.”

“Zones reduce congestion at the gate, and they’re how airlines sell priority boarding,” Jacobs said. “That revenue apparently outweighs a few minutes of turnaround time.”

Better ways to board already exist 

Realization of the overhead bag bottleneck isn’t new. In fact, that’s exactly the problem being addressed in the Steffen model featured in Jacobs’ simulation video. The concept dates back to 2005 when a University of Nevada astrophysic professor named Jason Steffen reportedly became obsessed with airline boarding after getting stuck within a jet bridge at Seattle International Airport. Steffen took his expertise in computer modelling, which he has previously used to measure exoplanets, and applied it to airplane boarding. 

After running hundreds of simulations, it became clear that much of the delay was caused by the aisle getting bogged down as passengers tried to stow their luggage. Steffen tweaked his model to specifically solve for that inefficiency. What followed was a system where passengers with even-numbered window seats board first, followed by those with odd-numbered window seats. Next come passengers with even-numbered middle seats, then odd-numbered middle seats, and so on, with all passengers boarding two at a time.

The process looks bizarre, but it works, at least in theory. By spacing out passengers and ensuring everyone can stow their luggage without blocking the aisle, the “Steffen Method” cuts overall boarding time by up to half in simulations compared to front-to-back boarding.

So if it’s so much faster, why isn’t the Steffen method the standard? Part of the issue is that the model doesn’t really account for families or companions traveling together. People sitting together wouldn’t board together under this method, which would likely cause frustration at the gate. More than that though, the real flaw lies in the reality of human behavior. People (especially cranky travellers) simply don’t behave like tidy mathematical models, a point viewers of Jacobs’ post seemed to intuitively grasp.

“It’s much easier to model things when you ignore basically everything and just pretend everyone it [sic]  traveling alone and is of the exact same physical capability,” one user commented on Instagram. 

“Would never work outside the simulation,” another user on LinkedIn wrote. “Sorting the people prior boarding would be a nightmare. Forcing families with small children to separate while boarding is inhumane.” 

Other models have come along other the years tweaking Steffen’s downsides, but they all eventually come face to face with an arguably bigger roadblock: the airlines. When it comes to charging for boarding the cat’s out of the bag. What began as a niche product for a select few looking to get ahead has turned into a booming business. And with the average plane today fuller and more densely packed than ever before, travelers arguably have more incentive than ever to pay a few extra bucks to jump ahead, even if that creates a worse overall experience for everyone.

The science of airplane boarding, in other words, has less to do with models and efficiency and more to do with old-fashioned greed.

The post The fastest way to board an airplane, according to science appeared first on Popular Science.

The last big birthday the U.S. had was in 1976 for the country’s 200th. While this year is sure to look a lot different, here are some images of the fireworks, festivals, and fumbles of the United States of America’s 1976 bicentennial celebration almost 50 years ago.

The post 13 incredible photos of America’s 1976 bicentennial celebration appeared first on Popular Science.

That hasn’t stopped researchers from successfully spotting the most distant example ever seen. At over 10 billion light-years from Earth, the dormant black hole inside the galaxy MRG-M0138 is 15 times farther away than the prior record holder. As astronomers explained in a study published on June 4 in the journal Science, the far-away subject is now offering experts an unprecedented look at one of the earliest regions of the universe.

To pull off the remarkable achievement, researchers harnessed both the James Webb Space Telescope as well as a technique called stellar dynamics, which utilizes the movements of stars around an invisible black hole to assess its mass. This approach has previously helped identify similar cosmic objects inside galaxies, including our own Milky Way, but never at such a great distance.

Astronomers wouldn’t be able to locate any stars moving around such a far away black hole in most scenarios. However, a galaxy located directly between Earth and MRG-M0138 enabled the otherwise impossible task through a dynamic known as gravitational lensing. Incoming light from MRG-M0138’s stars is refracted around the intermediary galaxy, which then refocuses and enlarges its appearance by 30 times its normal size. This then allowed astronomers to track and calculate the distant stellar dynamics around the dormant black hole.

“By combining JWST data with gravitational lensing, we could peer inside the black hole’s sphere of influence, where its gravity boosts the speeds of stars,” study co-author and Carnegie Science astronomer Andrew Newman said in a statement. “This is one of the best techniques we have to weigh a black hole, so we were excited to extend it to a much earlier period in cosmic history.”

After crunching the numbers, Newman and colleagues determined the dormant black hole has a mass about six billion times greater than the sun, and is observable from an era when the universe was barely three billion years old. That’s around a quarter of its age today, which means astronomers are now glimpsing some of the earliest moments in cosmic history.

Experts have already determined that it’s not just MRG-M0138’s black hole that is dormant—the entire galaxy itself is basically silent, with no recently formed stars. The study authors also theorize the galaxy previously included a quasar, which emits huge amounts of radiation and are some of the brightest objects in the universe.

Moving forward, astronomers can now apply their methodology to other areas of the cosmos, as well as gain a better understanding of galactic evolution throughout the eons.

“By demonstrating the feasibility of such a technique for galaxies in the early universe, we can now undertake a more complete census of how black holes develop over time and infer their role in shaping galaxy evolution,” added study co-author and University College London astronomer Richard Ellis.

The post JWST spots dormant black hole 10 billion light-years from Earth appeared first on Popular Science.

It’s not pretty work, but someone has to do it.

“The tests will help NASA evaluate real-world operation, crew training needs, system reliability, and how wastewater simulants compare with actual human metabolic waste in an analog mission environment,” Ali Alshami, University of North Dakota Chemical Engineering professor and test participant, said in a statement.

Treated astronaut poop will feed lunar plants 

The mobile facility consists of three separate bioreactors, each tasked with handling a specific kind of waste. Feces, urine, and food waste are treated separately because each material contains different levels of salts, solids, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. One reactor processes feces and food waste, converting it into nutrient-rich water that can feed plants. The other two handle urine and greywater from activities like showering and laundry, some of which can be filtered and recycled into  clean drinking water. From an astronauts’ perspective, the experience should feel pretty familiar to life onboard the International Space Station (ISS). They use the toilet as normal, and it automatically diverts waste at the source, routing each type to its corresponding bioreactor.

The whole process takes place in a mobile, 8.5-by-24-foot trailer. In addition to the bioreactors, the unit also houses a vertical garden maintained by the converted wastewater. The goal is to kill two birds with one stone: process waste efficiently and then use it to sustain lunar agriculture. Both are essential if astronauts want any shot at building longer-term habitats on the moon or even Mars. To that end, NASA has ambitions to start constructing a semi-permanent lunar structure or “moon base” by 2029.

Where no one has gone before 

Waste management in space has come a long way since the first moon missions. Back in the 1960s, NASA Apollo astronauts left behind 96 bags of human waste (filled with poop, urine, and vomit) on the lunar surface to save weight. Those bags are almost certainly still there. 

Thankfully, decades of research mean astronauts no longer have to relieve themselves into a bag, at least not most of the time. The most recent Artemis mission featured a fully functional space toilet, though it malfunctioned almost immediately after liftoff.

Recycling wastewater has also seen major improvements. NASA had a breakthrough in 2023 when its life support system aboard the ISS  managed to recover nearly 98 percent of all breath, sweater, and urine brought aboard by the crew. Future astronauts on prolonged spacewalks may also wear this Dune-inspired backpack that filters urine and sweat into drinking water in a single self-contained loop.

The post NASA wastewater system will turn human poop into plant food appeared first on Popular Science.

Murray discovered the pottery remains from a crannog in the Isle of Lewis, part of the Outer Hebrides island chain on the country’s northwestern coast. Experts at the National Museum at Edinburgh were bewildered to discover that they were Neolithic (4000 to 2500 BCE), and thousands of years older than they would have guessed for remains associated with crannogs. Since then, archaeologists have been taking a closer look at these artificial islands and their true origin.

“[They are] these strange little circular islands that exist in all the different watery environments in Scotland and Ireland, typically in lakes or lochs, as they call them in Scotland. You would look at one and say it doesn’t look quite natural, because it looks very uniform, a very cohesive structure with lots of small portable stones on top,” Stephanie Blankshein, a maritime archaeologist at the University of Southampton, tells Popular Science. “They’re clearly something different.”

The island builders

Archaeologists have known about crannogs for more than a century, but it is quite difficult to really investigate the structures because their timelines can be complex. People occupied them for multiple time periods, either continuously or with stretches of abandonment followed by reoccupation. What’s more, it’s difficult to excavate down to the artificial island’s oldest layers.

Murray’s discovery of pottery fragments in 2012 shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise. In the 1980s, one very confused archaeologist discovered Neolithic material at his presumed Iron Age site. However, the wider archaeological community simply deemed it as a strange, hyper-local anomaly, and moved on. The belief that the vast majority of crannogs date back no more than about 2,000 years endured for decades—including for most of Blankshein’s lifetime, she points out.

The waterlogged Neolithic pottery changed all of that, and Blankshein and colleagues started investigating the matter. They gathered and dated organic material and more pottery remains from six sights—five identified during Murray’s dive and the one from the 1980s. They confirm that both the pottery and the crannog were Neolithic, and ultimately found that 11 crannogs in the Outer Hebrides were from that period, with potentially many more around the same age in that region and beyond.

“I’m sure there are many, many more just waiting to be discovered,” Blankshein explains.

So, who were these Neolithic island-builders? It’s important to note that “Neolithic” doesn’t just refer to a time period, but also a lifestyle. Neolithic people were early farmers and pastoralists, and ancient DNA studies have revealed that Neolithic communities in Britain and Ireland were genetically distinct from the Mesolithic (about 9600 to 4000 BCE) hunter-gatherers who lived in the area before them.

Advanced research techniques such as ancient DNA and isotopic analyses are also revealing where they came from. Neolithic people originated from the present-day Middle East and eventually spread across Europe. Some people migrated along the Mediterranean coast as far as west as Gibraltar, before moving north along the Atlantic coast to Britain and Ireland, where they ultimately replaced the Mesolithic communities.

In fact, researchers have traced the strongest genetic connections of Neolithic people in Scotland not to nearby France but to the Iberian Peninsula, Blankshein says. Britain’s early farmers may have been or descended from Neolithic seafarers. Notably, they would have made landfall a few centuries before the Neolithic crannogs in the Outer Hebrides started popping up.

The oldest crannog in the Outer Hebrides dates back to 3800 BCE, while the earliest Neolithic site in the United Kingdom in southern England is from around 4100 BCE. 

“So it’s entirely possible that there was a very early arrival in Scotland as well, and essentially straight away they started building these islands,” says Blankshein. “So it seems like this may have been a tradition that they actually brought with them, or that they established very quickly after their arrival.”

A big Neolithic platform

One of the crannogs that Blankshein’s team has studied in significant detail is the structure on the Isle of Lewis’ Loch Bhorgastail. It has already yielded hundreds of pottery shards, and they have also spotted pieces of timber embedded in the structure underwater. Importantly, the team could date that wood using standard carbon-14 dating. And unlike other crannogs, the Loch Bhorgastail crannog didn’t have any structures built on top of it (like a medieval castle) that could complicate excavations.

The team conducted their first serious excavation in 2021, expecting to reveal an island made of stone and reinforced with some timber. While they did not find full pieces of timber, bits of wood were scattered about, leading the maritime archaeologists to an entire underwater timber structure.

“We were just absolutely blown away because we started following this structure further and further back from the island. And by the end of the month of excavation, we hadn’t reached the end of it,” Blankshein says. “And that was about six meters [19.6 feet] that we had extended out. So we knew there was something quite interesting there.”

The wood dates to between 3500 and 3300 BCE, which is consistent with most of the other early Neolithic sites in the Outer Hebrides. When the team returned in 2023, they discovered that the timber platform wasn’t just extending from the stone base underwater, it was under the entire crannog itself.

directly on the lochbed, potentially circular, and potentially featured stone reinforcements around the edges and/or stakes securing it. Core samples taken from the lake’s dirt and rock indicate that the loch’s water levels would have been lower at the time of its construction, so the platform could have sat under just a foot of water, or even been dry. Another possibility is that it was dry during the summer and underwater in the winter, and so was used seasonally.

The platform is also quite large, at around 75.5 feet (23 meters) in diameter. Now that the researchers have a good understanding of how big the platform was, the next natural question is what it was used for. This is a significantly harder inquiry to answer, and researchers have a number of different theories, according to Blankshein. 

Broadly, it probably served several important purposes. The presence of food residue in the many pottery fragments indicate that people were consuming food on the island, thus it could have been a gathering place for a ritual feast or ceremony. As such, one of the theories is that it was used to host coming of age ceremonies. Since the wooden platform would have been on water, another hypothesis is that it could have represented a neutral and egalitarian meeting point.

Materials last touched over 5,000 years ago

In addition to phenomenal archaeological results, the Loch Bhorgastail crannog also prompted the team to develop a new technique for photogrammetry (stitching 2D pictures together to form a 3D model of a site) in shallow water. At these depths, photogrammetry is more difficult to execute than in the deep sea. They describe their method, which involves attaching two GoPro cameras to a rig, in a study recently published in the journal Advances in Archaeological Practice.

The team is finishing the final analysis of the Loch Bhorgastail site and are detailing the excavation results for a future paper. 

“Working on such an ancient site is genuinely surreal,” Blankshein admits, speaking of the work in general. “Despite the huge lapse in time, there are moments underwater when the distance between past and present suddenly feels incredibly small—lifting pottery from the loch bed that was last touched by a Neolithic person over 5,000 years ago, or seeing bark still preserved on timbers beneath the sediments as if it had been placed there yesterday. Moments like that provide connections to the past I couldn’t have imagined before working on the site.”

The post Scotland’s ancient human-made islands are dripping with secrets appeared first on Popular Science.

