Oustide feeds

Airplane seats can feel ridiculously small. It’s gotten to the point where I, a small woman of average height, have trouble even reaching under the seat in front of me. But have airplane seats always been so dang squished? The short answer, which we explore in a new episode of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything podcast, is a resounding no.

Ask Us Anything answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions—from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. So, yes, there’s a reason why most people are right handed and no, not all cats hate water and that’s okay. If you have a question for us, send us a note. Nothing is too silly or simple.

This episode is based on the Popular Science article “Why are airline seats so small? It all started in 1978.”

Subscribe to Ask Us Anything

Listen and follow Ask Us Anything on your favorite podcast platform:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Or wherever you get your podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript

Sarah Durn: You finally make it onto the plane. You shuffle down the aisle trying not to hit anyone with your roller bag and overflowing personal item. You find your row. You squeeze into your seat. Your knees are almost touching the seat in front of you. Your elbows are tucked in, and now you and the person next to you are silently battling over that one precious armrest.

You haven’t even taken off yet, and you’re already uncomfortable. You can’t help but wonder: Surely, planes haven’t always been so cramped? And you’re totally right. Airplane seats really have gotten smaller. So how did we get here? And why are we all squeezing ourselves into tinier and tinier spaces at 35,000 feet?

Welcome to Ask Us Anything from the editors of Popular Science, where we answer your questions about our weird world, from why are most people right-handed to why can’t we remember being babies? No question is too offbeat or mundane. I’m Sarah Durn, an editor at Popular Science.

Annie Colbert: Hello, I’m editor-in-chief, Annie Colbert.

SD: Here at PopSci, we’re always pondering quirky questions.

AC: And this week we’re wondering why are airplane seats so small. All right, Sarah, am I imagining things or were airplane seats actually bigger in the past?

SD: You are not imagining things. Experts say seats really have gotten smaller over the past several decades.

AC: I knew it.

SD: I know. Some major airlines have lost several inches of precious leg room compared to what passengers had in the late ’90s.

AC: All right. So what happened? Did airlines just wake up one day and decide, “You know what passengers would love? Less space.”

SD: Not exactly. The story actually starts with a huge change to the airline industry nearly 50 years ago.

AC: Ooh, historical twist.

SD: Exactly. Flying used to work very differently. Tickets were more expensive, airlines were regulated differently, and the entire experience looked nothing like it does today. Then everything changed.

AC: I’m guessing that change eventually led to my knees banging the seat in front of me.

SD: Yeah, it did. And here’s the other part, seats have been getting smaller at the same time passengers have also been getting larger.

AC: Hmm. That feels like a bad combination.

SD: Yeah, very bad. And some experts say this isn’t just about comfort. It could raise questions about passenger health and safety.

AC: All right. Now I’m intrigued.

But before we get to how flying went from spacious cabins to fighting over armrests, we wanna hear from you. What questions are taking off in your brain? If there’s something you’ve always wanted to know, submit your question by clicking the “Ask Us” link at popsci.com/ask.

SD: Send us your questions.

AC: Send them. All right. Coming up, we’ll look at how airplane seats started shrinking.

SD: And the nearly 50-year-old decision that changed the way we fly.

AC: That’s after this quick break.

SD: Welcome back. So Annie, before we get into the history here, I feel like we need to acknowledge that flying today can be a lot.

AC: Yes, it really can. And I will say from experience, flying with kids is a whole different level. I have a nine-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old, and traveling with them, it basically feels like packing up your entire house and trying to fit it into one tiny airplane row.

SD: Oh my gosh.

AC: You have snacks and toys and water bottles and jackets and stuffed animals, and whatever random object my toddler decided to pick up along the way that she had to bring. And then you get on the plane, and you’re like, “Wait, where is all this stuff actually gonna go?”

SD: Yeah. I can’t even imagine.

I don’t have kids, but I have flown a couple of times with my cat.

AC: Yeah. I mean, that feels like its own challenge.

SD: It is and was. Yeah, a lot of times your cat counts as your personal item, so then I have all these odds and ends I’ve tried to stick into my cat carrier’s very tiny little side pockets.

My cat is meowing at my feet. I’m trying to figure out where to put my jacket, and suddenly I’m just sitting there like, “Where do my feet go?” You know?

AC: I mean, who needs feet really?

SD: Apparently not airplane passengers. I had one particularly wild experience flying with my mom and sister in Europe. We were running late to a connection after our original flight was oversold.

We finally get to the plane and, of course, the overhead bins are full, and mind you, we all have carry-on suitcases with the, you know, rolling wheels and massive personal items.

AC: Oh no.

SD: And the flight attendants told us to just put our rolling suitcases under the seat in front of us.

AC: Wait, your actual rolling suitcases?

SD: Our actual rolling suitcases. So the whole flight we had our feet sitting on top of our luggage because there was literally nowhere else for anything to go. Sounds horrible, but also a safety hazard. I honestly don’t even know how they allowed it. It was one of the most uncomfortable flights I’ve ever been on.

But I think everyone has some version of that moment where they sit down and think, “Was flying always this cramped?”

AC: Okay, so that’s the big question. Were airplane seats actually bigger in the past?

SD: It’s not just in your head. According to experts interviewed by Popular Science, airplane seats and leg room really have shrunk over the past several decades.

