Sci-Tech news

• The Big Melt: Antarctica's Retreating Ice May Re-Shape Earth

  27-02-2015 21:40
  
  On Antarctica, scientists find glaciers melting at an accelerating pace, threatening havoc
  
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• Archeologists crack a shipwreck’s 400-year-old combination lock

  04-11-2026 21:00 via Popular Science
  
  Archaeologists have finally cracked the code to the famed Ann Francis shipwreck’s brass combination treasure lock. However, the 16th century relic didn’t open after hours of painstaking trial-and-error. Researchers at Cardiff University and Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Museum of Wales, relied on highly detailed CT scanning equipment to peer inside the mechanical device and learn the code without touching the lock itself.“It’s not every day you get to solve a 400-year-old mystery,” Dav
  
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• Why a pink potato-like robot is wheeling around Philadelphia

  04-11-2026 20:17 via Popular Science
  
  It was a showdown worthy of a classic Western, except the things rolling down the street weren’t tumbleweeds. They were robots.On one side of an Old City sidewalk in Philadelphia, an Uber Eats robot trundled along on its daily route. Suddenly, something blocked its path, and it was met face-to-interface with another, new robot. This new bot on the block was wildly different from its utilitarian, food-conveying counterpart: Not only did it have blond hair, blue eyes, and a perpetually lolling t
  
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• California has way more bugs than we thought

  04-11-2026 20:00 via Popular Science
  
  It’s true that there are more insects on Earth than any other animal. They make up roughly 80 percent of the planet’s animals and include about 900,000 known species. However, those jaw-dropping numbers can make it easy to undercount our six-legged friends. Take the state of California. Over 60,000 different species of insects reside in the Golden State, and scientists have only described about two-thirds of them. A study published today in the journal Ecography details the findings, which r
  
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• EcoFlow’s new DELTA Gen4 portable power stations keep a reserve of extra power for emergencies

  04-11-2026 19:24 via Popular Science
  
  If you’ve ever driven with white knuckles to a gas station while your car’s range read “0 miles,” you’ll appreciate a new feature on this portable power station. EcoFlow is building a similar cushion into its new DELTA Gen4 portable power stations. A feature called Emergency Power Mode holds back a small reserve for charging phones after the screen hits 0 percent.Two models are on sale today through EcoFlow’s website: the DELTA 3000 Gen4 at an early-bird $1,299 and the DELTA 3800 Gen
  
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• Man builds robotic cat feeder that senses when dish is empty

  04-11-2026 18:00 via Popular Science
  
  Pet owners can pick from any number of automatic cat feeders at this point, and even shell out hundreds of dollars for a particularly fancy kit. But at the end of the day, most of them are simply a scooper that dumps out premeasured amounts of feline food based on an internal timer.Jason Winfield, a New Zealand-based YouTuber and frequent traveler, wanted a slightly more advanced option: a robotic cat feeder that distributes a predetermined amount of food for his two pals, and also senses when t
  
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• Relaxed bear wins award for luxurious eating style—underneath an Alaskan waterfall

  04-11-2026 17:13 via Popular Science
  
  Typically, when a bear catches a nutritious salmon, they don’t eat it under a rushing waterfall. But one unnamed black bear (Ursus americanus) eating at Anan Creek in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest decided to park underneath a waterfall and enjoy his fishy snack. For this culinary innovation, the U.S. Forest Service team at Tongass National Forest has awarded the unnamed bear with the 2026 Shower Beer award. “After watching this relaxed black bear gnawing on a salmon under rushing wate
  
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• Want to become a creative genius? Try this nap hack.  

  04-11-2026 14:30 via Popular Science
  
  What’s the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise you’ll have an even weirder answer if you listen to PopSci’s hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Spotify, YouTube, Apple, and everywhere else you listen to podcasts every-other Wednesday morning. It’s your new favorite source for the strangest science-adjacent facts, figures, and Wikipedia spirals the editors of Popular Science can muster. If you like the stories in this post, we guaran
  
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• Cat-sized foxes in Texas are in trouble. Big guard dogs could help.

  03-11-2026 23:10 via Popular Science
  
  Two guard dogs could be protecting more than just the livestock grazing on the Rita Blanca National Grasslands in the Texas Panhandle. The working canines may be helping increase the odds of survival for the Lone Star State’s smallest fox.The swift fox (Vulpes velox) is about the size of a house cat. While not federally listed as endangered, conservationists believe there are fewer than 250 left in Texas. They only occupy about 40 percent of their historic range, from Texas north to Alberta, C
  
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• WWII submarine returns to Michigan after extensive restoration

  03-11-2026 22:00 via Popular Science
  
  A piece of World War II naval history has officially returned home to Muskegon, Michigan, looking like a brand new ship. On October 31, the USS Silversides arrived back at its museum after a 15-hour journey across Lake Michigan. The submarine was in Wisconsin for three months for its dry dock preservation in over 50 years. The endeavor involved completely removing the nearly 312-foot-long Gato-class submarine from the water in order to inspect and repair its lower hull.Although workers noted the
  
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• Oldest recordings of Louisiana Creole discovered in Indiana archive

