The average American spends nearly an hour a day behind the wheel, according to the US Department of Transportation. Some people love driving. Others tolerate it in order to get around. But either way, on average we all spend a lot of time doing it.
So it’s understandable if, over time, we all come to believe a few things about our cars that aren’t true. There’s nothing more human than believing myths, but some of these false beliefs have people wasting money or getting upset at people who are actually doing the right thing. With that in mind, here are a few widely believed driving myths—and why research suggests they’re false.
Premium fuel is pointless (unless your car is made for it).
Diesel aside, there are three kinds of fuel at most gas pumps—regular, plus, and premium. The overwhelming majority of personal vehicles are built with regular fuel in mind; it’s basically just sports cars and a few luxury vehicles that require the higher octane.
Some people believe using premium fuel offers benefits, such as higher fuel economy, increased performance, or reduced tailpipe emissions. But there’s no evidence to support this idea. Engines are designed with a specific octane in mind. Using a higher octane won’t hurt anything, but it doesn’t benefit the vehicle in any way.
Save yourself the money. Image: Shutterstock Joel A Johnson
A 2016 study by the American Automobile Association (AAA) tested different fuels in identical cars. The study found no consistent increase in horsepower or fuel economy, and there was also no change in tailpipe emissions. The only real difference was the price of the fuel.
A 2003 publication from the US Federal Trade Commission put it plainly: “In most cases, using a higher octane gasoline than your owner’s manual recommends offers absolutely no benefit.”
Generally, if your car requires a higher octane fuel, there will be a sticker saying so when you flip open the fuel door. If not, check your car’s manual—it will state which kind of gas your car needs. But basically, if you don’t own a sports car or luxury vehicle, you should just use regular fuel.
Waiting to merge is good, actually.
There’s a widespread belief that, if there’s a lane closure up ahead, people should merge into the open lane as soon as possible. The problem is that doing this slows down traffic. “When most drivers see the first ‘lane closed ahead’ sign in a work zone, they slow too quickly and move to the lane that will continue through the construction area,” reported the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “This behavior can lead to unexpected and dangerous lane switching, serious crashes, and road rage.”
There’s research backing this up. A 1999 study by researchers from the University of Nebraska showed that traffic moves faster if people stay in their lanes until the merge point, then take turns merging. A 2018 study from North Carolina State University shows that there’s a real safety benefit to this system, which is referred to as a zipper merge. According to the study, “drivers merged at much safer distances after installation of the zipper merge at these sites than before the zipper merge was in place.” The study also found that the zipper merge was safer for construction workers. A 2024 paper by researchers from Iowa State University analyzed construction sites in Michigan and Missouri, where portable lit signs instructed drivers to stay in the closing lane until the merge point. They found increased traffic throughput at those sites.
The problem is that not many people know about the benefits of the zipper merge. Some drivers get angry at drivers who don’t merge early, and in some cases will even cut them off. But research suggests everyone would get home faster if we all stayed in our lanes until the merge point.
Manual transmissions aren’t more efficient than automatic ones.
This myth was true, at some point, and still might be true for particular cars with particularly skilled drivers. Overall, though, there’s no real fuel economy advantage to driving a modern manual car. That’s according to the US Department of Energy (DoE), which stated that “advances in automatic transmissions have improved their efficiency to the point that the automatic version of a vehicle often gets the same or better fuel economy than the version with a manual transmission.”
Anyone who is interested can head to FuelEconomy.gov, a website run by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the DoE. On this site you can see the miles per gallon (MPG) for any make and model, allowing you to directly compare the manual and automatic versions of any car. You can dig into the numbers yourself, comparing the automatic and manual version of the same car—assuming, that is, that the car is available as a manual. Such vehicles are a relative rarity in the United States, possibly making this myth largely academic (and that’s before we factor in the shift toward electric cars).
Summer arrives this month and with it come long, sweltering days along with all-too-brief nights. But if you can dodge the fireflies and stock up on mosquito repellent, there’s still stargazing to be done! This month’s highlight is a conjunction between our solar system’s two biggest show-offs. There’s also the summer equinox to consider—along with a very tasty-sounding full moon.
June 9: Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus
Fellow fans of the solar system’s large adult son may have noticed that Jupiter has been rather quiet of late. But fear not! Our big rambunctious lad is back in the spotlight this month, galumphing his way across the sky toward the beckoning goddess of love. The gas giant will reach his destination early this month, and the result for us earthbound folk will be the chance to witness a Jupiter-Venus conjunction.
The two planets will be at their closest on June 9, when they’ll be spotted lounging happily together above the northwestern horizon just after sunset. There’ll also be a couple of peeping Toms in the vicinity. The twin stars Castor and Pollux will be peeking out in space just to the right of the two planets. Spotting these two malcontents might require binoculars, but Jupiter and Venus should absolutely be visible to the naked eye.
June 21: Summer Solstice
There’s an argument to be made that the longest day of the year is always the Wednesday of the current week. But in a technical sense, the longest day of 2026 arrives on June 21. That’s right—get ready for the summer solstice!
We tend to think of the solstice as the start of summer, but that’s not technically what the term denotes. Instead, it has to do with the Earth’s orbital axis.
The orbital axis is the imaginary line through the north and south poles around which our planet spins. Like many planets, Earth’s orbital axis isn’t perfectly perpendicular to its orbital plane. It’s tilted at approximately 23.44° and the tilt remains constant in relation to the orbital plane. This means that as the Earth moves around the sun, the angle at which it leans toward the sun changes. This is the reason behind our seasons!
The solstice is the day when this tilt toward the sun is most pronounced as shown below.
Solstices fall in June and December, while equinoxes fall in September and March. Image: Popular Science.
On the left, we see the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, while the Southern Hemisphere is tilted sharply toward the sun. Halfway around, the Earth’s axis is perpendicular to the sun, so neither hemisphere is leaning inward. This is the equinox, and there are two of these every year. On the right, it’s the Northern Hemisphere leaning toward the sun, marking the northern summer solstice—which arrives this year at 10:22 p.m. EDT .
June 29: Full Strawberry Moon
For the last couple of months, we’ve had early full moons. But thanks to May’s Blue Moon, our satellite will wait until almost the very end of the month to emerge in its full sunlit glory. As per the Farmer’s Almanac, the Strawberry Moon’s moniker comes from similar names given to June’s full moon by multiple Native American nations, including the Algonquian, Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota peoples. It’s a beautiful and rather poetic name, and a perfect fit for the moon that will rise at the end of this month’s long, hazy summer twilights.
June 30: Asteroid Day
June 30 is Asteroid Day, a day to celebrate the fact that Earth has not been hit by a decent sized asteroid in well over a century. The date was chosen to commemorate the 1908 Tunguska event, the last time the Earth experienced a significant impact. Fortunately for humans, that collision took place in a remote part of Siberia, where it flattened 500,000 acres of forest and caused a shock wave that was felt as far away as Indonesia.
In 2014, the United Nations declared June 30 as a “sanctioned day of public awareness of the risks of asteroid impacts.” So be aware! One of the people behind the idea was Brian May. Yes, the same Brian May who plays lead guitar in Queen. May moonlights as an astrophysicist when he’s not tearing up the fretboard of the guitar he and his father built together in the early 1960s.
When the sun finally does go down, remember that you’ll get the best experience gazing at the cosmos if you get away from any sources of light pollution, give your eyeballs some time to adjust to the darkness, and review our stargazing tips before setting out into the night.
Blue, green, amber: Someone’s eye color immediately attracts our attention. But there’s something unusual about human eyes: We have a large visible area of white that surrounds the iris. Most other mammals have entirely dark eyes with almost indistinguishable pupils. So why are we different? What is the white part of our eyes actually for?
The whites of our eyes help us connect
Scientists paid little attention to that question until 1997, when Shiro Kohshima, a Japanese biologist at Kyoto University, decided to take a closer look. He compared the eyes of nearly half of existing primates and found that only humans had white in their eyes.
His theory was that the white part of the eye (the sclera) helps us communicate because it makes it easier to tell where someone is looking. The contrast between the white sclera and dark pupil makes the outline of the eye more visible. We also have more elongated eyes than other animals, which makes it even easier to tell where someone may be looking.
Following someone’s gaze is surprisingly powerful. It can indicate if they’re telling the truth, draw attention to something, and even help us bond. Language, after all, can be complicated and ambiguous. “It’s important to build up a fast communicative step,” says Fumihiro Kano, a cognitive scientist at Kyushu University in Japan. “White sclera help towards that.”
The cooperative eye hypothesis
In 2007, Michael Tomasello, a psychologist at Duke University, expanded on Kohshima’s earlier ideas to develop the cooperative eye hypothesis. He argued that the white sclera are particularly useful for human collaboration.
For instance, the whites of our eyes help us figure out what someone is focused on. It may even have helped our ancestors hunt together and share resources. Central to his idea was the theory that humans are unusually sensitive to where others are looking.
To test this, he conducted an experiment involving human infants and gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. A scientist looked at the ceiling with only his eyes, only his head, or both.
In an experiment, gorillas rely primarily on head movement rather than eye gaze to know where someone is looking. Image: Shutterstock
Human infants primarily followed the eye direction of the scientist. They looked up nearly three times more often when he glanced towards the ceiling using only his eyes than when he just raised his head with his eyes shut.
Apes did the opposite, relying primarily on head movement rather than eye gaze. They looked towards the ceiling roughly 2.5 times more often when the researcher lifted his head but closed his eyes.
Why eye contact is so important for babies
From an early age, humans are particularly sensitive to eye contact. In a study of newborns, within the first five days of their lives, researchers found that babies looked longer at faces whose gaze was directed at them. The ability to actively follow where others look emerges between two and four months, and by eight months it becomes consistent behavior.
“Eye gaze is a natural pointer which makes it easier to understand each other,” says Kano. “If you look at a human infant, then that infant becomes interested in you.”
“The cooperative eye hypothesis taps into the bias of human exceptionalism,” says Perea-García. “That’s why it’s so compelling.” Since Tomasello’s 2007 study that proposed the theory, research has shown there are other primates with white sclera.
Perea-García also points out that, for some people from South Asia, Africa, and Australia, their sclera is not uniformly white but more pigmented. So he argues that it’s not the whiteness of the eyes that’s important for communication, but the contrast between the sclera and the iris. Chimpanzees also have dark sclera with bright irises which could serve a similar purpose.
But this may not be the whole story. While human sclera are not always uniformly white, we tend to show considerably more of the whites of our eyes than most primates and experiments suggest that difference matters.
Kano and his team compared how humans and chimpanzees interpreted images of human and chimp eyes. They found that both species were better able to discriminate gaze direction from humans. They then made both images smaller and darker. Chimp eyes became even harder to read than humans.
Chimpanzees, one of our closest relatives, have almost no white in their eyes. Image: Shutterstock
The team even digitally altered chimpanzee eyes to have white sclera and found that gaze discrimination immediately improved.
“Our work suggests that gaze visibility depends not only on iris-sclera contrast, but also on the visibility of the overall eye outline,” Kano says. In other words, it’s not just about how well the iris stands out. The white sclera makes the whole shape of the eye more visible against the face, something that’s difficult to discern in the dark eyes of chimpanzees. It’s these features working together that seems to make it easier to follow our gaze direction in poor visibility conditions.
The whites of our eyes also indicate health and age
White eyes may also have another purpose: They make it easier to notice changes in eye color which can indicate significant information about health or age.
As we get older, the whites of the eyes gradually become more yellow or red because of fatty deposits and more blood vessels around our eyes. This shift can occur more rapidly with poor health or diet.
However, if the sclera suddenly changes color, it can signal more serious health problems. Severe yellowing is closely related with jaundice, a failure of the liver to filter blood properly, while acute reddening may indicate an eye infection. A yellow or red sclera also affects how healthy others think you are.
Researchers tested this by digitally manipulating pictures of eyes to be more red or yellow. Individuals with yellow or red eyes were seen as less healthy, older, and less attractive. It’s an immediate frame of reference that shows how much information we get from our eyes.
So, next time you catch the eye of someone across the room and smile, take a second to appreciate the importance of the white in their eyes. Without it, that connection might never have happened.
In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.