At 14,103-square feet, the billowy project overshadows the previous record holder (12,291-square-feet) that was built in South Carolina in 2024. According to the official announcement from Nevada’s Clark County, the job necessitated a small army of volunteers and community partners using a design envisioned by engineering students at Las Vegas’ West Career & Technical Academy. All told, the blanket fort included hundreds of sheets draped over tent poles and anchored by ropes, pipes, and even binder clips.

Confirming the fort’s record breaking size required a visit from an official Guinness World Records adjudicator. The assessor didn’t simply measure the floorspace inside the Desert Breeze Community Center’s basketball court, though. Eligibility requirements included making sure there weren’t any gaps between sheets larger than one inch, ensuring all sheets touched the ground, and determining minimum height requirements that allowed a person to “sit comfortably” inside the tent.

A good blanket fort’s temporary nature is part of its appeal, and the recordbreaking project has since been disassembled. After all, Desert Breeze Community Center still needs its gym for pickup basketball games.

The post World’s largest blanket fort built at Las Vegas community center appeared first on Popular Science.

Experts now have a plausible suspect. According to a study published today in the Annals of Carnegie Museum, a cousin of the fearsome Velociraptor stalked the Changma Basin around 120 million years ago. But with its long feathers and four “wings,” Jian changmaensis didn’t ambush its prey from high in the air like a falcon. Instead, it more likely swooped in like a flying squirrel.

“It’s the only dinosaur found at this site that wasn’t a bird, it was a carnivore, and it was much bigger than everything else that we’ve found there,” Jingmai O’Connor, a study co-author and Field Museum associate curator of fossil reptiles, explained in a statement.

Named after a winged mythological creature from Chinese folklore, J. changmaensis belongs to a dinosaur subgroup known as microraptors. These feathered predators were speedy and small, often only about the size of a crow. J. changmaensis was comparatively large, however. While O’Connor’s team has so far only recovered a portion of its upper arm, they believe the dinosaur likely featured a roughly four-foot wingspan. That puts it at about the size of a barn owl.

Although larger than its fellow microraptors, paleontologists believe J. changmaensis physically resembled its relatives. This means the dinosaur likely featured both forearm wings as well as rudimentary “wings” on its hind legs. Microraptors couldn’t soar through the skies, but their feathers served a purpose

“Jian and the other microraptors probably weren’t capable of true, powered flight, but they could probably glide like a flying squirrel,” explained O’Connor.

Matt Lamanna, a study co-author and Carnegie Museum’s curator of vertebrate paleontology, said the team’s discovery offers “critical new insight” into the Changma region’s biological history while helping contextualize today’s avian dinosaur descendents.

“For decades, the Changma site has been renowned among paleontologists for its extraordinary bird fossils,” Lamanna added. “Now, with the discovery of Jian, we finally know what was eating them.”

The post Velociraptor’s cousin flew like a flying squirrel appeared first on Popular Science.

The eaglets are growing rapidly, so room in the roughly six-foot-wide nest in southern California is becoming a premium. Both chicks also need room for activities, as they practice their flapping and stomping.

On June 2, Sandy also branched for the first time. Branching is when an eaglet perches on the limb of a tree, and is an important developmental stage that usually occurs when chicks hit 9 weeks old. Once on the tree limb, the young birds can flap their wings, jump, and then land on a lower branch or back in their nest. Branching helps strengthen their flight muscles and helps them become more agile and better at landing ahead of fledging. 

Sandy and Luna are expected to fledged sometime in early July. All of their antics are available 24/7 with the FOBBV live cam.

Jackie and Shadow’s 2026 babies: Everything you need to know

It’s been another roller coaster nesting season for Jackie and Shadow, a pair of internet-famous bald eagle parents living in San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. After two of their eggs were destroyed by ravens in January, Jackie and Shadow laid two new eggs that have successfully hatched.

Chick 1 hatched on April 4 at 9:33 p.m. PDT, while Chick 2 followed on April 5 at 8:30 a.m. Their large nest in Big Bear Valley east of Los Angeles is livestreamed 24 hours a day by nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) and has captivated millions. 

On May 1, FOBBV announced the chicks’ names: Sandy and Luna.

How long will the chicks stay in the nest? 

Chicks usually stay in the nest until 10 to 14 weeks of age.

What challenges do the eaglets face?

Before leaving the nest, the chicks face threats from other birds of prey, including hawks, ravens, other eagles, and owls. Inclement weather can also present challenges for the chicks. In 2025, a March snowstorm resulted in the death of one of Jackie and Shadow’s three chicks.

During fledging, only 70 percent of eaglets survive. One of the greatest threats is from cars that can injure or kill the birds while they scavenge for food on roadkill. 

Who are Jackie and Shadow? 

The pair first got together in 2018 and successfully raised chicks in 2019 and 2022. However, their eggs failed to hatch in 2023 and 2024. Only 50 percent of eagle eggs successfully hatch, so this pair has already beaten the odds.

What happened to Jackie and Shadow’s 2025 eaglets?

In 2025, Jackie laid three eggs that all hatched in early March. On March 13, a strong snowstorm dumped up to two feet of snow and battered the nest with strong winds. Only two of the chicks were visible on the live cam when the storm passed by the next morning. FOBBV later confirmed the passing of one of the chicks. The two surviving chicks were later named Sunny and Gizmo after 54,000 names were submitted by fans.

What happens after chicks fledge? 

Young eagles usually fledge–or leave the nest and fly–when they can flatten their wings and have feathers capable of flight. This typically occurs when the birds hit 10 to 14 weeks of age. Males also tend to take their first flight a little sooner than females. 

According to FOBBV, fledglings from Southern California have been spotted as far south as Baja California, as far north as British Columbia, and as far east as Yellowstone National Park.

About 70 percent of bald eagles survive the fledgling stage. FOBBV does not tag their eagles, so it’s not possible to follow the chicks’ journeys after they flee the nest.

Can I help Jackie and Shadow?

Yes. Environmental groups are currently fundraising $10 million to protect Jackie and Shadow’s foraging area from development. Learn more at SaveMoonCamp.org.

The post Eaglets Sandy and Luna spend their first night alone on the nest appeared first on Popular Science.

While we love gear and gadgets, not all of them deliver on their promises. We know what it’s like to buy a new device only to find that it doesn’t solve the problem you wanted it to solve. That’s why we created the Popular Science Proven badge. 

We put everything we review through rigorous testing. That includes empirical testing when appropriate, but more importantly, we use these items. After all, a TV’s stated contrast ratio doesn’t mean much if that 4K Blu-ray of Alien you bought doesn’t look perfect. 

What makes a product worthy of the PopSci Proven badge?

While the specific methods vary, any product with a Proven badge meets a set of criteria developed by the staff across decades of combined experience reviewing products. 

It does what it says

When a product makes a claim, you want to know that it’s being honest. That rain jacket will keep you dry on a hike. Those headphones will block out the crying baby three seats behind you on your flight. We decode all the marketing speak you’ll read in the press release and see how well these things actually work.

It’s worth your money

Words like “value” and “budget” get a bad rap when used synonymously with “cheap.” We don’t think that way. An expensive home pizza oven can be a great value if it will last for years and totally eradicates your costly delivery habit. Whether something is $15 or $1,500, it has to earn its price tag.

It solves a problem real people actually have

Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’ll find products that make ridiculous promises and address problems that don’t exist. A Proven product makes life simpler, more accessible, more sustainable, more enjoyable, or more productive. 

It’s designed to last, not break and make you buy a new one

We can’t tolerate planned obsolescence. Products with the Proven logo have to be built to last and offer a reasonable warranty should something go wrong. We give bonus points to products that actually get better with age. Nothing beats the patina on a well-crafted pair of boots or the unique brassing that happens to a camera that goes everywhere with its owner. 

While Proven will mostly apply to new products, we’ll also be retroactively applying badges to products we’ve loved for years. Some items have already stood the test of time and we appreciate that. 

If you see the badge going forward, know that it’s something we’d use ourselves. In fact, check our offices and you’ll find that most of them, we’re already using on the regular.

The post Popular Science Proven: How our editors choose products worth your money appeared first on Popular Science.

The famed Altar Stone is far more perplexing, however. The central, six-ton sandstone megalith likely came from a region in Scotland about 400 miles away. How a prehistoric society managed to scoot the boulder so far without complex tools or transportation methods has perplexed researchers for years.

Many researchers have theorized that melting Ice Age glaciers likely helped passively shift the Altar Stone closer to southern England’s Salisbury Plain around 2500 BCE, shortening the transport distance for Stonehenge’s creators. But in 2024, a team at Curtin University used chemical analysis to determine that glaciers simply weren’t the only factor behind the megalith’s move. Now, that same team has combined ice-sheet modeling and mineral grain dating to more precisely locate the Altar Stone’s original home. Their findings, published today in the Journal of Quaternary Science, further underscore how humans played a huge part in getting their centerpiece to Stonehenge.

“Rather than being carried naturally by ice, the evidence points to a deliberate, carefully planned movement across a challenging and varied landscape,” Anthony Clarke, a geochemist and study co-author, said in a statement.

Although glaciers possibly transported many large rocks as far south as Dogger Bank in the North Sea, Clarke explained that geological modeling showed that “no viable glacial pathways” ever linked the Altar Stone’s source region to Stonehenge. This further underscores how Neolithic communities were necessary to move it to its final spot.

“Transporting a stone of this size over such a long distance would have required planning, coordination and a deep understanding of the landscape—not to mention tremendous determination,” he added.

While the exact methods remain a mystery, Clarke and colleagues believe the Altar Stone was almost certainly moved in stages, possibly through a combination of overland and river travel routes.

“The stone would still have needed to be moved hundreds of kilometers by people,” Clarke concluded.

The post Humans really did move Stonehenge’s six-ton centerpiece appeared first on Popular Science.

Praearcturus gigas stalked the region’s floodplains about 415 million years ago, during the Early Devonian. Small plants and fungi had only recently begun to spread, and more complex land ecosystems like forests did not exist yet.

“When we think of giant arthropods, people often picture Carboniferous rainforests with giant millipedes or dragonfly-like insects from later in Earth’s history,” Dr. Richard J. Howard, a study co-author and the Curator of Fossil Arthropods at the Natural History Museum, said in a statement. “But Praearcturus lived at least 50 million years earlier, well before the evolution of trees, when life on land was only just getting started.”

Howard and the team believe that Praearcturus’ enormous size indicates that they had very little competition from other large predators roaming around. Praearcturus might have grown to three-feet-long with six-inch pincers simply because there weren’t any other large animals nearby, so it could dominate its environment in a way that wouldn’t be possible years down the road. 

Praearcturus gigas was first scientifically decided in 1871. Scientists originally thought it was some kind of giant crustacean, similar to a woodlouse. The fossils were very fragmented, and lacked key features (such as a tail) that help classify it. To get a better picture, the team compared their fossils with some more well-preserved specimens found in 1972 and 2010.

“Praearcturus has puzzled us palaeontologists for more than a century,” added Dr. Russell Garwood, a study co-author and palaeontologist at The University of Manchester. “By bringing together material from several collections and using cutting edge imaging techniques, we’ve been able to build a clearer picture of the animal than was previously possible, which is really exciting.”

The fossils hint that this giant scorpion may have lived in the water some of the time. Some specimens have flap-like structures on the abdomen that are similar to those found in modern crustaceans like lobsters. These flaps suggest Praearcturus may have been capable of moving between water and land. Their place in the wider arachnid fossil record shows that most scorpions are unusually abundant in rocks dating back to this time period, compared with other arachnid species. This supports the idea that Praearcturus may have lived in freshwater environments, where they are more likely to survive as fossils. Excitingly, it shows that Praearcturus lived at a pivotal moment in our planet’s history, when animals were first experimenting with living life outside the oceans.

“The boundary between land and sea was much less defined at this time,” said Dr. Greg Edgecombe, a study co-author and Natural History Museum researcher. “Praearcturus gives us a fascinating glimpse into how early animals adapted to these changing environments. It may even represent a lineage that returned to the water after earlier ancestors had already begun living on land.”

According to the team, a breakthrough like this shows how important discoveries are still being made from museum collections. It also challenges assumptions about why prehistoric arthropods reached such enormous sizes. Instead of being driven solely by environmental factors like oxygen levels, a lack of competition, and other ecological opportunities may have played a crucial role.

“Confirming that this animal is a scorpion fundamentally changes our understanding of how and when these creatures evolved to such extraordinary sizes,” said Howard. 

The post World’s biggest scorpions were the size of baseball bats appeared first on Popular Science.

Dr. Melissa Bain doesn’t see it that way. “My dog enjoys it every day,” says Bain, a professor of clinical animal behavior at the University of California, Davis. “If we ever mow the grass, [he’ll] go out there and just start chomping on it.” To her, it reads as a snack, not a symptom.

The idea that dogs graze to purge a sick stomach is one of the explanations owners reach for most. But it’s not what the research shows.

Eating grass is normal dog behavior

Grass eating is extremely common. In a 2008 UC Davis study, 79 percent of owners whose dogs had daily access to plants said their dog ate them. A follow-up internet survey of more than 1,500 owners found that 68 percent of dogs grazed daily or weekly, and grass was by far the plant they ate most.

If a behavior turns up in roughly three out of four dogs, it’s hard to call it a sign of illness.

Most dogs don’t get sick from grass

If dogs really ate grass to purge, you’d expect them to look ill first and vomit afterward. Most don’t. 

The same 2008 study found that only about 9 percent of dogs seemed sick before grazing, and only around 22 percent regularly vomited after. 

Diet made no difference either. Whether dogs were fed raw food, kibble, or a vegetarian diet had no bearing on whether they ate grass. 

