Fresh eyes can transform the world, and a world beset by pandemics, climate change, and unfairness is primed for change like none we’ve ever seen. That’s why, after a five-year hiatus, Popular Science is reintroducing the Brilliant 10: an annual list of early-career scientists and engineers who are coming up with novel solutions to issues…
Wade into the gently lapping waves late at night Wade into the gently lapping surf at Boca Chica Beach, a pristine stretch of beach about 20 miles east of Brownsville, Texas, and you’ll see nothing but Gulf seas meeting sky—endless, dark but for the stars and lazy whitecaps. A contemplative, antique vista that makes you…
It’s been almost a decade since Harvard geneticist George Church initially proposed using synthetic biology to resurrect woolly mammoths. His plan to change history is now moving forward. Today, Church and software entrepreneur Ben Lamm announced the creation of Colossal, a biotech firm with $15 million in preliminary capital. The company’s objective is twofold: to…
Aaron Bolds didn’t think about becoming a doctor until he tore a ligament in his knee in a basketball competition when he was 15 years old. His orthopedic surgeon was Black, and the two got along swimmingly. “When he asked how my grades were, I told him, ‘I’m a straight-A student,’” she said. Bolds, who…
My family, like many others who enjoy traveling, went from taking road trips and flying cross-country to doing almost nothing in 2020. I had anticipated that our newfound seclusion would be just temporary and easily reversed. Even though coronavirus cases in our area were declining and scientists advising that wearing a mask and going outside…
Expended rockets are falling to Earth as more frequent rocket launches make space more accessible. In May, a 23-ton Chinese rocket landed in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, ending days of speculation over where it would land. In March, the four-ton top stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket broke apart above the Pacific…
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is working on an interdisciplinary project to recreate the scents of plant species that have been lost due to human colonial destruction of their habitat. Whereas others might try to reconstruct a woolly mammoth from centuries-old sequences, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is working on recreating the scents of plant species that have been…
Both cigarettes and opioids have a high potential for addiction and death. Profiteering companies sell both substances based on science that has been skewed by spin or outright lies. Both have been challenged for multibillion-dollar sums of money. Opioids, on the other hand, are not like cigarettes. And, as the opioid settlements near the conclusion,…
A gigantic crustacean with a peculiar look slid across the muddy seafloor of present-day British Columbia more than 500 million years ago. It was half a meter (1.6 feet) long and had a massive head with a helmet-like carapace, or shell, stalked eyes, and a pair of claws with hard tiny structures that looked like…
Terrorists had to pass through airport security in Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia before hijacking the four planes used in the 9/11 attacks. Even though several of them were tagged for screening by the CAPPS security system or were hand-wanded after triggering metal detectors at Dulles airport, they were able to board the Boeing…