Routine checkups for humans are usually straightforward. The doctor tells you what to do, and unless you’re a squirming baby or terrified of needles, you pretty much follow instructions.
But what happens when the patient is a giant yellow-orange eel with sharp teeth? Things get a bit slippery. At the New England Aquarium, experts need to follow a complicated process in order to get Thomas, a green moray eel (Gymnothorax funebris), ready for his yearly checkup.
The first step consists of retrieving Thomas from the aquarium’s giant ocean tank. Divers get him into a plastic barrel.Thomas and the barrel are then submerged into a different water tank with powdered anesthetic water, Melissa Joblon, New England Aquarium’s director of animal health, tells Popular Science.
“We have to be really cautious to make sure that he’s fully anesthetized before we handle him because they can be dangerous,” she adds, “and they’re very slippery and can kind of slither away if we’re not really careful.”
Once Thomas is essentially knocked out, the team lifts him from his sedation bin and onto a rack. They then flush water—with more of the anesthesia agent—which allows him to continue breathing.
The medical exam is preventative care, meaning the team is on the lookout for any health issues to catch them before they become serious. The session includes a physical exam, bloodwork, a full ultrasound, and an electrocardiogram. The team is essentially investigating the eel’s outsides and insides.
“We do full routine annual exams on the majority of the animals that live at the aquarium, similar to bringing your cat or dog to a vet once a year,” Joblon explains.
Thomas is probably 18 to 21 years old, but he was a juvenile when the New England Aquarium took him in. A pet owner donated him after wisely deciding that they couldn’t care for the eel anymore—Thomas was becoming too big. Green moray eels are, after all, among the largest morays—they can be eight feet long.
Google Maps has been helping us get from A to B since 2005. In that time, it’s amassed a huge amount of data about the world—from business opening times to national boundaries. And alongside the map itself, there’s satellite imagery and imagery at ground level, courtesy of Street View.
You may well have used Street View before, dropping a little pegman onto a road in Google Maps to see what it looks like if you’re actually stood on the sidewalk. What you might not be aware of is that you can go back in time in Street View—back to 2007 in the first places that were mapped with this technology.
It means you can check out your neighborhood (or someone else’s neighborhood) as far back as twenty years ago. You can see what’s changed and what hasn’t. It works for the most iconic streets and locations in the world too, from Times Square to the Arc de Triomphe. Here’s how to use the feature.
How to find Street View time travel
See how iconic spots have changed over time. Screenshot: Google
The feature is a little easier to use through Google Maps on the web, not least because there’s more screen real estate to work with. Scroll and pan to the part of the world that you want to take a look at, or use the search box up in the top left corner to jump to somewhere specific.
You can find the little Street View pegman icon down in the bottom left corner (yes, pegman is his official name). Click and drag the pegman over to the map, and you’ll see all the roads, paths, lanes, and freeways that support Street View highlighted in blue. Drop the pegman on the spot you want to take a look at.
You’ll go straight into the immersive Street View mode, with ground-level imagery. Use the mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard to take a look around. You can also start moving up and down the street using the up and down arrow keys, or by clicking the arrow icons overlaid on the ground.
Here’s the time travel bit: Click the See more dates link up in the top left corner, and along the bottom of the screen you’ll see thumbnails of older imagery, together with dates—scroll to the right to see the oldest available pictures.
Bear in mind that the total number of different date options, and the years they cover, are going to vary depending on how long Google’s Street View cars have been covering a particular area, and how regularly they’ve been back. You’ll find there’s quite a substantial difference in how far you can go back, depending on where you are in the world.
Exploring neighborhoods of the past
Historical imagery can be accessed through the Google Maps mobile apps too. Screenshot: Google
As soon as you select one of the image thumbnails representing an earlier year, you’ll be taken back in time in Street View. You can still look around and explore as before—the views you see will be from the same year you’ve selected, until you choose a different month and date from the carousel at the bottom.
It lets you check out how businesses and houses have changed over time, and in some locations you’ll even be able to see roads or buildings being built (or being leveled) as the years go by. For busy areas, you get an interesting peek into the changing fashions for both people and vehicles.
It’s possible to check out famous landmarks in this way too, though if they’re iconic then they don’t tend to be modified much over time. When you’re ready to return to the present day, click the See latest date link in the top left corner.
You can time travel through Street View through the Google Maps apps for Android and iOS as well. To get to Street View, long-press on a road on the map, then tap the Street View thumbnail that pops up in the lower left corner. You can then tap the date label (top left) to find other dates.
It’s also worth noting that historical imagery is available in Google Earth too, for both Street View images and satellite maps. Either drag the pegman in from the bottom right corner and then choose See more dates, or click the historical imagery button in the top toolbar (it looks like a globe with an arrow around it).
It seems like every week there’s another example of a new robot modeled after a real creature in the animal kingdom. From dogs and bats, to roaches and desert lizards, the natural world is a constant source of inspiration for engineers. But while most robotics researchers use animals as a base for their machine’s movement, an ambitious team of Duke University engineers set out to make something entirely new: a robot whose form factor and movement aren’t derived from biology, but from the universe’s underlying physics.
Say hello to Argus, a 20-legged, blob-looking robot capable of seeing in all directions at the same time and able to move almost instantly in any direction. The amorphous-looking sphere has no top or bottom, no left or right, and will keep trekking through sand, dirt, and gravel even when some of its legs are destroyed. It can also use its many legs to shimmy up narrow walls, a move similar to a wall jump in “Super Mario.”
The engineers behind Argus say their intriguing, if not slightly terrifying, creation isn’t just another incremental step forward in robotics. It’s the first member of a totally new category of “dynamically symmetric machines.” The findings were published this week in the journal Science Robotics.
“Watching Argus move is unlike watching any other robot we’ve worked with,” study co-author and Duke PhD student Jiaxun Liu said in a statement . “The first time we saw it navigate among trees and rough terrain, even under heavy collisions, we knew this was something different.”
Biological tradeoffs
Though somewhat human-looking, upright bipedal robots from companies like Figure and Tesla are all the rage these days, engineers have long looked to other animals to inspire their machines, because animals are simply better than Homo sapiens at certain tasks. Dogs and other quadrupeds are more agile, bats can fly, and bugs can scurry into hard-to-reach places.
However, at least in terms of movement, each of the pluses of these specific animals has also come with some minuses. Dogs and other quadrupeds are remarkably fast and nimble when moving forwards, but ask them to replicate that movement when moving backwards and you’re in for a problem.
With those inherent biological tradeoffs in mind, the team at Duke’s General Robotics Lab set out to make something completely different. Taking inspiration from underlying physics, they wanted to see if they could make a robot based around “dynamic symmetry,” which they define as the ability to generate forces and acceleration with uniform magnitude in all directions.
In other words, such a robot would take the idea of left or right and up and down and throw them out the window. Instead, it would be capable of moving in any direction, at any time, without any privilege given to one particular direction. The goal was essentially to build possibly the world’s first “omnidirectional” robot.
Argus keeps on coming—even when you break its legs
The design team eventually settled on a spherical core, or base, with a bunch of legs sticking out of it. They made multiple versions in a simulation, one with as few as eight legs and another with as many as 40. Eventually they settled on an even 20 legs for the physical build. Each of those legs is tipped with a camera that serves as one of Argus’ many eyes. Fitting, then, that it’s named after a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology. The researchers describe Argus as visually similar to a sea urchin, but even that’s selling it short. It doesn’t really look like anything in nature, which makes its uncanny movement in real-world testing all the more unsettling.
In testing, Argus could move in any direction just as quickly and comfortably as any other. The upside of that is that the blob is actually quite adaptable to different terrain despite its unusual appearance. It can easily traverse forest, wet surfaces, and sand, and could climb over certain obstacles. Argus’ ability to rapidly redistribute its weight also meant that it excelled at recovering when researchers tried to shove it off course. While Argus isn’t the first robot to right itself after getting pummeled by a researcher, what makes it unique is that it can redistribute its weight even if some of its legs get damaged or fail altogether.
In other words, you can chop off Argus’ legs and it will just keep coming.
Argus joins a family of DARPA-backed robots
The Duke researchers frame their interest in building this new category of machine as primarily motivated by pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in mechanical science. Still, it’s hard not to ignore the researchers’ most notable funder: the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Known for incubating some of the military’s most notorious research and development projects, DARPA is responsible for everything from Boston Dynamics’ beef Atlas humanoid to a massive, experimental manta ray inspired uncrewed underwater vehicle.
So, while it’s still not clear what exactly Argus will ever be used for, paper coauthor and postdoctoral researcher at Duke’s General Robotics Lab Boxi Xia says the experimentation and exploration was success in itself.
“Argus is an existence proof,” Xia said in a statement. “It shows that designing for dynamic symmetry isn’t just a theoretical curiosity. It produces a robot you can deploy in the wild, on uneven ground and in clutter, even in low-gravity settings. It changes what’s possible.”
Most homeowners think a grass lawn is the easiest way to keep a yard looking neat. In reality, maintaining that picture-perfect sea of green relies on constant mowing, watering, fertilizing, and upkeep. Traditional lawns can become especially costly in hotter, drier climates, where keeping grass alive requires even more time and resources.
Fortunately, homeowners are beginning to realize there is another option: the no-mow lawn. Instead of relying on thirsty grass, these landscapes use low-maintenance plants that stay attractive with far less work. As heat waves, droughts, and biodiversity loss intensify around the world, more people are rethinking the traditional lawn and replacing it with sustainable alternatives.
Why traditional lawns are environmentally expensive
This growing interest in no-mow alternatives comes from the environmental costs of maintaining traditional grass lawns. Although lawns may appear harmless, they require enormous amounts of water, chemicals, and fuel to keep them green and uniform.
Outdoor landscaping accounts for a significant share of residential water use in the United States. In dry regions, lawns require constant irrigation, placing pressure on local water supplies during droughts and heat waves. Even regions that are not normally arid can experience droughts, forcing homeowners to use more water to keep their grass alive. Across the country, billions of gallons of water are used each day for landscape irrigation alone.
Moreover, traditional lawns depend heavily on fertilizers and pesticides to keep them looking uniform and weed-free. Excess chemicals from over-application wash into rivers and lakes through storm runoff and harm local ecosystems. Gas-powered lawn mowers add another environmental cost because they release carbon emissions and air pollutants every time homeowners use them. Perhaps the most overlooked environmental cost involves biodiversity. Traditional lawns create uniform landscapes that support very few pollinators, birds, or native plants.
What is a no-mow lawn?
No-mow lawns come in a variety of textures and styles, so the definition can vary depending on the landscape. Essentially, a no-mow lawn is a landscape designed to grow slowly or remain naturally short, reducing the need for frequent mowing and upkeep. These lawns often use drought-tolerant and native grasses, ground covers, or other low-maintenance plants that require less water and fertilizer.
Drought-tolerant native grasses grow in a yard of a home in Colorado. Image: Getty Images Nathan Bilow
Although a no-mow lawn may sound like the perfect solution, it does not mean zero maintenance. Certain varieties still require occasional trimming or seasonal care to remain healthy and attractive. However, not every no-mow option works well in every environment. Homeowners must choose plants that match their climate, soil conditions, and the amount of sunlight their yard receives.
The main types of no-mow lawns
Clover
Clover lawns are one of the most popular types of no-mow lawns. They are typically white clover, red clover, or micro clover, each of which grows low to the ground. Because clover naturally stays short, homeowners rarely need to mow it to keep it tidy.
Clover also offers several environmental benefits. As a legume, it naturally fixes nitrogen in the soil, which reduces the need for fertilizer. It also stays green longer during dry weather and requires less water than many grass varieties. Clover flowers attract bees and other pollinators, helping support local ecosystems and biodiversity.
However, clover lawns do have some drawbacks. While pollinators are beneficial, the increase in bees may be a concern for families with bee allergies. They are also less durable than traditional grass and may not hold up well under heavy foot traffic or frequent outdoor activity.
Red clovers (Trifolium pratense) produce pink-purple flowers. Image: Getty Images Herbert Berger
Meadow or wildflower
Meadow or wildflower lawns replace traditional grass with a mix of native grasses and flowering plants. Unlike conventional lawns, these landscapes are designed to mimic natural ecosystems and require far less mowing once they become established.
