Science

Brain and brain waves in epilepsy, illustration

This Mysterious State of Consciousness Can Trigger Pure Ecstasy—But It Comes With a Cost

By Popular Mechanics Editors

Aug 27, 2026

6 min

All About Math

Light bulb over brain on green background

Member Exclusives

Join POP Mech Pro to read even more in-depth content.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule, computer artwork

The Pentagon Wants to Reprogram Cells With Light

By Sarah Scoles

Aug 25, 2026

10 min

Spacetime May Be Only Part of Reality

By Stav Dimitropoulos

Aug 21, 2026

12 min

two blue hands made of green binary code point point to the planet earth at the center of a black expanse

Earth Is Conscious, Controversial Theory Suggests

By Courtney Linder

Aug 18, 2026

8 min

Brown organic roots spreading across the ground. The image highlights the complex, web-like patterns of plant life underground, including both thick main roots and fine, hair-like fibers.

Could the World Beneath Your Feet Be Conscious?

By Emma Frederickson

Aug 15, 2026

7 min

Animals

A Brainless Sea Creature May Explain Our Bodies

By Darren Orf

Aug 25, 2026

4 min

What Exactly Is the ‘Eltanin Antenna’?

By Darren Orf

Aug 19, 2026

5 min

Close-up underwater shot of a large sturgeon fish with barbels and bony plates

This Giant Fish May Outlive the United States

By Darren Orf

Aug 18, 2026

6 min

Close-up of a fish showing distinct black patches on its side, placed on a wooden surface with a measuring tool nearby.

Scientists Found a Contagious Cancer in Catfish

By Darren Orf

Aug 13, 2026

6 min

Archaeology

Abstract glowing human lungs formed by radiant particles symbolizing respiratory health and medical innovation

This Queen’s Lungs Were Almost Perfectly Preserved

By Elizabeth Rayne

Aug 27, 2026

6 min

Ancient Latin lettering etched in aged Roman stone carving in Sagunto, Spain

A Cave Hid 120 Messages to an Unknown Goddess

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 27, 2026

5 min

Archaeologist working in an archaeological

Fire Preserved a Bronze Age Tablet’s Secret

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 27, 2026

4 min

A Dive Team Discovered a Lost German WWII Ship

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 27, 2026

4 min

Earth

Gophers Saved a Lava-Destroyed Ecosystem

By Michael Natale

Aug 26, 2026

4 min

St. Thomas Ghost Town In Lake Mead Remains Exposed As Drought Continues

A Nevada Ghost Town Rose From Its Watery Grave

By Darren Orf

Aug 26, 2026

5 min

Ancient Native American burial mounds in Mound City Ohio

This Mound Complex Is Older Than the Pyramids

By Elizabeth Rayne

Aug 27, 2026

6 min

Parmigiano Reggiano cheese wheels aging in a traditional storage facility in Italy

This Bank Has a Problem: The Cheese Is Melting

By Darren Orf

Aug 21, 2026

5 min

Our Robotic Future

art of springtail leaping from the water

This Tiny Jumping Robot Can Right Itself Mid-Leap

By Manasee Wagh

May 14, 2026

animated gifs show necrobotic spiders gripping and lifting various objects, along with a closeup of one joint flexing

Scientists Turn Dead Spiders Into Creepy Grippers

By Manasee Wagh

May 14, 2026

11 Weird Robots That Will Change How We Live

By Manasee Wagh

May 14, 2026

dyson household chore robot gripping a pink plate with a green plate resting in a drying rack on the right side

Dyson’s New Robot Will Clean Up Your House For You

By Tim Newcomb

May 14, 2026

5 min

What's the latest scientific breakthrough?

Discover that and more in our newsletter.

Energy

A serene desert landscape featuring a still pond surrounded by dry trees and towering rock formations under a clear blue sky.

Hoover Dam’s Power Crisis Is Getting Worse

By Darren Orf

Aug 10, 2026

14 min

Miners celebrating the rescue of a trapped colleague, with a rescue basket and safety gear visible.

The Quecreek Mine Rescue

By Bill Donahue

Jun 30, 2026

24 min

A Tree Caused the Largest North American Blackout

By Darren Orf

Jul 22, 2026

6 min

Blackground of particles of white powder in ascending movement floating in the air produced by an impact

Did a Prank Cause the First U.S. Nuclear Accident?

By Darren Orf

Jul 22, 2026

6 min

Green Tech

Nuclear power plant with two large cooling towers and concrete dome at sunset

Europe’s Nuclear Plants Are Shutting Down

By Darren Orf

Aug 24, 2026

5 min

Experts Think Air Conditioning Might Doom Us All

By Darren Orf

Jul 15, 2026

5 min

Green architecture and eco-urban design in Singapore

Architecture Can Actually Help Heal Your Brain

By Darren Orf

Jul 22, 2026

5 min

Metallic pattern from 3d printing and advanced welding technology

Scientists Just Created a Brand-New Super Steel

By Darren Orf

Jul 22, 2026

5 min

Health

Grocery store produce section with automated misting system spraying leafy greens and vegetables.

