Science
Popular Mechanics US
HOW TO UNCLOG A SINK
IF YOUR SINK IS CLOGGED AND PLUNGING fails to clear the blockage, look to your P-trap (or simply, “trap”) before calling a plumber.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
A WEIRD (AND FREE!) SOUND SYSTEM HACK
THERE ARE SO MANY VARIABLES TO how a room's dimensions, a building's construction, the placement of furniture, and the materials of that furniture affect the sound of speakers and subwoofers that there's no way to offer a one-size-fits-all, \"put it here\" maxim for the absolute best subwoofer sound quality.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
The Fringes of Life
AT FIRST GLANCE, CREATING A DEFINItion of \"life\" seems simple.
2 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
THE SAND THIEVES
Sand is the hidden architecture of our modern world—but it's running out. Global mafias are stealing this precious resource from right beneath our feet, and they're willing to kill for it.
10+ min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
OPERATION PLUTO
THE ALLIES’ SECRET UNDERWATER WEAPON THAT HELPED DEFEAT THE NAZIS
10+ min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
5 WAYS TO KEEP YOUR GENERATOR IN WORKING ORDER
IF YOU HAVE A GAS GENERAtor, use ethanol-free gas treated with fuel stabilizer, and maintain a full tank when not in use; keep a gas can full of stabilized fuel on hand during peak disaster season.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
Minivans
MINIVANS ARE MAKING A COMEBACK, and that's kind of surprising, as they're some of the most polarizing vehicles on the road and have always been built with a function-over-form ethos.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
3 WAYS TO FIND A STUD WITHOUT A STUD FINDER
There is a noticeably hollow sound when you knock on the space between the studs versus when you knock on drywall that has a stud behind it.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
A Cell-Sized Elephant
EVER SINCE THE POPULARITY OF 3D printing skyrocketed in the midaughts, people have been manufacturing everything from chocolate to rocket fuel-and that list now includes a microscopic elephant inside of a living cell. Technology has really leveled up since 2005.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
WHO SETS THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK?
In the shadow of my family's atomic legacy, I set out to understand the increasingly urgent debate about humanity's capacity to end itself and what it can teach us about living.
10+ min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
THE BEST HEIGHT TO HANG YOUR TV
MOUNTING YOUR TV UP HIGH, LIKE over the fireplace, can be tempting—but it’s impractical at best and a literal pain in the neck at worst.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
The DIYer's Guide to Ladders
WHILE WE DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHEN HUMAN beings made a conscious effort to leave the ground, one possible clue about that timeline comes from cave paintings discovered in Spain in the 20th century.
9 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
The Hot Blob Headed for New York City
GERMAN METEOROLOGIST ALFRED Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift more than a century ago, in 1912.
2 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
Our Shifting Poles
EVER SINCE WE STARTED constructing them, man-made dams have come with unintended consequences.
2 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
Tomb 38
TUCKED AWAY MORE THAN SIX FEET underground, down a stone staircase in Egypt's Aga Khan Mausoleum in Aswan, archaeologists discovered what they call \"one of the most architecturally impressive and well-preserved tombs unearthed to date.\"
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
A STONE VIKING FACE
Graduate student Katie Joss from the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute dug up a piece of limestone from a former Viking settlement and found a face carved into the stone.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
The Shroud of Turin
THE FAMED SHROUD OF TURIN GAINED its status in the 14th century thanks to its apparent depiction of an adult man with long hair and a beard—very similar to the generally accepted image of Jesus Christ.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
AN ANCIENT WOODEN FACE
Archaeologists from Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) discovered a 1,000-yearold wooden face during an underwater research expedition in Poland's Lake Lednica.
1 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
A Lost Explorer Found
IN JUNE OF 1997, A 31-YEAR-OLD PAKISTANI man by the name Naseeruddin disappeared into a cave while traveling in the Supat Valley in the mountainous northern region of Pakistan called Kohistan, never to be seen again.
2 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
A BLUEPRINT OF THE HUMAN BODY
MAKE A LIST OF ANIMALS as distantly related to humans as possible, and sea anemones would likely be near the top.
2 min |
January / February 2026
Popular Mechanics US
WARP SPEED
THE TOTALLY INSANE, HIGHLY IMPROBABLE, BUT NOT AT ALL IMPOSSIBLE QUEST TO BUILD A WARP DRIVE.
10+ min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
A Lifesaving CRISPR Treatment
LIFE'S ABILITY TO COPY billions of distinct letters in a genome is an absolute biological wonder—but mistakes are made. Genetic disorders and birth defects occur in one in every 33 babies in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
1 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Quantum Gravity
TWO PHYSICISTS ARE CLAIMING TO HAVE moved closer to a unified theory of gravity.
2 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
LIFE IS SHORT.GET THE GOOD STUFF.
There's a giddy excitement that hangs in the air around the PopMech offices when it comes to gear, especially during our annual awards season.
10+ min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
The Identity of the Dragon Man
FINALLY, AFTER YEARS OF STUDY, THE REAL identity of the Dragon Man has been discovered.
3 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
A Wall Full of Skeletons
WHEN THE WALLS OF a 15th-century Portuguese church collapsed during poor weather, they revealed more than just dust and debris—they exposed at least 12 skeletons stashed inside the walls.
1 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
HOW TO REBUILD A HIGHWAY IN 12 DAYS
The engineering ingenuity that turned the fiery collapse of one of I-95's busiest stretches into a Philly-style comeback miracle.
10+ min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Why Orange Cats Exist
GARFIELD MIGHT BE THE MOST ICONIC orange tabby cat around, but he has so far refused to give up orange tabbies' most guarded beauty secret-how do they get their auburn coats? Hiroyuki Sasaki, a cat enthusiast and geneticist at Kyushu University in Japan, was determined to identify the elusive gene that carries the orange mutation in Felis silvestris catus (the domesticated cat).
1 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Kei Trucks
REGON IS VYING TO ALLOW JAPANESE Kei trucks on public roads.
2 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
GIVE YOUR OLD WOODEN WINDOWS A SECOND LIFE
WITH A LITTLE DIY MAINTENANCE, YOU CAN EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR EXISTING WINDOWS WITHOUT SPENDING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON REPLACEMENTS.
5 min |