One of the greatest benefits of meadow lawns is their support for biodiversity. Native flowers and grasses provide food and shelter for pollinators, insects, and birds. These lawns also contribute to “rewilding,” a landscaping approach that restores natural habitats and encourages urban biodiversity by bringing native plant and animal life back into developed spaces. Because meadow lawns grow more naturally, homeowners may only need to mow them once or twice a year, if at all.
However, meadow lawns can present challenges. Their wilder appearance may seem untidy to some homeowners or violate certain homeowners’ association (HOA) rules. Also, meadow lawns change with the seasons, so they may not remain consistently green or colorful year-round.
Creeping ground covers
Creeping ground covers are a somewhat unconventional alternative to traditional grass lawns. Common examples include creeping thyme, sedum, Irish moss, and Corsican mint. Unlike turf grass, these plants spread horizontally rather than growing upward, allowing them to stay naturally short with very little mowing or trimming. Many ground covers also produce small flowers or pleasant fragrances, making them attractive additions to outdoor spaces.
Creeping Thyme can create a soft surface. Image: Getty Images Dmitrii Marchenko
Creeping ground covers work well in small yards, decorative spaces, or garden pathways where appearance matters more than durability. Because these plants add texture and color variation, they are often paired with stone walkways, gravel, or other landscaping features to create a more natural, visually appealing design.
Keep in mind that creeping ground covers are not perfect replacements for traditional turf grass. Some varieties cannot tolerate heavy foot traffic and may become damaged if children or pets regularly play on them. They look best when incorporated with other design elements, such as stone paths or garden borders, rather than used as a large standalone lawn replacement.
Slow-grow grasses
Some homeowners want the environmental benefits of a no-mow lawn without giving up the traditional appearance of grass. For these homeowners, slow-growing grasses offer a practical middle ground.
Popular options include buffalo grass, fine fescues, and specially designed slow-grow turf blends. These grasses grow more slowly than conventional turf varieties and provide several environmental advantages. While technically these grasses are not zero-mowing, they require less maintenance. Because they grow more slowly, homeowners may need to mow them only a few times each season. Their traditional appearance also makes them a popular choice in neighborhoods with strict HOA rules.
The future of lawns
As our definition of the ideal lawn changes, more homeowners will likely embrace no-mow alternatives. Homeowners no longer define the perfect yard by neatly trimmed grass alone but by landscapes that conserve water, support biodiversity, and adapt to changing climates. The yard of the future may focus less on controlling nature and more on working with it.
We’ve all seen the movies. Scientists gear up to chase tornadoes across the Oklahoma plains, competing with each other to get there first. But is the reality of storm chasing anything like the movies? In a new episode of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything podcast, we ask real life storm chaser, Cyrena Arnold, to untangle fact from fiction and break down what it’s really like to go speeding after tornadoes.
Sarah Durn: It’s a balmy Saturday afternoon in Kansas, and you’re driving along a wide open road. You glance in the rear view mirror and your heart skips a beat. Huge, black storm clouds are building in the sky behind you. Lightning flashes. Thunder rumbles. On the radio, an alert blares. A tornado has been spotted not far away.
As you drive as fast as you can away from the storm, a caravan of 10 SUVs whizzes by. What the heck are they doing? Why would anyone drive towards a tornado?
Little do you know, that caravan is packed with hardened storm chasers, just like Helen Hunt’s character in the 1996 classic film Twister. But is real storm chasing anything like the movies?
Laura Baisas: And hello, I’m news editor Laura Baisis.
SD: Here at Popular Science, we can’t stop thinking about all the world’s strangest questions, and this week, we have a special interview episode of Ask Us Anything delving into all things storm chasing. Woo-hoo. What is it? Who does it? And is it anything like the movies? Laura, you actually interviewed real-life storm chaser and meteorologist Cyrena Arnold for this episode.
LB: I did. Cyrena is the absolute coolest.
SD: Ah, I wanna go storm chasing with her so bad.
LB: Kinda do and kinda don’t. Kind of a little afraid of it, but also if I’m gonna go storm chasing with anybody, I think a seasoned meteorologist is kind of the perfect person to go with.
SD: Yeah, I don’t know. I might get too scared, but the idea of it seems fun.
LB: The idea of it’s great. Sounds great on paper.
SD: Sounds great. And you also wrote a story for Popular Science all about storm chasers, so before we get into your interview with Cyrena, let’s lay a bit of groundwork here. Can you tell us what exactly is storm chasing?
LB: So it’s a term that’s evolved quite a bit over the years, but Hollywood tornado movies basically get a lot of it right.
In general, storm chasing means tracking a severe thunderstorm where a tornado is likely to form.
SD: So badass. So where do chasers typically go to track these storms?
LB: It varies, but tornadoes primarily happen here in the United States.
SD: Really, you don’t get tornadoes elsewhere?
LB: You do. While tornadoes happen in China, Canada, and even Australia, nowhere has tornadoes like the good old U.S. of A.
We have by far the most frequent tornadoes, as well as the most dangerous storms.
SD: I don’t know if that’s an award you want.
LB: No.
SD: And when and where do most of these tornadoes happen in the U.S.?
LB: So it can vary a bit. Peak tornado season for the Southern Plains, so that’s Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, is from May into early June.
On the Gulf Coast, it’s earlier in the spring, and in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest—so think North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota—tornado season is more June and July.
SD: And what are chasers actually doing when they go out?
LB: So that’s cool. That all depends on the specific chaser. For a lot of hobby storm chasers, it’s all about getting that great picture or video of a tornado.
SD: Kinda like Glenn Powell’s character in Twisters?
LB: Exactly. So then you have storm chasers with more of a meteorology background. These chasers can collect really important data on these storms, so things like wind speed, direction, precipitation. All of this helps weather forecasters get on-the-ground data that even the most advanced radar might not see.
SD: Okay, so it’s a little more like Daisy Edgar-Jones’s character in Twisters, or Helen Hunt’s character in the original film.
LB: Exactly.
SD: And I imagine the fact that these real-life storm chasers can report things that radars can’t see is really important, right?
LB: Absolutely. Storm chasers in the field can radio back in to the National Weather Service about what they’re seeing, and from there, the Weather Service can issue potentially life-saving warnings.
SD: Wow, so storm chasers are actually saving lives.
LB: Absolutely, and that’s not something I necessarily even realized until I spoke with Cyrena and she talked about how important that is. Storm chasers are able to be the eyes and ears on the ground and help keep people safe.
SD: No pressure.
LB: Yeah, yeah. None whatsoever.
Now, before we get into my interview with real-life storm chaser Cyrena Arnold, we want to hear from you. What questions are rotating around in your brain? Submit your question by clicking the “Ask Us” link at popsci.com/ask. Again, that’s popsci.com/ask, and click the “Ask Us” link.
SD: We’ll be right back with Laura’s interview with a real storm chaser, after this quick break.
LB: And welcome back. Today, we have a very special guest interview. With us is Cyrena Arnold, a meteorologist, author, and host of the Storm Front Freaks podcast. She’s currently based in New Hampshire, where she is the director of product marketing at Atmospheric G2, and importantly, has 20 years of chasing storms.
Cyrena, thank you so much for joining.
Cyrena Arnold: Yeah, you’re welcome.
LB: So first, tell me, how did you get into storm chasing?
CA: Ah, that’s a very good question, and how I got into storm chasing was accidentally storm chasing. So I was born in the southern Caribbean where they don’t even get hurricanes, where the weather is really nice.
And when I was five, we moved to Denver, Colorado, or a suburb of Denver, and all of a sudden one day there was this thunderstorm, and I’d never seen a thunderstorm before, and then there’s hail, and I’d never seen hail before, and there was lightning, and I hadn’t seen that, and then a funnel cloud formed.
LB: Ah.
CA: And it formed a tornado, and the tornado just went across this big field, and I so vividly remember standing in the doorway of my house, looking out at that and going, “Wow.” That’s, that’s cool.
And a switch flipped in me when that happened. And so I just, I just loved weather, and I have really dedicated my entire life to it, you know, all of my education and every science fair project and everything like that.
So I knew I wanted to study severe weather. I knew I wanted to go to the University of Oklahoma, and when you’re out there at the meteorology school. It was wonderful. My first big storm chase was Cordell, Oklahoma, October 9th of 2001, where we saw seven tornadoes. One was a F3 tornado.
LB: Wow.
CA: And that’s the beginning.
LB: And one thing I think, like, me, myself, and anybody that watches some sort of a sci-fi or some sort of fictional take on a very real thing has to wonder: What do the actual scientists think about this portrayal? So can you tell me, what do you think about the Twister films specifically? Are they at all accurate?
CA: Yes and no.
LB: Right.
CA: There are some things about them that are super accurate.
LB: Mm-hmm.
CA: And there are some things about them that are not. I think the, for me, the funniest thing is how successful they are in storm chasing. They make it seem so easy.
LB: Right.
CA: You, you know, we’re out, oh, we’re gonna get in the car, and you drive 30 minutes, and there’s a tornado, and there’s another tornado, and, and no. No. No, no, no, no. The, the real story—
LB: Hmm…
CA: —is that you see a tornado on average about one out of every 10 of your storm chases.
SD: Wow.
CA: So you have a very low percentage rate. And then in order to do that, you’ve gotta forecast this right. You’ve gotta set yourself up in the right place. You’re possibly driving hundreds of miles, and you’re putting in a tremendous amount of time for a couple seconds.
Most tornadoes are very short-lived. They’re small, and there are some bigger ones, but you spend a lot of time and work to be successful, and I’ll go entire years and not see one. That’s probably one of the biggest things is that they just make it look so easy and, and so simple, and it’s not. Some other things that they get right or wrong, there’s always, like, a rivalry, right?
Yeah. Like in Twister, you know, it was Jo and, you know, Jonas and, and they fought. And, in the Twisters movie, same thing, right? You know, these competitive chase teams. This is a hobby that has some of the greatest camaraderie out there, and if you don’t believe me check out a gas station any time you see a whole bunch of storm chasers there.
They’re not fighting in the parking lot. They’re doing stuff together, looking at weather models together. They’re taking pictures together, laughing, joking, playing, like, football together. This is a like, a group thing. And I know when we’re out there with the Storm Front Freaks, we’ll see people that we’ve interviewed on our podcast and that we know and talk to, and you, like, run up to these people and give them hugs and high fives.
You know? You know these people, and we have this common bond.
LB: Yeah.
CA: So there is a lot more camaraderie in it, and very, very little competition.
LB: What about some things if it’s like your group, where you’re going out there and you’re, you’re not necessarily doing pictures and video, you’re doing more research and data.
How is that portrayed in the movies, that side of it?
CA: Yeah. It’s funny because in the movies it seems like everyone’s out there for research purposes. And that’s really cool, and in the 1980s and ’90s, that was absolutely true. Most of the people who went storm chasing were meteorologists. It was for scientific purposes, stuff like that.
Today because of those movies, they’ve made it a lot more popular where a vast majority of the storm chasers that are out there now have absolutely no meteorological credentials. And that’s totally cool. That’s fine as long as you go through a lot of training education, ’cause this is still an, this is an incredibly dangerous thing to be doing.
You can’t just walk out your front door and say, “I’m gonna go chase a tornado today,” or you’re gonna get yourself hurt. So most of the people who are out there are hobbyists. They do it for fun. They’ve taken a lot of chaser education courses and talked with other chasers, and a lot of those people who are doing it for fun or into photography.
They, maybe they want a picture of a tornado. Maybe they want really great storm structure. There are still researchers out there. There are still research projects. You have mobile radar on wheels teams out there with remote mesonet sites, so cars or stations you can move to have weather sensors on the ground, and they are collecting data, and we are still trying to understand how tornadoes form.
And that’s a part of it as well. And then you have the small sliver, fraction of a percent of, let’s just call them YouTuber using yahoos or stuff like that like wanna try to touch a tornado and bring you as close to it as possible, but that’s a real small sliver, so—
LB: Okay.
CA: —storm chasing is an incredibly wide spectrum of what’s out there, and, and I’d say a vast majority of them are out there to witness the beauty of nature and actually don’t have any degree or credentials or education in meteorology at all.
LB: And you mentioned the danger. How dangerous is it really?
