Science
Popular Mechanics US
The Tools of Copernicus
WAY BACK IN 1508, WITH ONLY LIMited tools at his disposal, Nicolaus Copernicus developed a celestial model of a heliocentric planetary system, which he described in hist landmark work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. It was a complete overhaul of our conception of the universe-one that, unfortunately, earned him the ire of the Catholic church for decades after his death-and forever changed the way we look at the stars.
2 min |
January - February 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Building a Sixth-Generation Bomber Raptor
THE GLOBAL COMBAT AIR Programme (GCAP)-a project by the U.K., Italy, and Japan to develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter-has been busy at the drawing board reshaping its vision of the future of air warfare. And judging by the new concept model unveiled at this year's Farnborough air show, that future has big triangular wings.
3 min |
January - February 2025
Popular Mechanics US
The Electroweak Force of the Early Universe
TODAY, THE UNIVERSE AS WE KNOW IT IS governed by four fundamental forces: the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity.
1 min |
January - February 2025
Popular Mechanics US
This Ancient Fossil With a Brain and Guts
WE KNOW WHAT FOSSILS LOOK like. For example, typical dinosaur fossils are bones turned to stone and preserved from the passage of time, located, if we're particularly lucky, in large collections that can be reassembled to represent the beast they used to prop up in their entirety.
1 min |
January - February 2025
Popular Mechanics US
A Cuneiform Shopping List
MOST OF US CAN DO ALL OF OUR shopping with the click of a few buttons, and while that's certainly convenient, it can make it difficult to keep track of when exactly that new armoire or bookshelf will show up at your doorstep.
1 min |
January - February 2025
Popular Mechanics US
SNOWBALL EARTH
IMAGINE A PLANET WHERE THE AVERAGE temperature is a delightful -58° Fahrenheit every day. Not a place you'd want to visit, right? Lucky for you, then, that you weren't around several hundred million years ago, because these brutal conditions were the unfortunate reality of the \"Snowball Earth.\"
1 min |
January - February 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Henrietta Lacks - It's not surprising that Henrietta Lacks-whose
It's not surprising that Henrietta Lacks-whose "immortal" HeLa cells were pivotal in developing treatments for diseases such as polio, HIV/AIDS, and COVID19-is referred to as "the mother of modern medicine." But Lacks's legacy is complicated due to the ethical concerns surrounding the use of her special cells. Lacks, who died of cancer at age 31 in 1951, was never aware that her cells led to significant medical advancements or that they had been taken without her consent. And even now, her strange case raises questions about the morally dubious methods through which we achieved unquestionably positive breakthroughs in medicine.
3 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
Chasing an Asteroid - How NASA defied incredible odds to get its asteroid-hunting osiris-rex mission off the ground and in the process upended what we know about our solar system.
Dante Lauretta sat in the backseat of a helicopter hovering high above a remote patch of Utah desert, waiting for a small, twinkling speck in the sky to plunge toward earth.If you didn't know better, you might think what was beginning to burn through the skies above the American southwest in the early hours of September 24, 2023, was a shooting star. But it wasn't a shooting star. Or a meteor. It was a dishwasher-size capsule filled with bits of ancient asteroid-priceless matter from the dawn of the solar system. In other words, it was a treasure chest moving at 27,000 miles per hour and sizzling at a temperature half that of the sun's surface.
10+ min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
Whether We Live in a Simulation - scientist Melvin Vopson, PhD, studies this exact thing- the possibility that the universe might indeed be a digital facsimile. And he claims to have evidence.
In the 1999 film the Matrix, Neo discovers A truth to end all truths-the universe is a simulation. While this premise provides fantastic sci-fi fodder, the idea isn't quite as relegated to the fiction section as one might expect. . In fact, University of Portsmouth scientist Melvin Vopson, PhD, studies this exact thing- the possibility that the universe might indeed be a digital facsimile. And he claims to have evidence.
1 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
The Ancient Language of Easter Island - Today, humans inhabit- or have, at the very least, explored- pretty much every corner of the planet. But that immense proliferation of Homo sapiens across the globe was a slow process.
With the first humans leaving Africa between 60,000 and 120,000 years ago, the species slowly spread across the Earth over many millennia. And one of the last places these ancient humans made their way to was the southeastern Pacific island of Rapa Nui, known more broadly as Easter Island.Located 2,360 miles off the coast of Chile, Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated places in the world. Its native people, who are also named the Rapa Nui, first arrived on the island's shores between A.D. 1150 and 1280, and lived in isolation until the arrival of Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen in 1722.
2 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
Underwater UFOs - A retired U.S. Navy admiral believes that the government should look to the oceans to help solve a mystery in the skies.
A retired U.S. Navy admiral believes that the government should look to the oceans to help solve a mystery in the skies. Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet, former Oceanographer of the U.S. Navy, recently published a paper arguing that unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP, more commonly referred to as UFO) and unidentified submersible objects (USO) are linked, and should be studied further.