“There is no nutritional basis for that that we know of,” Bain says of the theory that grazing makes up for something missing in a dog’s food. It’s a normal behavior, she adds, and one she sees mostly in healthy animals.

Her interviews with owners point in the same direction. When Bain asked what a dog was doing right before it ate grass, the dogs that already seemed unwell were the ones more likely to throw up afterward. The dogs that seemed fine usually didn’t. So, when sickness does show up, it tends to come before the grass, not because of it. The vomiting looks like a side effect, not the goal.

A popular version of that idea is that dogs graze to flush intestinal worms out of their gut. But many of the dogs in the survey were on monthly heartworm medication, which also clears intestinal worms—so those dogs had nothing to flush out. They grazed anyway.

They probably just like it

Once you set illness and diet aside, the explanation that’s left is appetite. “Most dogs eat grass because it is a food they enjoy,” says Carlo Siracusa, professor of clinical small animal behavior and welfare at the University of Pennsylvania.

Bain has noticed the same thing. Dogs tend to go for moist, long-stemmed grass, the tender kind that comes up early in the morning. They’re choosing what tastes good to them.

The behavior may be inherited from wild ancestors

Why dogs like grass in the first place is harder to answer. The 2008 study proposed that grazing is a normal behavior, possibly an instinct carried over from wild canid ancestors. 

Bain finds that idea convincing. One ecological version of that idea holds that grass once helped wild canids clear intestinal worms—the fibrous strands wrap around the worms and carry them out in the droppings. Bain points to wild-canid droppings to support this idea: They often hold long strands of plant material, sometimes with parasites tangled in it. But it isn’t proof, she says.

A 2021 study of domestic cats had similar results: Very few cats looked ill before eating plants, and the behavior appeared normal and likely innate rather than a reaction to feeling sick. (Cats did vomit more often than dogs—up to a third of the time—which the authors say may reflect some gastric upset.) Why the instinct exists at all is still an open question.

When it’s worth a second look

Only rarely does grass-eating become a problem, Bain says—when it becomes compulsive. Siracusa says it can turn excessive enough to cause an intestinal obstruction. 

“I have seen this in anxious dogs, but it does not represent the norm,” he says. In nearly three decades of practice, Bain can remember only one dog whose grazing was truly compulsive, and that dog obsessively ate everything, not just plants.

What matters is the pattern. A dog that grazes constantly, looks sick before eating, or vomits regularly afterward is worth a trip to the veterinarian, since the underlying cause may be nausea or another gut problem. It’s also a good idea to keep grass-eating dogs off chemically treated lawns and away from plants that are toxic to dogs.

For most dogs, though, none of that applies. “Most owners should not be concerned if their dog eats grass,” Siracusa says. For a lot of dogs, grass is just the first snack of the day.

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Why your dog eats grass appeared first on Popular Science.

I just started testing a HexClad frying pan to update some of our cookware buying guides and I’m impressed off the bat. My fried eggs have been dancing around the cooking surface like Ryan and Emma in La La Land (I just got around to watching La La Land).

HexClad Hybrid Fry Pan with Lid, 12-inch $169 (was $199)

The pan that built the brand, and the easiest way into the lineup

See It

The 12-inch Hybrid is currently on my stove and it will have a pound of ground beef in it later. With a laser-etched stainless steel grid raised over the nonstick valleys, you can sear hard and use metal utensils without chewing up the surface. It works with induction cooktops, stays oven-safe to 500 degrees, and the tempered glass lid covers everything from a fast fry to a slow simmer.

HexClad Hybrid Fry Pan Set with Lids, 6-Piece $399 (was $691)

Three pans, three lids, and a free gift for $292 off

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This set covers the three pan sizes most kitchens actually reach for, the 8-, 10-, and 12-inch Hybrids, each with its own tempered glass lid. Bought together they run $292 less than the pans cost individually, and HexClad is adding a free gift with purchase during the sale. It is the practical pick if you want most of your stovetop sorted in one box without jumping to a full set.

HexClad Hybrid Pots and Pans Set, 12-Piece $699 (was $1,198)

A full cookware kit for $499 off, the headline deal of the sale

See It

This is the complete HexClad kitchen in one box, with fry pans, saucepans, a stockpot, and lids that handle nearly everything you cook in a given week. It is the most-reviewed item in the whole sale and carries the biggest dollar discount most people will reasonably go for, $499 off the regular $1,198. If you are replacing a tired set all at once, this is the cheapest moment to buy into the version you keep for years.

HexClad Cookware Sets and Bundles

The bundles are where the deepest percentage cuts live. The Too Hot to Handle Bundle is half off at $1,399 (was $2,766), and the Summer Sizzler Set lands at $999 (was $1,933) if you want to outfit a kitchen and a grill in one go.

• Too Hot to Handle Bundle $1,399 (was $2,766)
• Summer Sizzler Set $999 (was $1,933)
• Everything But the Kitchen Sink Bundle, 54-Piece $2,989 (was $4,456)
• The Ultimate Everything Collection $2,179 (was $3,253)
• The Complete Kitchen Bundle $1,499 (was $2,378)
• All-In Bundle $1,199 (was $1,843)
• Hybrid Pot Set with Lids, 6-Piece $379 (was $467)
• HexClad BBQ Bundle $469 (was $557)
• Family Pasta Bundle $299 (was $398)
• The Essentials Bundle $219 (was $416)

HexClad Hybrid Fry Pan Deals

If you would rather buy one pan at a time, every size is discounted. The smaller pans carry the steepest cuts, with the 7-inch Hybrid down to $76 (was $109), a low-risk way to test whether the hybrid surface earns a spot in your kitchen.

• Hybrid Fry Pan, 12-inch $152 (was $179)
• Hybrid Fry Pan with Lid, 10-inch $144 (was $169)
• Hybrid Fry Pan, 10-inch $127 (was $149)
• Hybrid Fry Pan with Lid, 8-inch $127 (was $149)
• Hybrid Fry Pan, 8-inch $110 (was $129)
• Hybrid Fry Pan with Lid, 7-inch $97 (was $129)
• Hybrid Fry Pan, 7-inch $76 (was $109)

HexClad Pots, Saucepans, and Dutch Ovens

Need to fill gaps rather than buy a full set? The pots and saucepans are each 15% off, including the 5-quart Hybrid Dutch Oven at $169 (was $199) and the 12-quart Stock Pot at $186 (was $219).

• Hybrid Oval Dutch Oven, 6.5-Quart $195 (was $229)
• Hybrid Dutch Oven, 5-Quart $169 (was $199)
• Hybrid Stock Pot with Lid, 12-Quart $186 (was $219)
• Hybrid Stock Pot with Lid, 10-Quart $169 (was $199)
• Hybrid Saucepan with Lid, 5-Quart $152 (was $179)
• Hybrid Saucepan with Lid, 3-Quart $127 (was $149)
• Hybrid Saucepan with Lid, 2-Quart $118 (was $139)
• Hybrid Deep Saute Pan with Lid, 5.5-Quart $178 (was $209)
• Hybrid Deep Saute Pan with Lid, 3.3-Quart $149 (was $179)

HexClad Grilling and Specialty Cookware

This is the summer-relevant corner of the sale. The Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan drops 30% to $111 (was $159), and the 10-inch Hybrid Wok is $95 (was $119) if stir-fry is more your speed.

• Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan, 12-inch $111 (was $159)
• Hybrid BBQ Grill Topper, 16-inch $144 (was $169)
• Hybrid Wok, 10-inch $95 (was $119)
• Hybrid Griddle Pan, 12-inch $118 (was $139)
• Hybrid Griddle Pan, 13-inch $127 (was $159)
• Hybrid Double Burner Griddle $169 (was $199)
• Hybrid Roasting Pan with Rack $169 (was $199)
• Hybrid Pizza Steel $137 (was $149)

HexClad Damascus Steel Knives and Knife Sets

The knives carry some of the largest percentage discounts in the sale. The 7-piece Damascus Steel Knife Set is half off at $399 (was $783), and the Master Series 4-piece steak knife set is $131 (was $259).

• Damascus Steel Knife Set, 7-Piece $399 (was $783)
• Mega Cutlery Bundle, 17-Piece $889 (was $1,459)
• Sous-Chef Cutlery Bundle, 10-Piece $689 (was $1,150)
• Damascus Steel Knife Set, 6-Piece $379 (was $654)
• Steak Knife and Bistecca Plate Set, 16-Piece $429 (was $656)
• Damascus Steel Steak Knife Set, 8-Piece $379 (was $458)
• Steak Knife and Bistecca Plate Set, 8-Piece $199 (was $328)
• Master Series Damascus Steel Steak Knife Set, 4-Piece $131 (was $259)
• Damascus Steel Cleaver, 7-inch $169 (was $199)
• Damascus Steel Chef’s Knife, 8-inch $118 (was $139)
• Damascus Steel Santoku Knife, 7-inch $110 (was $129)
• Damascus Steel Nakiri Knife, 6.5-inch $127 (was $149)
• Damascus Steel Serrated Bread Knife, 8-inch $118 (was $139)
• Damascus Steel Boning and Fillet Knife, 6-inch $110 (was $129)
• Damascus Steel Paring Knife, 3.5-inch $67 (was $79)

HexClad HexMill Grinders

The HexMill grinders rarely move on price, so the sale is worth a look. The Salt and Pepper Grinder Set is $199 (was $318), and the full HexMill Collection Bundle is $299 (was $487).

• HexMill Salt and Pepper Grinder Set $199 (was $318)
• HexMill Collection Bundle $299 (was $487)
• HexMill Pepper Grinder $135 (was $159)
• HexMill Salt Grinder $135 (was $159)

HexClad Cutting Boards, Tools, and Accessories

The smaller add-ons round out the cart. The 8-piece BBQ Tool Set is $74 (was $99), and the 6-piece Stainless Mixing Bowl Set with vacuum-seal lids drops to $84 (was $99).

• BBQ Tool Set, 8-Piece $74 (was $99)
• Kitchen Utensil Set, 9-Piece $212 (was $249)
• Hybrid Carving and Cutting Board $169 (was $199)
• Beechwood Cutting Board, Extra-Large $93 (was $109)
• Honing Rod, 9-inch $59 (was $69)
• Stainless Mixing Bowl Set with Vacuum-Seal Lids, 6-Piece $84 (was $99)
• Steamer Basket Set, 2-Piece $59 (was $69)
• Cocktail Shaker, 25 oz $84 (was $99)
• Splatter Screen $33 (was $39)
• HexClad Hot Mitt and Trivet Duo $34 (was $58)
• HexClad Hot Mitt Set $25 (was $29)
• Silicone Trivet Set, 2-Pack $25 (was $29)
• Dish Drying Mat, 2-Pack $25 (was $29)

The post HexClad just dropped its summer sale with site-wide discounts on everything it makes (including pots and pans) appeared first on Popular Science.

To build their new tools, a team at ETH Zurich in Switzerland engineered microscopic machines that combine living neural progenitor cells (NPCs)—specialized stem cells developed for the spine—with customized nanoparticles. These customized nanoparticles feature two layers—one that is sensitive to magnetic fields and another that translates them into electrical signals.

“We place a reservoir in the center where we trap the cells. Then we inject the nanoparticles and wait for the two components to bind,” Salvador Pané i Vidal, a study co-author and ETH Zurich roboticist, said in a statement.

Each nanorobot is about six micrometers wide, making them smaller than a red blood cell. However, the number of robots required to pull off a procedure is immense. Millions of nanobots are needed during animal trials. Even with such a high number, the initial experimental results are promising. In tests involving mice with severed spinal cords, nerve cells stimulated by the microrobots began reconnecting at the injury site within 28 days. By the end of the trial, the mice displayed major improvements in movement, gait, coordination, and exploratory behavior. 

Significantly more research is required before these nanobots are ready for primetime, but the team hopes to one day begin testing similar devices in humans. Before that, they need to determine the most effective magnetic fields and how long to apply them to patients. In the meantime, the overall design could also be applied to help treat regenerative issues in organs and wounds.

“The reproducible and scalable production of microrobots using our lab-on-a-chip system demonstrates that the platform’s application potential extends beyond basic research,” added Pané i Vidal.

The post Injectable nanorobots may help heal spinal injuries appeared first on Popular Science.

Although the black and white tegu resembles many monitor lizard species, they are actually only distantly related to the reptiles. The speckled omnivores can weigh upwards of 10 pounds, largely thanks to a diet that regularly includes eggs, small animals, fruits, and vegetables. They are also extremely prolific animals, with a single female capable of producing around 35 eggs every year. These typically hatch during the summer between June and July, meaning many in Georgia have a decent chance of spotting a tegu in the near future.

It’s still unclear how the tegus were first introduced into the state, although illegal releases by exotic pet owners are the most likely explanation. Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) first responded to reports of the rogue reptiles in 2018, with sightings spreading ever since. Tegus are currently particularly concentrated in southeastern Georgia’s Toombs and Tattnall counties, but experts fear a lack of predators means the lizard population could soon explode without concerted conservation efforts. As non-native “wild” species, trapping and hunting tegus is legal in Georgia throughout the year.

That said, the DNR still cautions hunters against coming into direct contact with the reptiles. Although not particularly aggressive or dangerous, tegus may carry exotic parasites as well as harmful bacteria including salmonella. Experts encourage people to instead contact the DNR if they see one of the lizards, either by emailing gainvasives@dnr.ga.gov or calling (478) 994-1438.

Unfortunately, Georgia isn’t the only state contending with an unwanted tegu problem. According to an ongoing mapping project from the U.S. Geological Survey and Georgia Southern University, residents across Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas have also reported sightings in recent years.

The post Georgia is battling invasive, 4-foot-long lizards appeared first on Popular Science.

