Science
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 |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Cryopreservation
PUTTING HUMANS INTO A STATE OF suspended animation has been a sci-fi aspiration for decades.
2 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
The Origin of Life
SCIENTISTS ARE MAKING A CASE FOR adjusting our understanding of how exactly genes first emerged.
2 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
INSIDE THE RACE TO DESTROY THE WORLD'S FIRST BALLISTIC MISSILE
ON THE DAMP and dreary evening of September 8, 1944, Sapper Bernard Browning hurried through western London toward the Chiswick train station.
10+ min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
BUILD THIS DIY RUSTIC BENCH
DO YOU HAVE a “no shoes inside” rule at home?
5 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Chips Designed by A.I.
OUR WORLD RUNS ON COMPUTER CHIPS.
2 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
SPINLAUNCH
LAUNCHING ROCKETS IS SERIOUS business. It takes a ton of fuel, a ton of manpower, a ton of resources, and if it goes bad, it can go really, really bad. It's also one of the least sustainable parts of an already unsustainable industry.
1 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Underground Incan Tunnels
THE INCAN TEMPLE OF THE SUN IN Cusco has long been a visual and cultural jewel of the ancient empire.
2 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
Accessing 37 Dimensions
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS don’t really get along, as the science of the subatomic can get...well...weird.
2 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
A Medieval Church Surrounded by Skeletons
WE WALK AROUND EVERY DAY completely unaware of what's just a few yards beneath our feet.
2 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
A Fossil Rewriting Dinosaur History
A DNA STRAND LIKE ME IS A BLUEPRINT for building a living thing,\" says the anthropomorphic double-helix Mr. DNA at the start of 1993's Jurassic Park.
1 min |
July - August 2025
Popular Mechanics US
HIS FAMILY WANTED TO DONATE HIS ORGANS.
IT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THIS HARD.
10+ min |
May - June 2025
Popular Mechanics US
A New Human Species
ALTHOUGH ONLY ONE SPECIES OF hominin exists on the planet today—good ol' Homo sapiens—the human family once comprised a complex tableau of members. And over the years, scientists have tried to get a clearer picture of that prehistoric story by excavating ancient human sites around the world.
1 min |
May - June 2025
Popular Mechanics US
This Secret Military Base
OVER THE YEARS, WE'VE DUG UP A LOT of stuff buried underneath layers upon layers of ice. Ancient tools, animal corpses, World War II planes—you name it, ice has buried it, and we've found it.
2 min |