2 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
Synching Up Our Circadian Rhythms - If you've ever done any kind of long-distance travel, or just woken up feeling under-rested thanks to daylight saving time, you know how important your circadian clock is.
If you've ever done any kind of long-distance travel, or just woken up feeling under-rested thanks to daylight saving time, you know how important your circadian clock is. Like many things in your body, your circadian rhythm is more complicated than it might seem on the surface. Rather than being entirely brain-based, it's actually controlled by a collection of several circadian clocks (central and peripheral) that all work together to keep your gears turning like a well-oiled machine.
2 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
SKINWALKER RANCH REVEALED
The 512-acre ranch has captivated real-estate tycoons, TV producers, and the U.S. government. What are they searching for?
10+ min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
Upgrade Your Living Room With This DIY - MID-CENTURY COFFEE TABLE
This project is easy to build and customize to fit your space.
5 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
INDISPENSABLE LESSONS FROM A POP MECH LEGEND
With people moving around so much these days, it's perfectly natural to wonder how an editor can just come along and stick like a barnacle to the hull of Popular Mechanics, lasting for 35 years.
9 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
SAVING THE SUGAR BUSH
A technological revolution has transformed the ancient tradition of sugar making-with big implications for local economies and ecosystems imperiled by climate change.
10+ min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
MANIPULATION AND MEDICAL ETHICS
The taking of cervical samples wasn't the only medical procedure of dubious consent in Lacks's story.
1 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
The Next Generation of RAM
YOUR COMPUTER WOULDN'T BE VERY useful without RAM, which is short for random access memory.
2 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
HOW TO FIX A DEAD WALL OUTLET
An outlet can lose power for any number of reasons. Here are a few of them-plus solutions.
1 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
The End of the Maya Kingdom
A TEAM OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVERED clues from between A.D. 733 and 881 that they say represent a key turning point in Maya rule-and a very public one at that.
1 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
The Existence of Wigner Crystals
PHYSICISTS FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY have confirmed that electrons don't even need atoms in order to party together.
2 min |
September - October 2024
Popular Mechanics US
The First AntiShip Ballistic Missile Attack- Since the outbreak of conflict between Hamas and Israel in October 2023, the Houthis have launched dozens of missiles and kamikaze drones at Israeli and U.S. targets in a show of support for Palestine.
The U.S. Navy Destroyer Mason (DDG87) was wrapping up a mission rescuing a tanker from pirates in the Gulf of Aden when the situation sharply escalated. The ship's radar detected at least one-or possibly two-missiles moving toward its position at supersonic speeds, each loaded with well over a half ton of explosives.
3 min |
July - August 2024
Popular Mechanics US
The Surprising Drama Behind the Decimal Point - When german mathematician Christopher Clavius introduced the world to the humble decimal point in 1593, he used it in one table, and never mentioned it or used it again.
When german mathematician Christopher Clavius introduced the world to the humble decimal point in 1593, he used it in one table, and never mentioned it or used it again.
2 min |
July - August 2024
Popular Mechanics US
The Obelisk– Lifeforms hiding in humans
Scientists have just discovered new "lifeforms" inside our bodies. Tiny bits of RNA, smaller than a virus, colonize bacteria inside our mouths and guts and have the power to transfer information that can be read by a cell.
1 min |
July - August 2024
Popular Mechanics US
After You Die, a Universe Eats Your Body
Scientists are unraveling the secrets of the necrobiome the ecosystem that takes over our corpses after death.
10+ min |
July - August 2024
Popular Mechanics US
A Blistering Inferno. A Whirling Tornado. A Shocking Crash
Aerial firefighters have always been a critical line of defense against raging wildfires. But increasingly extreme blazes and a horrific accident have many wondering how we'll adapt to fires of the future.
10+ min |
July - August 2024
Popular Mechanics US
Our New Moon Epoch
WHEN HUMANS GET INVOLVED IN places they weren't invited, things start to change. The Moon is no different.
1 min |
July - August 2024
Popular Mechanics US
Rapid Evolution
ON APRIL 26, 1986, THE No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukrainethen part of the Soviet Union-exploded, sending a massive plume of radiation into the sky. Nearly four decades later, the facility and much of the surrounding area remain uninhabited-by humans, at least.
2 min |
July - August 2024
Popular Mechanics US
HOW TO GET STARTED SOLDERING
Soldering is rapidly becoming the skill of a bygone era. Much like the ability to drive a car with a manual transmission, read a map, or write a check, younger generations are learning less about how to work with their hands-and it's time for that to change.
5 min |
July - August 2024
Popular Mechanics US
SHARPENING YOUR TOOLS
TOOLS LOSE THEIR EDGE AND BECOME DULL. That's a fact of their existence.
4 min |