Had you asked me at the beginning of 2024 what our best gadgets list would look like, I’d have guessed it would be filled with quirky AI-driven devices like the rabbit R1 or the Humane Ai Pin. “Now with AI” is a phrase that has dominated consumer electronics in the 2020s. These devices promised unadulterated […]
Plenty of personal care products—the treatments and gadgets that fill our medicine cabinets, home gyms, and vanities—promise innovation. Yet few actually deliver. Companies that craft cosmetics, supplements, fitness tools, and other wellness aids tend to go hard on buzzwords without putting in the research to make something truly new. That doesn’t mean there aren’t worthwhile, […]
Moving your body is for everyone, regardless of experience level, skill, or location. This year’s Best of What’s New innovations make getting outside and active easier in many ways. A tightly woven shirt stops itchy mosquito bites sans chemicals. An electric fishing reel cuts the cord and ditches heavy batteries once and for all. An […]
Every year, we learn about new companies from brilliant people with big ideas. They come from every corner of the planet to provide us with cool innovations to write about and nerd out over. However, it’s not often that we give an award to a company that’s been around for 401 years. That’s not a […]
To keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, we need to cut emissions in half by 2035—even as we will likely hit another record for burning fossil fuels this year. Still, the brilliant engineering demonstrated in this year’s winning projects provides hope that we can rise to the challenge. A new kind […]
In 1988, we launched the Best of What’s New Awards. The original list highlighted “the very things that make our lives more comfortable, more rewarding, more exciting, and more fun,” to quote then-Publisher Grant A. Burnett. A few items from our 1988 Best of What’s New list. Image: Popular Science Now, in 2024, we continue […]
3 min read Northwestern University Takes Top Honors in BIG Idea Lunar Inflatables Challenge 5 min read NASA Engineer Carries Indigenous Roots into New Aviation Era 5 min read Math, Mentorship, Motherhood: Behind the Scenes with NASA Engineers
Dr. Sarah McLaughlin in surgery October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month JACKSONVILLE, Florida — There are two surgical options to treat breast cancer: lumpectomy and mastectomy. But there are many more reasons why women choose one over another, says Sarah McLaughlin, M.D., a breast surgical oncologist and chair of the Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic […]
a) Representation of the cone of influences of an individual located at the top of the cone. The different kind of interactions are colored differently. b) Illustration of a hypothetical through-edges diffusive process occurring at the network. c) Illustration of a hypothetical diffusive process involving both through-edges and through-space interactions in the network. Credit: PNAS […]
Jay Bennett Former associate web editor, science. In the aftermath of hurricane winds and rains, under clear conditions in Cape Canaveral, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket blasted into the sky carrying NASA’s newest interplanetary spacecraft: Europa Clipper. Designed to determine whether Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon is habitable, the spacecraft is equipped with a suite of cameras […]