AC: How much are we talking?

SD: So William McGee, a senior fellow for the American Economic Liberties Project, has tracked seat sizes for years, and McGee says major US carriers like American, Delta, Southwest, and United have lost somewhere between two and five inches of leg room since the 1980s. They’ve also lost around two inches of seat width.

AC: Okay, that’s a lot.

SD: It really is. Today, the average leg room on those airlines is about 31 inches. Back in the late ’90s, it was closer to 35 inches. That’s more than even some economy premium seats today. And on some budget airlines, seats can be even smaller, around 28 inches of leg room.

AC: So what happened? Because flying used to have this reputation of being glamorous. You see these old pictures of people dressed up on planes.

SD: Totally. Flying used to be a very, very different experience, and to understand how we got from there to fighting over armrests, we have to go back to 1978.

AC: The plot thickens.

SD: Indeed. So before 1978, the airline industry was heavily regulated. The government controlled things like which airlines could fly which routes and how much tickets cost. Flying was basically seen by the government as a utility.

On average, flying was more expensive, but passengers got a lot included in that price, things like checked bags, meals, and much more space.

AC: Mm. So what changed?

SD: So in 1978, Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act. The idea was that if the government stepped back, more airlines could enter the market, there would be more competition, and ticket prices would go down. And at first, that did happen.

AC: So more people could afford to fly.

SD: Exactly, and this is, this is a really important part of the story.

Air travel became way more accessible to way more people. But over time, the industry changed again. There was a wave of consolidation, and today, the biggest airlines dominate most of the U.S. market.

AC: And somewhere along the way, the seats started shrinking.

SD: Exactly. Airlines realized that if they could fit more seats onto each plane, they could sell more tickets. More passengers per flight means more revenue.

AC: Which makes sense from a business perspective.

SD: Totally. And airlines would argue that these changes helped keep basic fares cheaper, but the trade-off is that passengers have way less space.

AC: And at the same time, humans have changed too, right?

SD: Exactly. Seats have gotten smaller at the same time that Americans, on average, have gotten larger.

According to the CDC, the average U.S. adult weighs about 15 pounds more than they did 30 years ago. People have also gotten slightly taller, though those increases have leveled off more recently.

AC: So people are getting bigger.

SD: And the seats are getting smaller.

AC: Not ideal.

SD: Not ideal. Paul Hudson, the president of the passenger rights organization Flyers Rights, told Popular Science that what’s unusual is that most other seating has adjusted over time.

Movie theater seats, car seats, other venues. Those seats have generally gotten bigger, but airplane seats have gone the opposite direction.

AC: Okay, but there are rules about this? Like, is there a minimum size an airplane seat has to be?

SD: Surprisingly, no. The FAA does not currently set minimum seat requirements.

AC: Really?

SD: I know. It’s kinda shocking. The FAA could set minimum seat dimensions if it determined that smaller seats created safety risks, but so far the agency has said no new rules are necessary for passenger safety.

AC: I’m guessing not everyone agrees with that.

SD: You guessed correctly. Some passenger advocates argue that smaller seats are not just uncomfortable, they could be dangerous.

AC: Like how?

SD: One major concern is health. On long flights, sitting still in cramped conditions can increase the risk of blood clots for some passengers. The CDC recommends getting up and moving around every couple hours on longer trips.

AC: Which is sometimes easier said than done.

SD: Right. If the seatbelt sign is on for turbulence or you’re stuck in the window seat and two people next to you are asleep.

AC: Ah, yes, the classic airplane dilemma.

SD: Exactly. The other big concern is emergency evacuations. FAA rules say a full airplane needs to be able to evacuate within 90 seconds.

AC: That sounds very fast.

SD: It is very fast, and some experts worry that smaller seats, fuller flights, more carry-on luggage, and changing passenger demographics could make that harder.

AC: But has the FAA tested this?

SD: They have. The FAA conducted evacuation testing and concluded that seat size and spacing did not negatively affect emergency evacuations.

AC: Hmm.

SD: Right. But critics have pushed back on those tests.

AC: Mm-hmm.

SD: For example, Paul Hudson from Flyers Rights, who actually observed one simulation, argued that the testing didn’t fully reflect real-world flying.

He pointed out that it didn’t include children, older passengers, or people with physical disabilities. The testing also didn’t happen on an actual plane, but in a parking lot with seats set up.

AC: Those feel like very large blind spots. I’m thinking of tiny toddler legs, and they do not move quickly. Plus, you think of the stress of an actual emergency, and, ugh, it’s very scary to think about.

SD: Yeah, very scary, and for now it doesn’t look like airplane seats are going to get suddenly bigger.

AC: So what can people actually do, besides magically getting upgraded to first class?

SD: Right, if only. Experts say if you can afford extra leg room on longer flights, it can be worth considering. And especially on long flights, try to move around when you can.

Hudson from Flyers Rights actually said he gets up whenever someone else in his row does, even if he doesn’t need to, because you don’t always know when you’ll get another chance.

AC: I mean, good advice.

SD: Right? And maybe my personal advice: Be very thankful whenever the overhead bins have room…

AC: because otherwise…

SD: you might end up using your suitcase as a footrest.

AC: The world’s least comfortable ottoman.

SD: Least comfortable.