  03-11-2026 20:20 via Popular Science
  
  A trailblazing Black linguist’s historical audio recordings have been rediscovered more than 90 years after his vital fieldwork. Originally etched onto aluminum discs, Lorenzo Dow Turner’s recordings are now the oldest known audio clips of authentic Louisiana Creole. Although the language has all-but-disappeared from daily life, the invaluable work resurfaces at a time when researchers and Creole descendents are striving to preserve—and even revive—the unique dialect. What is Louisiana
  
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• ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ movie prop may sell for over $1 million

  03-11-2026 18:00 via Popular Science
  
  Now is your chance to own as many pieces of film history as your bank account will allow. Numerous items from filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s personal archive are hitting the auction block for the first time. Equipment, props, scripts, and more will go up for bid directly from the Stanley Kubrick Film Archives at Bonhams in London this February. Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) was one of Hollywood’s most respected and influential filmmakers. His most impactful films include 2001: A Space Odyssey (1
  
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• Arrow the fearless black bear doesn’t care if a foe is bigger

  03-11-2026 16:31 via Popular Science
  
  If you are of a certain age, you might remember an innocent time when the honey badger (Mellivora capensis) took over the internet. Viral videos showing the feisty mammals that “don’t care” and punching above their weight made the honey badger a poster species for fearlessness.That same spirit appears to be alive and well in a bear named Arrow. The U.S. Forest Service team at Tongass National Forest has awarded the black bear (Ursus americanus) with the 2026 Honey Badger Award. Arrow is d
  
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• Do you need a preventative rabies vaccine? Probably not.

  03-11-2026 14:07 via Popular Science
  
  Of all the deadly diseases that can spread from mammals to humans, rabies is the most infamous. Cujo had it. Old Yeller had it. A squirrel in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” had it. Unfortunately, this virus doesn’t only live in fiction. It kills at least 59,000 people a year and is present in over 150 countries. On that list is the U.S., which is seeing a nationwide surge in reported cases of human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals. If left untreated, rabies is alway
  
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• Watchful mama bear Gemini wins 2026 Helicopter Mom Award

  02-11-2026 22:07 via Popular Science
  
  Even bears can be helicopter parents. The term coined in the 1990s by child development researchers Foster Cline and Jim Fay describes overly cautious parents who constantly monitor, control, and hover over (like a helicopter) their children’s activities out of fear. For these watchful tendencies, the U.S. Forest Service team at Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska has awarded a brown bear (Ursus arctos) named Gemini with the 2026 Helicopter Mom Award. “We understand her choice,
  
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• Dinosaur blood found in fossils for the first time

  02-11-2026 21:00 via Popular Science
  
  Paleontologists regularly discover fossilized dinosaur bones, but they sometimes locate footprints and prehistoric shells. On rare occasions, researchers have even identified the ancient indentations of a dinosaur’s skin or feathers. But fossilized cells? Researchers have long assumed such microscopic levels of preservation were impossible.But, once again, nature has proven otherwise.In a study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), an international team of
  
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• A NASA telescope will likely plummet to Earth on Wednesday

  02-11-2026 19:23 via Popular Science
  
  A revolutionary NASA telescope is making its way back to Earth—but will not survive the journey. The United States Space Force has honed its estimate for the Neil Gehreis Swift Observatory’s fiery atmospheric reentry. According to the latest calculations, the 2,500-pound orbital telescope will largely burn-up during its descent on or around Wednesday, November 4.“We’ve known this day would come since before Swift was launched,” Pennsylvania State University astronomer and Swift control
  
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• Aloe found in ancient Egyptian mummy skull for the first time

  02-11-2026 18:58 via Popular Science
  
  Archaeologists have identified a previously undocumented ingredient used in ancient Egyptian mummifications—and a famous medieval medicine concocted from the mummies themselves. At Germany’s Marburg University, researchers pinpointed traces of aloe-associated plant material in a 2,700-year-old mummy skull, and a popular centuries’ old apothecary cure-all known as Mumia vera aegyptiaca.There is no one way to make a mummy. Mummification methods have varied across the world for thousands of y
  
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• Aloe found in ancient Egyptian mummy skull

  02-11-2026 18:58 via Popular Science
  
  Archaeologists have identified a previously undocumented ingredient used in ancient Egyptian mummifications—and a famous medieval medicine concocted from the mummies themselves. At Germany’s Marburg University, researchers pinpointed traces of aloe-associated plant material in a 2,700-year-old mummy skull, and a popular centuries’ old apothecary cure-all known as Mumia vera aegyptiaca.There is no one way to make a mummy. Mummification methods have varied across the world for thousands of y
  
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• A bull and a male donkey’s sexual relationship turns heads

  02-11-2026 17:00 via Popular Science
  
  Sex between two animals of the same sex is widespread. Over 1,000 animal species from nematode worms to penguins to cattle all dabble in same-sex interactions. But a relationship between a bull named Achille and a male donkey named Patrocolo is raising eyebrows. The pair lives on a plateau in Ethiopia, and both could have chosen partners of the opposite sex and same species on numerous occasions. However, they continued to choose each other, despite belonging to different owners and only seeing
  