FACT: Marie Antoinette probably had braces

By Rachel Feltman

The idea of Marie Antoinette in orthodontic braces probably sounds like something out of my favorite Sofia Coppola film, but it’s not as anachronistic as it sounds. While I couldn’t find a definitive primary source on the subject, there are historical mentions of Marie Antoinette undergoing orthodontic treatment. And in some ways, it would be more surprising if she didn’t do a stint in braces: modern dentistry as we know it was essentially invented in France in the early 1700s, and by the time Marie and Louis got hitched, French people were practically known for having straight, pretty teeth. We know that Marie Antoinette was given an intense French makeover in all things before being shipped off to Versailles, so it’s plausible that she had a bit of dental work done, too. 

If the idea of 18th century orthodontia makes you want to put your head between your knees, you’re not wrong. The hardware designed by Pierre Fauchard, called a bandolet or bandeau, used a horseshoe-shaped piece of metal that pressed against the inside or outside of the dental arch. Dentists would manually tie individual teeth to the appliance using either silk threads or thin metal wires. That is, admittedly, pretty identical to how braces work today—they exert constant pressure on teeth to help move them into new positions, then hold them there while everything settles into place. But modern braces are designed to move teeth more effectively and with as little pain as possible, and the bandeau was much more of a blunt instrument. 

For a fun French dental bonus fact, I dug into the weird social history of smiling on the eve of the Revolution. Check out this week’s episode to learn more! 

FACT: One woman’s cells have fueled most medical research for decades 

Featuring Hari Kondabolu and Dr. Priyanka Wali

Today’s special guests are comedian Hari Kondabolu and physician-slash-comedian Priyanka Wali. Together they host the podcast Health Stuff, where they dive into everything from earwax to sleep hygiene.

On this week’s episode of Weirdest Thing, Hari and Priyanka share the story of Henrietta Lacks. While being treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins in the 1950s, this African American mother of five unknowingly—and involuntarily—changed the course of medical history. Cancer cells from one of her biopsies were sent off for research without her knowledge or consent. Unlike other cancer cells in the lab, hers kept doubling instead of dying off. They were the first human cells that were discovered to multiply easily in a lab setting, making them perfect for studying the impact of various drugs, hormones, viruses, and toxins. While the cell line that originates from Henrietta Lacks’ tissues—called the HeLa line—has been used in research that’s saved countless lives over the decades, they also serve as a reminder of the entrenched racism of our medical system.

Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about Henrietta’s story. And for a deeper dive, check out “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” 

FACT: It’s possible that neanderthals knew how to treat cavities 

By Rachel Feltman

Surprise, more teeth! Scientists recently reported that a 59,000-year-old tooth—a neanderthal molar, to be precise—could conceivably have been drilled to treat a cavity. They came to that conclusion by tinkering with three modern teeth, AKA subjecting them to the horrors of prehistoric dental treatment, to show that the ancient chomper showed signs of the same. 

Unsurprisingly, not everyone is 100 percent convinced by the experimental evidence. But even if hominids weren’t drilling cavities that long ago, there’s good reason to believe we’ve been at it for longer than you might guess. A couple of teeth from the Stone Age (about 13,000 years ago) show less ambiguous signs of dental drilling, and dentistry has been a flourishing (if often misguided) practice for thousands of years. Many of our ancient ancestors even wore dental bridges made out of gold and other precious metals—so grills have a long, proud history. 

The post Marie Antoinette probably got braces to straighten her teeth appeared first on Popular Science.

The solar system includes eight known planets (sorry, Pluto). Barring interstellar catastrophe, this number will remain the same until the sun finally dies about 5 billion years from now. However, this total planetary count was never a guarantee.The solar system’s earliest era featured multiple embryonic protoplanets that had the potential to grow together into additional cosmic neighbors.

The remnants of these long gone celestial bodies are scarce, but traces still exist. That said, astronomers didn’t expect to find protoplanetary evidence in a meteorite like NWA 12774. Discovered in 2019, NWA 12774 is an angrite—one of the oldest known types of volcanic rock that was formed during the solar system’s era about 4.56 billion years ago. They’re also very rare. Of the roughly 80,000 meteorites discovered on Earth so far, only 68 are angrites.

Unlike rocky planets such as Mars and Earth, angrites do not have a lot of silicon dioxide. Because of this, astronomers have long assumed that angrites always originated in asteroids no larger than about 124 miles wide. NWA 12774 blows this theory apart..

While analyzing the meteorite, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder detected clinopyroxene, a mineral crystal that exists throughout Earth’s mantle and crust. NWA 12774’s clinopyroxene was also heavy in aluminum, which directly points to formation under massive amounts of pressure underground. The team then calculated the conditions necessary to create an angrite like NWA 12774, and settled on at least 17.5 kilobars of pressure. To put that in perspective, the pressure experienced at the bottom of the roughly 35,875-foot-deep Mariana Trench is barely one kilobar.

Small asteroids simply don’t possess the conditions needed to generate a rock like NWA 12774. What’s more, the angrite’s sharp crystalline edges also indicate that it formed at comparatively shallow depths in its host body. Based on all of these factors, astronomers now believe NWA 12774 once belonged to a young protoplanet with a radius anywhere from 621 to 2,050 miles wide. This means that instead of an asteroid, the angrite may have existed inside something as big as Mars.

“It’s incredible to think there was once a world this large,” Aaron Bell, a UC Boulder earth scientist and study co-author, said in a statement. “We only know it existed because a few fragments of it happened to land on Earth. These meteorites preserved evidence of a completely different pathway through which early planets developed.”

Although it’s unclear how the protoplanet met its demise, some type of crash between early solar system denizens is definitely a possibility. Regardless, the ramifications are huge for astronomers’ understanding of our cosmic neighborhood’s history.

“The materials that formed the angrite parent body are fundamentally different from the ingredients of Earth and Mars,” explained Bell. “It points to a distinct and separate evolutionary path in planetary formation in the early history of our solar system.”

The post Rare meteorite proves our solar system almost had an extra planet appeared first on Popular Science.

Blueberries are native to North Carolina, but were not cultivated until 1935. The state is the sixth largest blueberry producer in the United States, and the blueberry industry is valued at roughly $70 million. Protecting the plants from pests is crucial, as blueberries are considered one of North Carolina’s most valuable and desirable crops. 

Several species including the blueberry maggot (Rhagoletis mendax), plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar), and cranberry fruitworm (Acrobasis vaccinii Riley) can threaten blueberry crops. The long-horned beetle P. imbricornus may now join their ranks. P. imbricornus is known for their long antennae and are considered wood-boring beetles. The adult females typically lay their eggs in the soil near the roots of hardwood trees. The larvae then eat and destroy the roots. These larvae can grow up to five inches long and potentially kill trees, since the adults don’t feed. 

North Carolina is the first state to report that P. imbricornus is actively feeding on blueberry bushes. However, reports of unidentified larvae from the Prionus beetle genus feeding on and damaging blueberry bush roots go back to 2010. In the 16 years since, identifying the specific species responsible has been difficult since the larvae live near the roots of the plants. Different types of longhorn beetle larvae also look very similar, and not identifying a species can harm efforts to combat harmful bugs. 

“Before now, researchers often just assumed the species of Prionus on their commodities based on adult identification,” Kenneth Geisert, a study co-author and NC State graduate student, said in a statement. “If that guess was incorrect, it could mean using a treatment strategy that did not line up with the problem and incorrectly associating species and their hosts.”

For example, P. imbricornus attacks roots, but another longhorn beetle species may go after a tree’s dead branches or trunk. 

“Without knowing which species of beetle you’re dealing with and their ecology, incorrect management can cause adverse effects on non-target insects,” Geisert added.

For this study, the team used a series of black panel traps scented with sex pheromones to attract and gather adult beetles. The traps were placed at six farms across Pender, Sampson, Bladen, and New Hanover counties. The team then used a technique called genetic barcoding on the larvae to analyze small, standardized segments of their DNA to identify the species. They then compared the unknown larval sequences with the same genetic segments from known Prionus adults.

They matched the P. imbricornus with 98 to 99 percent accuracy. According to the team, this result is both good and bad news for farmers.

“On one hand, it’s very important that we know which species we’re dealing with,” said Lorena Lopez, a study co-author and entomologist at NC State. “On the other, North Carolina was the first state to ever report Prionus infestation in blueberries, and there are no insecticides currently labeled against this pest in blueberries.”

To address this shortfall, Lopez has begun insecticide trials. Pinpointing effective insecticides and timing during P. imbricornis reproductive cycles can potentially limit larval development. Fewer larvae could help prevent major root damage and provide blueberry farmers with an effective management tool to protect their crops. 

The post A ‘mystery beetle’ is devouring North Carolina’s precious blueberries appeared first on Popular Science.

Maybe you don’t often remember your dreams but this one, this episode that fused the mundane with the outlandish, it sticks. Even days later, you can still see those tentacles gripping the steering wheels or feel the awkwardness of your gait running to catch your flight. 

It couldn’t have been that joint you smoked before bed, could it? Science says maybe.

How weed effects sleep cycles

Reports of vivid dreams are “very well known” in cannabis and neuroscience research, says Andrew Kesner, assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University in Indianapolis. But “we still don’t really know the neurobiology of dreaming and what sort of features make you remember your dreams better or worse.”

What researchers do know is how consuming weed alters sleep patterns. 

Cannabinoids are found naturally in the brain in a non-psychoactive form called endocannabinoids. Endocannabinoids control our sleep/wake cycle, aka our circadian rhythms, by modulating and maintaining the brain’s biological balance through an abundant receptors neuroscientists call CB1. 

“When people fall asleep, the brain makes its own cannabinoids that increase and decrease throughout the sleep-wake cycle, and throughout the day,” explains Kesner.

Marijuana contains a different form of cannabinoid than the one naturally produced by the brain, THC or tetrahydrocannabinol. THC also works on the brain’s CB1 receptors but, unlike endocannabinoids, it is psychoactive, meaning it makes users feel high by producing feelings like euphoria and paranoia. 

When you smoke weed before bed, the THC added to the brain’s natural endocannabinoids sends the brain’s CB1 receptors into overdrive. And when those CB1 receptors are in overdrive, they change the way you sleep.

Natural sleep in healthy adults begins with a short period of nodding off followed by a stage of “slow-wave” sleep, that deep sleep from which it’s hard to wake someone up. Cycles of lighter sleep punctuated by bouts of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep follow, growing longer and longer throughout the night. 

“REM sleep is classically the time when you’re dreaming,” says Kesner, when “your brain acts like it’s awake but the brain stem paralyzes your body so you can’t act out your dreams.” 

Consuming THC appears to suppress REM sleep: It causes it to arrive later in the sleep cycle and to make up less of the overall percentage of sleep. THC also causes more frequent interruptions to REM sleep. That, says Kesner, may be the origins of its reputation for causing weird dreams. 

“We know if you wake someone up in REM sleep, that’s when they have the highest chance to remember their dreams,” he explains. So, while there’s no evidence that dreams under the influence of THC are any different than THC-free dreams, the ability to remember them more easily may make the sleeper believe they are more bizarre or intense. 

According to one recent study, a dreamer is also likely to feel more rested following a night of vivid dreams, which may be one reason why many people feel smoking a joint or eating a gummy helps them to sleep.

Dreams are slippery suckers

Anything more is hard to say for sure.

“It’s possible that the THC could be making dreams more intense by changing cortical activity [the way the brain functions], making them wonkier and maybe adding some variability to what you’re dreaming about,” Kesner continues. But the huge variability among individuals in both sleep and the effects of THC use makes objectively studying weed-induced dreams “kind of a nightmare”—pun not intended. 

Researchers still don’t even know exactly what dreams are or why they happen—though there’s a good chance that it may be the brain coming up with different learning scenarios, according to Kesner. Someone who plays with puppies all day may, for example, dream that night about being chased by wolves. That way, if it ever happens in real life, the dreamer is better prepared to react to them. 

Whether the weed was smoked or taken in edible form is probably also important; THC immediately affects the brain when smoking while edibles take time for the body to metabolize. One study in which participants reported weird dreams after smoking weed before bedtime, therefore, may have had to do more with the way REM sleep “rebounds,” or immediately returns to longer and more robust natural cycles, when the brain experiences THC withdrawal than with THC’s psychoactive effects. 

It’s well documented, says Kesner, that chronic THC users experience more intense REM sleep after they stop using it. The same might happen in occasional users, whose REM sleep could theoretically become more intense as the acute effects of weed wears off during the night. In other words, you don’t sleep as well while weed’s psychoactive THC is bouncing around your brain but it becomes much more restorative as soon as its effects wear off. 

Ultimately, there probably is no “one-size-fits-all for what cannabis does to sleep or how it affects dreams,” Kesner concludes. As of now, there’s simply not enough data to come to any meaningful verdict. THC or not, dreams are, by their very nature, weird.

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Weed really does change your dreams appeared first on Popular Science.

Usually used as a means of camouflage, male katydids appear to use their leafy disguise to amplify mating calls and make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex. The findings are detailed in a study published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and offer one of the first demonstrations of how leaf mimicry enhances a male katydids’ sexual signals. 

To shield themselves from predators, various species of katydids have evolved wings with structures that look like leaves. Panama’s leaf-masquerading katydids (Arota festae) will even change from green to hot pink in order to better mimic leaves. What’s been less clear to entomologists is whether or not these leaf-mimicking structures play a role in katydid mating. 

This new study looked at a species called Viadana brunneri from Barro Colorado Island, Panama. To attract mates, katydids create songs by rubbing together specialized structures on their wings. In many tropical species like V. brunneri, the portion that mimics leaves makes up the majority of their wing’s surface area.  