If you wanna read more about why airplane seats have gotten smaller, check out our full story on Popular Science. We’ll link it in the show notes.

AC: And with that, we’ll be right back after this quick break.

SD: When we come back, we’ll answer another airplane mystery: Why do we still have to use airplane mode when we fly?

Welcome back. So, Annie, we all know how flying goes. You sit down, you buckle your seatbelt, you’re ready for takeoff, and then you hear, ding, “Please switch your devices to airplane mode.”

AC: Of course, very familiar. But do we really need to be switching our phones to airplane mode? Are we gonna bring down an entire jet if we accidentally get a call?

SD: Yeah, so the short answer is no. At least on modern airplanes, experts say the chance of your phone interfering with navigation equipment is extremely, extremely low.

AC: Mm.

SD: Like, basically non-existent.

AC: Got it.

SD: But the original concern actually goes back decades.

AC: Of course it does. Another airplane history lesson. Let’s hear it.

SD: I know. There is a lot of aviation lore in this episode. But back in the 1960s, before iPhones and Walkmans, the only way to actually listen to something on a plane was on a little portable FM radio, and there was a real concern with those radios interfering with airplane communication systems.

And that made more sense because those signals use very similar frequencies, but today’s cellphones use completely different frequencies.

AC: Then what is my phone actually doing when I put it into airplane mode?

SD: Basically, it stops your phone from constantly communicating with cell towers. Normally, your phone sends and receives signals using something called radio frequency energy, or RF energy.

RF energy isn’t as powerful as things like X-rays or UV rays from the sun, but this is what allows our phones to actually make calls. When it comes to flying, the rule is mostly a precaution. There’s very, very little chance that your phone could actually interfere with the plane’s communication system.

AC: Great. Well, that’s a relief because I feel like I’ve definitely forgotten to turn on airplane mode on a flight before.

SD: Same, all the time.

AC: Yes.

SD: Sorry, United. But even though the danger is basically next to zero, there’s another reason people have suggested keeping airplane mode around. Okay, imagine this. You’re stuck in one of those tiny airplane seats we just talked about, and now imagine everyone around you taking phone calls for six hours.

AC: Absolutely not.

SD: Right. The safety concern might be smaller today, but the do we really want an entire plane of people talking on the phone? That concern?

AC: Still very real.

SD: Very, very real.

AC: Honestly, airplane mode might be protecting all of us after all.

SD: Just maybe not in the way we originally thought.

AC: 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 us or subscribe to Ask Us Anything by Popular Science wherever you enjoy your podcasts. And if you like our show, leave a rating and a review.

SD: Our producer is Alan Haburchak. This week’s episode was based on stories written for Popular Science by Mack DeGeurin and Tom Hawking.

AC: Thank you, team, and thank you 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.

AC: Keep the questions coming.

SD: Until next time, may your flight be smooth.

AC: Your middle seat stay empty.

SD: And your leg room be plentiful.

AC: Whoosh.

SD: Oh, that was good, Annie

AC: Thank you. These are airplane takeoff sounds, everyone.

SD: I know. I like that we, uh, both started using the hand to, like, help that.

AC: Oh, that really helps.

SD: Yeah, you can’t, you can’t make the noise without the visualization of the hand. It doesn’t work.

The post Airplane seats really are getting smaller appeared first on Popular Science.

A PHD in math disproved an 87 year old math problem with about two hours of working with Anthropic Fable. The Jacobian conjecture (JC) has been disproved in dimension 3 (and thus all higher dimensions), via the explicit counterexample announced in that X post. The Jacobian conjecture (originally stated by Keller in 1939, with roots ...

Read more

NASASpaceflight’s said the bottom line is for SpaceX to say ‘good for Thursday. Based upon was their analysis, NSF was saying that after today’s successful pre-flight test on Booster 20, SpaceX is now in a position to green-light Thursday as the next launch attempt. The test went well enough that SpaceX should declare it good ...

Read more

Can APR Energy and Elon Musk out-deliver Bloom Energy on gigawatts for AI Data Centers by 2028–2029. Yes, if the in-house hot section qualifies on schedule. That single materials milestone, not capital and not willingness to pay, is what the whole trajectory turns on. It is exactly the kind of first-principles metallurgy problem SpaceX has ...

Read more

Broadly speaking, our solar system is simply a collection of planets, their moons, and other cosmic objects like asteroids existing in gravitational orbits around the sun. There are countless systems out there like it, too. But one stellar system about 72 light-years from Earth isn’t quite like anything else researchers have ever seen. In fact, astronomer Kevin Hoy would go so far as to describe CD-35 2722 as “super weird” compared to our corner of the galaxy.

“The system is somewhat hard to define using solar system-based words like ‘planet’ and ‘moon,’” the astronomer from Chile’s Universidad Diego Portales and the Millennium Nucleus of Young Exoplanets and their Moons (YEMS) recently said in a statement.

The system is detailed in a study co-authored by Hoy and recently published in the journal Nature.

Hoy and colleagues recently aimed the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) at the young oddball system CD-35 2722 that centers on a star about half the mass as the sun. Orbiting this star is a brown dwarf, which is a type of gas giant that is larger than a planet, yet smaller than a star. In this case, the brown dwarf is about 30 times more massive than Jupiter—but it’s not alone. Orbiting that object is yet another entity with a mass equivalent to Jupiter itself. 