How Climate Change Is Impacting Food Safety

By Darren Orf

Aug 26, 2026

5 min

Human brain in a jar of preserving solutions on blue background. Illustration of the concept of preservation of specimens for scientific study and human body anatomy

This Is the First Lab-Grown Mouse Cerebral Cortex

By Darren Orf

Aug 18, 2026

5 min

This New Gel Can Rebuild Tooth Enamel

By Darren Orf

Aug 17, 2026

5 min

Mitochondria May Hold a Key to Reversing Aging

By Darren Orf

Aug 17, 2026

5 min

Physics

Scientists Say a Physical Warp Drive Is Possible

By Caroline Delbert

May 20, 2026

7 min

Time Isn’t Real, Physicist Claims

By Vlatko Vedral

May 7, 2026

7 min

Hand Reaching Toward Vibrant Abstract Light Portal and Energy

Our Universe Has Hidden Dimensions, Scientist Says

By Elizabeth Howell

May 7, 2026

8 min

Gravity Might Be the Mother of Time

By Paul M. Sutter

May 12, 2026

6 min

More Science

5 Tricky Riddles for Adults: Solutions

By Popular Mechanics Editors

Aug 27, 2026

10 min

Scientists Just Created an Indestructible Diamond

By Darren Orf

Aug 27, 2026

5 min

Geologists Found the World’s Largest Gold Deposit

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 27, 2026

4 min

CHINA-HEILONGJIANG-HARBIN-ICE SCULPTURE-AIRCRAFT CARRIER (CN)

The WWII Aircraft Carrier Made of Ice

By Elizabeth Rayne

Aug 25, 2026

5 min

Brading Roman Villa, The Head of Medusa Mosaic

A Roman Villa May Hide Evidence of a Massacre

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 25, 2026

5 min

Glowing rising spheres with dark background, 3d rendering.

Scientists May Have Found the Elusive Glueball

By Darren Orf

Aug 25, 2026

5 min

Collection of ancient pottery featuring various decorative designs and shapes.

Scientists May Have Found the World’s First Brand

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 24, 2026

5 min

Experts Found a Medieval Ship In a Cellar Ceiling

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 25, 2026

4 min

Portraits of men on orange backgrounds with blurred images and fingerprint patterns in the background.

The Men Who Claimed to Be D.B. Cooper

By Michael Natale

Aug 24, 2026

Over 20,000 Dinosaur Egg Fossils Collected at Heyuan Dinosaur Museum

A Strange Fossilized Egg Was Found in Antarctica

By Elizabeth Rayne

Aug 25, 2026

5 min

face emerging from circuit board (digital composite)

We’re on Track for Reaching Singularity by 2045

By Darren Orf

Aug 25, 2026

5 min

Buying a Mummy? Wear Gloves.

By Elizabeth Rayne

Aug 24, 2026

7 min

Could Black Holes Help Solve Quantum Gravity?

By Vlatko Vedral

Aug 21, 2026

9 min

Spacetime “Crystallized” Into Our Universe

By Monique Brouillette

Aug 21, 2026

6 min

The Cohens—Some of the USSR’s Most Important Spies

By Michael Natale

Aug 21, 2026

9 min

colossal head of ramesses at temple of luxor

Experts Find Missing Piece of Ramesses II Statue

By Darren Orf

Aug 22, 2026

5 min

Diver Finds 30,000 Ancient Roman Coins

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 22, 2026

4 min

TOPSHOT-SERBIA-CLIMATE-WEATHER-HEATWAVE-DROUGHT-WWII

Europe’s Rivers Reveal Archaeological Secrets

By Darren Orf

Aug 22, 2026

5 min

Tunnel Vision Inside of a Historic Furnace

A Sacred Well Hid Something Nobody Expected

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 21, 2026

5 min

A Visit To A Danish Medieval Village And Experience Center

A Medieval Man Was Smashed by a Giant Catapult

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 21, 2026

5 min

Colour Painting in Rameses IX Burial Chambers - Valley of the Kings (III)

Archaeologists May Have Found a Lost Egyptian City

By Tim Newcomb

Aug 20, 2026

5 min

200,000 Barrels Leak Radioactive Waste in Atlantic

By Darren Orf

Aug 21, 2026

5 min

The ‘Somerton Man’ Mystery Is Almost Over

By Darren Orf

Aug 20, 2026

5 min

CHINA-GUANGXI-CHONGZUO-ROCK PAINTING (CN)

Ancient Rock Art’s Secret Ingredient: Human Blood

By Elizabeth Rayne

Aug 20, 2026

5 min

The Latest

The Midwest’s Megaquake Risk Is Still Alive

6 min

The Mary Rose Museum Opens Nine New Viewing Galleries

Divers Raised Henry VIII’s Lost Warship

7 min

A Big Rock Was Actually a 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck

4 min

A Mosaic May Reveal Rome’s Ancient Firehouse

5 min

Ancient Colonial Gold Coins Scattered on Weathered Stones

A Construction Crew Found a $10 Million Gold Hoard

5 min

Ancient Greeks Wore Meteorites as Jewelry

6 min

Archaeological excavations, archaeologists work, dig up an ancient clay artifact with special tools

A Construction Site Hid a Lost Roman Fortress

5 min

chile, easter island, moai statues of rano raraku at dusk

An Easter Island Discovery Could Rewrite History

5 min

Could Listening for Wildfires Help Stop Them?

