Popular Science

Humans were around significantly more death during the Iron Age than we are today, but many final moments were still far less preferable than others. In fact, certain examples uncovered in the Iberian Peninsula (much of present-day Spain and Portugal) are so rough that some archaeologists classify them in their own “bad death” collection of demises. After recently examining remains originally excavated in 2010, researchers say two men buried over 2,200 years ago about 115 miles south of Madrid certainly fall within the definition of the term bad death.

The bodies were uncovered outside the ancient fortification (or oppidum) known as Cerro de las Cabezas, and date back to the late 2nd or early 3rd century BCE. During that time, Iberians across southern and eastern Spain typically cremated their dead before burying the ashes in urns, often next to various items indicating their social status and identity.

The two men were interred under very different circumstances, however. Instead of cemetery burials, archaeologists found them outside the settlement’s southeastern defensive wall,without any signs of formal graves, coffins, or a considerate arrangement of their bodies. This suggests a quick disposal and possibly even a hasty burial.

They also didn’t die from natural causes. The first man (likely 35 to45 years old) previously endured a blow to the front of his skull a few weeks before his death. While that didn’t kill him, a deep cut across his lower right femur using a sharp edged weapon likely caused him to die due to blood loss. The second individual was 40 to59 years old and clearly decapitated.

To make matters stranger, archaeologists also found six red deer antlers above and below the bodies. Some of the examples were more than three feet long. As Arkeonews notes, Iberian culture prized deer antlers for their utility as well as symbolism. Researchers have previously found numerous examples from the time period in votive deposits, sanctuary spaces, and other ritualistic contexts across the peninsula. Knowing this, the study’s authors theorize the bodies, placement, and antler accessories suggest they were potentially part of a protective or settlement ritual.

Archaeologists unfortunately do not possess enough information to fully understand this macabre Iron Age scene. Further isotopic analysis couldn’t pinpoint whether the men were locals, foreign enemies, or prisoners, and a lack of further context means their executions remain a mystery. If nothing else, it is abundantly clear that they suffered particularly bad deaths.

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A schoolbus-sized habitat anchored 56 feet underwater in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is readying to open its hatch for visitors. Developed by the marine engineering company DEEP, the Vanguard system is located about 65 miles and the first open-ocean, subsea facility deployed in the United States in 40 years. Once cleared for hosting duties, Vanguard will house as many as four aquanauts at a time, as they monitor marine life, restore coral reefs, study climate change’s impacts, and even train for extreme environments.

“Successful deployment gets us closer to enabling a continuous human presence in the ocean and is a major step forward in DEEP’s mission to make humans aquatic,” DEEP chief technology officer Norman Smith said in a statement.

A maritime crane helped install the habitat and its foundation at the bottom of the reef. Credit: DEEP and Brendan Hall

Vanguard arrives at Tennessee Reef after 18 months of design, construction, and testing. To situate it on the sandy seafloor, engineers first needed to install a base foundation, and then lower the habitat onto the platform using a boat crane. Vanguard is also tethered to a surface buoy, although it’s far more complicated than a standard floatation accessory. The bright yellow structure holds multiple vital support services, such as communications arrays, breathable air, and power.

NOAA designates Tennessee Reef as a Research Only Area, featuring recognizable spur and groove formations that are populated by “unique deepwater, slow-growth corals and sponges.” According to DEEP, scientists’ ability to remain underwater for days at a time increases the volume and continuity of research conducted at the reef. It could potentially boost discoveries in “coral health, ecosystem dynamics, and the impacts of climate change.”

Vanguard is roughly the size of a schoolbus. Credit: DEEP and Brendan Hall

DEEP is now awaiting sea acceptance testing and commissioning reviews. Once it receives the greenlight from Det Norske Veritas (DNV), an internationally recognized accreditation institution used by oceanographic organizations and companies, it can begin to house scientists. From there, Vanguard’s first visitors will begin receiving habitat support crew training ahead of their inaugural underwater missions.

“For decades, NOAA has supported using subsea habitats as a platform to reveal ground-breaking discoveries,” added Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary superintendent Eddie Kertis. “The deployment of a new subsea habitat within the sanctuary creates additional opportunities for marine science and builds on research infrastructure, resource stewardship, and our long-standing collaboration with the scientific community.”

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In June 1776, New York City’s harbor was teeming with enemy ships. British Admiral Sir Richard Howe arrived with over 40 ships and 32,000 troops, ready to squash the American Revolution once and for all. While the American colonies did secure their independence years later, Howe’s forces helped lead the British to a decisive victory. One American soldier said that the harbor was so crammed with ships that he “thought all London was afloat.”

Now, 250 years later, the same waterways that the British Navy used to sail into New York Harbor and take the city will once again be full of white sails. However, this fleet arrives for a much more celebratory occasion. Roughly 80 ships from all over the world are gathering for Sail4th 250, the largest peacetime maritime gathering in United States history. Here is what you need to know. 

What is Sail4th 250?

In honor of the semiquincentennial, historic tall ships, naval vessels, and aircraft will gather around New York City. The event traces its roots back to the first Operation Sail (OpSail) in 1964. OpSail has hosted five other tall ship gatherings to honor other watermark years in history, including the bicentennial (1976) and dawn of the new millennium (2000).

Roughly 80 ships from 46 countries including Argentina, Germany, the Dominican Republic, and Sweden are currently converging in and around New York Harbor. You can see where the ships are in real time using Aqua Map. 

In addition, the event will feature an International Naval Review with 50 U.S. and allied warships and an International Aerial Review. During the Aerial Review, the Navy’s Blue Angels will lead a flyover of more than 100 aircraft.

What is the International Parade of Sail?

The event’s highlight will be the International Parade of Sail on July 4. Forty-eight Class A tall ships will sail 16 miles north up the Hudson River from the Verrazzano Bridge at the mouth of the Harbor up to the George Washington Bridge in northern Manhattan.

Ships participating in the parade come from several countries including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Peru, India, Italy, Monaco, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay.

Class B ships will sail down the East River on July 3. Class A ships will set sail during the International Parade of Sail in the Hudson River on July 4. Image: Map Courtesy of Sail4th 250 How can I watch the International Parade of Sail?

If you want a sneak peak, the smaller Class B ships will parade down the East River from Hell Gate Bridge to Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn on July 3. The Class B ships are typically traditionally rigged sloops and schooners.

The entire parade will be broadcast live on NBC and Telemundo beginning at 7 a.m. EDT on July 4. It can also be streamed on Peacock or NBC News NOW. 

If you want to see the parade in person, TimeOut New York recommends watching from Hudson River Park & Battery Park in Manhattan and the New Jersey palisades. But come prepared for crowds and extreme heat. A heat wave is forecast to blanket the area beginning on July 1. 

Can I see the ships in person without attending the parade?

Yes! From July 5 through July 7 several ships will be docked at piers across the area for free public tours. Ships will be docked at Southstreet Seaport and Sail City in Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, and Stapleton Park in Staten Island. 

Ship meet and greets will be from 12:00 p.m to 6:00 p.m. Sail4th 250 recommends booking reservations in advance due to high demand.

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Adapting to the ongoing climate crisis will require architectural innovation, but not every problem requires a cutting-edge solution. Amide deadly, record-breaking summer temperatures, some residents in southern Italy are sidestepping the heat inside revitalized medieval buildings. Although out of fashion for generations, a type of home known as the trullo is gaining popularity once again for its ingenious, temperature lowering design.

The first trulli (plural of trullo) were built during the mid-14th century. The buildings are traditionally one-room structures topped with a large, conical roof. Assembled using limestone removed from farmlands, each trullo features thick walls measuring anywhere from five-to-10-feet-deep. 

One of the secrets to the trulli’s natural cooling lies in the stones. Limestone’s hygrothermal properties means that it acts differently depending on the humidity and temperatures. It will absorb large amounts of moisture during the colder winter months, but all of that liquid slowly evaporates and cools the interior once the summer arrives. Meanwhile, the cone roof funnels even more excess heat upwards.

The ambient temperature inside one of the structures is typically around 12.6 to 18 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than outside. In some cases, that number may even rise to over 25 degrees colder in the home.

