Popular Science

Apple spent two years promising a smarter Siri. We’ve been patiently waiting. At WWDC 2026 on Monday, the company finally showed the rebuild instead of a roadmap slide: Siri AI, an assistant that Apple says can hold a back-and-forth conversation, read what’s on your screen, and dig through your own messages, emails, and photos to answer a question. That headline arrived wrapped in a software preview that also reaches AirPods, Safari, your kids’ screen time, and, awkwardly, what

A summer heat wave and a stressed grid have a way of moving backup power up everyone’s shopping list. Jackery’s early Prime Day sale runs through June 22, with the full lineup live on its Amazon store and a few larger bundles exclusive to Jackery.com. Portable power stations start at $129 for the Explorer 240D, the standalone stations climb into whole-home territory, and the deepest cut in the sale takes a loaded Explorer 2000 Plus kit past 60% off. If you have been thinking about ge

It sounds like a scene out of a horror movie. Dozens of headless human skeletons resting in a single grave. First discovered in 2022, this Neolithic burial site near the present-day town of Vráble, Slovakia, raises significantly more questions than it answers. Was this the site of a grisly massacre 7,000 years ago? Were the individuals sacrificed? Is it the result of some kind of plague? A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society points to a more skillful remo

Costco is famous for selling everyday products in large bulk quantities, be it a 40-pack of batteries or quarts of soy sauce. Then there are the not-so-common products like vending machines, coffins, and even entire barns. Knowing the retailer’s reputation, it’s understandable when people fall for hoax Costco purchases that occasionally go viral online. Recently, a video showcasing a 200-foot-long, inflatable lazy river available from Costco has spread across social media. Posted by an Instag

Following a record-breaking nesting season in 2025, the Great Lakes’ first piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) of the season have hatched. The nonprofit Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort reported that 12 chicks hatched in Wisconsin and Michigan in late May, with more expected to hatch. Piping plovers are small migratory shorebirds. The United States is home to three piping plover populations. One lives along the rivers and lakes of the northern Great Plains, another along the East Coa

When most American travelers conjure up the image of a bus, many words come to mind but fast almost certainly isn’t one of them. An ambitious proposal in California wants to change that by exploring the idea of buses operating between 100-140 mph. Though buses function as an integral means of affordable transit for millions of people, they certainly aren’t the mode of travel for anyone in a hurry. Long-distance operators like Greyhound, traveling from city to city, typically max out at 65 mil

Like all high schools, Cavour Scientific High School has its fair share of rumors. For years, students swore that their classrooms were built atop ancient, unexplored Roman ruins. Their theories were understandable given the school’s impressive view.. From its front steps on Via degil Annibaldi, Cavour Scientific High School is less than a five minute stroll to the Colosseum. Yes, that Colosseum. The monumental symbol of ancient Rome is only one example of the surrounding neighborhood’s histo

Something strange is happening in the brackish waters of New York’s Hudson River. It sounds like a sort of low thundering, and while anything is possible in a lively body of water so closely associated with the Big Apple, it’s not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles training with their rat sensei Splinter. Instead, scientists say that the mysterious sound is made by the reproductive antics of an endangered fish called Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus). Writing in a recent Endangered

The official start of summer is days away, and after a particularly long and cold winter in parts of the United States, many are ready to enjoy the outdoors again without risking frostbite. Warm weather comes with another type of bite, however. One that comes with an unwanted guest attached to your body. Along with mosquitos and flies, ticks are among our most disliked insects. However, their infamy comes with a lot of myths, and with tick season in full swing, it’s important to straighten ou

When was the last time you recalled a looming dentist appointment off the top of your head? Or memorized a phone number that wasn’t also the lyrics to an interminable commercial jingle? If the answer escapes you, it’s likely that you use notes apps, phone cameras, voice memos, and schedulers to outsource the documentation of your memories and commitments. Psychologists call it cognitive offloading, and it’s been a real boon to the convenient, efficient, and effective cataloging of the ever-sw