Previously, scientists believed physical adaptations for survival and for attracting mates can function in conflict with one another, particularly if they are physically connected. A male peacock’s flashy tail feathers may help it attract a female, but it also makes it easier for predators to find them. Male katydids, on the other hand, are able to use the acoustic properties of the structures that they use for defense to their reproductive advantage. They are a rare example of how an adaptation for self-defence and reproduction can work together without necessarily putting the animal in jeopardy. 

The team performed a series of bioacoustic, behavioral, and biophysical experiments, showing that these leafy structures on their wings make them more attractive to females, while also helping conceal them. After removing the leafy portions of a male V. brunneri’s wings, the pitch became higher and the volume of their songs also changed. The team then played these calls for females who preferred the lower pitch calls from males with their leafy wing sections still intact. 

While male katydids do all the singing, females indicate their interest by replying to the song with clicks. The insects produce short, sporadic and infrequent calls, possibly for only two seconds in a single night. They perform these calls in ultrasounds, which our ears can’t pick up. They also found that the leafy portions of the male katydid wing will vibrate to amplify their songs, making them more detectable to females. 

“Our study provides a rare example of natural and sexual selection acting in harmony, producing traits that simultaneously improve survival and mating success,” Dr. Benito Wainwright, a study co-author and evolutionary biologist at the University of St Andrews, said in a statement. “We are now extremely excited to start exploring how such an interesting interaction evolved in katydids.” 

The post Big wings and sweet songs: The mating lives of Panama’s katydids appeared first on Popular Science.

Anker Nano 45W Smart Display USB-C Charger $27.99 (was $39.99)

The brick that shows exactly how much power it’s putting out

See It

The Anker Nano 45W USB-C Charger has a built-in Smart Display that shows real-time wattage output on the face of the brick, and a Care Mode that automatically throttles back when a phone hits 80% to protect the battery long-term. It’s a single USB-C port, compact and foldable, and at $27.99 it’s the least expensive way to get into Anker’s Smart Display lineup. Most people who track charge speeds will find it useful. Everyone else just has a very good 45W GaN charger at a price that makes it easy to keep one at a desk and another in a bag.

Anker 100W 3-Port GaN USB-C Charger with Smart Display $49.98 (was $69.99)

One wall outlet, enough wattage for a laptop, tablet, and phone

See It

The Anker 100W 3-Port GaN USB-C Charger puts 100W total across three USB-C ports, with a smart display and touch control to see and adjust per-port output. With a single device plugged into the top port, you get the full 100W, enough for a 16-inch MacBook Pro at full charge speed. With all three ports active, it splits automatically. At $49.98 it’s 29% off and covers the most common use case: one charging brick, everything on your desk, no hunting for the right outlet.

Anker Prime 3-in-1 Qi2.2 25W MagSafe Charging Station $149.99 (was $229.99)

Anker’s best MagSafe dock, $80 off list and Qi2.2 certified at 25W

See It

The Anker Prime 3-in-1 Qi2.2 25W Charging Station is certified to the Qi2.2 standard, which pushed the MagSafe peak from 15W to 25W on iPhone 16 and later. It charges iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods simultaneously, with a built-in AirCool aerospace-grade thermoelectric cooling system that keeps the phone pad running at full 25W without throttling under sustained load. The on-unit display shows per-device wattage in real time. At $149.99 it’s the biggest dollar-amount discount in the current sale, $80 off a model that doesn’t typically go this low.

Anker Wall Charger and Cable Deals at Amazon

The Anker 140W 4-Port MacBook Charger with Smart Display is $64.99 (was $89.99), which is enough single-port output to run a 16-inch MacBook Pro at full speed while simultaneously charging an iPad and two phones off the other three ports. The Prime 100W 3-Port Foldable GaN Charger at $39.98 (was $69.99) is the deepest percentage cut on any single item in the current sale at 43% off.

• Anker 140W 4-Port MacBook Charger with Smart Display (5ft Cable Included) $64.99 (was $89.99)
• Anker Prime 160W 3-Port Compact GaN Charger with Smart Display $115.99 (was $149.99)
• Anker Prime 100W 3-Port Foldable GaN Charger $39.98 (was $69.99)
• Anker Nano 70W 3-Port USB-C Charger (Cable Included) $34.99 (was $49.99)
• Anker 65W 3-Port Compact Foldable USB-C Charger $29.99 (was $39.99)
• Anker Laptop Charger, 100W USB-C (5ft Cable Included) $27.99
• Anker Nano 5-Port Travel Adapter, Works in 200+ Countries $25.99
• Anker Power Strip with 2,100J Surge Protector (12 AC, 2 USB-A, 1 USB-C) $28.99
• Anker 9-in-1 Desktop Power Strip with 300J Surge Protection (100W USB-C) $39.99
• Anker Nano 240W Flexible Braided USB-C Cable (6ft) $16.99 (was $19.99)
• Anker Prime 240W USB-C to USB-C Cable, Upcycled Braided Nylon (6ft) $31.49 with coupon (was $34.99)

Anker Power Bank Deals at Amazon

The Anker Prime 20,100mAh Power Bank at $125.99 is the high-wattage travel option, TSA-approved at 220W max output with app control for per-port management. For MagSafe users, the MagGo 10,000mAh Qi2 power bank with foldable stand is $67.99, and the slim 10K version without the stand is $69.99 (was $79.99).

• Anker Prime Power Bank, 20,100mAh 3-Port 220W Max (TSA-Approved) $125.99 (was $179.99)
• Anker MagGo Power Bank, Qi2 Certified 10,000mAh with Smart Display and Foldable Stand $67.99 (was $89.99)
• Anker MagGo Slim Power Bank, 10,000mAh Qi2 MagSafe-Compatible $69.99 (was $79.99)
• Anker Nano Ultra-Slim 5,000mAh Qi2 MagSafe Power Bank (iPhone 17/16/15) $54.99

Anker Wireless Charger and Car Charger Deals at Amazon

The Anker Zolo Qi2 MagSafe Charging Pad 2-Pack at $23.99 (was $39.99) is the biggest percentage cut in the wireless section at 40% off, which works out to under $12 per pad. The 3-in-1 Cube MagSafe Charging Stand drops to $89.99 (was $129.99) for a compact foldable unit that handles iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods together.

• Anker MagGo 3-in-1 Qi2 Foldable MagSafe Charging Stand (Adapter Included) $89.99 (was $109.99)
• Anker MagGo UFO 3-in-1 Qi2 Foldable Travel Wireless Charger $67.49 (was $89.99)
• Anker 3-in-1 Cube MagSafe Charging Stand (Adapter Included) $89.99 (was $129.99)
• Anker MagSafe 2-in-1 Charging Stand, Qi2 Certified (No Adapter) $49.99
• Anker MagGo Qi2 MagSafe Wireless Charging Pad (Adapter Included) $25.99 (was $35.99)
• Anker Zolo Qi2 MagSafe Wireless Charging Pad (2-Pack) $23.99 (was $39.99)
• Anker Prime Qi2 25W MagSafe Car Vent Mount Charger with AirCool (60W Adapter Included) $67.49 (was $89.99)
• Anker Nano Qi2 Magnetic Wireless Car Charger, 360° Adjustable Mount (Adapter Included) $44.99 (was $59.99)
• Anker Retractable 75W USB-C Car Charger with Built-in Cable $23.99 (was $29.99)

Anker Hub and Docking Station Deals at Amazon

The Anker Prime 14-Port Docking Station is $169.99 (was $269.99), a 37% cut on the 160W dual-4K model, and the top-end Prime TB5 Thunderbolt 5 dock is $339.98 (was $399.99), which supports 120 Gbps transfer and dual 8K display output. On the budget end, the USB-C to HDMI adapter is $12.99 and the 5-in-1 hub is $15.99.

• Anker Prime TB5 14-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Docking Station (140W, Dual 8K) $339.98 (was $399.99)
• Anker Prime 14-Port Docking Station, 160W Max (Dual 4K) $169.99 (was $269.99)
• Anker 13-in-1 USB-C Docking Station, Triple Display (2x HDMI + DP, 85W) $139.99 (was $199.99)
• Anker 14-in-1 Triple-Display Docking Station (Dual 4K HDMI + VGA, 80W PD) $48.99 (was $69.99)
• Anker 11-in-1 USB-C Dual-Monitor Docking Station (4K HDMI + DP, 85W) $69.99
• Anker 8-in-1 USB-C Hub with Ethernet (10 Gbps, 4K HDMI, 85W PD, SD/microSD) $35.99 (was $49.99)
• Anker 6-in-1 USB-C Hub with Ethernet (1 Gbps, 4K HDMI, 65W PD) $29.98 (was $39.99)
• Anker 5-in-1 USB-C Hub (4K HDMI, 90W PD, 3 USB-A) $15.99 (was $19.99)
• Anker USB-C to HDMI Adapter (4K at 60Hz) $12.99 (was $16.99)
• Anker USB-C to USB-A Adapter (2-Pack) $12.99

Anker Desktop Charging Station Deals at Amazon

The Anker Prime 250W 6-Port GaN Charging Station with 2.26-inch LCD is $99.99 (was $149.99), the flagship desktop unit that lets you set per-port wattage from a touch display. For travel, the Nano 67W 6-in-1 Travel Power Strip drops to $33.99 (was $49.99) with a flat plug and 5-foot cord that works well for hotel rooms.

• Anker Prime 250W 6-Port GaN Charging Station with 2.26-Inch LCD Touch Display $99.99 (was $149.99)
• Anker Prime 200W 6-Port GaN Desktop Charging Station $69.99 with coupon (list $79.99)
• Anker Nano 100W 7-in-1 Power Strip with Retractable InstaCord $79.99
• Anker Prime 240W 8-in-1 USB-C Power Strip (5ft Detachable Cord) $129.99
• Anker Nano 67W 6-in-1 Travel Power Strip (5ft Flat-Plug Cord) $33.99 (was $49.99)

The post Anker just dropped its charging accessories to clearance prices before the upcoming Prime Day sale appeared first on Popular Science.

Herring’s final mission

The Herring was first launched from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine on January 15, 1942, and officially commissioned on May 4, 1942. The vessel completed eight war patrols in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans during the war. Herring sank seven enemy ships, including four Japanese cargo ships during what would be the submarine’s final patrol. 

Herring was last seen by the crew of the USS Barb during the evening of May 31, 1944. The submarines met to determine who would patrol areas off the Kurile Islands, an archipelago east of Japan. Early on June 1, 1944, Barb’s crew recorded hearing the sound of weapons designed to attack a submarine from a ship or aircraft called depth charges exploding in the distance. 

Japanese historical records also confirm that Herring was struck in two direct hits during a counterattack by a shore battery. The strikes ultimately sank Herring and the vessel was presumed lost when Herring failed to report to Midway on July 13, 1944. The sinking killed all 83 crewmembers.

A protected final resting place

In 2017, a joint expedition between Russian Geographic Society (RGS) and the Russian Military reported a submarine wreck in the area. Based on its location and appearance, the RGS reported that the wreckage was Herring. A subsequent joint expedition returned to the wreck in 2022 to document its status and honor the lost crew. The expedition team also placed a plaque on site. The data collected and shared by the RGS was analyzed by two U.S. volunteer researchers and one researcher in Japan. NHCC confirmed the wreckage on June 1, 2026–82 years to the day after Herring is believed to have sunk.

Importantly, the wreckage shows battle damage around the submarine’s conning tower. This tower is a raised platform from which an officer can conn (conduct or control) a vessel. This damage, along with evidence of grounding at the submarine’s bow, correlates with the historical record of the Herring’s sinking.

The wreckage is currently protected by U.S. law and under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Navy. The Navy allows some non-intrusive activities on sunken military craft, but any activity that may disturb the sunken vessel must be coordinated with NHHC.

“Most importantly, the wreck represents the final resting place of Sailors who gave their lives in defense of the nation and should be respected by all parties as a war grave,” the NHHC wrote in a press release.”

The post Lost WWII submarine discovered off the coast of Japan appeared first on Popular Science.

Scientists have long pointed to previously frozen soil beginning to thaw as the potential culprit behind the contamination of rivers in northern Alaska’s remote Brooks Range, and a study recently published in the Communications Earth & Environment proves it. The research also shows two distinct ways that this thawing soil is rusting the rivers and can help scientists predict where the damage is likely to spread next. 

“You’d think if any ecosystem could hide from the effects of warming and big human footprints, it’d be this one. But it’s not so,” Tim Lyons, a study co-author and biogeochemist at the University of California, Riverside, said in a statement. “There is no safe place.”

From thawing permafrost to orange water

Permafrost is rock or soil that contains ice that has been frozen for two or more years. Alaska is warming two to three times faster than the global average, melting some of the permafrost that has been frozen for thousands of years. That thawing permafrost is already threatening the Tracy Arm Fjord, a popular destination for Alaskan cruises. 

As the ice-filled permafrost begins to thaw due to climate change, it can turn into mud that can’t support the weight of the soil or vegetation above it. This can threaten human-built infrastructure such as homes, pipes, and roads. It can also expose iron particles from rocks that turn rivers orange, a process called rusting. 

Rusting has severe ecological consequences. The fine iron particles can stay suspended in water for over 60 miles, smothering algae, disrupting insect populations, and clogging fish gills. These changes may already be affecting salmon in Alaska and Canada who rely on the gravel riverbeds for spawning and rely on algae as food during early life stages.

A top-down, fool’s gold problem

For this new study, the team looked at a wide regional view of the roughly 600-mile Brooks Range. They then zoomed in on a specific river system, followed by an even closer look at one creek. This top-down approach helped them to connect the bigger regional patterns to specific, on-the-ground processes.