Centuries of slow disrepair and disappearing artisans meant that by the 1980s, most new construction jobs relied on cement—a material with its own immense ecological strains.

“The trulli represented a past age, one of suffering and hunger,” trullo restorer Francesco Fragnelli explained in an interview with the AFP.

Artisans like Fragnelli aren’t only repairing existing trulli, however. Demand for new construction projects “is still rising,” according to Gerardo Biancofiore, a town representative for the Italian builders association.

“With the increase in heat waves, traditional solutions (such as trulli) are becoming a valuable reference, capable of inspiring climate adaptation strategies for contemporary construction as well,” Biancofiore said.

Beyond new trulli, the homes’ underlying properties such as walls with rubble cores may soon also show up in other bioclimatic architecture projects.

“Sustainable architecture scholars look at the principles behind the trulli’s construction as a source of inspiration for buildings more resilient to global warming,” added Biancofiore.

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July 8–9Venus Near RegulusJuly 10July Pegasids Predicted PeakJuly 11Lāhainā Noon BeginsJuly 27Pluto at OppositionJuly 28Gamma Draconids Predicted PeakJuly 29Full Buck MoonJuly 30Delta Aquariids Predicted Peak

The summer is generally a low period for stargazing, for the simple reason that there’s less darkness to put to use staring at the sky thanks to our longer days and shorter nights. However, July bucks the trend—lunar pun fully intended—with a veritable smorgasbord of meteor showers to choose from. Never one to be outshone, Venus is also putting on a show throughout the month,and there’s also a rare chance for owners of fancy telescopes to spot her polar opposite, the reclusive former planet Pluto. During the day, those in the tropics can experience the strange and wonderful phenomenon of Lāhainā Noon for the second time this year. Egad! Let’s get started. 

July 8 and 9: Venus Near Regulus

The temperature’s rising, the nights are short and balmy, and the Roman goddess of love is really feeling herself. Venus will be prominent throughout July, moving away from the sun toward its point of full elongation—the point at which the distance between it and the sun in the sky is at its greatest. Our cosmic neighbor will reach full elongation in August.

This trajectory makes Venus easy to spot through this month, but the always indispensable Farmer’s Almanac suggests the nights of July 8 and 9 as particularly good days to take a look. Venus will be right beside Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. Look to the western sky just after sunset and enjoy the show.

July 10: July Pegasids Predicted Peak

The first of this month’s meteor showers is the July Pegasids. While this isn’t the most spectacular of showers, this will be a good year to see it. The moon will be a mere sliver in the sky as the shower reaches its peak, since we will still be weeks away from the full moon. The meteor shower’s radiant location—the point from which the meteors appear to emerge—is in the constellation Pegasus. The “winged horse” constellation rises above the eastern horizon not long after sunset. However, be patient. since the best viewing conditions will be after midnight.

July 11: Lāhainā Noon Begins

If you’re in Hawai’i, or elsewhere in the tropics, then July 11 will bring the second of 2026’s two Lāhainā Noons. On certain days in May and July in the tropics, the sun is directly overhead and objects like telephone poles cast no shadow at all. The exact time and date the sun passes overhead will depend on your location: the Bishop Museum provides a handy chart of these times and dates for various parts of Hawai’i.

July 27: Pluto at Opposition

There are very few good opportunities to take a look at the tiny, distant, scurrying little friend known as Pluto. But this month, the Kuiper Belt’s most famous resident will be in full opposition, meaning it is  directly between Earth and the sun. This means that from our point of view, Pluto will be as brightly lit as it ever gets, so if there was ever a time to try to catch a glimpse, this is it.

Brightly lit or not, you’re most definitely not going to be able to spot Pluto with the naked eye. You’ll need a decent telescope. You are most likely going to want at least a 10–inch instrument, and more likely something in the realm of 12 to 16 inches. You’ll also need to get away from the city: 

“Places with more light pollution simply won’t allow you to glimpse the faint, icy world no matter how powerful the instrument,” Telescope Watch writes.

July 28: Gamma Draconids Predicted Peak

While the Pegasids coincide with a crescent moon, there’s no such luck for July’s second meteor shower, the Gamma Draconids. This year, they collide with an almost full moon, which will make seeing the meteors pretty challenging. This is a shame, because a decade ago the Gamma Draconids produced an unexpected outburst of up to 40 meteors an hour, a significant increase from their usual leisurely rate of about five meteors an hour, As per Starwalk, this month “the Gamma Draconids will reach the same position they had during the 2016 outburst.” There’s still decent chance they will produce another outburst, but we may be unable to see it.

If you’re feeling optimistic, look to the constellation Draco in the Northern Sky. The moon sets at 5 a.m. local time, giving an hour of relative darkness—and a possible meteor-viewing window—before the sun rises.

July 29: Full Buck Moon

This month’s full moon is called the Buck Moon, a fillip for Milwaukee basketball fans mourning the departure of Giannis Antetokounmpo. As per the Farmer’s Almanac, the moon takes its name from the fact that “the antlers of male deer (bucks) are in full-growth mode at this time,” and also explains that “bucks shed and regrow their antlers each year,” which means that your antipodean correspondent learned something today. 

The Buck moon reaches peak illumination at 10:36 a.m. EDT on July 29.  The moon then begins to shed its own metaphorical antlers again, waning and (hopefully) making way for August’s meteor extravaganza. 

July 30: Delta Aquariids Predicted Peak

But before then… wait, more meteors? If any meteor shower can be described as  underrated, it’s the Delta Aquariids. “Skywatchers at high northern latitudes tend to discount [the Delta Aquarids], but the shower can be excellent from latitudes like those in the southern US,” Earth Sky writes. ” Unfortunately, like the Gamma Draconids, the full moon will make seeing these meteors difficult, but not impossible.

Also, while July 30 is the predicted peak, the Delta Aquariids are a relatively long-lived shower. It  starts in mid-July and continues into August, where they mingle with the Perseids. You might be better off trying to see them toward the start (or end) of this period, when the moon is less of a problem. You can try watching after midnight the week before the predicted peak as a way to avoid some moonlight

Whatever time you choose, look for the meteors in the southern sky just above the star Fomalhaut, which sits directly below the four stars that form a square in the constellation Pegasus.

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.

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Both amateur and professional astronomers have captured incredible photos of Jupiter from Earth over the years, while space probes like NASA’s Juno have actually glimpsed the gas giant up close. But just because an image of the solar system’s largest planet is a bit grainy doesn’t make it any less interesting—or creative. During a recent visit to Mount Wilson Observatory’s Hooker Telescope in California, musician, director, and retro tech enthusiast Chris Graue decided to try snapping some pictures of Jupiter using one of gaming history’s oddest offerings, the Game Boy Camera.

Released in 1998, the Game Boy Camera expanded the iconic gaming device’s pixelated abilities to incorporate photography. However, its uses were pretty limited from the start. The 128-megapixel add-on was only capable of generating tiny, four-color grayscale pictures printed through its small, receipt-like printer. But although the camera was more a novelty than a useful tool, it still generated a cult following that has lasted long after Nintendo discontinued the product in 2002.

Graue’s experiment in astrophotography required a few alterations to work properly. First, he and his friends attached C-mount lenses to the Game Boy Camera, then utilized a specially designed, 3D-printed adapter to let it slide into the eyepiece of the observatory’s 60-inch telescope. Once in place, this meant that the Game Boy Camera was technically shooting through a 730,000 millimeter lens.

@chrisgraue

is this the largest lens on a game boy camera ever?

♬ original sound – Lo(u)ser {Chris Graue}

Jupiter wasn’t Graue’s first subject, however. He initially tried to snap some images of the moon, but quickly learned Earth’s satellite was simply too close for the ultra-powerful observatory telescope.

“What I see is cool but it’s not identifiably the moon,” he said in his social media post.

Some of Jupiter’s cloud stripes could be seen in the photos. Credit: Chris Graue

At an average distance of 444 million miles from Earth, Jupiter proved a much more appropriate target for this test. The Game Boy Camera photographs aren’t exactly discernible without the proper context, but Graue did manage to take some pictures highlighting Jupiter’s cloud stripes, as well as a view of the gas giant’s edge. Regardless of clarity, it was certainly a successful experiment.

