Popular Science

Popular Science has been demystifying the worlds of science and technology since 1872. Our digital subscription delivers deeply reported stories that explain the inner workings of the phone in your pocket, explore world-changing innovations, and examine everything from the marvels of deep space to the secret lives of staples like bread.

Popular Science

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Meet the apex predators of the plant kingdom • The United States Botanic Garden cultivates a deadly menagerie of plants armed with viscous mucus, tricky tubes, and seductive white whiskers that lure insects to their doom.

Boardwalk bouncers • As gull attacks mount on unsuspecting vacationers, Ocean City, New Jersey, tries to set a new pecking order on its busy boardwalk.

Respect the rump • Wish you knew your butt better? Science has your back(side).

The last hope for the ‘Russian nesting doll’ of space • After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Roscosmos was summarily cut out of the ExoMars project, taking with it the rocket that was to deliver the Rosalind Franklin rover to space.

The power of slow water • Nature-inspired interventions that slow water rather than stop it could heal local water cycles during the Western megadrought.

I lift heavy weights and have fibromyalgia—here’s what the science says • Pumping iron may help people with FMS, but there’s still more to learn.

Getting the thrust of it • Take an inside look at how GE Aerospace tests its turbofans.

A 1967 foot-powered tool you could build today—if you wanted to • This vintage Popular Science tutorial invokes spinning wheels and DIY guitar pedals.