“The exosatellite is clearly massive enough to be a planet, but it does not orbit a star, though it orbits an object that orbits a star,” said Hoy.

So is it a moon, or not?

“We have a clear delineation between the planets and the sun in the solar system, so defining things like moons is simple,” added YEMS director and study-coauthor Alice Zurlo. “In the CD-35 2722 system, where we are blurring the lines between stars, planets, and moons, the whole thing becomes more complicated to describe.”

According to their study, Hoy, Zurlo, and their team suspect their mystery may be an exosatellite or exomoon. These are naturally occurring planetary satellites located outside the solar system. Although researchers have documented over 6,000 exoplanets throughout the cosmos, the handful of exomoon candidates still lack enough evidence to prove their identities. If true, it would be the first of its kind ever confirmed by astronomers. For now, more observations are needed before astronomers can definitively classify the strange entity—but it’s also a matter of scientific semantics.

“Being the third wheel in this system makes us want to call it a moon, even if it is nothing like the small, rocky moons we have in our system.”

Regardless, the latest exomoon suspect marks a major moment in exploring the universe.

“As exotic as it is, this system is truly unique and represents a breakthrough: the first plausible detection of an exosatellite,” said Zurlo.

The post ‘Super weird’ object may be space’s first confirmed exomoon appeared first on Popular Science.

I asked Claude Fable 5 to, for each 25yr period starting in 1825, find the top 5 authors arguing for strong world governance, collect the top 3 reasons each offered, integrate those into a comparable set of reasons, and finally to graph how the importance of reasons changed over time:

As you can see, advocates started out with reasons of war, trade, morality, and inevitability, but have drifted over time toward big weapons, inequality, and the environment. ~72% of the world now supports more world govt.

Added 23July: Here is the same analysis, but for reasons against more world govt:

About 5,000 years ago, avocados went on an excellent adventure. Humans migrating north towards Nicaragua from parts of South America brought avocado seeds and then planted the fruit in Central America’s humid lowlands. The avocados then hybridized with the native varieties, producing a wide range of avocados that are large with smooth skin, and still enjoyed in the region today. 

While they may look like the avocados we love in our guacamole, these are genetically distinct from the commercially grown fruits found at your local grocery store. This genetic difference and migration is detailed in a study published today in the journal Plants, People, Planet, and shows the vast diversity of these delicious green fruits.

“What’s pretty fascinating about Nicaraguan avocados is that they look pretty darn similar to ones you might find in supermarkets in humid areas across the globe, like in Florida or the Caribbean,” Kevin Wann, a study co-author and archaeologist with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, tells Popular Science. “Despite their apparent similarity to other tropical avocados, the ones that I collected comprise a completely different genetic lineage.”

That guac is made of clones

Avocado trees (Persea americana) naturally extend from Mexico south to Peru. For over 10,000 years, humans have eaten the plant’s fruit that is loaded with vital nutrients and fats. Considered a “superfood,” avocados are now cultivated around the world. Growers produced more than 11 million metric tons of avocados in 2024 alone.

Over 80 percent of these avocados were a single variety known as the Hass avocado (Persea americana ‘Hass’). The large and long-lasting avocados are produced through a process called clonal grafting. A branch is removed from one Hass avocado tree and then attached to another tree to bear the same fruit. As a result of this cloning process, most avocados you see in a grocery store or restaurant are genetically indistinguishable. This lack of genetic diversity makes Hass avocados vulnerable to the same threats. One disease or change in temperature or rain patterns can wipe out an entire population of Hass avocados.

Increasing this genetic diversity of avocados is crucial to protect this multi-billion-dollar industry. To find genetically different varieties, Wann points to the muggy lowlands of Nicaragua and Honduras. Over thousands of years, traditional agricultural practices have fine tuned the region’s native avocado varieties, also known as landraces.

“As I began learning more about the interplay between culture and genetics as it pertains to domestication, it became increasingly obvious that our understanding was biased by only looking at commercial cultivars and ignoring the significance of landraces,” Wann explains. 

Food poisoning, a wasp sting, and an exciting first

Wann and a team collected leaf samples from several varieties in southern Mexico, Nicaragua, and coastal Honduras. And his work took dedication. Wann had bouts of food poisoning and was even stung in the face by a wasp during field work in southern Mexico. 

However, he also ate an avocado for the first time. A farmer giving the team a tour of a grove in Nicaragua offered him a piece of the fruit.

“I wanted to see how far I could go into my dissertation studying avocados without ever eating one,” he said. “I made it four years, but when one of the native farmers offered me one, I couldn’t turn him down.”

The team also interviewed local gardeners and rural farmers in Nicaragua and Honduras to learn more about the native avocado varieties they cultivate. This agricultural perspective was crucial, according to study co-author Logan Kistler.

“You can’t think about biodiversity without considering agriculture, because it’s one of the most impactful ecological activities we do,” Kistler, the museum’s curator of archaeobotany and archaeogenomics, said in a statement. “Traditional agricultural practices have shaped these plants for thousands of years.”

The local farmers confirmed that these lowland avocado landraces had not experienced root rot, which is the most common disease affecting commercial avocados. Some Nicaraguan farmers will also graft commercial avocado branches onto native avocado trees, since the native trees are better adapted to the local environment.