“The answer is yes–if you are committed enough, you, too, can take a picture of Jupiter with your Game Boy Camera,” Graue declared.

His photoshoot couldn’t have taken place at a more appropriate location. According to the English poet Alfred Noyes, Jupiter was the first object viewed during Mount Wilson Observatory’s “first light” event for its 100-inch telescope in 1917.

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Earth is truly a planet of insects. There are “thousands of billions” of ants crawling around, and there could be as many as 2,400 species of firefly alone. While those numbers may seem like a lot, a new study estimates up to 20 million insect species living on Earth, instead of six million as previously believed. Only a fraction of these species have even been discovered, according to a study published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Insects are diverse for several reasons. Many species undergo metamorphoses during their life cycles, which means that they can live in different habitats based on their life stages. For instance, caterpillars eat plants earlier in life, but when they become butterflies or moths, they feed primarily on flower nectar. Additionally, since insects are mostly small, they can keep populations in more hidden and restricted areas that are harder for scientists to access.

The estimate that the planet is home to about six million insect species has stood for 40 years. Given that it is so difficult to sample these tiny organisms that are really good at hiding, getting an accurate count of insect species is a Herculean task. 

“The core problem is that most insects are rare, and even with enormous samples you keep finding new species,” Robert Colwell, a study co-author and entomologist at Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado and the University of Connecticut, tells Popular Science. “We collected over 1.6 million individuals from traps running for 69 trap-years in Costa Rica and still hadn’t captured everything living right there. The statistical challenge is estimating not just what you’ve seen, but how much you’re missing.”

To get around this problem, Colwell, University of Kentucky professor emeritus Michael Sharkey, and Cornell University entomologist and biodiversity scientist Laura Melissa Guzman looked deep on one well-studied subgroup of parasitic wasps called Microgastrinae. These wasps lay their eggs inside of caterpillars. When the eggs hatch, the larvae then eat the insides of the caterpillar, grow, and eventually emerge. The team studied the wasps found at the Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica. 

They used the flying insects as a “measuring stick” for how incomplete their bigger sample was. Two of the team’s sampling methods used tent-like traps called Malaise traps, including a core set of traps and a peripheral set, and the third set that collected caterpillars and analyzed the wasp species that emerged from them. 

The team used several statistical models to determine a ratio of the number of these wasps compared to how many are living undetected. They found that there may be eight to 14 million additional species.

“Most are almost certainly small, rare, and highly specialized,” Guzman tells Popular Science.

According to Guzman, 75 percent of the parasitic wasp species that the team found were captured by only one of our three sampling protocols even within the same forest. This indicates that these species have specific and narrow enough niches or behaviors that they can be missed by a single trap type. 

“Many will probably turn out to be parasitoids, insects that complete their life cycle inside other insects, which means they’re embedded in food webs we don’t yet understand,” she explains. “Some may only exist in the forest canopy, which we barely sampled at all.”

A doubling or tripling of estimated insect species, which are already the most diverse group of animals, could have profound implications for understanding the scale, richness, and future of our planet’s biodiversity. Human activities are leading to global insect die offs, and a new estimate could help protect those that remain.  

“We cannot protect species if we don’t know that they exist, and so to be able to understand the biodiversity on our planet, it’s important to know how many there are,” Guzman added.

The post New estimate: Earth has 14 to 20 million insect species appeared first on Popular Science.

It’s been a busy 24 hours in the internet’s favorite bald eagle nest. Not to be outdone by his sister Sandy, Luna took a “leap of faith,” and flew over to a Simba tree today at 9:24 a.m. PDT. The eaglets’ father Shadow was waiting for him. 

On June 28 at 11:24 a.m. PDT, Sandy accidentally fledged. When she and Luna stepped onto the nest’s “front porch,” Luna tried to jump over Sandy to get back into the bowl of the nest. Sandy then lost her balance and flapped down to the lower branches.  She freed herself from the branches and landed elsewhere in another tree. 

As of today, Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV), the non-profit organization that runs the bald eagle’s 24/7 livecam, has heard some distant vocals between Jackie and who they believe is Sandy.

“Once both Sandy and Luna are more comfortable making their way around the habitat, we will likely see some family gatherings,” FOBBV writes. “Though it is up to Sandy and Luna, in the past, the eaglets have come back to the nest to eat, sleep or just hang out together. Only time will tell…Stay tuned, this family affair isn’t over”

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.

The post Luna the eagle takes a ‘leap of faith’ appeared first on Popular Science.

The nankeen kestrel (Falco cenchroides) pulls off aerial maneuvers that put many advanced aircraft to shame. These diminutive falcons rank as some of the most stable fliers in the world, and are evolved to handle Australia’s extremely gusty, often violent winds. These birds can finely adjust movements in real-time, even hovering amid adverse conditions—something that’s difficult to mimic in rigid plane designs.

While already frustrating enough for aeronautic engineers, the issue is projected to worsen as climate change makes atmospheric turbulence worse. This will almost certainly grow into an even bigger headache for a society increasingly reliant on small unpiloted aerial vehicles (sUAVs) for mapping, agricultural assessment, rescue efforts, and even rapid package deliveries.

Current sUAVs typically only employ a couple wind mitigation solutions in their designs to balance cost, weight, and maneuverability. However, far more is needed to help keep them flying in dangerous conditions. Knowing this, an international research team recently began constructing kestrel-inspired robots that they then subjected to harsh conditions inside powerful wind tunnel facilities. Their results, recently published across two studies in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, suggest new strategies for designing more efficient, reliable, and safe sUAVs.

Basically, it’s time to figure out how to cram as many kestrel techniques into flying robots as possible.

“Birds don’t rely on a single response to wind gusts,” Matt Penn, a Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) engineer and study co-author, explained in a statement. “They constantly adjust their wings and tails to stay balanced, while the natural flexibility of their feathers and joints helps absorb sudden changes in airflow.”

Wind tunnel tests primarily focused on determining how attributes like wing extension and tail spread affected force production and stability. Among their discoveries, Penn’s team confirmed that coupling a kestrel’s wing and tail extensions boosted lift performance while simultaneously reducing unwanted modulations.

“By creating a robot replica, we were able to measure how specific movements were contributing to steadiness in flight,” explained RMIT aerospace engineer and study co-author Mario Martinez Groves-Raines. “Many of these techniques have the potential to improve maneuverability of small aircraft, which encounter similar challenges to kestrels.”

Moving forward, the researchers hope to move beyond sheer physicality by studying the kestrel’s ability to sense and interpret their environment. Advancements in this field could further improve onboard sUAV navigation technology in addition to the structural adaptations.

“This research shows what’s possible when engineers look to nature for solutions,” added RMIT engineer and study co-author Abdulghani Mohamed.

The post Tiny Australian falcons may help aircraft withstand worsening turbulence appeared first on Popular Science.

Among American presidents, President Theodore Roosevelt stands out for his devotion to conservation. An avid outdoorsman, he used his authority as president to protect wildlife and nature by creating the United States Forest Service (USFS), establishing 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments.

Now, 107 years after his death, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is set to open on July 4, 2026, in Medora, North Dakota. The National Park Service will loan several artifacts to the museum, whose opening coincides with the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration this week. 

According to the NPS, these loaned materials will help connect visitors to Teddy Roosevelt’s journey from his childhood in the bustling streets of New York City, to the wilds of North Dakota’s Badlands, through to his presidency and conservation. The loan inventory contains more than 50 significant artifacts.

‘March’ of the Rough Rider 

During the Spanish-American War in 1898, Roosevelt served with the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, aka the Rough Riders. The Rough Riders participated in two major battles in Cuba—the Battle of Las Guasimas on June 24 and the Battle of San Juan heights on July 1. 

During the Battle of Las Guasimas, Roosevelt narrowly avoided bullets buzzing by him multiple times. He called the later Battle of San Juan Heights, “the great day of my life.” Roosevelt led a series of charges up Kettle Hill towards San Juan Heights on his horse, Texas. He rode up and down the hill encouraging the Rough Riders with the orders to “March!”

His Rough Rider uniform can be seen at the new library and is on loan from Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay, New York.

Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba in 1898. Image: Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University via NPS. A bullet-stopping speech and eyeglasses case 

On October 14, 1912, while running for a third term as president with the Bull Moose Party, an assassin named John Flammang Schrank shot at Roosevelt during a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His steel eyeglass case and a folded 50-page campaign speech helped save his life. While the bullet ultimately lodged in Roosevelt’s chest, the eyeglasses case and speech papers slowed down the bullet and it stopped just short of hitting any vital organs. 

When an angry mob of Roosevelt supporters formed around Schrank, Roosevelt was able to calm the crowd until the police arrived. Roosevelt refused medical attention and went on to give his speech—all while bleeding. He told the crowd, “It takes more than [a bullet] to kill a Bull Moose.”

The eyeglass case and campaign speech are on loan from Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in New York City.  

A page from Roosevelt’s life-saving speech with a bullet hole towards the bottom. Image: National Museum of American History. National Museum of American History A compass as a guide

What’s a good naturalist without a compass? His compass is on loan from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota. 

“For Roosevelt, a compass was more than an instrument of navigation,” the National Park Service writes. “It represented his engagement with the natural world and his willingness to confront it directly, whether on the Dakota plains, in remote hunting grounds, or later on scientific expeditions abroad.”

Theodore Roosevelt’s compass on loan from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, ND. Image: NPS photo.
How to visit

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opens on July 4 and will sit at the entrance to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It is the only one of the 63 flagship National Parks named after a person. 

Both sites will host a series of special interpretive programs, ranger-led talks, family activities, and Junior Ranger opportunities all summer. Ranger programs will explore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy, while Junior Ranger activities will encourage younger visitors to explore the former president’s values of stewardship, service, and exploration. 

“We are honored to partner with the National Park Service to help tell Theodore Roosevelt’s story through authentic artifacts and shared educational experiences,” Edward O’Keefe, chief executive officer of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, said in a statement. “This collaboration brings together the places that shaped Roosevelt’s life and legacy while inspiring visitors to embrace leadership, conservation and civic engagement in their own communities.” 

The post The glasses case that saved Teddy Roosevelt’s life go on display in North Dakota appeared first on Popular Science.

While reviewing footage for her PhD research, Polish Academy of Sciences ecologist Robin Wijnands spotted something pretty wild. A camera set up in eastern Poland’s Bialowieza Primeval Forest recorded wolves (Canis lupus) attacking a European bison (Bison bonasus) herd. 

The video, shot in September 2025 and described in a study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, starts with five wolves entering the frame. Three bison cows chase the wolves, unintentionally leaving a newborn calf vulnerable. The wolves then attack the calf, biting its neck and attempting to drag it away. That’s when two cows come to its rescue and charge towards them. The wolves try to catch the calf a second time, but this time the entire herd surrounds the calf, and the wolves give up on their attack. 

“We captured this event purely by chance, which makes it even more special,”​ Wijnands tells  Popular Science. Wijnands is also a co-author on of the new study, and her research monitoring large mammal behaviour and activity in the Bialowieza Primeval Forest. The footage both excited and surprised the researchers. 

“It raised a lot of questions: Why would the wolves go for a difficult prey like the European bison? How often do predation attempts actually occur and how often are they successful?” says Wijnands.

A search through the available scientific literature revealed that there are actually many historical reports of predation on European bison. However, only a few of these recent attempts have happened recently and none have  documented evidence of a wolf grabbing an individual. 

The study raises interesting questions about the re-introduction and conservation of European bison. The species were hunted to extinction by 1919, but they were reintroduced in Poland’s forests in the early 1950s. Today, about 6,200 European bison live in the wild and they are often described as the “king of the forest” and considered a non-prey species. 

“Right now, most reintroduction initiatives do not seem to include predation risk or the presence of predators in habitat suitability analyses,” Wijnands says.“ We think that it should be considered in such analyses, as it could potentially affect small reintroduced populations.”

“However, even if predation occurs more frequently than we think, we do not expect a steep decline in European bison populations,” she adds, “especially when easier and more accessible prey are available.” 

Wijnands hopes the study opens the door for more research on bison-wolf interactions and their possible consequences, though she also notes that the work focuses on just one interaction and no definitive conclusions can be drawn from it. 

“We mainly wanted to share this rare and special observation and show that there are still many unknowns regarding European bison-wolf interactions,” she says. 

The post Watch bison shield their baby from a rare wolf attack in Poland appeared first on Popular Science.

I was recently preparing for a long-distance flight, when a friend took note of what I was packing in my carry-on. Along with my daily essentials, I’d stuffed in a puffy jacket, thick socks, and a winter hat. “Aren’t you heading to Vietnam?” He asked. “I’m pretty sure it’s hot there.”

“These aren’t for Vietnam,” I told him. “They’re for the plane.” 

Airplane cabins are kept notoriously cold. What’s more is that these frigid temperatures are absolutely intentional, Bobby Laurie, a former flight attendant and co-host of the travel and lifestyle talk show, The Jet Set, tells Popular Science.

“Look at the flight attendants next time you’re boarding a plane,” says Laurie. “It might be July in Miami and a temperature of 95 degrees outside, but they’re all wearing jackets and sweaters. They don’t really care what’s happening on the other side of that airplane. They’re prepared for what’s going to happen inside.” 

Popular Science turned to Laurie to fill us in on the scientific reasoning behind this excessive chill, and to find out why flight crews don’t just turn up the temp on planes? In the end, all that cold air is about much more than personal preference. 

An airplane’s average temperature and the reasons behind it

“The sweet spot for a plane’s cabin temperature is somewhere between 70 and 75 degrees,” says Laurie. It’s an indoor temperature that in most cases feels comfortable. But since airplane cabins are already kept at a lower humidity (typically ranging from 10 to 20 percent at cruising altitude, drier than most deserts) to help prevent frame corrosion, the air can feel much colder. 

Most commercial airlines keep their cabins in this temperature range for one main reason: to prevent passengers from fainting. On a plane, the danger of someone suffering hypoxia, a condition in which a person doesn’t get enough oxygen, often causing them to pass out, is a real possibility. 

In fact, passengers fainting on planes happens more often than you might think, says Laurie. It’s especially common on red-eye flights. “People tend to be a little disoriented when they wake in the middle of a flight,” he says. “Many times, they’ll just stand up and immediately hit the floor.”

This is due to the cabin’s simulated air pressure, which typically remains at an altitude equivalent of between 6,000 and 8,000 feet above sea level. It’s a mountain-level elevation that acts as a compromise between maintaining the plane’s structural integrity (sea-level altitude at a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet would force the plane to be excessively heavy and fuel-inefficient) and keeping passengers comfortable. 

While most people on board don’t even notice this air pressure adjustment, your body has access to about 25 percent less oxygen than at sea level. Those who aren’t used to it can get dizzy or lightheaded. They might even faint. 

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To combat this risk, flight crews turn down the heat. Not only does cold air keep passengers more alert, essential for responding to sudden turbulence or an efficient evacuation, but warm temperatures make it harder for your body to maintain circulation and cause your heart to pump faster, which requires more oxygen. 

Cold air, on the other hand, helps to slow your heart rate, keeps your breathing steady, and helps to stabilize your blood oxygen levels. It also wards off nausea and motion-sickness by calming your body’s temperature-control system and bringing it into balance. 

Keeping the airplane cabin colder also helps regulate humidity inside, says Laurie. Typically, the cabin’s already low humidity levels would cause any moisture on your body to evaporate more quickly and cause immediate dehydration. But pumping up the air prevents passengers from getting too warm, which slows that evaporation from happening. It also counteracts the moisture vapor in the environment, making your surroundings feel less stuffy. 

How body heat affects temperatures 

Chances are you often find yourself piling on layers at the beginning of a long-haul flight, only to be peeling some of them off somewhere over the Pacific. That’s because having hundreds of passengers packed so closely together in an enclosed cabin can really drive up temperatures. 

Think about it, says Laurie. You’re likely covered in a blanket. Maybe you’re donning a hoodie to keep your head warm, and the person next to you is literally inches away. “With everyone’s collective body heat,” he says, “you’ll probably start to get really warm.” 

