10,033 tiny clay cats reenact the Civil War at a Gettysburg museum

Fort Sumter, ironclad ships, and more come alive at the Civil War Tails at the Homestead Diorama Museum. The post 10,033 tiny clay cats reenact the Civil War at a Gettysburg museum appeared first on Popular Science.

'The department has lost touch with farmers' - call for minister's resignation over cattle cull

The minister has previously said there was "no reasonable alternative" to the cattle being euthanised on site after the 51 cattle were culled following a court order.

How AI helped a nonspeaking opera star find his voice

In this episode of Science Quickly, we meet Jakob Jordan, an autistic performer with apraxia, who stars in the groundbreaking opera Sensorium Ex. Host Rachel Feltman talks with Jordan, composer Paola Prestini and New Yor…

Emoji usage and age generations

For NYT’s the Upshot, Eve Washington, Larry Buchanan, and Claire Cain Miller examined… Tags: emoji, New York Times

Indian solar mission's new findings throw light on enduring Sun mysteries

Why is the Sun's corona millions of degrees hotter than its surface? And how does it maintain its inexplicably high temperature?

This lightweight e-bike lets you decide what kind of rider you are today

Whether you want a heart-pumping workout or a leisurely winding ride, the Velotric Tempo adapts to the moment rather than locking you into a single riding style. The post This lightweight e-bike lets you decide what kind…

How one of the American Museum of Natural History’s most terrifying dioramas get clean

It can take up to four hours. The post How one of the American Museum of Natural History’s most terrifying dioramas get clean appeared first on Popular Science.

Romania shuts only nuclear plant as heat causes huge drop in Danube River level

The Cernavodă plant, which produces 20% of Romania's electricity, is not expected to be restarted within the next 10 days.

Free Blockbusters are popping up to bring back physical media

Think a little free library, but for Friday night movie marathons. The post Free Blockbusters are popping up to bring back physical media appeared first on Popular Science.

Multiple bots exploited a vulnerability in OpenAI’s security system to gain internet access.… Tags: attack, bot, OpenAI

How to Catch the ‘Eclipse of the Century’ in 2027, When Spain, Egypt and More Go Dark

On Aug. 2, Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East will witness a solar blockbuster with extra-long totality. If you want to see it, book soon.

Who is KD1, the bald eagle spotted in Jackie and Shadow’s nest?

We’ll learn more when nesting season starts on September 1. The post Who is KD1, the bald eagle spotted in Jackie and Shadow’s nest? appeared first on Popular Science.

Mike Fincke, NASA Astronaut Whose Health Scare Led to I.S.S. Evacuation, Has Retired

Mike Fincke spent 459 days in space across four missions, the fourth most time of any NASA astronaut.

WWII motorcycle and soldiers emerge from river muck in Hungary

Historically low water levels in the Danube are revealing over 80 years of history. The post WWII motorcycle and soldiers emerge from river muck in Hungary appeared first on Popular Science.

Temperatures soar to 38C as amber extreme heat warning in effect

Heat is spiking again on Thursday with a rare warning in place and more records falling.

See the 2026 European Solar Eclipse, in Photos and Videos

People gathered across the continent to watch the total solar eclipse on Wednesday.

✚ Set expectations and verify

This week, we talk flimsy results and how to work on things that build trust over content. Tags: Large Language Model, mistakes, trust

Origins of American city names

In the early 1900s, Henry Gannett cataloged the origins of city names in… Tags: cities, Henry Gannett, history, names, Wall Street Journal

This Pesticide May Be Too Dangerous to Use. Farmers Say They Need It.

California announced that it’s phasing out paraquat, a pesticide widely used in the United States that is linked to Parkinson’s disease.

Cloudy skies lead to mixed fortunes for Scotland's eclipse hunters

Scotland's best chance of seeing a solar eclipse in 27 years left some disappointed, though there were moments of magic.

Vultures are disappearing in Nigeria - but the 'Vulture King' is fighting to reverse the trend

Some see them as sinister or hunt them for ritual use but these birds play a vital role in nature's cycle.

Telescope Spots Two Black Holes on the Cusp of Merging

New images from the James Webb telescope show a galaxy with a trio of supermassive black holes. Two of them appear to be locked in a tight tango.

The MOTHRA Telescope Captured the Faint Aftermath of a Star’s Death

During early calibration tests, the MOTHRA telescope’s array of lenses, which will soon number 1,140, captured stellar debris dissolving into space around the Helix Nebula.

Researchers have found a clever new way to map a part of Earth’s upper atmosphere that is notoriously difficult to observe. Using orbital data from roughly 1,200 Starlink satellites, they reconstructed changes in atmosph…

The adult brain may be far better at repairing itself than scientists once believed. In mice, researchers discovered a special group of support cells called astrocytes that respond to damaged brain tissue by rebuilding l…

IKEA complexity index

Speaking of IKEA, the IKEA complexity index by Greg Technology is a catalog… Tags: complexity, furniture, Greg Technology, IKEA

Keratin extracted from sheep’s wool helped damaged bone regenerate in animals, producing tissue that was more organized and structurally similar to healthy bone than tissue grown with conventional collagen scaffolds. The…

Most common color of IKEA sofas over time

For the European Correspondent, Toon Vos counted the color of all the couches… Tags: color, European Correspondent, furniture, IKEA

James Webb has captured a striking new infrared view of NGC 2392, the Lion Nebula, revealing the dramatic aftermath of a dying Sun-like star. At its center, a scorching white dwarf is blasting radiation into surrounding …

Could humans learn to speak in music?