CA: That can vary. If you wanna stay back from the storms, and you’re wanting to get storm structure, you wanna see the mammatus, and you wanna see the anvil. Maybe you’re far enough back you can see, like, an overshooting top. That’s, that’s pretty good.
LB: Yeah.
CA: You’ll find yourself okay there. But the hazards aren’t just the tornado. The hazards are downbursts. The hazards are lightning. The hazards are hail. The hazards are flooding, flash flooding. Water and flooding kills more people in weather than all of the different weather perils combined.
LB: Wow.
CA: So flooding is incredibly dangerous.
But if you have properly educated yourself, you understand the storm structure and where these different things are located and understand storm motion and dynamics and thermodynamics—
LB: Mm-hmm …
CA: —it can be done in a relatively safe way.
LB: Have you ever been caught up in a situation that you’ve thought, “Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten myself into this,” or, you know, any, um, dangerous storms?
CA: Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh, I got caught one time in a wet microburst of a storm structure that I didn’t understand, and I have never felt wind and rain like that in my life. I was stuck inside my truck. I couldn’t see anything. It was rocking like I was in a hurricane, and the bed liner in the back of my truck was bowing from how much wind was going through there.
I thought it was gonna pop out and go flying away. My ears popped from this wet microburst. It was crazy.
LB: Mm-hmm. Wow.
CA: I remember when this happened, I was like, “I’ve messed up. This is not a safe place.” I’ve been way too close to lightning. When you’re out storm chasing, that’s just inevitable as well.
So I got a car stuck in the mud one time because the mud out there is a special kind of mud that when it gets wet, that turns into the slickest stuff you’ve ever seen, and unless you have four-wheel drive, you’re not getting out of it. Learned that the hard way, and while running to safety, almost got hit by lightning.
I’ve chased tornadoes at night, ’cause I thought that would be fun, and then I realized I couldn’t see anything. So in, in my early days, in my college days, I’ve made a ton of mistakes, and I’m really lucky to say that I, you know, I learned from all of those experiences.
LB: Do you have… I, I know that this might be like asking, you know, what’s your fav- who’s your favorite kid, but do you have a favorite chase?
CA: Ooh. There was a storm in Clovis, New Mexico May of 2003 that was probably the angriest storm I’ve ever seen, and it was actually, it’s funny, we called her Tina because it was the day we chased her was either the day of or the day after Tina Turner passed away. And you know, and she was a, like, powerhouse, right?
And so this storm was just ferocious. And so we called her Tina, and so I’ll always remember Storm Tina. It had inflow winds blowing into the storm at, like, 67 miles an hour sustained. This thing was just sucking up air from the lower atmosphere and throwing it up high like I had never seen in a storm before.
The teals and the green colors you saw inside the storm from the hail that it was producing in the places that I didn’t wanna be were incredible. This storm was just, it was angry, and it was ferocious.
There’s also a storm, God, in the early 2000s. I was in, like, Okarche, Oklahoma, and this one, I, was hilarious ’cause we have our old-school video cameras. We’re filming it. We know we’re in the right area. We’re looking at the storm structure. The sirens in the town go off, which gives you goosebumps, and when you’re a storm chaser, is one of the coolest sounds in the world. If you’re living there, that’s terrifying. And we’re looking for it, looking for it, and we, you know, kind of, kind of finally see it at the end, but then we gotta drive away and get to safety.
We go back and watch our video that night, and with the resolution of the video camera, the contrast was better, and there was a funnel and a tornado in front of us the whole time, and we couldn’t see it because of—
LB: Whoa …
CA: —the way the light was and the brightness and the contrast. We were in, like, just this weirdest place.
LB: Just the whole time, it was there? Just—
CA: The whole time, yep.
LB: Hanging out.
CA: Just hanging out, had no idea, and so it was, yeah, and that one was, that, like, that’s just one that, uh, me and, and my friends from college, we just look back at and laugh. Like, to this day, we’re still like, “Oh, yep, you know? That Okarche day, man.”
LB: So when you’re actually out there, how is that whole team setup and dynamic different than it is in the movies?
CA: The movies are funny ’cause it’s almost like there’s the set day. Yeah. Where, where all of a sudden, hey, on the calendar, oh my God, it’s May 1st, tornado season is, is opening. You know, and that’s not how it is at all.
There are opportunities where chasers can get together. There’s storm chasing conferences. They usually happen in the off-season in, like, February, which is nice. But with a changing climate too, we have changing storm times, and we’re actually seeing Tornado Alley shift further east, and the seasons are longer.
We’re seeing it fall more into, uh, February, March in, in the southeastern parts of the U.S.. So people just start showing up, and you start chasing on their own. And once you really start getting into the severe season, yeah, you meet up, and you see other people when you’re out there, and in the gas station parking lots, people are there, and you see each other and can hang out for a bit while you’re staging and waiting for storm initiation or whatever.
But it’s not like they show in the movies where it’s like, “Oh my God, everyone mark your calendar for this day and we’re all gonna meet at this gas station in this small Oklahoma town.” It doesn’t work that way at all, and there’s days you can have a line of storms that form from Texas through the Dakotas, and so storm chasers just spread out all along across that line naturally, and it’s just a very natural sort of process. That’s not as scheduled and not as quick and easy as they make it look in the movies.
LB: There you go. Last question, but I love to ask scientists this one, whether it be from movie, TV, comic books, books, favorite fictional scientist?
CA: Miss Frizzle. Does she count?
LB: Oh, 100%. She, she definitely has a PhD, but is also teaching elementary school as a scientist, yes.
CA: You know she’s a teacher—
LB: Mm-hmm.
CA: But man, Miss Frizzle embodies everything about science, the curiosity, the willing to learn, making mistakes and trying again, and also, like, rocking outfits.
LB: Yes.
CA: Like, really cool science-y dresses and stuff while doing it, and making science fun, and I think that is awesome. I am so … I’m game. That’s great. Sign me up. She’s amazing.
LB: Cyrena, thank you so much for joining us. Now, if people wanna find you on the internet, where should they look?
CA: Everything for me is at wxcyrena, and Cyrena is spelled really unusually. Thank you, Mom and Dad. Love you so much. It’s C-Y-R-E-N-A, so W-X-C-Y-R-E-N-A on all the social media platforms.
My website, everything is at wxcyrena. And find me. Find me on social media. We’re gonna be talking about the storm chase while we’re out doing it, so check in and see what’s going on there. And we were just talking about Miss Frizzle. She’s one of my favorite people, and I am trying to be her, I think, more and more every day.
I’ve written three children’s books about weather, too, and so you can find those through the links in trying to find me. I have The Weather Story, The Hurricane Story, and The Tornado Story, which are factual books, real meteorology, but in a nice, lyrical, easy to understand way for kids, and it’s just so important to me that science communication and science education piece is a cornerstone of what I do, so go check those out, too, if you’re looking me up.
LB: Awesome. Well, thank you, and good luck chasing.
CA: Thank you. I hope you find some wonderful, what we, other people call terrible, weather.
SD: What an interview. Now I really wanna go storm chasing with her.
LB: I know. I’m more convinced now.
And that’s it for this episode, but don’t worry, we’ve got more episodes of Ask Us Anything live in our feed right now. Follow or subscribe to Ask Us Anything by Popular Science wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
And if you like our show, leave a rating and review.
SD: Our producer is Alan Haburchak. This week’s episode was based on an article written for Popular Science by Laura Baisis.
LB: Thank you, team. Thank you, meteorologists and storm chasers, and thanks everyone for listening.
SD: And one more time, if you want something you’ve always wondered about explained on a future episode, go to popsci.com/ask and click the “Ask Us” link.
Until next time, keep the questions coming, and listen to those storm warnings.
A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have developed a humidity-based image encoder that looks straight out of James Bond’s Q-Lab. The postage stamp-sized chip can store a hidden message that is only revealed when exterior humidity levels surpass 60 percent. The image can then be concealed again by bringing humidity back down. In practice, that means someone handed an object with the chip on it could simply breathe on it to unveil its secret message.
While it’s a potentially nifty tool for an undercover spy, the researchers say the encoder could also be used to reveal a security code on a credit card, or even serve as a visual indicator of climate changes in a particular area. In all of these cases, humidity essentially acts as a key. The findings were recently published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.
“You can imagine using this as a built-in security feature with the environment acting like a key that unlocks different pieces of information,” study co-author and UC San Diego electrical and computer engineering postdoctoral researcher Asad Nauman said in a statement.
In a video demonstration, a clear blue image of a UCSD trident logo appears and then quickly begins to fade as the area around it brightens. After only a few seconds in, the UCSD library logo emerges. The image then fades back to the man with the trident before switching back once more to the library logo.
Hiding a message in plain sight
The chip consists of two separate hydrogel layers. The bottom layer, made of a phase-changing material called antimony trisulfide, essentially acts as a canvas onto which lasers can etch messages. These can be text or, as in the example above, full images. The top layer is made of a softer hydrogel material called azido-grafted carboxymethyl cellulose. This layer swells in humid conditions and shrinks in dry ones, which is why the hidden message becomes visible.
The transformation of the UCSD Triton logo to the UCSD library logo. Left to right: The UCSD Triton logo is visible at a 40% humidity level; the UCSD library logo begins to appear and overlap the Triton logo at a 60 percent humidity level; the UCSD library logo is solely visible at an 85% humidity level; and both images are overlapped at a 95 percent humidity level. Image: NDAO Lab
The first, low-humidity image or message is visible when humidity levels are at or below 40 percent. As humidity levels approach 60 percent, the hidden message starts taking shape. It is then fully visible at 80 percent humidity. The image reveal is also accompanied by a color shift due to small gaps between the two hydrogel layers. When the top layer swells and expands, the increased space between the layers alters the way light reflects off them, resulting in a shift from blue to red.
Of course, for any of this to work, a spy or other user would need to operate in an area with a predictable climate. Blowing on a message in a tropical environment where the air is already thick with moisture probably won’t do the trick. Still, in a pinch, it might beat having to write out long, intricate messages on finicky invisible ink.
Samsonite’s summer sale is live right now with discounts up to 43% off luggage, carry-ons, and sets. The deals range from single rolling bags to complete luggage kits, so there’s something to accommodate every type of traveler. The real savings happen on the clearance models, which are discounted by more than 40 percent. Save that money now and splurge on souvenirs when you get to your destination.
Outline Pro Carry-On Spinner $125.99 (was $219.99)
The Outline Pro is one of Samsonite’s most reviewed hardside carry-ons, with nearly 10,000 ratings and a 4.7-star average. At $125.99 (from $219.99), this clearance colorway is more than 43% off and comes with TSA combination locks, four-wheel spinner wheels, and a 1.5-inch expansion zipper. The “Clearance” tag means the color is being phased out, so you can get a top-notch bag for a huge discount.
Voltage DLX 2-Piece Set (CO/M) $233.99 (was $389.99)
The Voltage DLX is Samsonite’s softside workhorse, and at $233.99 (from $389.99), this carry-on and medium checked bag set is 40% off. Softside bags flex to absorb overpacking better than hardside, and both pieces come with spinner wheels. Together, the two bags handle about a week of travel without needing to juggle multiple separate purchases.
Dropping from $519.99 to $299.99, the Pivot 3 3-Piece Set is the biggest absolute savings in the Samsonite summer sale: $220 off a full carry-on, medium, and large spinner collection. All three bags are hardside polycarbonate with TSA combination locks, expandable packing, 360-degree spinner wheels, and the brand’s EazyHOOK system for hanging a tote or duty-free bag on the handle. You rarely see a complete three-piece Samsonite hardside set under $300, and this sale is when it becomes possible.
Samsonite carry-on deals
Carry-ons take up the largest slice of the Samsonite summer sale, with the Voltage DLX Global at $125.99 and the Freeform Carry-On at $153.99 offering the best value for infrequent travelers. The Outline Pro Carry-On is $175.99 in standard colorways if you prefer more color options than the clearance variant above.
The Voltage DLX Large Spinner and the clearance Outline Pro Large both hit $179.99, and the Freeform Medium Spinner lands at $181.99. For checked bags specifically, this section of the sale has some of the strongest absolute-dollar cuts on the site right now.