“At middle, more heavily forested elevations, there isn’t much going on. But at the higher and lower elevations we could see distinctly different phenomena,” said Roman Dial, a study co-author math and biology professor emeritus at Alaska Pacific University.

At the higher elevations, the problem begins in the rocky ground containing pyrite, aka fool’s gold. Since the ground was frozen for many years, water and air didn’t affect the pyrite. Yet the rising temperatures have started to melt the ground, kicking off a process called acid rock drainage. The minerals and rocks are exposed to oxygen and water and degrade the water quality. 

“When pyrite meets water, it comes apart. It breaks down into iron and sulfur, creating sulfuric acid as well as sulfate and other toxic metals,” said Lyons. “When the iron-rich water mixes with more oxygen, the iron turns into rust-like particles that color the water and stain the bottom sediments orange.”

It’s an entirely different story at the lower elevations. The landscape is covered with wetlands that are changing shape and expanding downward as the permafrost melts. In these more soggy places, the soils are low in oxygen. So instead of breathing in oxygen, the microbes in the water (mostly bacteria) are taking in iron. 

“When we breathe, oxygen goes in and gets converted to the carbon dioxide that we exhale,” Dial said. “Similarly, microbes are consuming iron in the lowland soils and converting it into a water-soluble form that seeps into streams and results in rusting as it meets oxygenated surface water.”

Taken together, both acid rock drainage and microbes breathing in more iron help explain why orange waters are appearing across such large and remote regions across northern Alaska, closely tracking to areas where permafrost is thawing.

The direct link

The team also found a delayed effect that could help predict future contamination. During the summer, the active, top layer of soil thaws to its deepest point. It then refreezes before the winter. The iron released during one summer thaw can become trapped and then flushed into rivers the following year.

By studying long-term ground temperature data and stream chemistry, this lag can be used to anticipate increases in metal levels.

“That means we can use ground temperatures to help predict water quality in the future,” added study co-author and University of Alaska ecologist Paddy Sullivan. In 2019, Sullivan first noticed the dramatic river changes that looked “like sewage” during fieldwork in the region.

Since mines typically control the waters near them to minimize pollution, the team partnered with scientists at the Red Dog zinc mine in northwest Alaska. The scientists there have long-term temperature records from boreholes that are drilled deeply into the earth and from chemistry sampling in stream water. Linking the underground measurements with changes in the stream’s chemistry directly connected the thawing permafrost to the rusting rivers.

While this problem is difficult to contain and manage, predicting where the contamination may pop up next could help pinpoint and protect critical habitats. This forecasting is especially important for communities that depend on these waters and the fishing living there for food and cultural practices.

“There’s no fixing this once it starts,” Lyons said. “But we can give people downstream a heads up and work hard to protect the places that are still safe and less vulnerable to the rusting.”

The post The mystery of Alaska’s orange rivers is finally solved appeared first on Popular Science.

Best tabletop campsite lantern: GigaPower Tabletop Lantern

GigaPower Tabletop Lantern $100

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The Snow Peak Tabletop LED Lantern is a $100 dimmable camp light that produces a warm even glow rather than the white blast of most camp lanterns. Snow Peak is the Japanese outdoor brand that designs camp gear like high-end furniture: matte aluminum body, frosted diffuser, tactile aluminum knobs. It runs on Snow Peak’s proprietary battery or USB. It looks at home on a campsite picnic table or on a nightstand in your bedroom, which is the design language Snow Peak has made its signature.

Best illustrated reference book: Hungry Minds The Book

Hungry Minds The Book $119

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The Hungry Minds Book is a hand-illustrated encyclopedia of mechanisms, biology, optics, and social systems, 400 pages from a small Florida-based studio. Every illustration starts as a pencil sketch and finishes in lithographic ink. The cover is silver-embossed and the binding is sewn. Chapters cover anatomy, bicycles, animation, festivals, and sushi, which sounds scattered until you spend twenty minutes inside one. A five-pound coffee-table object that rewards being opened. Popular Science readers can get the premium gift box for free by clicking ‘see it’ above. The first 20 customers can get 20% off with LEARNLIKEDAD20.

Best heritage sunglasses: Vuarnet Racing 05

Vuarnet Racing 05 sunglasses $330

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The Vuarnet Racing 05 sunglasses come equipped with mineral glass lenses instead of polycarbonate, which makes them slightly heavier but offers a visibly sharper image with optical clarity polycarbonate doesn’t match. The acetate frame is hand-finished in Italy. The Racing 05 is the investment pair that replaces three rounds of $100 sunglasses and tends to outlast the cars it rides along in.

Best alpine shell jacket: Norrøna Falketind dri1

Norrøna Falketind dri1 Jacket $399

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The Norrøna Falketind dri1 is a $399 lightweight rain shell built around dri1, Norrøna’s own waterproof-breathable membrane. The cut is alpine, seams are minimized to reduce failure points, and the jacket packs into its own hood pocket. Skimp on a jacket in this category and it will start to flake and disintegrate a year or two in. You won’t have that problem here. With proper care, this will last for years, even under heavy use.

Best limited-edition notebook: Moleskine NASA-Inspired Edition

Moleskine NASA-Inspired Limited Edition Notebook $37

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The Moleskine NASA-Inspired Notebook is a $37 limited edition with Apollo-era graphic design on the cover and a sealed envelope at the back containing a small commemorative print. Inside, it’s the classic Moleskine ruled paper that has barely changed in decades because users love it so much. The whole package feels like a nice gift and it’ll actually come in handy for everyday use.

Best digital writing tablet: reMarkable Paper Pure

reMarkable Paper Pure $399

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The reMarkable Paper Pure is a $399 e-ink writing tablet that drops the front light and color display of the Paper Pro to bring the price down by $180, per our full review. The textured screen and 21-millisecond pen-to-ink latency match the Pro’s, so the writing feel doesn’t compromise. The chassis is built with screws and snaps for repairability, weighs 0.79 pounds, and the battery runs three weeks on an hour of daily note-taking.

Best leash: Ruffwear Ridgeline

Ruffwear Ridgeline Lead $69.99

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If your pop loves his pooch, get him a leash worthy of his best friend. The reflective mesh leash is super durable, so even large dogs can pull on it without worry. The wrist loop closes with a simple magnetic Fidlock clip, so it’s easy to get on and off, but only when you want to. The auto-locking Talon Clip provides a super-sturdy point of contact with a leash or a harness, so the whole package is secure (and handsome) from end to end.

Best chore coat: Carhartt Crafted Series Drill Painter Chore Coat

Carhartt Crafted Series Drill Painter Chore Coat $150

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Carhartt jackets look better once they’re broken in and that’s especially true here. Made from 9-ounce 100% cotton drill, this jacket is designed to break in and patina the way Carhartt’s original painter coats did a century ago. The rest of the feature sheet includes Two-piece sleeves for mobility, metal button front, snap cuffs, an interior chest pocket, and exterior pockets sized for brushes and carpenter pencils. The Crafted Series is Carhartt’s elevated line with cleaner cuts over the same construction. You’ll want to steal it once your dad has worked in it for a while.

Best EDC flashlight: Olight ArkPro Ultra

Olight ArkPro Ultra $129.99

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This is four light sources in one body: a 1,700-lumen flood, an 800-lumen spot, a 365-nanometer UV mode for inspection work, and a green laser pointer. It charges magnetically or over USB-C, and the flat aluminum body is comfortable in a pocket in a way most cylindrical flashlights are not. This is a gift he’ll carry around with him every single day.

Best garage storage bins: DECKED Payloader

DECKED Payloader 32L 3-Pack from $125

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DECKED is best known for engineered truck-bed drawer systems, but the Payloader is a stackable garage storage bin engineered to bring tough storage into the house. Sizes run 32 to 133 liters, lids hold up to 200 pounds static, and the bins lock into a Stable Stack formation so a tower of three doesn’t slide off itself. Lifetime warranty. I’ve been testing these in my house for a few weeks and I’ve already dropped them several times with no breakage.

Best cutting board: STEELPORT SteelCore Cutting Board

STEELPORT SteelCore Cutting Board (Oregon Maple, 18×12) $240

<img class="attachment-post-thumb-medium size-full" src="https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/steelport-cutting-board.jpg?quality=85&w=768" srcset="https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/steelport-cutting-board.jpg?w=50&h=28 50w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/steelport-cutting-board.jpg?w=370&h=208 370w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/steelport-cutting-board.jpg?w=384&h=216 384w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/steelport-cutting-board.jpg?w=580&h=326 580w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/steelport-cutting-board.jpg?w=660&h=371 660w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/steelport-cutting-board.jpg?w=704&h=396 704w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/steelport-cutting-board.jpg?w=768&h=432 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" alt="Steelport SteelCore 2-in-1 Walnut Cutting Board" width="768" height="432" loading="lazy" />

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This edge-grain Oregon big-leaf maple board has a steel matrix embedded inside it, which keeps the board flat against the dimensional movement that warps and splits ordinary wooden boards over time. STEELPORT hand-finishes them in Portland. The Oregon Maple variant has a recycled paper-composite reverse with a juice groove for raw proteins. At 0.75 inches thick, STEELPORT claims it’s the thinnest end-grain board on the market. Plus, it looks nice enough to keep on the counter all the time without having to stash it away in a cabinet.

Best adventure smartwatch: Suunto Vertical 2

Suunto Vertical 2 (Stainless Steel) $599

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A 1.5-inch AMOLED screen peaks at 2,000 nits of brightness, so this adventure-ready watch is visible in just about any conditions. Dual-frequency GNSS provides accurate location data even if you’re battling a canyon or tree-cover. Free downloadable offline maps and a 65-hour run time per charge (with GPS turned on) make this a wearable that you can rely on during off-grid adventures.

Best high-resolution camera: Sony Alpha 7R VI

Alpha 7R VI: Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera $4,499.99

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Yes, this is an expensive camera, but consider this a passive aggressive attempt on my part to get my kids to buy me one. The A7R VI is built around a 66.8-megapixel fully-stacked Exmor RS sensor and shoots blackout-free continuous bursts at 30 frames per second. That means photographers don’t have to choose between high-res images and high-speed shooting. Dynamic range hits 16 stops. In-body stabilization claims up to 8.5 stops under ideal circumstances. Real-time Recognition AF+ uses skeletal pose estimation to predict where a moving subject’s face will be next. This is a beast of a camera that’s worthy of pro work.

Best propane fire pit: Solo Stove Infinity Flame

Solo Stove Infinity Flame $599.99

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Not every dad is great at building a fire with wood, and that’s OK. The Infinity relies on a propane tank you swap when it runs dry. Twin burners put out up to 72,000 BTUs combined, the unit runs five and a half hours on a 20-pound tank at maximum output, and the dual-burner geometry recreates the swirl pattern of a real wood fire. You get all the ambiance and warmth without the kindling, false starts, and ash cleanup.

Best portable jump starter: NOCO Boost GB40

NOCO Boost GB40 $99.95

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Despite its small size, this box delivers 1,000 amps of starting power, enough for any gas engine up to six liters or any diesel up to three. It weighs 2.4 pounds and works as a portable USB power bank. The built-in 100-lumen LED offers seven modes of illumination depending on your needs. All those featured are wrapped in an IP65-rated case to protect against dust and water. It may really get your dad (or you) out of a jam down the line.

Best work boot: KEEN Utility Targhee Blur

KEEN Utility Targhee Blur Waterproof (Carbon Toe) $210

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The KEEN Utility Targhee Blur is a $210 lightweight work boot, the work-boot version of KEEN’s long-running Targhee hiker. KEEN’s ReGEN+ midsole returns 60 percent of energy per step, the carbon-fiber composite safety toe is 15 percent lighter than steel and meets ASTM F3445 and F2413. Inside, the KEEN.DRY membrane keeps water out without trapping moisture in. The Targhee Blur is available in mid or low collar heights, both with reflective webbing for low-light visibility. Plus, they look a lot cooler than your dad’s old boots.

Best cooling underwear: Duluth Trading Armachillo Cooling Boxer Briefs 3-Pack

Duluth Trading Armachillo Cooling Boxer Briefs 3-Pack $74.50

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Many dads aren’t willing to splurge on underwear, so you have to do it for them. Jade-infused cooling fabric make these boxer briefs some of the most comfortable we’ve ever worn at work or the gym. Microscopic jade particles embedded in the nylon-spandex knit are dense enough to draw heat away from the skin, which makes the fabric measurably cool to the touch and not just moisture-wicking. The Armachillo briefs solve an actual hot-summer problem in a way most $25-a-pair boxer briefs cannot.

Best electric shaver: Philips Norelco i9000

Philips Norelco i9000 Wet & Dry Shaver with SenseIQ $229.96

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Disposable razors are over. This rechargeable shaver has a SenseIQ sensor inside that reads beard density 500 times per second and modulates cutting power on the fly. The Triple Lift & Cut head pulls flat-lying hairs upright before cutting them, which is the difference between a clean shave and a close-but-not-quite one. The motor and battery carry a five-year warranty. Self-sharpening blades last two years between replacements.