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• A NASA telescope will likely plummet to Earth on Friday

  02-11-2026 16:01 via Popular Science
  
  A revolutionary NASA telescope is making its way back to Earth—but will not survive the journey. The United States Space Force has honed its estimate for the Neil Gehreis Swift Observatory’s fiery atmospheric reentry. According to the latest calculations, the 2,500-pound orbital telescope will largely burn-up during its descent on or around Friday, November 6.“We’ve known this day would come since before Swift was launched,” Pennsylvania State University astronomer and Swift control le
  
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• Amazon’s early Black Friday deals have started and these 28 products are at their 2026 lows

  02-11-2026 15:34 via Popular Science
  
  Halloween is over, which means it’s time to put away the giant skeletons and start thinking about holiday shopping. Amazon’s early Black Friday deals went live November 1, and new ones are rolling out every day, so we’re keeping track. Most of the bargains run through the end of the month, which leaves time to deal with the shelf that never got hung or the grill that won’t survive another season. We checked every price in this post on Amazon Monday morning, November 2.Top early Black Fri
  
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• Bald eagle mistaken for trashbag on the road to recovery

  02-11-2026 15:00 via Popular Science
  
  A Pennsylvania resident recently arrived home to find what looked like an unassuming black trash bag in their yard. But the bag moved and lifted its head. Turns out, it was not a bag, but a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). And something was very wrong with her. A state Game Warden brought the eagle to Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in southern Pennsylvania to be checked out. The bird couldn’t stand and her legs were limp, which is a typical symptom of spinal trauma. Nonetheless, the team a
  
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• The grossest thing you touch every day, according to science

  01-11-2026 23:02 via Popular Science
  
  It’s probably not something you want to think about, but what do you think is the dirtiest thing you touch every day? If you commute via subway, you might suspect a stairwell handle or train pole as the most likely culprit. If you go from your house to your car to an office, maybe it’s the elevator button or the key fob you have to dig out of your bag. All very good guesses–you might even be tempted to pull out your phone and look up the correct answer. And there we have it. “It might
  
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• 2026 Gifts of the Year: Our editors have picked the best presents for anyone on your list

  01-11-2026 21:42 via Popular Science
  
  A gift cart isn’t a terrible present, but we believe you can do better. That’s why the editors here at Popular Science have put together this list of our favorite gifts of the year. We spend all year researching, testing, and covering products, so we know what we’re talking about. Even if you don’t end up grabbing one of these exact products, it’s a great place to start. Show them you know what they like and leave the gift cards for your nephew who you don’t really like that much.Pop
  
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• Amazon’s early Black Friday deals have started and these 21 products are at their 2026 lows

  01-11-2026 21:27 via Popular Science
  
  Halloween is over, which means it’s time to put away the giant skeletons and start thinking about holiday shopping. Amazon’s early Black Friday deals went live November 1, and most run through the end of the month, which leaves time to deal with the shelf that never got hung or the grill that won’t survive another season. We checked every price in this post on Amazon Sunday afternoon, November 1.Top early Black Friday deals on Amazon
  Weber Smoque 22-inch pellet smoker $599.00 (was $799.00)
  
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• How to build an air purifier in 6 steps

  01-11-2026 21:00 via Popular Science
  
  Though invisible itself, the air we breathe is a microcosm of identifiable pollen, fungal spores, viruses, dust particles, and fine particles of human pollution from everything from cars to asphalt sidewalks. It’s not something we should obsess over day to day, but as more people measure air quality on their own, many are getting readings they’d prefer to address. However, not everyone wants to buy an air purifier, which can cost several hundred dollars.One proposed solution for at-home a
  
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• How to build an air purifier in 6 simple steps

  01-11-2026 21:00 via Popular Science
  
  Though invisible itself, the air we breathe is a microcosm of identifiable pollen, fungal spores, viruses, dust particles, and fine particles of human pollution from everything from cars to asphalt sidewalks. It’s not something we should obsess over day to day, but as more people measure air quality on their own, many are getting readings they’d prefer to address. However, not everyone wants to buy an air purifier, which can cost several hundred dollars.One proposed solution for at-home a
  
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• Fierce turtles square off in a rare woodland turf battle

  01-11-2026 16:10 via Popular Science
  
  At first, it appears that two turtles with yellow spots are calmly sitting side by side. Suddenly, one of them turns, slowly—and lunges out with its head, its open beak clearly trying to take an aggressive chomp out of its neighbor. Moments later, the turtle tries again. Now, both reptiles are going head-to-head, though each is retracted into the protection of its shell. The two combatants are male eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) competing for dominance. Eastern box turtles
  
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• Putrid blood shoots from these lizards’ eyes

  01-11-2026 14:03 via Popular Science
  
  Horned lizards are spiky cuties. Three to six inches long, these lizards are coated with sharp spines all across their hard, sand-colored backs. But in the dry deserts and prairies they call home, they are still vulnerable. As they scuttle through the protective brush in arid landscapes from Mexico to southern Canada, they have to reckon with hungry coyotes, snakes that will gobble them whole, and even peckish roadrunners. That’s why multiple species of horned lizards have developed a weird bu
  
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