Sets are where the sale gets interesting for travelers who want everything to match. The 2-Piece Set (CO/M) at $159.99 is the entry point for a coordinated carry-on and medium checked bag, while the Freeform 2-Piece (CO/L) at $335.99 covers a larger footprint for longer trips.
The Mother Lode Travel Backpack is the only bag in the sale, but it’s a standout: 40% off at $131.99 from $219.99. With 4.7 stars and nearly 9,500 reviews, it’s one of the most proven travel backpacks in the Samsonite lineup.
Attention creative souls! While NASA might feel like an exclusive den of scientists, engineers, and otherworldly athletes, the agency is reaching out to storytellers and artists via two new initiatives.
“As NASA pushes the boundaries of exploration and innovation for the benefit of humanity, the agency is looking for partners to share mission stories covering Artemis Moon missions, nuclear propulsion, aeronautics, and more,” NASA wrote in a press release. Since “journalists” aren’t mentioned in either of these calls for creatives, it would appear that NASA is seeking other means to keep people talking about its missions.
Specifically, they are seeking proposals from creatives including documentarians, songwriters, storytellers, and poets for projects about missions including Artemis III in 2027 and Space Reactor-1 Freedom to Mars in 2028, among others. Proposals are due by the end of June.
NASA is also launching another creative initiative called Moon Joy June.
“To keep the Moon Joy alive after the Artemis II mission, NASA is hosting a month-long art challenge on Instagram, Threads, and Tumblr. Each week during the month of June 2026, NASA will provide a prompt to inspire participants to make and share their artistic creations,” they explain in an FAQ page.
The prompts have already been released, so artists looking to participate can already start brainstorming. Week one’s prompt is “launch,” week two will be “moon,” week three will be “crew,” and week four will be “Earth.”
A note to the competitive-minded—the agency highlights that Moon Joy June is not a contest but an art challenge, meaning there will be no prize. And as if it could get any worse for type-A people, participants don’t actually have to follow the prompts. It seems like we’re in for a free-for-all artistic takeover of the three social media platforms.
Non-traditional art forms like nail art and latte foam art are also welcomed. In NASA’s words, “The sky is (not) the limit!”
A unique turtle is officially getting a second chance at life in the big blue. Last month we reported on a special resident at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll Island, Georgia: a first-generation hybrid sea turtle, the child of a Loggerhead sea turtle father (Caretta caretta) and a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) mother. Nicknamed Earl Grey, the reptile-turned-celebrity has returned to the wild.
This Hannah Montana of turtles was slated to be released on Wednesday, but on Tuesday the Georgia Sea Turtle Center announced a change of plans because of “some unexpected pre-release complications.” Luckily, these complications must have been resolved. He was sent on his way Thursday morning, only one a day behind schedule.
“Yesterday evening, veterinarians at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center determined that the best course of action for Earl Grey’s well-being and successful transition back into the ocean was to conduct a private release,” according to a George Sea Turtle Center spokesperson.
The turtle was rescued from a beach in Brewster, Massachusetts, where it was stranded and cold-stunned. The turtle’s mixed background was revealed by genetic testing after the Loggerhead ridley (or Kemp’s Loggerhead?) arrived at the turtle center. Hybrid animals are natural, but we don’t know how many wild hybrid sea turtles there are. Most hybrid animals are only confirmed with genetic testing.
Earl Grey on his way to the beach for release. Image: Jekyll Island Authority.
“From an evolutionary perspective, hybridization could be one of many ways genetic diversity is introduced into a population,” Jaynie L. Gaskin, Georgia Sea Turtle Center director, told Popular Science in April. “We encourage other rehabilitation facilities to consider genetic testing for any suspected hybrid sea turtles, as there may be more individuals than we currently realize!”
In a Facebook video, the turtle center highlights the traits that the rare hybrid sea turtle inherited from each species, including a hook-shaped beak of a Kemp’s ridley (the mother) and the colors of a Loggerhead (the father). A combination of, in their words, the “best of both worlds.” .
Every dad is different. Some of them are weird (like me) and some of them are weirdly normal. Either way, finding the best Father’s Day gift can be a challenge. That’s why we’re here. We spend all day reviewing and recommending products, so we have fantastic alternatives to the typical ties and beef jerky fare. So, regardless of what your pops is into, there’s something on this list for them. And hey, chuck a crayon drawing in there instead of a card. A little sappy nostalgia never hurts on Father’s Day.
Best tabletop campsite lantern: GigaPower Tabletop Lantern
The Snow Peak Tabletop LED Lantern is a $100 dimmable camp light that produces a warm even glow rather than the white blast of most camp lanterns. Snow Peak is the Japanese outdoor brand that designs camp gear like high-end furniture: matte aluminum body, frosted diffuser, tactile aluminum knobs. It runs on Snow Peak’s proprietary battery or USB. It looks at home on a campsite picnic table or on a nightstand in your bedroom, which is the design language Snow Peak has made its signature.
Best illustrated reference book: Hungry Minds The Book
The Hungry Minds Book is a hand-illustrated encyclopedia of mechanisms, biology, optics, and social systems, 400 pages from a small Florida-based studio. Every illustration starts as a pencil sketch and finishes in lithographic ink. The cover is silver-embossed and the binding is sewn. Chapters cover anatomy, bicycles, animation, festivals, and sushi, which sounds scattered until you spend twenty minutes inside one. A five-pound coffee-table object that rewards being opened. Popular Science readers can get the premium gift box for free by clicking ‘see it’ above. The first 20 customers can get 20% off with LEARNLIKEDAD20.
The Vuarnet Racing 05 sunglasses come equipped with mineral glass lenses instead of polycarbonate, which makes them slightly heavier but offers a visibly sharper image with optical clarity polycarbonate doesn’t match. The acetate frame is hand-finished in Italy. The Racing 05 is the investment pair that replaces three rounds of $100 sunglasses and tends to outlast the cars it rides along in.
The Norrøna Falketind dri1 is a $399 lightweight rain shell built around dri1, Norrøna’s own waterproof-breathable membrane. The cut is alpine, seams are minimized to reduce failure points, and the jacket packs into its own hood pocket. Skimp on a jacket in this category and it will start to flake and disintegrate a year or two in. You won’t have that problem here. With proper care, this will last for years, even under heavy use.
Best limited-edition notebook: Moleskine NASA-Inspired Edition
The Moleskine NASA-Inspired Notebook is a $37 limited edition with Apollo-era graphic design on the cover and a sealed envelope at the back containing a small commemorative print. Inside, it’s the classic Moleskine ruled paper that has barely changed in decades because users love it so much. The whole package feels like a nice gift and it’ll actually come in handy for everyday use.
Best digital writing tablet: reMarkable Paper Pure
The reMarkable Paper Pure is a $399 e-ink writing tablet that drops the front light and color display of the Paper Pro to bring the price down by $180, per our full review. The textured screen and 21-millisecond pen-to-ink latency match the Pro’s, so the writing feel doesn’t compromise. The chassis is built with screws and snaps for repairability, weighs 0.79 pounds, and the battery runs three weeks on an hour of daily note-taking.
If your pop loves his pooch, get him a leash worthy of his best friend. The reflective mesh leash is super durable, so even large dogs can pull on it without worry. The wrist loop closes with a simple magnetic Fidlock clip, so it’s easy to get on and off, but only when you want to. The auto-locking Talon Clip provides a super-sturdy point of contact with a leash or a harness, so the whole package is secure (and handsome) from end to end.
Best chore coat: Carhartt Crafted Series Drill Painter Chore Coat
Carhartt Crafted Series Drill Painter Chore Coat $150
Carhartt jackets look better once they’re broken in and that’s especially true here. Made from 9-ounce 100% cotton drill, this jacket is designed to break in and patina the way Carhartt’s original painter coats did a century ago. The rest of the feature sheet includes Two-piece sleeves for mobility, metal button front, snap cuffs, an interior chest pocket, and exterior pockets sized for brushes and carpenter pencils. The Crafted Series is Carhartt’s elevated line with cleaner cuts over the same construction. You’ll want to steal it once your dad has worked in it for a while.
This is four light sources in one body: a 1,700-lumen flood, an 800-lumen spot, a 365-nanometer UV mode for inspection work, and a green laser pointer. It charges magnetically or over USB-C, and the flat aluminum body is comfortable in a pocket in a way most cylindrical flashlights are not. This is a gift he’ll carry around with him every single day.
DECKED is best known for engineered truck-bed drawer systems, but the Payloader is a stackable garage storage bin engineered to bring tough storage into the house. Sizes run 32 to 133 liters, lids hold up to 200 pounds static, and the bins lock into a Stable Stack formation so a tower of three doesn’t slide off itself. Lifetime warranty. I’ve been testing these in my house for a few weeks and I’ve already dropped them several times with no breakage.
Best cutting board: STEELPORT SteelCore Cutting Board
This edge-grain Oregon big-leaf maple board has a steel matrix embedded inside it, which keeps the board flat against the dimensional movement that warps and splits ordinary wooden boards over time. STEELPORT hand-finishes them in Portland. The Oregon Maple variant has a recycled paper-composite reverse with a juice groove for raw proteins. At 0.75 inches thick, STEELPORT claims it’s the thinnest end-grain board on the market. Plus, it looks nice enough to keep on the counter all the time without having to stash it away in a cabinet.
A 1.5-inch AMOLED screen peaks at 2,000 nits of brightness, so this adventure-ready watch is visible in just about any conditions. Dual-frequency GNSS provides accurate location data even if you’re battling a canyon or tree-cover. Free downloadable offline maps and a 65-hour run time per charge (with GPS turned on) make this a wearable that you can rely on during off-grid adventures.
Best high-resolution camera: Sony Alpha 7R VI
Alpha 7R VI: Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera $4,499.99
Yes, this is an expensive camera, but consider this a passive aggressive attempt on my part to get my kids to buy me one. The A7R VI is built around a 66.8-megapixel fully-stacked Exmor RS sensor and shoots blackout-free continuous bursts at 30 frames per second. That means photographers don’t have to choose between high-res images and high-speed shooting. Dynamic range hits 16 stops. In-body stabilization claims up to 8.5 stops under ideal circumstances. Real-time Recognition AF+ uses skeletal pose estimation to predict where a moving subject’s face will be next. This is a beast of a camera that’s worthy of pro work.
Not every dad is great at building a fire with wood, and that’s OK. The Infinity relies on a propane tank you swap when it runs dry. Twin burners put out up to 72,000 BTUs combined, the unit runs five and a half hours on a 20-pound tank at maximum output, and the dual-burner geometry recreates the swirl pattern of a real wood fire. You get all the ambiance and warmth without the kindling, false starts, and ash cleanup.
Despite its small size, this box delivers 1,000 amps of starting power, enough for any gas engine up to six liters or any diesel up to three. It weighs 2.4 pounds and works as a portable USB power bank. The built-in 100-lumen LED offers seven modes of illumination depending on your needs. All those featured are wrapped in an IP65-rated case to protect against dust and water. It may really get your dad (or you) out of a jam down the line.
The KEEN Utility Targhee Blur is a $210 lightweight work boot, the work-boot version of KEEN’s long-running Targhee hiker. KEEN’s ReGEN+ midsole returns 60 percent of energy per step, the carbon-fiber composite safety toe is 15 percent lighter than steel and meets ASTM F3445 and F2413. Inside, the KEEN.DRY membrane keeps water out without trapping moisture in. The Targhee Blur is available in mid or low collar heights, both with reflective webbing for low-light visibility. Plus, they look a lot cooler than your dad’s old boots.
Best cooling underwear: Duluth Trading Armachillo Cooling Boxer Briefs 3-Pack
Many dads aren’t willing to splurge on underwear, so you have to do it for them. Jade-infused cooling fabric make these boxer briefs some of the most comfortable we’ve ever worn at work or the gym. Microscopic jade particles embedded in the nylon-spandex knit are dense enough to draw heat away from the skin, which makes the fabric measurably cool to the touch and not just moisture-wicking. The Armachillo briefs solve an actual hot-summer problem in a way most $25-a-pair boxer briefs cannot.
Best electric shaver: Philips Norelco i9000
Philips Norelco i9000 Wet & Dry Shaver with SenseIQ $229.96
Disposable razors are over. This rechargeable shaver has a SenseIQ sensor inside that reads beard density 500 times per second and modulates cutting power on the fly. The Triple Lift & Cut head pulls flat-lying hairs upright before cutting them, which is the difference between a clean shave and a close-but-not-quite one. The motor and battery carry a five-year warranty. Self-sharpening blades last two years between replacements.