Researchers traverse a cloud forest next to a coffee farm near Jinotega, Nicaragua. The muggy lowlands of countries like Nicaragua and Honduras are rich in avocado diversity. Here, traditional agricultural practices have honed the region’s native avocado varieties for thousands of years. Image: Kevin Wann, 2024 Nejapa Archaeology Project. Genes point to a major migration

Back in the lab (and away from wasps), the team extracted and analyzed DNA from their harvested leaf samples. They collected DNA from 47 native avocado landraces (32 of which came from Nicaragua) and compared the DNA from the various landraces with available genetic data from more than 200 other avocado lineages.

The team found that the avocado samples collected in southern Mexico were closely related to the ancestral highland avocado populations found in other parts of Mexico and in commercial varieties. By comparison, the landraces found in Nicaragua’s lowlands were genetically tied to avocados that are found further south, including along the coast of Colombia.

This genetic data revealed that the local landraces in this part of Central America are planted from fruits originally grown in South America. The team believes that human populations brought their local avocado varieties with them as they migrated throughout the Americas. The avocado relocation likely occurred around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, which is about when other South American crops, like chocolate and some maize varieties, appear in the Central American archaeological record.

“Interactions between cultures across Central and South America skyrocketed [at this time], mostly thanks to increased corn farming,” says Wann. “This sparks a mass exchange of plant resources throughout Latin America, and this is an ongoing process, not just a single movement. Unfortunately, Central America is an under-explored area archaeologically, mostly thanks to a tropical setting for poor artifact preservation and a scholarly preference for Mexico and South America.”

Protecting a popular fruit 

This ancient avocado diversity preserved in Central America’s lowlands could help protect today’s crops. Other clonal crops—those cultivated asexually from cuttings or grafting rather than from seeds—have been devastated by fungal pathogens. For example, bananas could go extinct from a fungal disease called Fusarium wilt of banana (FWB), which blocks the flow of nutrients and makes them wilt. The pathogen even made Gros Michel bananas functionally extinct in the 1950s. 

The region’s local landraces are also adapted to warmer and wetter climates, which are both increasing due to climate change. 

“A plant like the avocado, which is so important to our global diets, is always subject to climate change, particularly with a fruit whose main exports come from a single clone,” says Wann. “History has shown us that just one new disease is enough to devastate a plant’s entire market when there’s an over-reliance on such a small genetic diversity. Conservation of genetic resources is the best counter to unknown climatic threats, and its awareness is always a great first step.”

The post Humans packed avocados before migrating across the Americas 5,000 years ago appeared first on Popular Science.

SpaceXAI is reportedly exploring a major expansion of its AI computing infrastructure in Texas. The Information says the company is laying the groundwork for at least one new large-scale data center. Gavin Baker who manages about $5-10 billion says SpaceX could add 3 Gigawatts of new AI data center by the end of 2027. This ...

Read more

New York, United States, 22nd July 2026, CyberNewswire

Bangalore, India, 22nd July 2026, CyberNewswire

NVIDIA Vera Rubin is the company’s next-generation rack-scale AI platform (successor to Grace Blackwell), optimized for agentic AI workloads. It delivers up to 10x higher agentic throughput / tokens per megawatt compared to Blackwell, with major gains in efficiency, NVLink scaling, and memory bandwidth. NVIDIA announced full production ramp at GTC Taipei on June 1, ...

Read more

You’d have to be living under a dumpster not to have heard of Jimothy, Seattle’s favorite raccoon and the internet’s newest folk hero. He’s inspired nicknames like ‘King Jimothy,’ as well as fan art, tattoos, and even his own meme, ‘Hot Jimothy Summer,‘ after racking up millions of views this month. Beyond the basic masked bandit cuteness of his species, Jimothy has become a sensation largely thanks to his compact, adorably round shape, the apparent result of a rare condition called short spine syndrome.

Jimothy first turned up near a Goodwill store in Ballard, Washington.

“I initially thought I saw a cat under a car and wanted to have a closer look,” Kiana Hall, the Seattle resident whose video introduced Jimothy to the world, tells Popular Science, “then realized it wasn’t the shape of a cat at all.” It wasn’t until Jimothy turned around that Hall noticed his telltale markings and realized he was a raccoon. As for the origin of his unusual name?   

“He just looked like a Jimothy to me,” says Hall.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kiana (@c1vrgr1)

Online, commenters have since compared Jimothy’s unusual appearance to a cryptid, evoking everything from Bigfoot to the chupacabra.

It’s Jimothy’s world, and we’re all living in it, but his fame raises some real questions about what causes short spine syndrome, why it’s so rarely documented in wild animals, and what it might mean for Jimothy’s future. 

So what exactly is short spine syndrome, and how did it leave Jimothy with that unmistakable, highly lovable, no-neck silhouette?

What’s wrong with Jimothy? Why does he look like that?

Short spine syndrome is a rare genetic condition, says Julian D. Avery, an ecologist at Penn State University. A faulty recessive gene causes the condition, meaning an animal needs two copies, one from each parent, for the syndrome to actually appear.

“The odds of putting two individuals together that have it are generally pretty rare,” Avery says, “and probably rare in part because the animals with this condition will have significantly more challenges than a normally formed animal would have in any kind of context.”

