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Mystery Animal Contest: Who Is This Shy Climber?
Guess the species (either common or Linnaean) by tweeting at us--we're @PopSci--and get your name listed right here! Plus eternal glory, obviously. Update: We have a winner!So, here are the rules: To...
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DNA Makes A Great Flame Retardant For Cotton Fabric
Fiery Fashiondesignshard via FlickrFabric coated in DNA from fish sperm won't catch on fire. Who knew? DNA, the genetic Lego castle that makes up all living organisms, can store data, nab bad guys and...
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NYC Wants To Sterilize Its Subway Rats
Subway RatWikimedia CommonsBecause there are enough already, thanks. The rats of NYC subways are resilient. The city is an especially well-suited home for the critters, which explains why the Big Apple...
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Wearable Computers Could Help Build A Better You
Computer Guidance Paul LachineWearable head-up displays make gamification a viable route to self-improvement. In 1961, Claude Shannon and Edward Thorp built the world's first wearable computer. The...
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Photos From 11 Of The World's Coolest Nuclear-Monitoring Stations
WINDLESS BIGHT, ANTARCTICA Infrasound station IS55 gets a checkup. Copyright CTBTO Preparatory CommissionHow the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization keeps an ear to the ground The...
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Japan Has Won The Race To Extract Gas From Offshore Methane Ice
Methane Hydrate Wusel007 via Wikimedia CommonsThis is the first successful production of natural gas from off-shore supplies of methane hydrate, a huge untapped energy resource. Japanese officials...
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Trained Soviet Attack Dolphins With Head-Mounted Guns Are On The Loose
Mine Clearance DolphinWikimedia CommonsWould suggest running, but it's already too late, probably. Last year, the Ukrainian Navy decided to reinstitute a Soviet-era dolphin training program....
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The Science Press Is Going Crazy Over SpaceX's Most Recent Rocket Launch. Why?
SpaceX GrasshopperSteve Jurvetson, via Wikimedia CommonsWhat a modest rocket flight tells us about the future of space tourism On Thursday, March 7, SpaceX's Grasshopper rocket launched 263 feet into...
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The U.S. Army's Ambitious Fight Against PTSD
Mental CombatChris KoehlerWith a decade of war winding down, post-traumatic stress disorder is an increasingly urgent problem. Will the Army's efforts work? The roar of the chopper's engines made it...
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NASA Wants More Info About The Satellite Communication System Of The Future
EnvisatESAWhat that looks like is open to debate. Communicating in space is still pretty rough, and our current information-transferring system is aging quick. There must be a better system, and NASA...
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The Science Of Soda Sizes
Restaurant SodaNomadic Lass on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0Some fun reading about how, psychologically, New York's proposed soda ban was supposed to work As we either celebrate or mourn the New York Supreme...
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A Subterranean Performance Inaugurates The Largest Earth Telescope Ever
Tele-Commute Chilean singer Constanza Biagini, wearing a hat designed to look like the ALMA telescope dishes, belts out an unscripted vocal performance in a Santiago subway station. Rebecca Boyle The...
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NSFW: A Survey Of Global Porn Searches [Infographic]
PornMD's Survey of Global Porn SearchesPornMDWhat kind of porn are New Yorkers searching for? How about Nigerians? Palestinians? Portuguese? PornMD, which, despite its distinguished-sounding name is...
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9 Reasons To Avoid Sugar As If Your Life Depended On It
Sugar rushDreamstimeBecause, well, it does! The harmful effects of sugar go way beyond empty calories.Added sugar is so unhealthy that it is probably the single worst ingredient in the modern diet.Here...
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Their Big Eyes May Have Caused Neanderthals' Demise
Prehistoric Face-Off A comparison of skull features of an anatomically modern human and a Neanderthal. WikipediaThe species may have gone extinct because their eyes demanded too many neural resources....
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15 Incredible Images Of Futuristic Skyscrapers
Light Park Floating Skyscraper Coming in third place, this design for Beijing imagines a skyscraper that brings parks and other green spaces to heavily developed areas. A giant balloon would suspend it...
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ALMA, Earth's Largest Telescope, Is Officially Open For Business
The next 30 years of observations will revolutionize astronomy. NEAR SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, CHILE -- A massive new telescope that will unveil the faintest, most distant objects in our universe is...
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Minority Scientists Are Less Likely To Find Jobs
Breakdown Of Working U.S. Scientists And Engineers By Race And Sex, 2010NSFAnd more disturbing stats from a biennial report on women and minorities in science and engineering. Though it's not all bad!...
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This Clock Tracks The End Of The World
The clock monitors how close we are to doomsday, as decided by the heads of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Maybe you're familiar with the Doomsday Clock. It's an analogy started by the Bulletin of...
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Wait, Is There Life In Lake Vostok? Researcher Still Says Yes
Lake Vostok Drilling SiteWikimedia CommonsThe bacterium found last week was an undiscovered lifeform. No, it was a contaminant. No! Yes! We never suspected this particular saga to go smoothly, and so...
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