Best gaming headset: Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II
Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II Wireless Gaming Headset $349.99
The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II runs 60-millimeter Eclipse dual drivers, Japan Audio Society-certified 24-bit/96kHz hi-res wireless over a 2.4GHz USB transmitter, Dolby Atmos spatial audio, and adjustable active noise cancellation. Does that sound nerdy? Yes, but it’s also awesome and if your dad is a true gamer, he’ll appreciate all of it. Dual swappable 40-hour batteries mean zero downtime between charges. CrossPlay 2.0 handles up to four USB transmitters, so the Stealth Pro II moves between PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Bluetooth without rewiring.
Best washable wool rug: Revival Rugs Mori
Revival Rugs Mori Washable Wool Rug (6' x 9', Guava) $799
Dad needs a rug to tie the room together. The Revival Rugs Mori is a $799 hand-knotted wool rug (in the 6′ × 9′ size) built around a washable construction most wool rugs can’t claim. Revival works with artisan partners on washable yarns and weave geometry that survive a wash cycle without the dry-cleaning intervention traditional wool rugs require. Three colorways: Guava, Matcha, Sakura. The Mori is the rug pick for someone who appreciates the look of a hand-knotted wool rug without the maintenance overhead.
Best mechanical keyboard: CHERRY XTRFY MX 8.2 Pro TMR Wireless
You don’t have to know how magnets work to appreciate this high-end keyboard. Tunnel Magnetoresistance (TMR) switches replace the typical sensors most premium gaming keyboards rely on. CHERRY claims 0.01-millimeter precision and lower power draw than Hall-effect equivalents. The 8,000Hz polling rate works in 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth, or wired modes. Hot-swappable sockets accept the brand’s magnetic switches or traditional mechanical switches, which is rare in the category. TKL layout, PBT keycaps, 300 hours of gaming on the 8,000mAh battery. Plus, it sounds awesome.
The Traeger Irontop 2-Burner is a $499 flat-top grill provides edge-to-edge heat across the cooktop as default rather than luxury. That means the burgers at the center of the surface cook at the same speed as those around the edge. The two-burner has 504 square inches of cooking surface. The four-burner steps up to 648 square inches at $599. Both ship with integrated wind guards, a P.A.L. accessory rail, side shelves, and a three-year warranty.
Ticks are the worst, but they’re a way of life when you spend a lot of time outside. The Opinel No. 12 Explore is a $60 folding knife with a built-in tick remover, a notched slot on the handle that slides under an embedded tick and lifts the head out cleanly. If you don’t get the whole bug out, it could regenerate over time and increase your risk of disease. A Virobloc safety ring locks the blade and the handle is glass-filled polyamide.
Best commuter backpack: Chrome Industries Barrage 18L
Roll top bags can save your gadgets and everyday carry during bad weather. The welded main compartment is exceptionally resistant to the elements, which makes this a great pack for commuting or spending time outdoors. The Barrage has an exterior webbing cargo net for awkward loads and an internal 15-inch laptop sleeve. The floating tarp liner is made from recycled auto-glass and the main fabric is 1050D recycled nylon. PFAS-free. Best of all: it looks really cool.
The smallest cooler in Yeti’s lineup is sized for one person going out for the day rather than a family tailgate. It holds 12 cans or nine pounds of ice with the same Permafrost pressure-injected polyurethane insulation and ColdLock gasket as the big Tundra. The AnchorPoint tie-down slots are built to strap the cooler to a paddleboard, motorcycle saddle, ATV, or golf cart. To make it an even better gift, fill it up with cans of Arnold Palmer (or any other beverage he may like).
The Watershed Ocoee is a submersible dry bag from $167 in standard colors, sized to fit under a kayak deck or a boat seat. The ZipDry zipper is the same closure Watershed sells into the military waterproof-gear category, rated IP68 for full submersion rather than splash resistance. 10.5 liters of capacity, 1.5 pounds, plus rugged carry handles and hard lash points for tie-downs.
If your dad is the type whose tee shots occasionally need a search party, the Cobra OPTM X driver is 2026’s rescue club. Bringing “stay in play” energy, this glossy black fairway finder has a carbon crown that looks sharp at address, plus a subtle “C” that works as a clean, non-distracting alignment cue. It feels well-balanced, especially in 44.5” Tour Length for increased accuracy, and brings real forgiveness through the MOI (Moment of Inertia) and POI (Products of Inertia) design that helps reduce twisting and side spin when contact gets spicy. Plus, FutureFit33 fine-tuning allows Dad to dial it in and stop donating balls to the woods. The adjustability makes it especially great if you don’t know how the recipient plays. (And if you’re feeling really generous and Dad’s into 3-D printing, you can help with his putting, too.)
Best high-end low-profile turntable speaker: Andover-One SB
Andover-One SB Audiophile Powered Speaker Base $1,999
Vinyl dads can easily take over any space while building a shrine of glowing components. But they don’t have to redecorate an entire room with cascading chords to prove they care about sound. They just need an Andover-One SB and a well-maintained turntable. This powered speaker base proves component hi-fi can be high-end. It’s clean in look and sound, packing a built-in phono preamp, 200 watts powering six speakers for a fleshy, full-range response, a Class A headphone amplifier, and multiple inputs into furniture-grade wood with a tempered-glass top. For the digital-friendly dad, add a reference streamer like the Bluesound Node ICON or use Bluetooth aptX HD. The multi-driver array, featuring four 3.5-inch ultralinear aluminum-diaphragm woofers and two Air Motion Transformer folded-ribbon tweeters, works with panoramic S/M/L audio modes to tune presentation no matter the placement. And Isogroove feedback elimination keeps the platter vibration-free, no matter how freely the volume knob turns.
Coffee nerds have so much in common with audiophiles. Both are obsessed with micro-calibrated gear and swapping components in and out in the pursuit of clarity. So if you know a dad as obsessed with puck preparation as he is running a carbon-fiber anti-static brush over every album, you know a dad who needs the Mazzer Philos premium light commercial single-dose grinder. Like a summit-fi digital audio converter, this $1,495 hand-assembled, heirloom-quality Italian appliance (available in black and silver) takes whatever beans it’s fed and extracts previously masked tasting notes with minimal morning commotion. A wide dial covers espresso to pour-over to batch brew coarseness, and the near-zero-retention vertical burr + chute knocker + Dose Finisher system lets you move between origins and brewing methods without yesterday’s beans staging a comeback. Swappable 64mm flat burrs give him a chance to tune for vibrant light and full-bodied dark roasts, and the option to switch from stepped to stepless mode gives grind settings the same obsessive precision as establishing the perfect listening position.
Dad undoubtedly has a vibe. But what if he could have an aura?!? That’s what this collection from BrüMate brings. That and all-day hydration. The Dark Aura collection’s brushed metallic blue-purple gradient looks good on thirst-quenchers of every size, from the Strova 18oz with its flavor-preserving ceramic liner and leakproof BevLock lid to the Era Flip 40oz, a cup holder-friendly tumbler with its SoftSip straw and leakproof SlideSeal lid. Whether it’s hot coffee (ground with the Mazzer above, obviously) or a reservoir of some cold refreshing beverage, dad will feel stylish hydro-hauling in one of these twilight chrome containers.
Best compact connected speakers: Bose LifeStyle Ultra
If your dad won’t admit his hearing isn’t what it used to be, but the TV volume when he watches something might be threatening to give everyone else in the room tinnitus, the Bose LifeStyle Ultra soundbar is the upgrade he needs. AI-powered Speech Clarity separates dialogue from explosions, scores, and general streaming-service murk, so he gets bigger, clearer sound without turning the living room into an endurance challenge. Add the glass-topped Subwoofer for serious low-end response, then bring in the compact Ultra Speakers as wireless rears when you want a more immersive experience. After that, dad can build a whole-home system room by room, placing speakers as compact height-enhanced endpoints or even more expressive stereo pairs fed by AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth. More detail, less subtitles and shouting matches.
Best kitchen upgrade: Boardsmith butcher block
The Boardsmith Premium End Grain Butcher Block $230+
When it comes to cooks, you already think Dad is a cut above. Even before you taste anything, you know based on his taste in knives and his actual knife skills. He turns mise-en-place into theater. And the Dad that is the kind of chef who gets weirdly specific about his blade’s edge needs an appropriate prep surface. Knife-friendly Boardsmith premium end grain butcher blocks … or cutting boards, or charcuterie boards, or utensil sets … are made in a family-owned shop in Frisco, Texas. And they bring a substantial stage for slicing, dicing, carving, etc. You can pick from four sizes of maple, walnut, cherry, or some handsome combination, customized with or without finger grooves and juice grooves and feet. Dad will never get bored with this board.
Best balanced and aligned putter: L.A.B. Golf VZN.1i
Cresswell, Oregon, iconoclasts L.A.B. Golf have a vision for getting zero-torque putters in more golfers’ bags, and part of that is getting their VZN.1i in more golfers’ hands. If Dad is looking for stability and repeatability, but he’s not looking to answer any “What is that?!?” questions on the course, this more familiar, still ultra-forgiving shape could quiet his aesthetic concerns and also any worries that he won’t lock the target line. Still center-shafted and hand-balanced, the VZN.1i goes beyond the D-shaped mallet head of the OZ.1i and brings a fang-style putter to the lineup. A 303 stainless-steel insert with deeper milling gives a crisp, deeply satisfying zing and hotter launch off the face. As for that cutout and the crown lines, their geometry helps with optical alignment. Plus, it’s also a “gimmie getter”/ball scoop, so it takes more pressure off the back while it keeps more putts on track. Get hexagonal, stay squared.
Our digital lives often drive fandoms in the very analog: record players, cassettes, and yes, fountain pens. For some people, they’ve always been the thing, but plenty of newcomers are arriving via social media—and that’s exactly what makes this such a good gift. Your dad likely doesn’t already have one, but if he is always talking about writing that novel, he’s probably at least a little curious and not sure where to start.
LAMY, a German writing instrument brand, is known for reliability, and the AL-star is an easy entry point that feels more premium than its price tag suggests, thanks to its lightweight aluminum body. It refills with cartridges and comes in a range of nib sizes; we recommend starting with medium. LAMY does make a left-handed nib, but pro tip: We have yet to find any left-handers who want to deal with ink that can easily smear before it has time to dry. Add a pack of refill cartridges in a few fun colors to make it feel a little more special right out of the box.
Cycling dads will happily upgrade everything on their bike—except the lock, which somehow stays “good enough” until it’s very much not. The Hiplok Switch 105 fixes that. It’s a 105 cm (about 41 inches) folding lock made from hardened steel bars and solid rivets, offering real security (Sold Secure Bronze) without the usual bulk. It folds down compactly and clicks into a boss-mounted bracket, so whether it’s on the frame or the fork, it’s always along for the ride instead of rattling around in a bag. At just over a pound, it’s manageable, and long enough to loop through larger frames, including many e-bikes.
Still prefer a heavy-duty chain for some urban adventures where you’re not obsessing over every ounce or wanting to drag a bag? The Hiplok GOLD Wearable Chain Lock is a burly belt that’s not as awkward as it appears and gives you confidence that your bike is secure outside of the coffee shop.
This weekend, Earth will be treated to a nice blue moon. Our planet’s only natural satellite won’t put on a pleasant azure hue (indeed, blue moons have nothing to do with color). Instead, it will be the second full moon for the month of May, following the full Flower Moon on May 1. The blue moon will reach peak illumination at 4:46 a.m. EDT on Sunday May 31.
A seasonal blue moon is one extra full moon within an astronomical season, or the dates between solstices and equinoxes. A typical astronomical season has three full moons within it. If it has four full moons instead, then the third may be called a blue moon.
A calendrical (or monthly) blue moon is the one most of us are familiar with. It is the second full moon to fall in one calendar month—like in May 2026. It takes the moon roughly 29.5 days to complete one cycle of phases (new moon to new moon). So if a full moon falls on the first of the month on the calendar, there will be a second full moon at the end of the month. The only month in which a calendrical blue moon cannot fall is February.