Most are aware of Epsom salt’s ability to soothe sore muscles. The compound itself is magnesium sulfate, a naturally occurring mineral. But while Epsom salt has become a staple in medicine cabinets, it’s also earned a reputation as a cure-all for everything from dirty grout to struggling tomato plants.  Some of those uses are grounded in science, while others are little more than persistent household myths. Before you sprinkle Epsom salt on your garden or mix it into a DIY cleaning

We tend to think of wild animals as being spared from the messy business of personality: the family dramas, the psychological wounds, the baffling quirks that keep resurfacing like whack-a-moles. Turns out, nobody gets out of that. Animals have personalities, too, and many of the same complex forces that shape our personalities shape theirs. “They’re not spared,” says Dr. Alison M. Bell, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Illinois Urbana, tells Popular Science. “Life is hard for t

Our world exists in vibrant color, but seeing it in black and white can be moving. The Exposure One Awards celebrate monochrome beauty. In this year’s One Shot Photo Contest, photographers from 82 countries submitted images for consideration. “Sassy, an Insistent Whale”Credit: Tristin Sheen / Exposure One Awards “The 2026 One Shot Photo Contest challenges photographers to distill their craft, perspective, and storytelling into a single, definitive image,&#8221

While turkeys are more associated with the fall, spring is the season of the baby turkey just like with most birds. When two turkeys were left without a mother, staff at Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in Pennsylvania resorted to a surprising replacement: a feather duster.  It might sound like a Disney-esque solution, but rehabilitation animals won’t start healing until they are relaxed, and these two chicks—just a day or two old—were very stressed. According to Raven Ridge’s Game Warden, a

With warm weather in full swing, people and pets are spending more time outdoors. While time outside is essential for both physical and mental health, it also comes with a few seasonal downsides, bug bites among them. But not just any bites: specifically, tick bites. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ticks cause the vast majority of vector-borne illnesses in the U.S., including an estimated 475,000 Lyme disease cases each year, far surpassing those caused by diseases s

Weber rarely puts its grills on sale, so the brand’s summer event is a real chance to take money off a setup built to last a decade. The Weber Father’s Day sale has 65 deals running across pellet smokers, gas grills, griddles, and the tools that go with them, with $100 off the Smoque pellet smoker and the Genesis gas grills among the bigger-ticket cuts. Most of the accessories sit under $35, so you can round out a cart even if a new grill isn’t in the budget this year.

It may not have been the most thrilling getaway job, but San Francisco law enforcement said it’s one of the first crimes of its kind. It also remains unsolved after nearly six months. According to officials speaking with the San Francisco Chronicle, police are still investigating a case in which an unidentified man stole an arm-full of activewear from a local yoga studio, then fled the scene inside a self-driving Waymo taxi. “I would think it would be easier to solve in a Waymo,” Sgt. T

Navigating air travel in 2026 is full of annoyances, but few bring more dread than the boarding process. What was once a straightforward exercise has grown increasingly complicated due to the proliferation of groups, zones, and variations of priority-based seating. All of this, studies show, has contributed to boarding times getting gradually longer each year. Boarding in the 1970s reportedly took just 15 minutes. Today, that process often takes up to 40. Now, a University of Florida master&#

Every year, July Fourth rolls along with a bang, literally. According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, the country spent about $400 million on Fourth of July fireworks displays in 2022. Meanwhile, everyday consumers spent about $2.3 billion on fireworks. That’s a lot of fireworks. And, in 2026, that figure is likely to soar even higher since this year (as you’ve undoubtedly heard) is the United States’s 250th birthday celebration. Let’s hear it for the semiquincentennial! The last bi

Anything unfortunate enough to venture too close to a black hole inevitably falls prey to the gargantuan object’s inescapable gravitational pull. But that doesn’t mean a black hole is constantly devouring its next cosmic meal. In many cases, there comes a time when there simply isn’t anything left in its vicinity to consume. Although these dormant black holes don’t go anywhere, astronomers have a tough time detecting and observing them. That hasn’t stopped researchers from successfully spotti