Best gaming headset: Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II

Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II Wireless Gaming Headset $349.99

<img class="attachment-post-thumb-medium size-full" src="https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/turtle-Beach-Stealth-Pro-II-Headset-.jpg?quality=85&w=768" srcset="https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/turtle-Beach-Stealth-Pro-II-Headset-.jpg?w=50&h=28 50w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/turtle-Beach-Stealth-Pro-II-Headset-.jpg?w=370&h=208 370w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/turtle-Beach-Stealth-Pro-II-Headset-.jpg?w=384&h=216 384w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/turtle-Beach-Stealth-Pro-II-Headset-.jpg?w=580&h=326 580w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/turtle-Beach-Stealth-Pro-II-Headset-.jpg?w=660&h=371 660w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/turtle-Beach-Stealth-Pro-II-Headset-.jpg?w=704&h=396 704w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/turtle-Beach-Stealth-Pro-II-Headset-.jpg?w=768&h=432 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" alt="Stealth Pro II Headset" width="768" height="432" loading="lazy" />

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The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II runs 60-millimeter Eclipse dual drivers, Japan Audio Society-certified 24-bit/96kHz hi-res wireless over a 2.4GHz USB transmitter, Dolby Atmos spatial audio, and adjustable active noise cancellation. Does that sound nerdy? Yes, but it’s also awesome and if your dad is a true gamer, he’ll appreciate all of it. Dual swappable 40-hour batteries mean zero downtime between charges. CrossPlay 2.0 handles up to four USB transmitters, so the Stealth Pro II moves between PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Bluetooth without rewiring.

Best washable wool rug: Revival Rugs Mori

Revival Rugs Mori Washable Wool Rug (6' x 9', Guava) $799

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Dad needs a rug to tie the room together. The Revival Rugs Mori is a $799 hand-knotted wool rug (in the 6′ × 9′ size) built around a washable construction most wool rugs can’t claim. Revival works with artisan partners on washable yarns and weave geometry that survive a wash cycle without the dry-cleaning intervention traditional wool rugs require. Three colorways: Guava, Matcha, Sakura. The Mori is the rug pick for someone who appreciates the look of a hand-knotted wool rug without the maintenance overhead.

Best mechanical keyboard: CHERRY XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless

CHERRY XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless $249.99

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You don’t have to know how magnets work to appreciate this high-end keyboard. Tunnel Magnetoresistance (TMR) switches replace the typical sensors most premium gaming keyboards rely on. CHERRY claims 0.01-millimeter precision and lower power draw than Hall-effect equivalents. The 8,000Hz polling rate works in 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth, or wired modes. Hot-swappable sockets accept the brand’s magnetic switches or traditional mechanical switches, which is rare in the category. TKL layout, PBT keycaps, 300 hours of gaming on the 8,000mAh battery. Plus, it sounds awesome.

Best flat-top grill: Traeger Irontop 2-Burner

Traeger Irontop 2-Burner Griddle $499

<img class="attachment-post-thumb-medium size-full" src="https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/traeger-Irontop-2-Burner.jpg?quality=85&w=768" srcset="https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/traeger-Irontop-2-Burner.jpg?w=50&h=28 50w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/traeger-Irontop-2-Burner.jpg?w=370&h=208 370w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/traeger-Irontop-2-Burner.jpg?w=384&h=216 384w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/traeger-Irontop-2-Burner.jpg?w=580&h=326 580w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/traeger-Irontop-2-Burner.jpg?w=660&h=371 660w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/traeger-Irontop-2-Burner.jpg?w=704&h=396 704w, https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/traeger-Irontop-2-Burner.jpg?w=768&h=432 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" alt="Traeger Irontop 2-Burner" width="768" height="432" loading="lazy" />

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The Traeger Irontop 2-Burner is a $499 flat-top grill provides edge-to-edge heat across the cooktop as default rather than luxury. That means the burgers at the center of the surface cook at the same speed as those around the edge. The two-burner has 504 square inches of cooking surface. The four-burner steps up to 648 square inches at $599. Both ship with integrated wind guards, a P.A.L. accessory rail, side shelves, and a three-year warranty.

Best pocket knife: Opinel No. 12 Explore

Opinel No. 12 Explore $60

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Ticks are the worst, but they’re a way of life when you spend a lot of time outside. The Opinel No. 12 Explore is a $60 folding knife with a built-in tick remover, a notched slot on the handle that slides under an embedded tick and lifts the head out cleanly. If you don’t get the whole bug out, it could regenerate over time and increase your risk of disease. A Virobloc safety ring locks the blade and the handle is glass-filled polyamide.

Best commuter backpack: Chrome Industries Barrage 18L

Chrome Industries Barrage 18L Pack $155

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Roll top bags can save your gadgets and everyday carry during bad weather. The welded main compartment is exceptionally resistant to the elements, which makes this a great pack for commuting or spending time outdoors. The Barrage has an exterior webbing cargo net for awkward loads and an internal 15-inch laptop sleeve. The floating tarp liner is made from recycled auto-glass and the main fabric is 1050D recycled nylon. PFAS-free. Best of all: it looks really cool.

Best personal cooler: Yeti Roadie 8

Yeti Roadie 8 Hard Cooler $165

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The smallest cooler in Yeti’s lineup is sized for one person going out for the day rather than a family tailgate. It holds 12 cans or nine pounds of ice with the same Permafrost pressure-injected polyurethane insulation and ColdLock gasket as the big Tundra. The AnchorPoint tie-down slots are built to strap the cooler to a paddleboard, motorcycle saddle, ATV, or golf cart. To make it an even better gift, fill it up with cans of Arnold Palmer (or any other beverage he may like).

Best submersible dry bag: Watershed Ocoee

Watershed Ocoee Drybag from $167

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The Watershed Ocoee is a submersible dry bag from $167 in standard colors, sized to fit under a kayak deck or a boat seat. The ZipDry zipper is the same closure Watershed sells into the military waterproof-gear category, rated IP68 for full submersion rather than splash resistance. 10.5 liters of capacity, 1.5 pounds, plus rugged carry handles and hard lash points for tie-downs.

Best driver for forgiveness: Cobra OPTM X

Cobra OPTM X Driver $599+

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If your dad is the type whose tee shots occasionally need a search party, the Cobra OPTM X driver is 2026’s rescue club. Bringing “stay in play” energy, this glossy black fairway finder has a carbon crown that looks sharp at address, plus a subtle “C” that works as a clean, non-distracting alignment cue. It feels well-balanced, especially in 44.5” Tour Length for increased accuracy, and brings real forgiveness through the MOI (Moment of Inertia) and POI (Products of Inertia) design that helps reduce twisting and side spin when contact gets spicy. Plus, FutureFit33 fine-tuning allows Dad to dial it in and stop donating balls to the woods. The adjustability makes it especially great if you don’t know how the recipient plays. (And if you’re feeling really generous and Dad’s into 3-D printing, you can help with his putting, too.)

Best high-end low-profile turntable speaker: Andover-One SB

Andover-One SB Audiophile Powered Speaker Base $1,999

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Vinyl dads can easily take over any space while building a shrine of glowing components. But they don’t have to redecorate an entire room with cascading chords to prove they care about sound. They just need an Andover-One SB and a well-maintained turntable. This powered speaker base proves component hi-fi can be high-end. It’s clean in look and sound, packing a built-in phono preamp, 200 watts powering six speakers for a fleshy, full-range response, a Class A headphone amplifier, and multiple inputs into furniture-grade wood with a tempered-glass top. For the digital-friendly dad, add a reference streamer like the Bluesound Node ICON or use Bluetooth aptX HD. The multi-driver array, featuring four 3.5-inch ultralinear aluminum-diaphragm woofers and two Air Motion Transformer folded-ribbon tweeters, works with panoramic S/M/L audio modes to tune presentation no matter the placement. And Isogroove feedback elimination keeps the platter vibration-free, no matter how freely the volume knob turns.

Best coffee grinder: Mazzer Philos

Mazzer Philos Premium Single-Dose Grinder $1,495

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Coffee nerds have so much in common with audiophiles. Both are obsessed with micro-calibrated gear and swapping components in and out in the pursuit of clarity. So if you know a dad as obsessed with puck preparation as he is running a carbon-fiber anti-static brush over every album, you know a dad who needs the Mazzer Philos premium light commercial single-dose grinder. Like a summit-fi digital audio converter, this $1,495 hand-assembled, heirloom-quality Italian appliance (available in black and silver) takes whatever beans it’s fed and extracts previously masked tasting notes with minimal morning commotion. A wide dial covers espresso to pour-over to batch brew coarseness, and the near-zero-retention vertical burr + chute knocker + Dose Finisher system lets you move between origins and brewing methods without yesterday’s beans staging a comeback. Swappable 64mm flat burrs give him a chance to tune for vibrant light and full-bodied dark roasts, and the option to switch from stepped to stepless mode gives grind settings the same obsessive precision as establishing the perfect listening position. 

Best drinkware: BrüMate Tumblers and Mugs

BrüMate Insulated Travel Drinkware $37.99.- $50.00

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Dad undoubtedly has a vibe. But what if he could have an aura?!? That’s what this collection from BrüMate brings. That and all-day hydration. The Dark Aura collection’s brushed metallic blue-purple gradient looks good on thirst-quenchers of every size, from the Strova 18oz with its flavor-preserving ceramic liner and leakproof BevLock lid to the Era Flip 40oz, a cup holder-friendly tumbler with its SoftSip straw and leakproof SlideSeal lid. Whether it’s hot coffee (ground with the Mazzer above, obviously) or a reservoir of some cold refreshing beverage, dad will feel stylish hydro-hauling in one of these twilight chrome containers.

Best compact connected speakers: Bose LifeStyle Ultra

Bose LifeStyle Ultra Speakers $299 – $1,099

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If your dad won’t admit his hearing isn’t what it used to be, but the TV volume when he watches something might be threatening to give everyone else in the room tinnitus, the Bose LifeStyle Ultra soundbar is the upgrade he needs. AI-powered Speech Clarity separates dialogue from explosions, scores, and general streaming-service murk, so he gets bigger, clearer sound without turning the living room into an endurance challenge. Add the glass-topped Subwoofer for serious low-end response, then bring in the compact Ultra Speakers as wireless rears when you want a more immersive experience. After that, dad can build a whole-home system room by room, placing speakers as compact height-enhanced endpoints or even more expressive stereo pairs fed by AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth. More detail, less subtitles and shouting matches.

Best kitchen upgrade: Boardsmith butcher block

The Boardsmith Premium End Grain Butcher Block $230+

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When it comes to cooks, you already think Dad is a cut above. Even before you taste anything, you know based on his taste in knives and his actual knife skills. He turns mise-en-place into theater. And the Dad that is the kind of chef who gets weirdly specific about his blade’s edge needs an appropriate prep surface. Knife-friendly Boardsmith premium end grain butcher blocks … or cutting boards, or charcuterie boards, or utensil sets … are made in a family-owned shop in Frisco, Texas. And they bring a substantial stage for slicing, dicing, carving, etc. You can pick from four sizes of maple, walnut, cherry, or some handsome combination, customized with or without finger grooves and juice grooves and feet. Dad will never get bored with this board.

Best balanced and aligned putter: L.A.B. Golf VZN.1i

L.A.B. Golf VZN.1i Putter $499+

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Cresswell, Oregon, iconoclasts L.A.B. Golf have a vision for getting zero-torque putters in more golfers’ bags, and part of that is getting their VZN.1i in more golfers’ hands. If Dad is looking for stability and repeatability, but he’s not looking to answer any “What is that?!?” questions on the course, this more familiar, still ultra-forgiving shape could quiet his aesthetic concerns and also any worries that he won’t lock the target line. Still center-shafted and hand-balanced, the VZN.1i goes beyond the D-shaped mallet head of the OZ.1i and brings a fang-style putter to the lineup. A 303 stainless-steel insert with deeper milling gives a crisp, deeply satisfying zing and hotter launch off the face. As for that cutout and the crown lines, their geometry helps with optical alignment. Plus, it’s also a “gimmie getter”/ball scoop, so it takes more pressure off the back while it keeps more putts on track. Get hexagonal, stay squared.

Best analog upgrade: LAMY AL-star

LAMY AL-star Fountain Pen $47

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Our digital lives often drive fandoms in the very analog: record players, cassettes, and yes, fountain pens. For some people, they’ve always been the thing, but plenty of newcomers are arriving via social media—and that’s exactly what makes this such a good gift. Your dad likely doesn’t already have one, but if he is always talking about writing that novel, he’s probably at least a little curious and not sure where to start.

LAMY, a German writing instrument brand, is known for reliability, and the AL-star is an easy entry point that feels more premium than its price tag suggests, thanks to its lightweight aluminum body. It refills with cartridges and comes in a range of nib sizes; we recommend starting with medium. LAMY does make a left-handed nib, but pro tip: We have yet to find any left-handers who want to deal with ink that can easily smear before it has time to dry. Add a pack of refill cartridges in a few fun colors to make it feel a little more special right out of the box.

Best compact folding bike lock: Hiplok Switch 105

Hiplok Switch 105 Folding Lock $130

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Cycling dads will happily upgrade everything on their bike—except the lock, which somehow stays “good enough” until it’s very much not. The Hiplok Switch 105 fixes that. It’s a 105 cm (about 41 inches) folding lock made from hardened steel bars and solid rivets, offering real security (Sold Secure Bronze) without the usual bulk. It folds down compactly and clicks into a boss-mounted bracket, so whether it’s on the frame or the fork, it’s always along for the ride instead of rattling around in a bag. At just over a pound, it’s manageable, and long enough to loop through larger frames, including many e-bikes.

Still prefer a heavy-duty chain for some urban adventures where you’re not obsessing over every ounce or wanting to drag a bag? The Hiplok GOLD Wearable Chain Lock is a burly belt that’s not as awkward as it appears and gives you confidence that your bike is secure outside of the coffee shop.

The post 2026 Father’s Day Gift Guide: 40+ presents for dads of all kinds appeared first on Popular Science.

In a preliminary study published in the journal Communications Biology, researchers searched for milk‑specific proteins in the feces of wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) living in the Danum Valley Conservation Area, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo. These proteins prove that he or she is continuing to drink breast milk.The practice of recognizing particular proteins in feces is called fecal proteomics and it can help scientists better understand what animals are consuming.

“Orangutans have a slow life history with one of the longest interbirth intervals and the lowest reported infant mortality rates among primates or even mammals,” the team wrote in the study. “Breastfeeding is a key factor in their life history because it possibly promotes offspring health and increases maternal interbirth intervals.”