How rare are blue moons?
Blue moons are not quite as rare as the phrase “once in a blue moon” makes it sound. Calendrical blue moons happen every 2.5 years (or 30 months) on average, and seasonal blue moons fall about once every two to three years.
Two blue moons can also occur in one year. In 2018, January and March both had two full moons, with no full moon in February. The next time two blue moons will fall in one calendar year won’t be until 2037.
Why is it a micromoon?
May’s blue moon will also be a micromoon and the smallest micromoon of the year. Micromoons have nothing to do with size and everything to do with distance. Typically, the moon is about 238,855 miles away from Earth. Micromoons are further away, and this month’s micromoon will be 252,360 miles away. With the further distance, a micromoon may appear a bit smaller and dimmer than usual.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are supermoons, which are closer to Earth at only 225,130 miles away.
NASA has also put together a handy lunar photography guide if you want to snap that perfect moon pic. If using a smartphone, NASA recommends stabilizing the device, turning off the flash, and tapping the moon on screen to focus the camera directly on it instead of the sky. Your brightness also needs to come down and taking pictures at twilight or as the moon clears the horizon will give the sensor less contrast.
A pleasant swim at the beach or pool can quickly turn deadly. Every year, over 4,000 people die from unintentional drowning across the United States.
Swim safety experts say drowning is highly preventable. They recommend learning basic swimming skills, designating “water watchers” to keep an eye on children in the water, and avoiding swimming alone or under the influence.
But what if your outfit could stop you from drowning? Swim safety experts say wearing the right color on your next beach day is a good way to stay visible and out of harm’s way—especially for inexperienced swimmers and kids.
So what are the safest swimsuit colors?
Lisa Zarda, Executive Director of the U.S. Swim School Association, says people wearing bright, neon colors are easiest to spot in pools, lakes, and oceans, while blue, black, white, and gray swimsuits blend into the water.
“When the water is moving and reflecting the sunlight, certain colors just disappear under the water,” she said. “Especially in open water, where it can be kind of murky and hard to see: The brighter the color, the better.”
Wearing bright colors helps lifeguards and other safety officials identify and rescue people who are at risk of drowning. Vivid orange and super-bright, highlighter yellow are two standout colors for swim safety.
“Think safety vests and traffic cones,” Zarda said. “Those are bright colors also for a reason—so that they can be easily seen.”
An informal study by Alive Solutions, a public safety group, tested swimsuit visibility in three different conditions: in a pool with a standard light bottom, a pool with a dark bottom similar to dark blue ocean environments, and in an outdoor lake with brown-gray water.
Across the board, the study identified bright, neon orange as the most visible color. But there was some slight variation of which colors stood out best in different environments. Against a dark pool bottom, neon yellow, green, and orange were the most eye-catching, while even brighter reds and pinks appeared darker, and both light and dark colors faded into the water.
In a pool with a light bottom, most colors stood out, while light colors like white and light blue disappeared almost instantly.
In a lake, only neon colors were visible while all other colors quickly blended. So bottom line: stick to a neon orange swimsuit if you want to be sure to be seen.
Dark colored swimsuits can be especially hard to spot in open water. Image: mrs / Getty Images / MARTINS RUDZITIS
What makes neon stand out?
All visible color is the result of reflected light. A red apple, for instance, absorbs many wavelengths along the light spectrum, but bounces back red wavelengths. So to the human eye, an apple appears red.
Ordinary colors, like the red of an apple, only reflect the light they receive, but fluorescent pigments do more than that. They also absorb incoming nonvisible ultraviolet and some visible blue light and then re-emit part of that energy as intensely visible light. This is why fluorescent colors almost seem to glow.
Fluorescent shade’s high-contrast is why traffic safety signs, protective gear, and safety and rescue objects, like buoys, are often made with neon materials. It’s also what makes fluorescent swimsuits extra safe.
Swim safety for kids
As summer comes into full swing, Zarda says wearing a neon swimsuit is just one piece of the puzzle to prevent drowning, particularly for kids.
Children are extremely vulnerable to drowning accidents. Kids between ages one to four die from drowning more than any other cause of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For children aged five to 14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury.
“Choosing the right swimsuit color doesn’t replace any of the other important layers of protection.” Zarda said.
“Always having undistracted adult supervision, having a fence around your pool, enrolling your child in swim lessons so that they know how to swim and navigate in the water—those are all still very important.”
In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.
A 31-year-old New York native named Kelsey Pfendler is one week into her audacious quest to become the youngest woman to row unassisted from California to Hawaii. To complete her over 2,400-mile journey, she will need to face stormy seas and traverse waters teeming with all types of ocean life. If she succeeds, Pfendler will become the first American woman ever to do so.
A couple hours of napping and some food will make you feel like a new woman! Waves and wind are still big, but luckily they are becoming more favorable, allowing Kelsey’s boat to catch and ride the waves. Kelsey is rowing to raise funds for The Whale Foundation an organization whose mission is to support, restore, and celebrate the health and well-being of the Grand Canyon river guiding community. Links to learn more and donate are in our bio. @Concept2 @Recpak @insta360 official
Pfendler set off from Monterey, California on May 21 and has been posting daily updates on her TikTok. A separate live tracker also plots her position on a digital map. As of May 28, the tracker shows her off the Southern California coast, moving at 1.6 knots. The multi-month voyage is a major test of physical strength and mental fortitude, and it’s already proven grueling. In just her first week, Pfendler battled strong headwinds as she pushed away from the California coast, leaving her hands covered in blisters.
Absolutely flying today! Waves are around 14ft and wind maxed about 22mph earlier, which gave her a good boost of speed. 229 miles so far, about 2,000 to go. @Concept2 @Recpak
And it has only gotten tougher. Pfendler’s route took her directly into the path of a weather front, bringing bone-chilling temperatures and punishing waves. Worse, while taking cover from the waves, she lost the cap to her heavy-duty freshwater bag. Though she has the ability to make more freshwater with a desalination device, it runs on solar power and the storm left the skies too dark and overcast for the device to work. As a result, Pfendler has had to tap into her emergency supply of 25 small water bottles, a scarcity that has also prevented her from using water to rehydrate her freeze-dried camp food.
“It’s tortillas and peanut butter until I get some sun,” Pfendler said.
But the trip has had its lighter moments as well. Pfendler posted an update sharing her excitement when she crossed the continental shelf. At about 50 to 60 miles off the California coast, crossing the continental shelf is something few humans get to experience so intimately. She also recounted a moment where she spotted either a sea lion or a dolphin hunting fish nearby, sending them leaping out of the water all around her boat.
“It was really cool, it was in the dark and it was kinda special for me,” Pfendler said,
This quest isn’t Pfendler’s first rodeo. She completed a similar rowing trip from California to Hawaii in 2024 with three companions, serving as the skipper. That trip took 40 days, 22 hours, and 14 minutes. Still, rowing in total isolation—even for an experienced oarswoman—adds another layer of challenge. If Pfendler completes the trip, she will be just the third woman ever to do so. The record, set by British rower Lia Ditton in 2020, currently stands at 86 days, 10 hours, and 56 seconds.
For decades, scientists have known that Earth’s magnetic field helps migratory birds and homing pigeons navigate. Just how our feathered friends sense the invisible sphere around the Earth, however, has been less clear.
At least part of the answer appears to be hiding inside a seemingly random organ. Immune cells inside pigeon livers called macrophages are sensitive to the planet’s magnetic field. These cells function like an internal compass, according to a new study published today in the journal Science.
Macrophages destroy old red blood cells, which makes them accumulate iron. The iron makes the macrophages superparamagnetic, a kind of magnetism that takes place in particular nanoparticles. The nanoparticles can then be magnetized if a magnetic field is applied to them.
“When pigeons fly, the nanoparticles align with the magnetic field and become ‘magnetized,’” Clivia Lisowski, a co-author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher in Immunology at the University of Bonn, tells Popular Science. “Like that, pigeons can sense Earth’s magnetic field.”
Electron microscopy image of pigeon liver tissue shows hepatic macrophage (blue) in contact with nerve fiber (yellow), which enables them to transmit (“magnetic”) information to the pigeon brain. Image: Lisowski et al. (2026) Science.
To understand how these particles help the pigeons navigate, Lisowski and her team tracked down where magnetic cells are in pigeons’ bodies. Because the liver and spleen store significant quantities of iron, researchers thought these might be good candidate organs. The liver had a significantly stronger magnetic response than any of the other tissues in the study, according to study co-author Ulf Wiedwald, an expert in nanoscience at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany,
From there they homed in on macrophages, and put these important immune cells to the test. They studied pigeons that were trained to fly back to their aviary in Konstanz, Germany, from over 12.4 miles away. Pigeons whose macrophages had been removed got lost when the weather was overcast. But when the sun was out, the pigeons reached the aviary, probably with the aid of solar cues.
The findings show how the birds employ magnetic sensing to find their way, as well as the sun’s orientation.
“Our study has implications for both the immune research landscape as well as for research on animal navigation or magnetoreception, respectively. For animal navigation it’s a new concept of how animals sense/perceive Earth’s magnetic field,” Lisowski says. “We think that this ferrimagnetic mechanism can actually explain how birds migrating at night, or sharks or bats or other animals migrating in dark environments can perceive Earth´s magnetic field.”
The team also found that the iron-rich macrophages are close to nerve fibers, indicating that magnetic information can get to the brain via this route. Ultimately, this shows how important interdisciplinary research, involving immunologists, behavioral biologists, and physicists, carries significance for more than just birds.
As for the immune system, Lisowski explains that to accomplish its different fuctions—such as defending our bodies from pathogens and healing wounds—it has to sense the environment.
“Our finding that the immune system can also sense the Earth´s magnetic field is a complete new layer in this concept of ‘immuno-sensation’ and opens the door to new research,” Lisowski explains.
Popular YouTuber and aircraft enthusiast Ramy RC built and flew what he’s calling the world’s largest remote-controlled (RC) version of a Boeing 777-9X jet. It’s not just big for an RC toy, it’s big, period.
With a wingspan of 33 feet and weighing 630 pounds, it’s roughly the same size as a human-piloted Cessna 150. The RC Boeing 777-9X may look identical to the real aircraft on the outside, but the plane is made mostly out of CNC-milled foam and carbon fiber. It has five actuators controlling the flaps, working landing gear, and is fully electric. In testing, the behemoth was able to taxi around a tarmac, lift off, and land several times.
Ramy has made a bit of a name for himself in the over-the-top RC plane-building world. He started off building models on his kitchen floor with limited time and resources, and videos of those early builds took off online. His audience has helped him scale up and pursue increasingly ambitious RC plane designs full-time. To date, he has over 200 videos showcasing massive RC versions of a ViperJet, a Boeing 787-9, and a C-17 Globemaster. Ramy’s most recent build prior to the new Boeing was the world’s largest RC Airbus A380, which came in at a staggering 800 pounds with a 32-foot wingspan.
The entire plane was built out of sections and 3D molded foam and attached together. Image: Ramy RC.
The Boeing 777-9X build started, like others, with a digital 3D model scaled down to 1/7 the size of the actual jet. With the proportions locked in, Ramy and his team then used a CNC mill to cut out separate foam parts for the plane’s fuselage, nose, and wings. Each section was reinforced with carbon fiber sheeting and sprayed with a thin layer of plastic for protection. Long runs of wiring were threaded through the plane to power systems like the wing flaps and landing gear doors. The whole aircraft is propelled by a pair of large electric ducted fans mounted where the real jet’s engines would sit.
Ramy decided to take a ride on top of his plane, Flintstones style. Image: Ramy RC .
Once assembled, Ramy used a remote control to taxi the plane around his outdoor tarmac. To drive home just how absurdly large the thing is, Ramy himself climbed on top and straddled his creation as it rolled around the facility. Once the team felt confident it was airworthy, they painted it white and blue with bold Boeing lettering along its side.
Ramy entrusted the plane’s maiden flight to a surprise guest: filmmaker Tyler Perry. The director is also an avid RC enthusiast and has credited these jumbo models like Ramy’s for helping him conquer his fear of flying. With the controller in his hands, the RC Boeing slowly powered up and its ground wheel started churning. It drove toward the end of the tarmac, then pitched up and went airborne, the buzz of its electric fans heard from the ground. Perry flew the plane for a few passes before bringing it down for a smooth landing worthy of a movie.
