Popular Science

Tyrannosaurus rex is iconic for its ferocity and big teeth, as well as those teeny-tiny arms. The Cretaceous Period apex predator wasn’t the only carnivore with underdeveloped forelimbs, however. At least five groups of two-legged, mostly meat-eating theropod dinosaurs experienced a shortening of the upper arms over the course of their evolutionary journey. But why did they have such comically small claws? One team of researchers believes the answer is simple. “It’s a case of ‘use it or lose

Google put AI on people’s faces more than a decade ago with its Google Glass wearable. It was designed to put a computer directly on your face, but the world (and to some extent, the hardware) wasn’t quite ready for that yet. At Google I/O 2026 on Tuesday, Google announced new intelligent eyewear built with Samsung and Qualcomm, in frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, shipping this fall. It’s a far cry from the original Google Glass project, and in many ways, it simplif

The happy-face spider (Theridion grallator) is famous for the particularly cheery looking patterns on top of its abdomen. Ecologists in Hawaii first described the tiny, vibrantly green arachnids in 1900, and have long assumed them to be unique to the islands. However, an unexpected encounter thousands of miles away recently surprised researchers combing through the forested slopes of the Himalayan mountains. According to their study published in the journal Evolutionary Systematics, there is

There’s a SMILE beaming down from high above Earth. On May 19, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) launched a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana with a payload representing years of international collaboration. Known as the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), the spacecraft will soon begin studying the sun’s immensely powerful solar winds and their relationship with Earth’s atmospheric safeguards. You woul

In 2016, Sony introduced the MDR-1000X, establishing a legacy of active noise-canceling headphones that have accompanied commuters, frequent flyers, and remote workers for a decade. To celebrate 10 years of blissfully isolating iterations, Sony has introduced the 1000X The ColleXion [X = 10, you see]. Building on the premium ANC platform of 2025’s WH-1000XM6, this anniversary edition elevates the design language and digital signal processing into a luxury victory lap.

While every bumble bee colony has a queen, the process for becoming that queen bee may be a bit more democratic than monarchical. The worker bees appear to select which baby will be queen one day, according to a new study published in the journal Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The key to this selection process lies in the juvenile hormone. This hormone in insects is responsible for their development, molting, and eventual reproduction. When the team gave the juvenile hormone to wo

Snow Peak rarely puts its core lineup of meticulously engineered outdoor gear on sale, which makes its current Camp All Summer Sale a real event. I just spent this past weekend at the sold out Snow Peak Way event at Snow Peak Campfield in Long Beach, WA and I already have an wish list of gear started. A variety of their popular camp gear is 20 percent off, with a handful of items dropped even further. The Takibi Fire & Grill is down to $279.96 (from $349.95), the Jikaro Firering Table is $27

College sophomore Ian Vanveen, 20, got into woodworking as a way of budget management. “I didn’t have a whole lot of money,” he says, “so I decided to build what I wanted myself.” The mostly self-taught craftsman started off making furniture, but was eventually itching to do more.  So Vanveen took a carpentry class to learn about different woods and their properties. There, he discovered things like how different kinds of wood can vary in density, and how wood’s fibers can expand or shri

It’s a healthy sign when consumers have the ear of a company that wants their ears. Marshall heard from the market that there was a desire for ultra-portable on-ear headphones with active noise cancellation, and the end product is the new Milton A.N.C. It brings familiar design language and flagship flourishes into what has typically been a less feature-packed form factor. Until now. Marshall

For decades, many paleoarchaeologists believed Neanderthals went extinct largely because they just weren’t intelligent enough to compete with their Homo sapien relatives. However, mounting historical evidence suggests this was far from the case. The latest discovery to help the Neanderthal’s reputation ion? The ancient hominins knew when and how to safely snack on shellfish potentially thousands of years before their human descendants. The findings published today in the Proceedings of the Na

