Popular Science

Hyundai chose Detroit to debut its first-ever plug-in hybrid, the 2016 Hyundai Sonata PHEV. It's expected to travel 22 miles per charge using electricity alone, or a bit…

Google has updated its Translate app, bringing enhancements to two features and bringing new capabilities to iOS for the first time.

Detroit, as we call the North American International Auto Show, has always been a spectacle of automotive muscle and mischief. This year's biggest story didn't stray: It was the twin-turbo V6. It's now the engine of choice for the Acura NSX, the Ford GT, and the Infiniti Q60, among others, and a testament to how far engine technology has come. The engines we saw this year can wring so much power—600 horsepower, in the case of the GT—out of relatively modest mills, and their efficiency can skyrocket when paired with a lightweight chassis and a few electric motors, as Acura plans to do. Hybrid…

As research for our January 2015 feature story about stealth new aircraft, we created virtual models of the coolest new drones in the sky—the Northrop Grumman RQ-180 and…

The task your MakerBot was born for…

Despite headlines claiming otherwise, cyberwar is not epitomized by stealing Twitter passwords or publishing confidential emails. For militaries fighting wars in the…

To stand underneath the glowing, otherworldly dance of the aurora is an experience on our bucket list. But if you (like us) haven't had the chance to travel to the far…

Imagine your 10-year-old coming home from school after band practice and begging you to let him play a... SculpTon? It doesn't quite have the same ring as a saxophone, but…

Local Motors, a Phoenix-based start-up that aims to be the world’s first producer of 3-D–printed cars, plans to sell you its unconventional vehicles within 12 to 18…

For the most part, people love a good drinking game. We've taught robots beer pong and we'll even watch celebrities play them on TV. So it really shouldn't be a surprise that our ancestors partied as hard as we did. Writing for Live Science, Megan Gannon describes the efforts of art historian Heather Sharpe to recreate the ancient Greek drinking game kottabos with her students. Sharpe recently presented her findings at the Archaeological Institute of America meeting. Sharpe had her students try to recreate the game, which would have been played during Greek symposia--parties that involved…

A colony on Mars. It’s the fantasy of pretty much all space entrepreneurs these days. Bas Lansdorp famously dreams of establishing a permanent human settlement on the red…

When it launches on January 29, a new satellite’s mission will be simple: to measure one of the most important but least recognized sources of water on Earth. NASA’s SMAP…

Hackett distills some drinkable biofuel…

A smartphone app may provide a new answer to an old problem for the visually impaired: tree branches at head height. While guide dogs and walking canes can prevent a…

After more than 11 years of mystery, the European Space Agency has finally found Beagle-2: their long-lost Mars lander. ESA only recently spotted the tiny spacecraft in…

The lights of the aurora borealis are often described as “dancing,” since they fluctuate in shape and brightness. Inside, the charged particles that generate the aurora…

Australia, home to acting brothers Liam and Chris Hemsworth, is also home to many large and scary arachnids.

The snow in the America's Heartland isn’t as "snow white" as one might hope. That’s because pollution trapped in the snow is making it darker. Dark snow often contains…

Flying the X-15 was a challenge. In 1967, Mike Adams couldn't win the fight to get the plane down safely.

Early this morning, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, released images from the company's rocket landing attempt on Saturday. The photos show how the Falcon 9 rocket hit its…

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