Sunburn and mosquito bites go together in the summer like a hot dog and ketchup. To keep from becoming a mosquito buffet, most of us turn to bug sprays with DEET. An acronym built from its scientific identification (diethyltoluamide), DEET was developed for the United States Army in 1946 and entered civilian use in 1957. It is generally considered safe when used as directed.
However, mosquitoes can learn to associate the repellant with food. They may even become attracted to it. The findings are detailed in a study published today in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
“If someone applies DEET and the concentration fades over time, but a mosquito still manages to feed, the insect may begin associating that smell with a reward,” Clément Vinauger, a study co-author and biochemist at Virginia Tech, said in a statement. “That’s a possibility we should take seriously when we think about how repellents are used in the real world.”
Ace processors
Like it or not, Earth’s over 3,500 known mosquito species are pretty smart and an evolutionary wonder. They use sensory information to find hosts and can adapt to changing environments.
“Mosquitoes are remarkable at processing information about their environment,” Vinauger said. “What we are trying to understand is not only how they detect us, but how their brains interpret those cues and turn them into behavior.”
A DEET-covered dinner bell?
In this new study, the team focused on the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti). This species spreads several diseases to tens of millions of people each year, including dengue fever, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya.
The mosquitoes were restrained behind a piece of fabric mesh. They then offered the mosquitoes a bag of warm blood (yum) that was just out of the insects’ reach to see how enthusiastically the insects stabbed at it with their proboscises. As expected, the mosquitoes were interested in the blood, particularly when the team rewarded them by lowering the bag within reach. Things changed a bit once DEET entered the experiment. When the team offered the insects blood when surrounded by the scent of DEET, they initially stayed away from the potential feast.
A female yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti), feeding on a bag of warm blood. Image: Romina Barrozo.
To see if they could be trained to associate that smell with the dinner bell, the team fed the mosquitoes warm blood for 20 seconds, squirting the scent of DEET into the enclosure in the final 10 seconds of dining. They repeated the procedure three more times before noting how the mosquitoes responded to only the scent of DEET. In this trial, over 60 percent of mosquitoes tried to bite when they smelled DEET.
To examine further, the mosquitoes were given a choice between two human hands. The hand belonged to study co-author Ayelén Nally of the University of Buenos Aires. One of Nally’s hands was coated with DEET at normal concentrations and the other was bare. The untrained mosquitoes avoided the DEET-treated hand, while the trained mosquitoes were drawn to it.
Interestingly, the mosquitoes could form that same association when sugar, instead of blood, was used as the reward.
According to the team, they are seeing how the mosquito’s brain can rewrite its response based on their experiences. What they have learned matters just as much as what a chemical like DEET does.
“If mosquitoes are repeatedly exposed to DEET, it becomes less effective as a repellent,” study co-author Claudio Lazzari from University of Tours in France added.
Keep the bug spray
Importantly, this does not mean you should stop using DEET completely. It is still one of the most effective ways to keep the dangerous insects away, particularly where mosquito-borne disease is common.
“If you’re in tropical regions where disease risk is real, you should use it,” Vinauger said. “Instead of applying a lot at once, you may want to reapply regularly so it’s always active and providing continuous protection.”
Treated clothing may also be a challenge since DEET concentrations in fabric decline over time. Additional study to understand their behavior is crucial for public health as mosquito-borne illnesses increase due to climate change.
“We need to understand how mosquitoes keep outsmarting our control strategies,” Vinauger concluded. “And that takes understanding how they work—at the molecular level, the neural level, the behavioral level.”
Around the mid-20th century, trains were in trouble. After the first rail lines were laid in 1804 England, the locomotive’s steamy forward chug seemed unstoppable. For over a century, trains were the unmatched champion for anyone looking to get somewhere further than a short horse ride away.
But by the late 1950s, that all started to change. The automobile’s rapid technological ascent meant more commuters were opting to get behind the wheel than on commuter trains. Air travel, propped up by significant government backing in the U.S. and Europe, shed rail’s ridership further by making long-distance travel faster. On top of all that, vast stretches of rail infrastructure across France, Belgium, and the Netherlands lay in rubble, casualties of World War II German bombing runs.
With rail’s future in limbo, ambitious engineers came to the rescue…or at least tried to. The post-war period produced some radical design gambles, but none were quite as conceptually ambitious as France’s short-lived Aérotrain.
It looked like a striking, comic-book-evoking silver tube, featuring a curved nose, reminiscent of a jetliner cockpit. The shiny steel body looked like a glistening cross between a train car and an Airstream camper, with bold red lettering streaked along its side.
Maybe most eye-catching of all though was its tail, which featured another giant rotating propeller or a jet engine, depending on the model. The Aérotrain hovered above the ground without wheels and propelled itself forward using an aircraft engine capable of churning out up to 12,000 pounds of thrust, roughly equivalent to the roar of a small jet engine at takeoff. That powerful engine meant the Aérotrain could reach speeds approaching 270 miles per hour, fast enough to leave conventional rail in the dust. In December 1969, Popular Sciencecalled the train-plane hybrid “the first guided vehicle to ride on air instead of wheels.”
An unfinished section of the Aérotrain rail sits in a rural French field. Image: Shutterstock PHILIPPE MONTIGNY
The first hovertrain: fast, floating, and loud
The Aérotrain was the brainchild of French inventor Jean Bertin, who founded the firm Bertin & Cie after studying aeronautics. His concept (initially called the Terraplane) adapted hovercraft technology recently developed in Britain and applied it to a fixed-track train. The vehicle rode atop a cushion of pressurized air pumped downward between it and a concrete track shaped like an inverted T, lifting it so it never made physical contact with the surface.
That absence of friction from the ground meant it could reach top speeds faster than a typical rail car. It also meant less wear and tear from contact with the Earth which, in theory at least, meant less need to constantly repair degrading parts.
Bertin essentially borrowed this “ground effect” principle, where compressed air between a low-flying wing and the ground surface builds up pressure leading to upward lift, from the aviation industry. And that wasn’t its only similarity to planes. Instead of using a traditional motor to push itself forward, it used aircraft propellers powered by powerful turboshaft engines mounted on top of the cabin.
One of the later Aérotrain prototypes, which set a record for train speed at the time, used the same engine found on early Boeing 727 commercial airliners. That meant it was shockingly fast, but also head-rattlingly loud. The result was something like a ground level airplane that moved along a track.
Cohen says that resemblance to an airplane wasn’t accidental. Bertin had a background as an aeronautical engineer. On a broader level, academics and scientists at the time were fascinated with recent advances in airplane and jet propulsion showcased during WWII and wanted to apply it anywhere they could.
“There was this sense that airplane technology could be applied on the ground or overwater and underwater and you could get kind of frictionless or semi-frictionless transportation at high speeds, very high speeds and it was not seen as pie in the sky,” Cohen says. “It was seen as a viable form of technology that could transform ground transportation.”
Several prototypes were developed, but the most successful of the bunch carried 80 passengers in two rows of two seats. The design intrigued members of the French government who viewed it as a quick way to connect the city center to airports. Though Bertin had proposed versions meant for suburban travel, the train’s noisiness and need for purpose-built concrete guide paths made it a hard sell for more urban areas.
But after years of trial and error, Bertin did eventually receive a contract to build out a line connecting Paris’s La Défense business district with the town of Cergy-Pontoise. Despite multiple prototypes, the Aérotrain would never transport passengers along the route, or any route for that matter.
The Aérotrain was bred from a culture of science and tech optimism
The Aérotrain, and a handful of international copycats that would follow it, were a product of their environment. Kennesaw State College Professor and train historian Albert J. Churella tells Popular Science the fact that hovertrain concepts gained traction was in large part a byproduct of postwar optimism. There was a sense that recent advances in science and technology could reliably reshape the world around us, and quickly. Journalists and newscasters drawn to the sleek, sci-fi looking designs were also more than willing to amplify that optimism further.
The July 2000 issue of Popular Science describes how researchers at Tohoku University Institute of Fluid Science in Sendai, Japan, were designing a modern Aerotrain that could go 310 mph. Image: Popular Science, July 2000 issue
“Interest in hovertrains must be seen in the context of the technological enthusiasm of the post-World War II period—a time when many Americans believed that science and technology could work miracles,” Churella said. That same optimism also applied to European countries across the Atlantic.
“After all, they had grown up alongside impressive new developments, including Nylon, Rayon, penicillin, jet aircraft, and nuclear power that promised to generate electricity that was ‘too cheap to meter.’”
Cohen echoes that point.
“Both in France and in the US at this time, there’s tremendous optimism about the power of technology to transform lives,” he says.
But the Aérotrain’s single contracted route never actually came to pass. Ballooning costs and development delays dampened public support. A global recession and oil crisis in the 1970s left the French government, whose funding was essential, with increasingly little appetite for large, time-consuming infrastructure gambles.
Shifting attitudes away from flashy, high tech bets and towards more practical utilitarian solutions also reportedly played a role, as did a perception of these projects that they catered particularly to the wealthy. With daily expenses climbing, the average French citizen simply stopped seeing the value in cool but unproven technology they may never personally experience, a feeling captured by city planner Pierre Merlin, quoted by researcher Vincent Guigueno in the journal Technology and Culture:
“It will not be the average Jean-Claude Z who takes the Aérotrain, but his CEO who will travel either to Orly Airport or his factory in the new town of Trappes from the company’s head office located in the Tour Main-Montparnasse,” Merlin wrote.
John Volpe, President Nixon’s Secretary of Transportation, detailed some of those prototypes in a 1969 issue of Popular Science. Rohr’s Aerotrain showed promise, and even received a Department of Transportation contract to test an experimental version in Pueblo, Colorado, but like its French forefather, it died under the weight of mounting costs.
And while a $90 million investment (especially in the 1960s) might sound like a decent chunk of change, Churella says the funding was never sufficient to make a radically new rail technology viable. Worse, spreading the investment across multiple competing approaches doomed any single one from gaining real momentum. Plus, aside from eye-grabbing news reports, Churella says everyday commuters simply weren’t all that interested in the hovertrain’s success, one way or the other.
“Hovertrains were an idea without an application, and a concept without a viable market,” Churella says. “It was something that very few people wanted, and no one needed.”
A prototype of French inventor Jean Bertin’s Aérotrain was exhibited in 2013 in Paris. Image: Siren-Com / CC BY-SA 3.0
“The story of the hovertrains shows the dangers of technological exuberance,” Churella says. “It is all well and good to propose innovative new technologies, but they must serve a purpose.”
In the end, the upfront cost of building entirely new concrete or electromagnetic guideways made the economics of hovertrains nearly impossible to justify. Prior assumptions about the limitations of traditional rail also proved premature.
Incremental advances in conventional wheel-on-rail technology produced today’s high-speed trains—not quite as fast as the Aérotrain, but close enough, and crucially compatible with over a century of existing infrastructure. Today, France’s TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) high speed rail system is essentially a lightweight, highly refined version of the classic locomotive designs from the early 1800s.
Still, Cohen notes that viewing Bertin’s Aérotrainand the subsequent exploration of hovertrains as a total failure misses a broad point. Refinements of that underlying technology did eventually seed the development of maglev trains, which hover using powerful electromagnets rather than compressed air.
Today, a handful of maglev lines operate in China, Japan, and South Korea at incredible speeds. The most famous of them, Shanghai’s Transrapid, covers roughly 19 miles between Pudong International Airport and Longyang Road station in eight minutes, and is capable of 268 miles per hour—though its cruising speed is capped at around 186 mph.
And maglev tech, initially pitched as a commuter rail solution, has arguably had an even larger impact in other, unexpected applications, from airport luggage transportation and wind turbine parts to numerous military uses. If you peel back the onion far enough, all of those can be traced back to Bertin and his whack train-plane hybrid.
“That’s my lesson,” Cohen said. “to say [new technologies] are wacko is missing the point.” Despite where an individual invention ends up, new tech is “going to have all sorts of other applications”—applications we might not be able to see for decades to come.
In That Time When, Popular Science tells the weirdest, surprising, and little-known stories that shaped science, engineering, and innovation.
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