What would it take to create a language made entirely of music? In this episode of Science Quickly, Scientific American’s Allison Parshall explores the science and linguistics behind musical languages, from real-world co…

Physicists have found a new way to peer inside one of matter’s most elusive quantum states: the Wigner crystal, where electrons stop behaving like independent particles and organize into a crystal-like pattern. By shinin…

Ordinary WiFi networks could quietly become powerful surveillance tools, allowing people to be identified without cameras, special sensors, or even carrying a connected device. Researchers showed that unencrypted signals…

Women Not Included: Drugs and clinical trials

After working exclusively with male mice while looking for a treatment for type 1 diabetes, Dr Ella Hubber begins to uncover a much bigger issue: modern medicine is not built equally for everyone. Along with journalist C…

Some people are remarkably good at reading the emotional temperature of a situation. They can pick up on what others are feeling, manage their own emotions, and respond skillfully. What's their secret? This week, we expl…

A moon crash, water hacks and a new mRNA flu shot

A wayward SpaceX rocket crashes into the moon, offering scientists a rare chance to study a lunar impact, while cyberattacks targeting U.S. water utilities raise concerns about critical infrastructure security. We also u…

Is Gen Z making smoking cool again?

In this episode of Science Quickly, Scientific American’s Adam Kovac joins host Rachel Feltman to explore why some experts worry cigarettes may be making a comeback among Generation Z. They discuss how social media, cele…

Getting to YouTube science stardom by building $#!%ty robots

In this episode of Science Quickly, we talk with Simone Giertz, YouTube maker extraordinaire, about her life in science and the influencer spotlight. She started making, in her words, “shitty robots” and has evolved into…

Salad Days: A Story of Science, Sexism, and Jell-O

If leafy greens and a little vinaigrette is salad, and chicken with mayo is salad, and vegetables in Jello-O are ALSO salad… What exactly is salad?! That's the big question we're tackling this episode—and it takes us dow…

When you're learning, or trying new things, you're going to make mistakes. The trick is to try to fail in a way that gives you useful information. This week, we revisit a favorite conversation with researcher Amy Edmonds…

Explosive diarrhea, ‘protein maxxing’ and the science of burnout

In this episode of Science Quickly, we unpack a major outbreak of Cyclospora infections linked to contaminated produce, explore new research that suggests that “protein maxxing” may do more harm than good and examine men…

Stories about unlikely heroes have captivated people for thousands of years. This week, social scientist Ben Rogers explores why the "hero's journey" resonates so deeply, and how the stories we tell about our own lives c…

Where There's Smoke, There's...Whiskey, Fish, and Barbecue!

As anyone who’s spent time by a crackling campfire or a barbecue pit can attest, the scent of smoke is unmistakable—and surprisingly mysterious. Smoke clings to clothing but vanishes in the breeze. You see it, but you ca…

Pain feels like a simple message from the body. If your elbow hurts, there must be something wrong with your elbow. If your back is painfully stiff, you need some work done on your back. But psychologist Rachel Zoffness …

New NPR Series: "We Keep Us Safe" from the Embedded podcast

In the summer of 2020, sixteen-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. traveled a thousand miles to join the racial justice movement of his generation in the wake of George Floyd's killing. Antonio arrived in Seattle during the Capito…

As we move through the world, it's easy to imagine we're processing everything that happens around us and then deciding how to respond. But psychologist and neuroscientist Norman Farb says our brains actually navigate th…

America's Forbidden Fruit and Forgotten First Soda: Ask Gastropod

Fan favorite Ask Gastropod is back, and we’re celebrating the season by solving a pair of trans-Atlantic mysteries! First up: if you have a purple candy in Europe, it’s nearly guaranteed to be flavored with a tart little…

Last week, we talked with psychologist Lisa Miller about the science of spirituality. Today, we explore what those ideas can look like in everyday life. Miller explains why moments of connection, spiritual practices, and…

Bringing Home the Bacon: From Shakespeare to the Baconator

For many Americans, bacon is an essential element of the perfect breakfast—not to mention a welcome addition to everything from cheeseburgers to doughnuts. But bacon hasn't always been beloved. Ancient Egyptians elites l…

The friendly virus

Our antibiotics are failing us. In 2025, the UK Government said antibiotic resistance (AMR) contributes to more than 35,000 deaths each year in the UK. Emergency doctors say they are losing patients on a regular basis wh…

The Life Scientific: Dean Lomax

Have you ever been told you aren't good enough to do something, then gone ahead and proved the naysayers wrong by doing it anyway - in glorious, headline-grabbing style? That is the satisfying story of Dr Dean Lomax. De…

What the Shell? Cracking the Lobster's Mysteries

Consider the lobster roll: tender chunks of lobster bathed in butter or mayo, sandwiched between two slices of a squishy bread roll… Have we caught your attention yet? Lobster is a summertime staple in New England, a fix…

The Life Scientific: Helen Hastie

What if robots of the future weren’t just clever machines, performing tasks in isolation, but trusted teammates you could have a chat with? That could respond naturally to conversational cues and even explain their work?…

The Life Scientific: Seth Berkley

Dr Seth Berkley is an epidemiologist and global health leader whose career has been shaped by one central problem: vaccines save lives, but only if people can actually get them. His 40-year career has spanned the global,…

The Life Scientific: Hiranya Peiris

Hiranya Peiris is playing a starring role in a movie that promises to tell perhaps the greatest story of all time. However, it’s a movie with a difference – there’s no director and no script. The Legacy Survey of Space a…