Keeping the cabin cooler helps to mitigate this natural heat influx and keep everyone more comfortable in the long run.

Who controls the cabin temperature?

It depends on the airplane type. “Both Airbus and Boeing operate completely differently,” says Laurie. On Boeing airplanes, the temperature in the cabin is controlled from the flight deck, a.k.a the cockpit. “So [pilots] are adjusting the temperature to what they think it needs to be, but they’re not actually back there.” 

Airbus planes allow flight attendants to adjust actual cabin temperatures via a central touchscreen, while Boeing generally relies on rudimentary rotary knobs calibrated with general “cool” to “warm” ranges instead of exact numerical values. 

Still, all commercial planes have an integrated Environmental Control System (ECS) that manages the aircraft’s cabin pressure, temperature, and air quality. An ECS distributes conditioned air to several distinct zones throughout the aircraft. 

The flight deck has its own dedicated ECS zone, since this area of the plane is filled with heat-generating navigation, communication, and radar equipment that require dedicated cooling. 

If you run cold on planes, it’s best to avoid exit row seats and window seats. Image: Getty Images / skaman306

However, the passenger cabin is usually separated into two to four independently controlled temperature zones (for example: forward, mid, and aft). This allows flight attendants to turn down the air in, say, the plane’s mid-cabin, which tends to generate the most body heat, while keeping the back of the plane cool. 

To manage the temperature in each specific zone, aircraft utilize trim air valves. These specialized components introduce small amounts of hot or cold air into the main airflow ducts, allowing for customized temperatures specifically tailored for each localized zone. 

“If you’re walking to the back of the plane, you might even feel a change in the air a time or two,” says Laurie. 

Where to sit if you run cold 

Along with carrying a hoodie, there are other ways to escape the cabin chill. Avoid sitting in an exit row, since frigid air can seep in through the door seals. Window seats also tend to be cooler, as they’re closer to the outside of the plane. 

“The galleys,” those designated kitchen and prep areas on an aircraft, “are always colder than the rest of the plane,” says Laurie. Not only are they usually located right near an airplane door, but they’re also home to the powerful galley cooling units planes use for food storage. 

Ultimately, everyone’s body temperature is different, and how you perceive heat varies. “Say you’re on a domestic flight along with 150 to 200 other passengers,” says Laurie. “It’s going to be hard to make everyone happy at the same time.” Instead, he suggests, pack that carry-on bag accordingly!

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 Why are airplanes so cold? It’s for your health. appeared first on Popular Science.

A mislabelled fossil, forgotten and sitting in a museum drawer for decades is actually more special than previously thought. The skull fossil belongs to an ancient species of saber-toothed cat that roamed across western North America about five million years ago.  

In 2022, Narimane Chatar was a graduate student in paleontology, visiting the collections of museums around the world with her surface scanner for her research on saber-toothed cats. She was combing through the drawers of the American Museum of Natural History in New York when she stumbled upon something unusual. 

“I saw this cranium that was labelled Pseudaelurus,” she tells Popular Science. 

This genus name (Pseudaelurus) has typically been used to describe anything that looks like a cat, but whose lineage cannot be assessed. This surprised her, because the cranium was complete. “I thought it could be assigned to a more particular species,” she says.

Postdoctoral fellow Narimane Chatar examining casts of sabertooth jawbones (Smilodon and Barbourofelis). Image: Narimane Chatar/UC Berkeley.

Chatar, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, was busy completing her PhD at the time, so she didn’t have the bandwidth to investigate further. Once she finally had some spare time on her hands last summer, she decided to take another look at the specimen. 

Using the scans she had taken during her visit to New York, Chatar made a 3D model of the fossil to compare against other fossil scans she had taken at various museums. 

“I basically took the 3D model of the specimen, opened it on one screen, and then would open other 3D models on my other screen and compare them,” she explains. 

A collection of 3D scans of fossil sabertooth skulls from various groups that date from very recent times (center, Smilodon populator, which disappeared around 8,000 BCE) to more than 35 million years ago. Rivaling Smilodon in the length of its upper canines was a more ancient cat-like sabertooth from the Nimravid family (3 to 5 o’clock), which went extinct about 7 million years ago. The crania from more ancient lineages have shorter upper canines than those from more recent lineages, illustrating the evolutionary trend toward longer canines among all types of sabertooths. Image: Narimane Chatar/UC Berkeley.

This process confirmed her years-long hunch. The skull belonged to the Adelphailurus kansensis, a puma-sized species that until now was only known from jaw fragments and teeth. The findings, recently published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, clarify A. kansensis’ place within the saber-toothed cat family tree. They also allow researchers to finally have an understanding of its cranial anatomy. In fact, an artist was able to reconstruct the appearance of the animal for the first time.  

When most people think of a saber-toothed cat, they probably think of species with extremely long upper teeth, like Smilodon, which had canines that could grow up to eight inches. A. kansensis is a more  primitive species, and still has short upper canines. Learning  more about it can help researchers understand how Smilodon’s extreme morphology later evolved. 

The study also underscores the importance of revisiting historical collections, according to Chatar. “The specimen had been there for 50, 60 years, lost in the drawers, labelled something else,” she says. “It reminds us that it’s really important to go back to those collections and open every single drawer.” 

In fact, Chatar says some of the best fossils in museums are actually not on view. “We have little treasures hidden from the public everywhere in museums.” 

Scientists still have  a lot to learn about A. kansensis. It is unclear  what the prehistoric cat looked like beneath its skull, and that data could help researchers understand how the species ran and caught its prey. 

“Who knows, maybe some material is waiting to be discovered in another museum,” Chatar concludes. 

The post Mislabeled saber-toothed cat fossil spent over 50 years hidden in a drawer appeared first on Popular Science.

Are you right-handed or left-handed? The answer for most of us is right. That’s because nearly 90 percent of all people are right-dominant. But why is it that our world is full of people on Team Right Hand? Well in a new episode of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything podcast, we explore just that.

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 summers seem endless when we’re growing up and no, storm chasing isn’t like Twisters. 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 most people right-handed?”

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Full Episode Transcript

Sarah Durn: Okay, so I am conducting a little science experiment here. I’m trying to write “hello” with my left hand and it’s not going amazing. 

For context, I am right-handed like the vast majority of folks. I do basically everything with my right hand: writing, throwing, brushing my teeth, opening jars badly. And yet somehow asking me to write with my left hand makes it look like I never learned my ABCs. So why is it that so many of us are right-handed?

Welcome to Ask Us Anything from the editors of Popular Science, where we answer your questions about our weird world, from “Why do we need braces?” to “What’s human composting?” We’ll do a deep dive on just about anything. I’m Sarah Durn, an editor at PopSci.

Annie Colbert: And hello, I’m Annie Colbert, editor-in-chief, and this week we’re wondering why nearly everyone is right-handed.

SD: Yeah. Roughly nine out of every 10 people are right-handed.

AC: That’s a huge majority. So what’s happening here? Why are the Ned Flanders of the world so rare?

SD: Well, the short answer is nobody knows for sure.

AC: Well, you know what? Great episode, everybody. We’ll see you in a couple weeks. We’re solved. 

SD: But scientists do have some pretty good theories.

AC: All right, let’s hear it.

SD: The evidence suggests that hand preference starts even before we’re born.

AC: Wait, seriously?

SD: Yeah. Researchers have found that fetuses tend to favor one side very early in development.

AC: So my preference for grabbing snacks with my right hand may have started before I actually had hands capable of grabbing snacks?

SD: Yep.

AC: Hmm. So is being right-handed genetic?

SD: Partly. Scientists think dozens of genes help create a natural tendency towards right-handedness, but it’s not as simple, of course, as a single right-handed gene.

AC: No, of course not. Biology loves making things complicated.

SD: Always. And then there’s also my favorite theory: the evolutionary angle.

Some researchers think right-handedness may have become common because it helped our ancestors use tools, learn skills from one another, and maybe even survive fights. 

AC: Hold on. Are you telling me this episode is going to involve prehistoric toolmakers and medieval sword fights?

SD: I am.

AC: Yes. All right. Before we investigate humanity’s favorite throwing hand, we want to hear from you.