5 min

An ancient coin in the ground. Searching with a metal detector. A chance find.

Archaeologists Found a Coin From a Doomed Colony

5 min

front view of a levitating paint black hole in a rendered three dimensional image

Why Did This Particle Mysteriously Disintegrate?

4 min

A Rare Runestone May Be a 1,000-Year-Old Tombstone

5 min

This Mysterious State of Consciousness Can Trigger Pure Ecstasy—But It Comes With a Cost

Think You’re Smart? Boost Your Brain With PopMech’s 5 Trickiest Riddles.

Reality Isn’t So ‘Imaginary’ After All

10 Hard Math Problems That Remain Unsolved

A New Formula for Pi Is Here

Breaking the 1880s Silk Dress Cryptogram

Member Exclusives

The Pentagon Wants to Reprogram Cells With Light

Spacetime May Be Only Part of Reality

Earth Is Conscious, Controversial Theory Suggests

Could the World Beneath Your Feet Be Conscious?

A Brainless Sea Creature May Explain Our Bodies

What Exactly Is the ‘Eltanin Antenna’?

This Giant Fish May Outlive the United States

Scientists Found a Contagious Cancer in Catfish

This Queen’s Lungs Were Almost Perfectly Preserved

A Cave Hid 120 Messages to an Unknown Goddess

Fire Preserved a Bronze Age Tablet’s Secret

A Dive Team Discovered a Lost German WWII Ship

Gophers Saved a Lava-Destroyed Ecosystem

A Nevada Ghost Town Rose From Its Watery Grave

This Mound Complex Is Older Than the Pyramids

This Bank Has a Problem: The Cheese Is Melting

This Tiny Jumping Robot Can Right Itself Mid-Leap

Scientists Turn Dead Spiders Into Creepy Grippers

11 Weird Robots That Will Change How We Live

Dyson’s New Robot Will Clean Up Your House For You

What's the latest scientific breakthrough?

Hoover Dam’s Power Crisis Is Getting Worse

The Quecreek Mine Rescue

A Tree Caused the Largest North American Blackout

Did a Prank Cause the First U.S. Nuclear Accident?

Europe’s Nuclear Plants Are Shutting Down

Experts Think Air Conditioning Might Doom Us All

Architecture Can Actually Help Heal Your Brain

Scientists Just Created a Brand-New Super Steel

How Climate Change Is Impacting Food Safety

This Is the First Lab-Grown Mouse Cerebral Cortex

This New Gel Can Rebuild Tooth Enamel

Mitochondria May Hold a Key to Reversing Aging

Scientists Say a Physical Warp Drive Is Possible

Time Isn’t Real, Physicist Claims

Our Universe Has Hidden Dimensions, Scientist Says

Gravity Might Be the Mother of Time

More Science

5 Tricky Riddles for Adults: Solutions

Scientists Just Created an Indestructible Diamond

Geologists Found the World’s Largest Gold Deposit

The WWII Aircraft Carrier Made of Ice

A Roman Villa May Hide Evidence of a Massacre

Scientists May Have Found the Elusive Glueball

Scientists May Have Found the World’s First Brand

Experts Found a Medieval Ship In a Cellar Ceiling

The Men Who Claimed to Be D.B. Cooper

A Strange Fossilized Egg Was Found in Antarctica

We’re on Track for Reaching Singularity by 2045

Buying a Mummy? Wear Gloves.

Could Black Holes Help Solve Quantum Gravity?

Spacetime “Crystallized” Into Our Universe

The Cohens—Some of the USSR’s Most Important Spies

Experts Find Missing Piece of Ramesses II Statue

Diver Finds 30,000 Ancient Roman Coins

Europe’s Rivers Reveal Archaeological Secrets

A Sacred Well Hid Something Nobody Expected

A Medieval Man Was Smashed by a Giant Catapult

Archaeologists May Have Found a Lost Egyptian City

200,000 Barrels Leak Radioactive Waste in Atlantic

The ‘Somerton Man’ Mystery Is Almost Over

Ancient Rock Art’s Secret Ingredient: Human Blood

The Latest

The Midwest’s Megaquake Risk Is Still Alive

Divers Raised Henry VIII’s Lost Warship

A Big Rock Was Actually a 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck

A Mosaic May Reveal Rome’s Ancient Firehouse

A Construction Crew Found a $10 Million Gold Hoard

Ancient Greeks Wore Meteorites as Jewelry

A Construction Site Hid a Lost Roman Fortress

An Easter Island Discovery Could Rewrite History

Could Listening for Wildfires Help Stop Them?

Archaeologists Found a Coin From a Doomed Colony