Short spine syndrome is a condition that affects the formation of a developing spine, leaving an animal with a shortened, compressed, or fused set of vertebrae. Avery likens the process to rolling out a long tube of Pillsbury dough, then pressing down at regular intervals to pinch off individual segments, roughly how a developing spine differentiates into distinct vertebrae. “That does not unfold properly in animals that have these faulty genes,” he says.

The added challenges for animals with short spine syndrome likely explain why cases like Jimothy’s are so rarely seen at all. Jimothy, though, seems to be one of the lucky ones.

“He seems to have made it through this developmental process in a way that allows him to be pretty successful,” Avery says. “He or she. I don’t think anyone knows whether it’s male or female.”

Related 'Ask Us Anything' Stories

Could raccoons become the new dogs?

Do animals really mate for life?

Animals have personalities. Here’s what shapes them.

Why some animals eat their babies

Why sloths risk their lives to poop

How marine mammals stay hydrated in a salty sea

Will Jimothy the raccoon be okay?

Despite his unusual shape and the difficulties it might pose, Avery says animals with short spine syndrome generally have normal brain function and internal organs.

“There’s no reason to think the lungs are compromised or the brain is compromised,” he says. “I would expect that Jimothy would have a normal life.”

Given how Jimothy appears in his viral videos, actively foraging, climbing, and moving with apparent ease, there’s real reason for optimism. Raccoons as a species tend to come equipped with this kind of adaptability, Avery says.

“Raccoons are crazy resourceful,” he says. “They’re one of those species that is generalized enough that they can make a go in many kinds of situations and be successful.”

The bigger risk to Jimothy isn’t his condition, Avery points out. It’s how people react to him. 

“When people start feeding wild animals, then they start hanging around in unsafe ways,” he says. Habituated animals become more likely to be hit by cars, or removed by wildlife officials once they are viewed as too tame. 

“They’re not wary enough of those threats coming at them, and then they suffer,” Avery says. 

Raccoons generally live up to three years in the wild, but can live as many as 20 years in captivity. Image: Julian Avery How we can help Jimothy

When it comes to intervening in situations like Jimothy’s, Avery recommends a strict hands-off approach. “I’m always on the side of letting wild animals run their course,” he says. “You want natural variation in a population.”

That doesn’t mean you should stop admiring Jimothy’s adorably circular physique from a distance, though—quite the opposite.

“If more people are going to see Jimothy and doing so at a respectful distance, that’s awesome,” Avery says. “That’s more people that have seen a raccoon and are then going to get hooked on wanting to see a porcupine or robins nesting in their shrubs. Those sorts of things really get people invested and caring about what’s going wrong in the world around us.”

Washington’s own wildlife agency echoes Avery’s hands-off philosophy for Jimothy-watchers. In a written statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said, “We do encourage folks to leave the animal alone as it does appear to be getting around fine, unassisted, with the apparent congenital defect.”

That said, his fandom shows no signs of slowing down. On July 26, Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck plans to present an official proclamation in Jimothy’s honor, commemorating what she’s calling ‘Jimothy Summer,’ complete with a community art competition.

Amid all the fanfare, Hall says her hope is simple: That Jimothy keeps bringing people joy, and that people, in turn, look out for him.

“It has been so fun watching Jimothy bring some joy and silliness to the world,” she says, “and I hope this encourages people to go out for walks in their neighborhood and observe the wildlife around them.”

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.

The post Jimothy the raccoon has a rare spinal condition. Here’s what that means. appeared first on Popular Science.

China EV automakers are currently facing a double squeeze. Multiple Chinese automakers have issued earnings forecasts for the first half of the year, revealing a troubling trend. Rising costs for raw materials and components are eroding profit margins. Rising costs from upstream price hikes for materials and components are estimated to increase per-vehicle material costs ...

Read more

Few people know of its existence, but Bobcat Cave in Huntsville, Alabama, is one of the most unique ecosystems in the United States. With a mapped length of nearly 1,490 feet, the underground limestone network is only passable through low, water-filled tunnels and mud-slick crawlways. Despite these claustrophobic confines, researchers have spent nearly 40 years regularly monitoring Bobcat Cave for its rare resident, the Alabama cave shrimp (Palaemonias alabamae). The tiny, extremely endangered species of nearly translucent freshwater crustacean is only documented in cave systems stretching between Alabama and Tennessee, making them invaluable to conservationists.

But after recent expeditions into Bobcat Cave, researchers now say the small shrimp lives beside an unexpected neighbor. According to their recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports, biologists at Auburn University discovered a pale, eyeless fish measuring less than two inches long. Although diminutive, the new species now has an imposing name: the demon cavefish (Demogorgonichthys arcanus). What’s more, the subterranean dweller is so genetically distinct that it earned its own genus—and that likely makes it one of the rarest fish in the world.

“Most of the time when we discover new species, we are finding differences within organisms we already knew were there,” Jonathan Armbruster, a study co-author and curator of fishes at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, said in a statement. “This was different. This was a new discovery that had not been seen before, and that is really rare.”