What questions are grabbing your attention? What are you thinking about in the shower? If there’s something you’ve always wanted to know, submit your questions by clicking the “Ask Us” link at popsci.com/ask.

SD: Send us your questions.

AC: Send them. And with that, we’ll be right back after a quick break to figure out why almost everybody ended up on Team Right Hand.

SD: Welcome back. So Annie, obviously we need to know, are you right-handed or left-handed?

AC: I, like you, am also right-handed, and very right-handed. My left hand is a bit helpless.

SD: Welcome to the team.

AC: Thank you. Happy to be here. My husband actually always wanted to be left-handed, though.

SD: Oh, really?

AC: Oh, totally. Uh, he actually tried to teach himself how to write left-handed.

SD: Ooh, how’d that go?

AC: About as well as your experiment at the top of the show.

SD: Ah, so not great.

AC: Not great, not great. But the funny thing is because so many of us are right-handed, we don’t really notice how much of the world is designed for us righties.

SD: How so?

AC: Scissors, for one.

SD: Ah, right. Yeah, the classic lefty complaint.

AC: Yes, but there’s more. Spiral notebooks are a pain to write in because you’re always hitting the divider. Desks with those little writing arms attached to the chair are annoying because then your left elbow is left floating. Can openers are almost impossible to use for lefties. Credit card machines are set to swipe your card with your right hand. Even the pens that are chained to the counter at the bank always seem to be attached to the wrong side for lefties. 

And yes, before anyone comments, Ned Flanders from The Simpsons made a whole generation aware of this already.

SD: Thank you, Ned. Wow, that is a lot.

AC: It sounds exhausting for lefties.

SD: Yeah, it really does.

Righty privilege is a thing.

AC: Definitely. Our whole world is built around right-handed people.

SD: And, you know, it kind of makes sense because the vast majority of people are right-handed. Roughly 85 to 90 percent of humans are right dominant.

AC: But that raises the bigger question, and the point of this episode, which is why.

So Sarah, please explain, where does handedness start?

SD: Yeah, the answer begins long before anyone ever picks up a pair of scissors, about 10 weeks after conception.

AC: Wow, that’s really early.

SD: Yeah, really, really early. Using ultrasound scans, researchers can watch fetuses move their arms and hands. By around 10 weeks of gestation, most fetuses move their right arm more than their left, and by around 15 weeks, many are already sucking their right thumb instead of their left.

AC: So we’re already picking teams before we’re even born.

SD: Basically. Researchers think right-handedness is tied to the way the brain develops during those very early stages of life.

AC: So it is genetic.

SD: Partly. Dozens of genes seem to play a role in determining whether you’ll be right-handed or left-handed. Those genes help shape how the brain develops, and for most people, that development creates a preference for the right hand.

AC: Which sounds pretty straightforward, but what about left-handed people? Why isn’t everyone just right-handed?

SD: Yeah, researchers think that many cases of left-handedness may simply be the result of random variation during brain development.

AC: Hmm.

SD: Tiny fluctuations during critical moments of development could influence which side ends up becoming dominant.

So even though the brain may have a general tendency towards right-handedness, biology isn’t really running off of a rigid blueprint.

AC: It’s more like a recipe.

SD: Yeah, exactly. The ingredients are mostly the same, but sometimes you end up with a slightly different result.

AC: Okay, so we’ve got genes and brain development.

Where does evolution enter the story? Because I was promised prehistoric tools and sword fights.

SD: I would never deprive you of prehistoric tools and sword fights, obviously.

AC: Thank you.

SD: One theory is that right-handedness became common because it made it easier for humans to learn from one another.

AC: Mm.

SD: You know, imagine a group where most people use the same hand to make tools, throw spears, or perform other complicated tasks.

It becomes easier to watch someone and copy exactly what they’re doing.

AC: So everybody’s using the same operating system.

SD: Yeah, pretty much. So there’s a preference for righties in early tool use, and there is evidence that the preference began a very, very long time ago.

AC: How long are we talking?

SD: A 2011 study found signs of right-handedness in tools going back at least half a million years.

AC: Half a million years?

SD: Yeah.

AC: That’s wild. Okay, now let’s get to the sword fights.

SD: Gladly. Okay, so some researchers have proposed that handedness may have been influenced by combat.

AC: Hmm.

SD: The idea is that if most people are right-handed, they’re naturally aiming towards the left side of the opponent’s body, where the heart sits.

AC: So right-handed fighters have a slight advantage.

SD: Potentially. Over thousands of generations, that advantage might have helped reinforce right-handedness in human populations. 

Now, it’s important to say this is still very much a hypothesis. Scientists are still debating exactly how much fighting influenced handedness, but it is one possible piece of the puzzle.

AC: Okay, but if right-handed people had all of these advantages, why didn’t left-handedness just disappear completely?

SD: Yeah, because lefties actually have some advantages of their own.

AC: Hey, you go lefties.

SD: Right? They get a win in this story, too. 

One theory is that left-handed people are harder to predict. If you’re used to fighting, competing against, or even just interacting with right-handed people, a left-hander moves differently.

Their angles are different, their reactions can be different. 

AC: They have an element of surprise? 

SD: Exactly. It’s something my dad always talks about when he watches tennis pros like Rafael Nadal.

AC: Oh, yeah. My dad used to always say, “Oh, I wish I taught you how to bat left-handed in softball.” Not that it would’ve made a huge difference in my softball career.

And there’s tons of lefty athletes, like Babe Ruth or basketball legend Bill Russell.

SD: Right. And researchers think that advantage may help explain why left-handedness persists, not in huge numbers, but consistently. Across cultures and across history, lefties usually make up somewhere around 10 percent of the population.

AC: Hmm. So evolution may have landed on a compromise.

SD: Yeah, that’s one way to think about it. And the exact reasons are still being worked out, but the current evidence suggests handedness is probably the result of a whole mix of factors, biology, genetics, early brain development, and evolutionary pressures that have been shaping humans for hundreds of thousands of years.

AC: Which means the answer to today’s question of why are most people right-handed is basically because human beings are complicated.

SD: That’s the answer to a surprising number of science questions. 

AC: And somewhere out there, a left-handed listener is feeling very seen right now.

SD: Or struggling to use a pair of scissors.

AC: Or sitting in one of those awful classroom desks. 

SD: Justice for lefties. 

AC: Justice for lefties.

SD: And with that, it’s time for a quick break, but we’ll be right back to talk with archeologist Dr. Anna Goldfield, who wrote a really interesting piece about how we’re not the only species throughout history with a preference for our right hands.

And we’re back, and welcome to Dr. Anna Goldfield, an archeologist, science writer, and media producer who uses archeological evidence to tell stories about people’s lives in the past, and to highlight the science behind the discoveries. 

Anna, welcome to Ask Us Anything!

Anna Goldfield: Thank you so much for having me.

SD: Of course.

Happy to have you. Now, you wrote a really interesting piece for Sapiens about how Neanderthals actually were also, like Homo sapiens, right-handed. Can you tell us a little bit about that story and how you found it?

AG: Yeah, sure. So looking at different pieces of anatomy, and the way we know that Neanderthals were, for the most part, right-handed is that you can see evidence of handedness in different places in the body.

So we are generally not as symmetrical as maybe many people think. People tend to have a dominant hand. They also tend to have, well, a dominant ear. And so if you use one side more than the other, especially for really vigorous activity, you can see that in the bones. And so there are researchers who have done a broad study of all of the available Neanderthal arms, and generally, what seems to be the case is that the right arm bones are more robust. They’re beefier, and that indicates heavier use, and that’s in all kinds of activities. 

So yeah, it seems like whatever the adaptation was that made it better to be right-handed, and there’s a lot of different sort of lines of evidence about what that might have been. But whatever that was, it must have happened sometime after the split between the human lineage and the ape lineage, which was, well, specifically chimpanzees and bonobos, which was about six million years ago.

SD: That is so fascinating, Anna. Thank you so much for making the time to talk to us, and if listeners want to follow your work, is there anywhere they can find you?