The Garden of Fugitives is one of Pompeii’s most haunting sites. Discovered during archaeological excavations in 1961, the former vineyard quickly became a gravesite for over a dozen people who perished amid the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and its choking, burning hot pyroclastic cloud that enveloped the city in 79 CE. Although the victims’ bodies eventually decomposed underneath the pumice and ash, the unique burial conditions at their time of death presented a remarkable opportunity for futu

It would make more sense if only a few related cultures exhibited it, but the trait is everywhere. No matter where you are in the world, the humans living there are about 90 percent right-handed while the remaining 10 percent are predominantly left-handed. This curious facet isn’t seen in our primate relatives, either. Evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists have spent decades trying to understand why the vast majority of Homo sapiens prefer using their right limb, but have since come up…

The remains of an ancient dingo is shining new light on deep relationships between Australia’s First Nations and the wild dogs. Barkindji ancestors deliberately cared for and buried the dingo along the Baaka (Darling River) about 800 miles west of Sydney.  The dingo is known as garli in Barkindji language and they lived alongside the Barkindji as part of the community. While burying the dog, the Barkindji took great care in building a midden, or a spot to place organic material. The peop

As if we needed reminding, new research documenting dozens of previously unknown insect species highlights just how little we know about our fellow planet-dwellers.  For the first time, researchers have comprehensively revisioned the Platydracus genus of beetles in China. Meaning flat dragon, Platydracus is a genus of rove beetles. In this new review, the team recorded over 100 species, a majority of which are new to science. Their work highlights how it’s not just the small and bland sp

Portland, Oregon’s Campfire Audio launched in 2015 as the logical continuation of founder and lead engineer Ken Ball’s ALOaudio. ALO, or Audio Line Out, was a company obsessed with the signal chain. And Campfire Audio emerged to produce hand-assembled in-ear monitors capable of transforming what the bespoke cables and boutique portable amps were transporting. With the 2016 introduction of the Andromeda [an IEM whose 10th anniversary edition we’ll have more to say about in the f

Most sharks have five gill slits on either side. But Hexanchus griseus, a giant and mysterious shark species, has an even six gill slits. These fish, appropriately called the sixgill shark, live in both tropical and temperate waters around the world and can reach up to 14-feet-long. They’ve existed since before the dinosaurs, and yet marine biologists still don’t know very much about them.  One of the problems—for researchers, anyway—is that sixgills usually live in deep oceanic waters, at de

Your immune system has one job: to protect you. And most of the time, it does that job like a pro.  But occasionally it gets a bit overzealous, even paranoid. It mistakes harmless, even wonderful things—flowers, peanuts, cats—for threats, and attacks them (and you—mostly you) with a senseless, chaotic vengeance. For most allergy sufferers, this might mean giving up a few tasty foods, staying inside during high pollen counts, or rehoming the cat—or, more realistically, the person aller

The babies are growing up. Since hatching in early April, Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets have sprouted new feathers, developed keen vision, and now, they’re practicing some vital grownup skills. Sandy and Luna can be seen engaged in lively wing-flapping sessions. While it might look a little awkward, the movement helps the chicks develop their pectoral muscles, an essential step in learning to fly. “It [also] helps them learn the ‘wingspan’ of their own bodies so th

Your Google account likely stores a lot of important information, from your home address in Google Maps and your work emails in Gmail, to family pictures in Google Photos and personal conversations in Google Chat. You don’t want anyone else gaining access to that data—and nor does Google. To minimize the chances of anyone else accessing your account, Google has created a Security Checkup tool that you can use in any web browser. It takes you quickly and simply through a security audit,

Social media is widely considered to be bad for one’s mental health, at least anecdotally. However, it can have some positive impacts, such as videos of animals chewing food very loudly. What could possibly be better than a closeup of an animal’s snout as it crunches on a carrot?  This week, zoos around the United States have been using social media to highlight one particularly cute muncher—tree kangaroos. Ahead of World Tree Kangaroo Day on May 21, conservation organization AZA SAFE (S