Science
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 |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
The Earth's Core Leaking Gold
GOLD ISN'T AS RARE AS YOU MAY think—it's just hard to reach.
1 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
A New Type of Magnetism
MAGNETISM CAN BE A STRANGE FORCE.
1 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
DARK MATTER
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT ON February 13, 2023, the Astroparticle Research with Cosmics in the Abyss (ARCA) array—part of the larger Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope (KM3NeT), located in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy—detected a high-energy particle unlike any other.
2 min |
November/December 2025
Popular Mechanics US
The Tomb of Jesus Christ
AT THE PLACE WHERE Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.\"-John 19:41.
2 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Actual Random Numbers
A LARGE TEAM OF SCIENTISTS CLAIMS to have achieved “certified randomness” using a quantum computer.
3 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
STURDY STEEL WIENER DOG BOOT SCRAPER
A recent North Atlantic mud season became the inspiration for this weekend metalsmithing project.
3 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
An Ancient Scarab Amulet
CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS picking stuff up off the ground—usually junk. But sometimes, they can find real treasure.
2 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Inside the Glitter LAB
How the tiniest trace of red shimmer helped solve one of California's most brutal crimes.
10+ min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
THE POWER OF EARTH'S ROTATION
AS CLIMATE CHANGE CONTINUES TO impact countries and communities around the world, humanity is hungry for alternative sources of green energy.
1 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
The SECRET VENOMOUS HISTORY of Ozempic
How a deadly toxin from a desert dwelling lizard led to one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in modern times.
10+ min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
ONE BUCKET. TEN GENIUS HACKS.
THERE'S A $5 DO-IT-ALL PROBLEM SOLVER JUST SITTING IN YOUR GARAGE. PUT IT TO WORK!
4 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Lucid Dreaming
THE STATE KNOWN AS LUCID DREAMING IS an unquestionably surreal one, and it just got even more so. A team of researchers at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands has discovered that lucid dreaming is a state of consciousness separate from both wakefulness and REM sleep (the state usually associated with dreams). In fact, it is associated with its own type of brain activity.
1 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
The Ancient People of the Sahara
BETWEEN 14,800 AND 5,500 YEARS AGO, the Sahara—known for being one of the driest places on Earth—actually had enough water to support a way of life. Back then, it was a savanna that early human populations settled to take advantage of the favorable farming conditions. Among them was a mysterious people who lived in what is now southwestern Libya and should have been genetically subSaharan—except, upon a modern analysis, their genes didn’t reflect that.
1 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Our Global Population
HOMO SAPIENS IS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL mammalian species in Earth’s history, and it’s not even close. However, a new study suggests that the impressive nature of humanity’s proliferation may have been vastly underreported.
1 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL!
AS CARMAKERS LOBBY TO YANK AM RADIO FROM NEW MODELS, BROADCASTERS ARGUE THAT THE TRUSTY 105-YEAR-OLD MEDIUM IS AN IRREPLACEABLE LIFELINE FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS. BUT IS ANYBODY LISTENING?
10+ min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
The Identity of a Famous Criminal
NOTORIOUS FOR BLACKMAIL, extortion, and even murder, Johannes Bückler—also known as Schinderhannes—was one of the most infamous criminals in all of Germany during the late 18th century. He was responsible for more than 200 offenses during his reign of terror.
1 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Bringing Back Buttons
TOUCH SCREENS HAVE BECOME THE norm for navigating infotainment systems in modern cars. But while they look brilliant, I can confidently say that they'll never be as good as the buttons and knobs present in the cars of yesteryear.
1 min |
September/October 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Seismic Ghost Stories
ЈUST ABOUT EVERY TOWN IN AMERICA has its local legends-the scary stories told at sleepovers or around campfires that someone's friend or cousin always swears they totally saw for real one time.
2 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
THE SCAM THAT DUPED POKÉMON'S MOST OBSESSIVE CARD COLLECTORS AND THE AMATEUR SLEUTH WHO EXPOSED THE TRUTH
THE FIRST TIME Jason held a set of Pokémon cards was in 1999, when he was 9 years old and he received a pack as a birthday gift.
10+ min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
AMERICA'S DEADLIEST INDUSTRIAL DISASTER WAS ERASED FROM HISTORY
THE MEN CAME TO WEST VIRGINIA WANTING NOTHING MORE THAN HONEST WORK. INSTEAD, THEY FACED A SILENT KILLER-AND A MASSIVE COVER-UP.
10+ min |