The team gathered fecal samples for over two and a half years, and found milk‑specific proteins in all the 20 samples from orangutans less than six and a half years old. This indicates that the young great apes were continuing to breastfeed until they were at least that age. 

According to the team, these results are “consistent with the behavioral evidence as having one of the longest breastfeeding periods in mammals.”

What’s more, “milk intake was significantly correlated with higher levels of biological defense and probiotic bacterial proteins.”

In other words, the more milk a young orangutan drinks, the more probiotic intestinal bacteria it has and the sturdier its biological protections are. Such consistent and enduring breastfeeding probably helps the very high survival of orangutan babies and plays a role in their slow reproductive approach. 

Unfortunately, Bornean orangutans are critically endangered, and the paper highlights why their populations don’t rebound quickly after a decrease. Safeguarding what’s left of their rainforest habitats is crucial. 

The post Orangutan poop holds surprising clues about how long they breastfeed appeared first on Popular Science.

That’s because the seed pods exude a milky substance called latex, which is rich in natural chemicals called opiates, such as morphine. Dried-out poppy latex is called opium, and the chemicals it contains can be used as medical-grade painkillers or processed to make street drugs like heroin. 

This doesn’t mean that your next deli bagel is going to send you into a stupor, because processed poppy seeds are carefully washed of any residual latex. But the washing process isn’t so thorough as to remove all traces of opiates from your body. Here’s why anyone in a job that requires random drug tests should try their next bowl of porridge without adding any black little poppy seeds. 

Processing a poppy plant

The round structure that sits on top of a poppy plant’s stem is called a capsule. This is a pod that contains hundreds of tiny poppy seeds. The plant produces opiates, like morphine, codeine, and thebaine, within the capsule to help it grow. These are contained in the milky latex, which will drip from the pod if it’s broken or cut. 

During harvesting, poppies that have died and dried out are mechanically harvested, removing the above-ground portion of the plant. Crushing, sieving, or other cleaning techniques separate the seeds from the seed capsules. The seeds that later end up on our bagels and breads are washed seeds, meaning they are carefully cleaned after being separated from their seed capsules to remove any opiate-containing latex. 

This process means there isn’t any risk of getting high from washed poppy seeds. However, drug tests are incredibly sensitive, and these washed seeds may still trigger a positive result from trace chemicals. 

Urbah Viqar, a doctor at Central and Northwest London NHS Foundation Trust, says that if you eat “one to two teaspoons” of poppy seeds, then you could return a positive opiate result. Given that some poppy seed bagel recipes recommend sprinkling a teaspoon of seeds on a single bagel, these breakfast treats should be treated with caution if you might be tested for drugs. 

Importantly, opiates like morphine stay in your system for several days, so avoiding poppy seeds for a while before a drug test is a good idea, Viqar says. Some companies have developed low-opiate poppy seed blends to allow bagel enjoyers to get their fix without risks. 

But this isn’t the whole story. If you eat unwashed poppy seeds, the effects are radically different. 

Yes, you get high off unwashed poppy seeds

In 2023, Viqar heard reports that men were reporting to their family doctors complaining of constipation. These patients, mainly from the local Indian Punjabi community, weren’t blocked up by a lack of fiber. Instead, their symptoms were a consequence of their unwashed poppy seed addiction. 

Viqar explains that in some communities, unwashed poppy seeds have been a traditional remedy for generations. Without washing, the seeds retain the opiate-rich latex released during harvesting. As a result, consuming them can make you feel sleepy and relaxed. 

But opiates are, of course, highly addictive. Viqar and her colleague Noah Stanton, who is also a doctor at Central and Northwest London NHS Foundation Trust, wrote a review summarizing the cases of 16 men, nearly all from the Indian Punjabi community, who had become addicted to unwashed poppy seeds. 

“They start with a very small amount, maybe they’re just taking half a teaspoon,” explains Viqar. Many of the men would grind the seeds and consume them as a dry powder, or mixed with water, or brew them as tea. 

The effects of the unwashed seeds are milder than a powerful opioid like heroin, but that made the patients’ addiction more “insidious,” says Stanton. “It took place over a much more gradual time period,” he adds. The unwashed seeds produce a drowsy, sedative effect. 

But by the time Viqar and Stanton saw them, some of the men had seriously ramped up their poppy habit. Two men, who had each been consuming unwashed poppy seeds for over 15 years, were taking 20 tablespoons of seeds every single day. That dose would contain enough opiates to make someone without a strong tolerance overdose, said Viqar. 

The risks of too many poppyseeds

An opiate overdose would likely slow breathing until the heart stopped. Viqar wasn’t able to point to any cases she was aware of where people had died from unwashed poppy seeds, but said that there was little research into what a safe limit might be. 

“You don’t know how much is a safe amount, how much is a lethal amount,” she explained. Long-term addiction could also impact a patient’s social life and relationships, said Stanton. Several of the men in the study worked with heavy machinery, which tends not to play well with opiate-related drowsiness. 

Both Viqar and Stanton said that better regulation was badly needed. Unwashed poppy seeds can be purchased in bulk in the United Kingdom and the United States at low prices. Awareness among clinicians would also help, they added. Drug screening questionnaires regularly ask about alcohol and drug consumption. A new question to add to the list, Viqar says, is “Have you ever used poppy seeds?”

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Can poppy seeds actually make you fail a drug test? appeared first on Popular Science.

Enter the Positive Grid REACTOR. It’s a performance-ready guitar amplifier designed to close the gap between the tone you hear in your head and the sound it produces. It brings together Positive Grid’s years of experience designing amp and FX engines and combines it with a custom-trained AI model that can deliver any tone you can describe or capture in seconds. It’s no gimmick. I’ve played guitar for close to 30 years, and this is one of the most fun pieces of guitar tech I’ve used in years. 

Positive Grid REACTOR

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Pros

• Wonderfully versatile—just as at home on that stage as in the bedroom
• Powerful tone-shaping possibilities, impressive range
• AI tone generation isn’t a gimmick—it’s genuinely useful and a lot of fun
• Tones are generated in sets—rhythm, lead, back-up, all at once (usually)
• Approachable and intuitive controls are easy to learn; RTFM, but you’ll be alright if you wait a jam session or two
• Surprisingly well-priced

Cons

• Advanced players may not benefit as much from its features
• Bluetooth audio can be very hit or miss
• Some of the best features of the Spark are entirely absent
• Trial and error is still required
  

The short version

With years of software experience and generations of Spark amplifiers under its belt, Positive Grid knows a thing or two about helping guitarists craft the perfect tone. The REACTOR is the union of everything the company has learned about software and hardware. Refined, tight, and well-priced, it leverages AI for good, helping players stop fiddling and start dialing in their sound using natural language. 

REACTOR, craft me a tone that captures …

The build and purpose

Positive Grid has been a major player in the guitar world for years, thanks to its excellent line of guitar software and impressively capable Spark practice amps. While the original Spark 40, the company’s first amplifier in 2019, has begun to show its age, the REACTOR doesn’t suffer the same learning curve as the Spark. Over the last seven years, the company honed its skills. The Spark may have been best suited for the bedroom, but the REACTOR is made for the stage. And also the bedroom. 

The REACTOR lacks nothing in terms of robustness, at least compared to my Fender Deluxe. The speaker enclosure is made of wood, thick and sturdy, with tight, hard leather surfacing. The controls live on the top panel, easily accessible mid-performance if you keep the REACTOR nearby. Each knob, switch, and button is tight with crisp, tactile feedback. As ever, time will be the ultimate judge of its build quality, but first impressions are exceptionally positive, especially compared to the company’s first hardware release. 

Positive Grid also deserves kudos for offering such a generous array of connectivity options. In addition to the guitar input, you’ll also find power amp and MIDI support, Bluetooth audio to jam along with, an FX loop, USB Type-C (the REACTOR doubles as an audio interface for home recording), and a headphone jack for when one watt is too much. It’s a full-featured, premium-feeling package and gives the Boss Katana a run for its money.

The REACTOR comes in two variants: 50-watt and 100-watt. I was sent the 100-watt version and, unlike most of the Spark series, it’s sized like a normal 100-watt amp. Inside is a custom-tuned 12-inch guitar speaker designed for each model (not a full-range, flat-response cone), and it gets loud. We’re talking 100-watt guitar-amplifier loud, not Bluetooth-speaker loud, and that means it will rattle the windows far before it reaches its peak. When Positive Grid says that REACTOR is performance-ready, it isn’t kidding.  

There are far more interesting features than simple loudness, however. While you can play loudly, you don’t need to at all. Both versions feature 25W and 1W amplification modes that reduce volume without significantly altering your tone. The three power modes are well-suited to playing alone, playing with a group, and performing on a stage.

That’s the first hint that there’s some interesting engineering under the hood. For this release, Positive Grid outfitted the REACTOR with a powerful digital signal processor (DSP) and features powered by AI, which stands for “Amp Intelligence” in their parlance, making it an all-in-one solution perfect for both new and veteran players.

Between the amplifier’s eight built-in presets, endless cloud saves, two dozen amps, and eight simultaneous stomp boxes, and community sharing through PG’s ToneCloud service, there’s enough tonal possibility here that you can lose hours demoing—and that’s before getting to its “smart features.”  

The REACTOR is so tightly tethered to its app that if you’re opposed to using it, this simply isn’t the amp for you. Once the REACTOR app is connected to the amplifier, you have full control over every setting and parameter, and a much easier interface for making those changes. The app also houses the Creator Hub: your digital home to create, edit, and save custom tones. It’s also where you’ll find the amp’s AI assistant, which is the prime driver of the REACTOR’s charm.

The sound and performance 

It’s at this point that I should probably make a confession: Even though I’m a longtime fan of Positive Grid’s work with Bias FX and Bias Amp, a guitar amplifier had not entered my mind as something that could possibly be enhanced with AI. And yet, what Positive Grid has delivered here is an impressive showcase of how AI can support guitarists rather than steal from them.

While I was impressed with the out-of-the-box presets and their 24 included amp models, which make it entirely possible to simply plug it in and play without worrying about app or AI support, the real “a-ha” moment for me came when I experimented with the Creator Hub for the first time. 

To generate a tone, all you need to do is upload a picture, sound sample, or describe your desired tone in a sentence. Admittedly, generating a tone from a picture is a little gimmicky unless you happen to be taking a picture of a guitar setup that you’d like to emulate, but text generation was nothing short of shocking.

Create a tone to match “Glass Eater” by Atreyu …

That was all I gave it, and I had four separate click-to-use tones within 10 seconds, two options each for both rhythm and lead parts. Not just one tone. Every tone, to play every guitar part, in the song. The quality of the tones was also exceptionally good. They weren’t always perfect, but they were usually close enough that a couple of manual tweaks were all it took to get them there. Once you get into the groove, dialing up a preset, even for obscure songs, becomes second nature. 

The power of this simple functionality can’t be overstated. The REACTOR removes a barrier to entry so fundamental to progress and performance on the guitar that it has driven many to quit the instrument entirely. We all have a sound in mind: a searing lead or a djenty, brutal rhythm. Even if you master every note of a lead line you’ve been struggling with, the achievement feels incomplete without the tonal identity tying it all together. 

With the Creator Hub and its resulting tones, you’re up and playing faster than ever, but you’re also learning how those tones are made, making you a more capable musician. Once they’re downloaded, you can navigate to another section of the app to study, tweak, and tailor every element of the signal chain. Over time, you’ll begin to notice how certain sounds or effects are achieved. That knowledge improves your craft. 

As dependent on AI and machine learning as it is, things aren’t perfect. There are times that the tones it produces are off-base, and you need to try again or refine the prompt (“add more gain”, etc.). The amp features two toggleable Amp Intelligence modes, Heat and Push/Smooth. Turning up the Heat setting monitors your playing style and either pushes or draws back the amp to match your playing. The Push/Smooth toggle also changes how it responds, with Push feeling more lively and responsive to the touch and Smooth rounding out the rhythm and body tones. Both of these systems are fine, and they accomplish their job, but neither feels like a game-changing innovation in the way that the Creator Hub is. 

As I’ve tested and explored the REACTOR, I’ve developed a sense that Positive Grid is putting it in a bit of a box. According to the company itself, the REACTOR occupies a different space in its lineup from the Spark. If the Spark series is about home practice, the REACTOR is all about tone and performance. It has better hardware and higher-resolution sound quality that puts the Boss Katana and other all-in-one modeling amps on notice. 

Ahead of this review, Positive Grid told me that it had trained its tone engine through countless hours of studying hundreds of amps and effects it seeks to emulate, down to the gain stages, transformers, bias points, and harmonic response. Because of this, it can respond much more like its real-life inspirations. That’s impressive stuff, and after testing it for myself, I believe it. 

Yet, even the AI behind the REACTOR has its limits. Ask it to recreate anything washed in multiple reverbs or delays, and you’ll see it struggle. If you’re hoping to emulate a Strymon BlueSky, you’ll be disappointed. Pretty much anything running on a proprietary algorithm for its soundscape will be outside of its scope to recreate entirely, as you would expect it to be. 

The verdict

The Positive Grid REACTORamp retails for $349 for the 50-watt version or $449 for the 100-watt version.  A wireless foot controller, the REACTOR Control [shown above], is also available for an additional $149 and allows you to control stompboxes and settings from afar—perfect for a silent stage setup. Together, that’s $498 to $598, but the quality and tone-shaping capabilities of the REACTOR make it a standout value even at that price and an easy recommendation. 

The specs

The post Positive Grid REACTOR Intelligent Guitar Amplifier review: Perfect for practice, set for the stage appeared first on Popular Science.