AG: Sure, yeah. I’ve written a couple of kids’ books, and so one is called The Mind-Blowing World of Extraordinary Competitions, and it’s all about different ways that people compete in bizarre and funky sports and games through time and all over the world.

And then the most recent one is A Compendium of Curious Contraptions, which takes you through lots of different historical and archeological artifacts. It’s a book and a game. You can find me and contact me and take a look at all of the stuff I do at: thinglearner.squarespace.com.

SD: Amazing. Thank you so much.

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 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: Are you a lefty? Let us know in the comments.

Our producer is Alan Haburchak. This week’s episode was based on an article written for Popular Science by Clarissa Brincat. And a special thank you again to Dr. Anna Goldfield for chatting with us.

AC: Thank you, team. Thank you, righties. Thank you, lefties, and thank you all 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 that “Ask Us” link.

Until next time, try to write something with your non-dominant hand. Maybe it’ll go better than mine. Who knows? And keep the questions coming.

Annie, do you wanna see what I tried to write? Can… can you?

AC: It looks like a desperate plea.

SD: It looks like a ransom note.

AC: Like, “Hello?”

SD: “Hello?” Yeah.

AC: Yeah. 

SD: Hello? Someone please.

AC: Help. You did a good job.

SD: Help would’ve been more, harrowing if, like, there’s a small person trapped in my journal.

AC: Oh, no.

The post Why 90% of us are right-handed appeared first on Popular Science.

Everyone has preferences when it comes to their food, but what happens when your next meal talks back?

That uncomfortable question is at the core of a new study conducted by a team of researchers at Japan’s University of Electro-Communications. To answer it, they created one of the world’s only known edible robots, something they more clinically refer to as an edible agent (not to be confused with an Edible Arrangement, the popular fruit basket). In the experiment, the team wanted to see whether they could shape how viewers perceived the robot by altering the way it behaved, and then see whether that perception made people more reluctant to eat the little guy.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ The findings were recently published in the journal PLOS One. 

The consumable part of the robot is made of a gummy candy-like material sweetened with sugar and apple juice. It’s connected to a pneumatic system that pumps air through internal chambers to make the robot move. The resulting pulses and thrusts look similar to a mini version of the  inflatable air puppets with long, wavy warms you see outside used car dealerships. A hidden speaker lets the robot vocalize, in this case speaking Japanese in one scenario and crying like a cranky baby in another. Tiny arms and black dot eyes were added to up the weird factor.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 

A talking ‘god’ robot and a crying baby 

Around 1,000 participants watched two videos showing a researcher interacting with the robot. The first video was designed to cast the robot in a “god or strict mentor” role. A researcher just off-screen consults the robot about their personal problems. With the camera focused on its beady eyes, the robot responds in a deep, emotionally flat Japanese voice generated using speech synthesis software. As it speaks, the robot sways back and forth.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The second video was more unsettling. The robot no longer speaks in an adult voice, but instead sounds like a helpless baby. When a researcher waved their hand, the robot responded with a playful chuckle. When they approached it with an inflatable toy, it emitted a frightened sound. When approached repeatedly, the robot grew angry. The gooey robot finally let out a sad hum as the researcher waved goodbye.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

After watching the clips, the presumably bewildered study participants were asked to answer a series of psychological survey questions designed to measure how much agency or experience they attributed to the robot in each video. In psychology, agency corresponds to perceived control and decision-making ability. Experience reflects whether something seems capable of feeling emotions like pain or joy. Unsurprisingly, participants rated the Japanese-speaking robot higher in agency and the crying baby higher in experience.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

But then something counterintuitive happened. Having established that participants perceived the robot as having some kind of mind, the researchers asked whether they would hesitate or feel guilty about eating it. By and large, they didn’t seem to care. Participants were slightly more reluctant to eat the talking robot, but not by much. Guilt was a non-issue either way.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

So, are humans ambivalent cannibals? 

Before you lose complete faith in humanity, a few major caveats are in order. While the researchers asked participants how they would feel about eating the seemingly alive robot, no one actually had to do it. Consuming it was all still theoretical. The sight and sounds of a gummy robot crying out in agony as it’s being scarfed down for lunch likely would elicit some sort of reaction. 

Maybe more importantly, none of the participants were physically in the room with the robot. The researchers note that conducting the experiment entirely online was a practical decision made to secure a large enough sample size. While understandable, it is a limitation to a study whose central question involves something as inherently physical and visceral as eating. A far more illuminating experiment would be asking participants to observe the robot in person, take a bite out of it, and then give their post-mortem.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Interestingly, something along those lines has already been done with this same robot. A separate 2024 paper introduced the edible robot and used it to explore the psychology of eating things that are still moving. The practice is common enough in Japan to have its own word: odorigui or “dance-eating.” In that experiment, 16 Osaka University students were asked to pop the edible robot in their mouth while it was still moving and let it dance around for 10 seconds before chomping down. When asked how they felt afterward, participants tended to feel more guilty about eating it the more the robot moved.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The key difference between the robot in that study and the more recent one is the introduction of vocalization and the addition of arms and eyes to make it seem more lifelike. But those additions only go so far when they are muted by the detached sterility of a computer screen. 

Still, the researchers are optimistic they are onto something with the very unique little robot. Future versions could potentially  be expanded to represent a broader range of animals, possibly opening the door to exploring the psychology and ethics of why some people and cultures refuse to eat creatures that others find perfectly acceptable. It could also be used to examine human attitudes toward novel foods like lab-grown meat and gene-edited fungi, which are being pitched as possible solutions to food shortages as global populations and appetites grow.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Public broadcasting continues to face dire funding issues across the country, but PBS hero Bob Ross is here to help. Indiana’s Ball State PBS station has partnered with auction house Bonhams Skinner to sell one of the late, beloved painter’s many works. “Mountain Summit” was created in 1988 during season 13 of Ross’ revered television series, The Joy of Painting. The auction opens up for bids on June 30, as part of the auction house’s American Stories series celebrating the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary. Net proceeds of the sale will go to the public television channel.

Ball State PBS is particularly suited for the event. Ross filmed 30 out of 31 seasons of The Joy of Painting at WIPB in the small town of Muncie, IN, which quickly became a nationally recognized series after its debut in 1982. Muncie now also hosts The Bob Ross Experience at Minnetrista Museum & Gardens inside the very home where he filmed his show.

“Bob Ross’ connection to Muncie and WIPB is a special part of Ball State PBS’ story,” Ball State Public Media interim general manager and director of audience development Angie Grimes recently told local news outlet WANE. “This painting is a beautiful reminder of the role our station played in helping bring Bob’s creativity, encouragement, and joy to viewers around the world.”

Although Ross died due to complications from lymphoma in 1995, both his series and recognizably calming persona have remained pop culture cornerstones for over 30 years. Multiple studies have examined the so-called Bob Ross effect from psychological and sociological viewpoints in an effort to contextualize his widespread appeal. In 2024, researchers determined that watching The Joy of Painting noticeably improved viewers’ mood states, going so far as to suggest it as an “effective complementary therapy to improve mental health.”

Bonhams Skinner estimates “Mountain Summit” could sell for $50,000–70,000, although other Ross paintings have previously sold for well over $1 million.

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The Nashville Zoo in Tennessee is celebrating the birth of a new baby clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa). The female cub named Mayuree, marks a major milestone for one of the rarest cat species in the world. 

Clouded leopards are secretive wild cats that dwell in the rainforests and woodlands of Southeast Asia. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies them as vulnerable, and their already small numbers at risk due to poaching, the illegal pet trade, and habitat loss and fragmentation from deforestation. Between 2000 and 2018, their habitat strongholds declined by about 34 percent.

Due to its elusive nature, the species is difficult to observe in the wild. Much of what scientists know about the wild cat comes from observations in captivity, but they’ve also proven to be difficult to breed because of this limited scientific knowledge, according to the Nashville Zoo. Despite  these challenges, Mayuree is the 51st cub to be born at the Nashville Zoo since 1991, and the fourth cub to be born to parents Niran and Ron. 

