CATEGORIES
HOW TO BUILD A DIY ROUTER SLED
Flatten wood slabs at home with the precision of a professional.
Fastest Submarines
IMAGINE A SUBMARINE SO FAST THAT IT CAN outrun a torpedo. That could soon be a possibility, thanks to a breakthrough propulsion method that Chinese scientists claim could produce the fastest submarines in the world.
Indiana Jones
THE SANDSTONE CLIFF FACES OF THE ancient city of Petra (one of the New Seven Wonders of the World) have long been in the archaeological limelight.
FOREVER
Two Tornadoes Struck the Same Military Base Five Days Apart in 1948. It Changed the Way We Forecast Weather
Biggest Prime
A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF prime numbers-if we were to compile and write it out-would make this an absolutely insufferable article to read through. And, technically, we couldn't do it anyway. Theoretically, there are infinite prime numbers, but they become fewer and farther between as you count higher and higher.
Quantum Paradox
FOR OVER 100 YEARS NOW, QUANTUM mechanics has rattled the cage of everything we've known about physics. Is everything just made of wiggles and waves if you look closely? How far can one entanglement be stretched-is it long enough to enable quantum telecommunications?
Humans: Neanderthal
\"THERE IS NOTHING LIKE LOOKING, if you want to find something,\" says Thorin Oakenshield in J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved fantasy novel The Hobbit. \"You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.\"
Consciousness
A RECENT GROUNDBREAKING EXPERIment in which anesthesia was administered to rats has convinced scientists that tiny structures in the rodents' brains are responsible for consciousness.
COMB JELLY
THE WARTY COMB JELLY, MNEMIOPSIS leidyi, is a fascinatingly weird creature that can regenerate parts of its body, reproduce from a larval stage, and even fuse its body with other comb jellies in order to survive when injured.
POPULAR MECHANICS TOOL AWARDS 2025
Tools are the cornerstone of civilization. Our use and creation of them sets us apart from every other creature on earth. The best tools not only make work go faster, they make it easier, better, and more efficient. The tools here are the latest and greatest for both common and tricky tasks.
WILL WE EVER UNLOCK ITS SECRETS?
2,000 Years Ago, the Greeks Built What May Be the World's First Computer.
5th Force
ACCORDING TO THE CURrent Standard Model, four fundamental forces underpin all known physics: electromagnetism, gravity, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. However, since the mid-1980s, physicists have wondered if a fifth fundamental force could exist, which would help to explain some observational anomalies. And since then, many studies have boldly claimed discovery of this elusive force.
Betelbuddy
BETELGEUSE (NOT BEETLEJUICE, THE slimy character of movie fame) is one of the most celebrated celestial objects in the night sky and has been at the heart of several mysteries over the years.
Building a Sixth-Generation Bomber Raptor
THE GLOBAL COMBAT AIR Programme (GCAP)-a project by the U.K., Italy, and Japan to develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter-has been busy at the drawing board reshaping its vision of the future of air warfare. And judging by the new concept model unveiled at this year's Farnborough air show, that future has big triangular wings.
Fresh Fingerprints on an Ancient Statue
A CLAY FIGURINE HAS SPENT MILLENNIA incomplete, waiting at the bottom of a lake for its long-dead craftsman to finish the Iron Age-era statuette.
ONE OF THE 'GREATEST THREATS' TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK.
EXPERTS ARE PREPARING THE REGION AGAINST THE THREAT OF DANGEROUS VOLCANIC MUDFLOWS, KNOWN AS LAHARS, WHICH COULD INUNDATE THE COMMUNITIES SURROUNDING MT. RAINIER IN AS LITTLE AS 30 MINUTES.
THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST ROW
They rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, battling unpredictable weather, chaotic seas, and finicky equipment. But what they discovered gave them profound new insights into the power of the ocean.
This Ancient Fossil With a Brain and Guts
WE KNOW WHAT FOSSILS LOOK like. For example, typical dinosaur fossils are bones turned to stone and preserved from the passage of time, located, if we're particularly lucky, in large collections that can be reassembled to represent the beast they used to prop up in their entirety.
The Electroweak Force of the Early Universe
TODAY, THE UNIVERSE AS WE KNOW IT IS governed by four fundamental forces: the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity.
The Tools of Copernicus
WAY BACK IN 1508, WITH ONLY LIMited tools at his disposal, Nicolaus Copernicus developed a celestial model of a heliocentric planetary system, which he described in hist landmark work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. It was a complete overhaul of our conception of the universe-one that, unfortunately, earned him the ire of the Catholic church for decades after his death-and forever changed the way we look at the stars.
A Cuneiform Shopping List
MOST OF US CAN DO ALL OF OUR shopping with the click of a few buttons, and while that's certainly convenient, it can make it difficult to keep track of when exactly that new armoire or bookshelf will show up at your doorstep.
SNOWBALL EARTH
IMAGINE A PLANET WHERE THE AVERAGE temperature is a delightful -58° Fahrenheit every day. Not a place you'd want to visit, right? Lucky for you, then, that you weren't around several hundred million years ago, because these brutal conditions were the unfortunate reality of the \"Snowball Earth.\"
Quantum Entanglement in Our Brains
IT HAS LONG BEEN ARGUED THAT THE human brain is similar to a computer. But in reality, that's selling the brain pretty short.
Are We on the Verge of an ARMS RACE in SPACE?
RUMORS OF A RUSSIAN SPACE NUKE, ALONG WITH OTHER SATELLITE-TARGETING WEAPONS, HAVE MADE GEOPOLITICAL TENSIONS EXTEND INTO ORBIT.
HOW TO DIY OFF-GRID SOLAR
SPEND THE TIME UP FRONT AND PLAN IT CAREFULLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT
THE INSIDE SCOOP ON DESSERT TECH
A lab in Denmark works to make the perfect ice cream. Bring on the fava beans?
CONFESSIONS OF A HINGE POWER DATER
BY HIS OWN estimation, JB averages about three dates a week. \"It's gonna sound wild,\" he confesses, \"but I've probably been on close to 200 dates in the last year and a half.\"
REVENGE OF THE SOFTIES
FOR YEARS, PEOPLE COUNTED MICROSOFT OUT. THEN SATYA NADELLA TOOK CONTROL. AS THE COMPANY TURNS 50, IT'S MORE RELEVANT-AND SCARIER-THAN EVER.
MOVE SLOWLY AND BUILD THINGS
EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON MICROCHIPS-WHICH MEANS TOO MUCH DEPENDS ON TAIWAN. TO REBUILD CHIP MANUFACTURING AT HOME, THE U.S. IS BETTING BIG ON AN AGING TECH GIANT. BUT AS MONEY AND COLOSSAL INFRASTRUCTURE FLOW INTO OHIO, DOES TOO MUCH DEPEND ON INTEL?
FOLLOW THAT CAR
CHASING A ROBOTAXI FOR HOURS AND HOURS IS WEIRD AND REVELATORY, AND BORING, AND JEALOUSY-INDUCING. BUT THE DRIVERLESS WORLD IS COMING FOR ALL OF US. SO GET IN AND BUCKLE UP.