Distribution map, photos in life of ‘Demogorgonichthys arcanus’ gen. et sp. nov. and habitat. Distribution of D. arcanus gen. et sp. nov. from the type locality—Bobcat Cave—and occurrences of ‘Typhlichthys subterraneus’ in the Huntsville metropolitan area in north-central Alabama (A). The boundary of Redstone Arsenal is shown in red hatching. Photos of ‘Demogorgonichthys arcanus ‘sp. nov. in situ on 5 February 2025 at Bobcat Cave (B and D). Pools in the Shrimp Room at Bobcat Cave where ‘D. arcanus’ sp. nov. was discovered (C). Credit: M.L. Niemiller (B and D) / A. Hinkle (C)

The demon cavefish is related to the more common southern cavefish species (Typhlichthys subterraneus) as well as the harder-to-find Alabama cavefish (Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni). However, it possesses some key differences. Aside from its unique snout, body shape, and a lack of coloration, the demon cavefish lacks part of a key gene tied to light sensitivity.

“The Southern Cavefish clearly has some kind of response to light. With this fish, we don’t see that,” said Armbruster. “Part of the rhodopsin gene is missing, so it is no longer functional.”

The demon cavefish’s fearsome scientific name may recall the monstrous Demogorgon from Netflix’s hit series, Stranger Things, but the reference is actually even older. Study co-author and University of Alabama biologist Pamela Hart has long kept a running list of mythological, underground creatures as potential inspirations for future species names. The Demogorgon’s origins trace back not to 1980s Hawkins, Indiana, but to Ancient Greece. Seventeenth century poet John Milton even described it in Paradise Lost. 

Its specific name, “arcanus,” is Latin for “hidden” or “secret,” which is appropriate. So far, researchers have only seen around 20 demon cavefish at a time.

“It may have been living down in the aquifer and only recently made its way up,” Armbruster said. “Or it may have been there before, and we just never saw it.”

Like the Alabama cave shrimp, biologists are using the demon cavefish as another example of the importance of strengthening conservation efforts in these delicate and unique ecosystems.

“It may have been living down in the aquifer and only recently made its way up,” explained Armbruster. “Or it may have been there before, and we just never saw it.”

The post New eyeless ‘demon cavefish’ discovered in Alabama named after mythological Demogorgon appeared first on Popular Science.

The big upgrade is that Grok now controls real car functions through natural conversation. Here’s what you can do Phone Calls & Media “Call John” “Play my workout playlist” “Play something upbeat” Vehicle Controls “Set temperature to 72°” or “Turn on the AC” “Make it cooler” “Open the glovebox” Ask Your Tesla “What’s my current ...

Read more

Understand the two technical improvements made by Kimi k3. Kimi Delta Attention a hybrid linear-attention mechanism the company says delivers over 6x faster decoding at long context, and Attention Residuals, a drop-in replacement for standard residual connections that improves training efficiency. Kimi Delta Attention (KDA) refines the gated delta rule with fine-grained, channel-wise gating and ...

Read more

For about two years, the working assumption on Wall Street was that frontier AI was an American duopoly with a comfortable lead. On July 16, a two-year-old startup in Beijing reminded everyone that the race is, at minimum, a two-horse one. Moonshot AI released Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter open-weight model — the largest the open-source ...

Read more

The Ojai Raptor Center in Southern California is currently caring for Adult Bald Eagle 26-519, who is believed to be the internet-famous eagle mom named Jackie. On July 18, the San Dimas Raptor Rescue found the eagle weak, vulnerable, and unable to fly. The eagle was transferred to and is being evaluated by the Ojai Raptor Center’s veterinary team. 

The bird is underweight but alert, and is even perching and eating with assistance. Test results should come back within the next few days to confirm or rule out any suspected issues.

Adult Bald Eagle 26-519 is believed to be an eagle named Jackie. Image: Ojai Raptor Center.

“Wildlife medicine is different from working with domestic animals in many ways. Our patients don’t have owners or caretakers who can tell us what happened to them or what symptoms they’ve been experiencing in recent days,” the Ojai Raptor Center wrote. “Every case begins with many unknowns, and recovery depends on factors we’re still investigating, including bloodwork and toxicology results, which take time. Until we understand the full picture, we can’t responsibly predict a timeline or outcome. What we can promise is thorough, attentive care every step of the way.”

Millions around the world have watched the day-to-day lives of Jackie, her partner Shadow, and their current chicks Sandy and Luna via a 24/7 livestream of their nest. Shadow has been taking care of both Sandy and Luna in the meantime, ahead of their impending fledging. 

This story is developing and we will continue to monitor the situation. Viewers can continue to monitor Shadow, Sandy, and Luna via the eagle nest cam livestream.

Jackie and Shadow’s 2026 babies: Everything you need to know

It’s been another roller coaster nesting season for Jackie and Shadow, a pair of internet-famous bald eagle parents living in San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. After two of their eggs were destroyed by ravens in January, Jackie and Shadow laid two new eggs that have successfully hatched.

Chick 1 hatched on April 4 at 9:33 p.m. PDT, while Chick 2 followed on April 5 at 8:30 a.m. Their large nest in Big Bear Valley east of Los Angeles is livestreamed 24 hours a day by nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) and has captivated millions. 

On May 1, FOBBV announced the chicks’ names: Sandy and Luna.

How long will the chicks stay in the nest? 

Chicks usually stay in the nest until 10 to 14 weeks of age.

What challenges do the eaglets face?

Before leaving the nest, the chicks face threats from other birds of prey, including hawks, ravens, other eagles, and owls. Inclement weather can also present challenges for the chicks. In 2025, a March snowstorm resulted in the death of one of Jackie and Shadow’s three chicks.

During fledging, only 70 percent of eaglets survive. One of the greatest threats is from cars that can injure or kill the birds while they scavenge for food on roadkill. 

Who are Jackie and Shadow? 

The pair first got together in 2018 and successfully raised chicks in 2019 and 2022. However, their eggs failed to hatch in 2023 and 2024. Only 50 percent of eagle eggs successfully hatch, so this pair has already beaten the odds.

What happened to Jackie and Shadow’s 2025 eaglets?

In 2025, Jackie laid three eggs that all hatched in early March. On March 13, a strong snowstorm dumped up to two feet of snow and battered the nest with strong winds. Only two of the chicks were visible on the live cam when the storm passed by the next morning. FOBBV later confirmed the passing of one of the chicks. The two surviving chicks were later named Sunny and Gizmo after 54,000 names were submitted by fans.

What happens after chicks fledge? 

Young eagles usually fledge–or leave the nest and fly–when they can flatten their wings and have feathers capable of flight. This typically occurs when the birds hit 10 to 14 weeks of age. Males also tend to take their first flight a little sooner than females. 

According to FOBBV, fledglings from Southern California have been spotted as far south as Baja California, as far north as British Columbia, and as far east as Yellowstone National Park.

About 70 percent of bald eagles survive the fledgling stage. FOBBV does not tag their eagles, so it’s not possible to follow the chicks’ journeys after they flee the nest.

Can I help Jackie and Shadow?

Yes. Environmental groups are currently fundraising $10 million to protect Jackie and Shadow’s foraging area from development. Learn more at SaveMoonCamp.org.

You can also help the rescue organizations helping nurse the eagle that is likely Jackie back to health by donating to Ojai Raptor Center’s Bald Eagle Recovery Campaign.

Why isn’t Jackie in the nest?

On July 18, the San Dimas Raptor Rescue found an eagle weak, vulnerable, and unable to fly after a reported encounter with other eagles. The bald eagle is believed to be Jackie.

The post Bald eagle believed to be Jackie healing in Ojai appeared first on Popular Science.

Eight grass-woven sandal remnants tossed into a trash heap over 2,000 years ago are new treasured finds for a team of archaeologists in Spain. Based on their exceptionally well-preserved conditions, researchers are now learning more about Iron Age life in the Iberian Peninsula at the cusp of the Roman Empire’s arrival into the region.

The footwear is documented in a recently published study in the journal Pyrenae, and come from excavations at Urium, an ancient mining settlement located in southwestern Spain about 55 miles west of Seville. Archaeologists found the shoes near a metallurgical workshop complex dating back to the mid-first century BCE. During its operations, the extensive site encompassed four work areas, 10 furnaces, and another 16 rooms with still-unknown purposes. The team didn’t locate the sandals in the workshop itself, but within adjacent courtyard ash deposits. Based on the additional scattered discardings like furnace leftovers and everyday items, these likely served as general trash heaps.

The sandal soles are made from a sturdy grass called esparto (Stipa tenacissima), with grooved textures and parallel fiber groupings that differentiate them from other textile plants like hemp and flax. Most of the esparto was used raw instead of softened through multiple soaking cycles, with artisans weaving them into flat, narrow braids that they then shaped into sole frames. A combination of thick cables and thinner strandwork was also carefully arranged depending on their usages. The heftier cords formed the weight-bearing parts of the footwear, while the more flexible twine made the joints and bindings. Each sole measured between 6.7 and 9.8 inches in length, with at least four of them clearly for the left foot.

These weren’t new sandals abandoned or lost by their owners. Instead, signs of heavy use coincide with where archaeologists found them. Most of them were missing their foot-securing cords by the time they landed in the trash, while damage to their forefoot sections showed longtime wear.

Their age ranges particularly surprised researchers, too. Radiocarbon dating traced one sole to the early Roman period (around 28–124 CE), while another example was constructed during the late Iron Age (360–205 BCE). A third sandal’s dating produced a broader time window, about 175–56 BCE. This implies Urium was repeatedly home to local workers over nearly 500 years. That said, the two oldest artifacts could have originated in earlier deposits that Roman residents later disturbed or discarded. Regardless, the style of esparto sandals were clearly worn for decades before the area was fully absorbed by the Romans in 19 BCE.

Plant-based footwear typically breaks down quickly, leaving little left for archaeologists to study. But thanks to the sandal soles residing amid the ashy furnace heaps for centuries, they remained comparatively stabilized. The organic preservation also preserved ropes and baskets made from similar materials found by researchers in the sediment.

Based on their state at the time of their disposal, it’s clear these esparto sandals weren’t casual accessories, ceremonial costume components, or luxury items. Instead, their worn-down state, broken straps, and muddy soles show the preferred footwear of laborers. It’s rare that remnants of such ancient people endure for millennia—and it’s even rarer for items crafted using such short-lived organic resources.

The post 2,000-year-old grass sandals discovered in Iron Age ash heap appeared first on Popular Science.

Ozempic and GLP-1 are the gateway drugs to a truly healthy lifestyle. We have the means to massively lower the obesity rate in the population and make real changes in behavior. People thought this was impossible BUT it is not. We can get most people to a healthy weight and healthy lifestyle that includes weight ...

Read more