Mayuree weighs just over two pounds. Image: Nashville Zoo. Sean_Brunson

“Clouded leopard reproduction and cub rearing are notoriously challenging, with high rates of parental predation or neglect, so cubs are frequently hand-reared,” Heather Schwartz, Nashville Zoo’s Director of Veterinary Services, said in a statement announcing Mayuree’s birth. “But because Niran is doing a wonderful job caring for Mayuree, we have been able to co-rear a clouded leopard cub until they are weaned for the first time in Zoo history.” 

Mayuree’s birth marks the first time the Nashville Zoo has co-reared a cub, a method where a mother raises its young with human caregiving support. According to the Zoo, co-rearing combines the benefits of maternal rearing, with the advantages of early human socialization. The cubs are sensitive to auditory and visual disturbances, so this process acclimates them to human handling and makes future veterinary exams, breeding management, and husbandry practices easier for them to handle. 

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The adorable cub is currently the size of a loaf of bread and measures just over two pounds. Niran will continue to raise Mayuree until she is weaned. She’ll then be placed with a playmate, as pairing at an early age reduces aggression and makes breeding easier later on. She will be on view for the cat-loving public at a later date. 

“We are excited to progress in our care techniques and studies with clouded leopards with this new birth and thrilled to be able to increase the population of threatened clouded leopards,” Schwartz added.

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Growing up, Clyde Sorenson loved catching bugs, especially fireflies. But even as a kid, the budding entomologist saw that there was a lot more to these soft-bodied insects than most people realized. “I noticed that I had a pretty significant diversity of fireflies in my own yard,” says Sorenson, “so I started trying to understand that diversity.” 

Sorenson, now a professor of entomology at North Carolina State University, has spent many years studying these magnificent creatures (he even helped uncover a distinct population of fireflies in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains). One thing that has always continued to fascinate him is just why these little creatures illuminate. It’s a question that many of us ponder. The answer, according to Sorenson, is surprisingly complex.

What are fireflies? 

Despite their name, fireflies are not flies or bugs. They’re actually bioluminescent beetles. This means they naturally produce light through a distinct chemical reaction. 

Their bodies contain a special organic compound called luciferin. This compound combines with oxygen and an enzyme known as luciferase in the insect’s lower abdomen, creating a biochemical reaction that produces light that ranges in color from yellow and green to rare blue hues. 

Fireflies thrive in warm, humid regions, particularly around forests, fields, and wetlands. In the U.S., they mostly live east of the Rocky Mountains, though there are pockets of them in Utah, New Mexico, and other Western states. Over 2,000 recognized species of fireflies exist worldwide, with more than 170 species throughout North America. 

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The most common firefly in the eastern United States is Photinus pyralis, also known as the eastern firefly or big dipper firefly. 

“It’s the species that’s typically active when lots of folks are still out poking around,” says Sorenson. They’re also a species that’s easy to catch, since eastern fireflies tend to fly slowly and low to the ground. 

Why do fireflies glow?

“It depends on what life stage you’re talking about,” says Sorenson. For instance, firefly larvae flash to warn would-be predators to stay away. “Their bright glow signals to others that they taste bad,” says Sorenson. This defensive mechanism is known as an aposematic signal. 

And fireflies (and many bioluminescent organisms) do taste bad. This is primarily thanks to a group of toxic steroids called lucibufagins. Lucibufagins can even be lethal to small lizards. Through a bit of trial and error, potential predators learn early on to avoid such illuminated prey. 

But adult fireflies also flash to communicate with and attract members of their species. The ancestors of modern fireflies likely glowed only as larvae. But over tens of millions of years, the adult insects co-opted (borrowed and adapted) this light-producing ability into an intricate mating ritual.  

“In most North American fireflies, the males have a specific flash pattern,” says Sorenson. “If they fly around at the right time of night,” which is typically around dusk, “and make the right signal, a female might see the signal and flash back at him.” 

The two insects will approach one another, and “maybe some kind of pheromonal communication” takes place, a type of chemical signal that says they’re both ready for action. “Then if everybody’s happy they mate, and nobody flashes anything for a while.” 

This complex courtship is known as the “firefly mating dance.” Though the call-and-response system is common among species, the pattern that each species uses is different. 

For instance, when the male eastern firefly flashes its J-shaped pattern about every five seconds or so, the female will respond with a half-second flash. The Elkmont area in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Congaree National Park in South Carolina are both home to synchronous species of fireflies. These wondrous beetles coordinate their flashing patterns to create vast displays of synchronized light while mating. It often occurs in densities of hundreds—if not thousands—at a time. 

Around three of the 2,000 species of fireflies synchronize flashing their lights together. Video: Synchronous fireflies light up Congaree National Park, @WACHFOX

Something to note: Roughly a quarter of the world’s firefly species don’t produce light as adults, and those that do “look really, really similar,” says Sorenson. However, “If you’re familiar with the various flash-patterns, you can figure out the species.”

Meet the femme fatales of fireflies

While firefly mating dances are fun to watch, not all of them are innocent. “Femme fatale” fireflies are predatory beetles (mainly of the genus Photuris) that adopt the distinct flashing patterns of other firefly species to survive. These particular lightning bugs don’t produce lucibufagins, those unappetizing steroids that keep predators away. 

Instead, they deceive male fireflies from other genera by mimicking the flashing patterns of Photinus and Pyractomena females. Once they lure the males in with their trickery, they eat them for dinner, absorbing their glowing toxins with the meal. 

“The femme fatales then use those [glowing] chemicals to protect their eggs,” says Sorenson, “and to some degree to protect themselves from predators.”

A firefly’s life cycle 

Unlike femme fatales, most fireflies do the bulk of their eating as larvae. “As adults, their main job is to find each other and mate and make sure there are more fireflies for next year,” says Sorenson. 

While the idea of starving your mature self sounds pretty grim, adulthood is a relatively brief period among fireflies. These beetles spend the majority of their life cycle—up to one or two years—as larvae, buried within the soil, inside rotting wood, or in leaf litter. Here, they get their nutrients through soft-bodied insects like slugs and snails. 

Fireflies spend the majority of their life as larvae. Image: Getty Images / Ivo Savov

Afterwards, they go through a complete metamorphosis, shedding their larval body to grow adult features like wings and legs. This stage lasts another few weeks, and then it’s time to become adults. Once they’re fully grown, fireflies have sex, lay eggs, and live large for anywhere from five days to a month. Then the cycle starts over. 

Fireflies are extremely efficient 

What’s especially cool about fireflies is that they convert nearly 100 percent of their chemical energy into light. This means that they lose almost no energy to waste heat, a resource heavy byproduct of everything from power plants to incandescent light bulbs. 

“Basically, fireflies have figured out how to make light very energy efficiently,” says Sorenson. “The more I learn about these creatures, the more fascinating they become to me.”

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.

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After years of development, Danish power company Ørsted is on track to complete what will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Around the end of 2027, the Hornsea 3’s wind farm’s roughly 230 turbines across a 268-square-mile section of the North Sea near Yorkshire will begin generating enough green energy to power an estimated 3.3 million homes in the United Kingdom.

However, before installing any of Hornsea 3’s equipment, construction crews conducted essential comprehensive safety scans of the area. These included efforts to identify and remove any potential unexploded ordinance lost during World War II. But during one of these surveys, workers spotted a trio of much older, unexpected artifacts. According to maritime archaeologists, the future site of Hornsea 3 was the final resting place for an over 300-year-old shipwreck that sank carrying a load of massive, valuable lead slabs known as ingots.

The ingots were about 75 miles east of Norfolk, at a depth of around 131 feet. The team found three ingots that each weigh over 150 pounds—about the size of a standard washing machine. Although a few timber remnants still lingered underneath the metal, researchers found little else of the wreckage. Despite this lack of other clues, the ingots themselves provide important contextual details. Each relic is stamped with either “IS,” “EB,” or “H,” which are similar to those found within the Kennemerland, a 1664 Dutch East India Company shipwreck previously discovered near the Shetland Islands. Historians theorize the unidentified vessel may also have originated in the Netherlands.

A radar scan shows the ingots’ location and the outline of its shipwreck. Credit: Ørsted

During the 17th century, England was famous for its lead industry, especially from its Derbyshire and Peak District mines. Because the metal’s toxicity had yet to be documented, lead was widely used in the manufacturing of plumbing infrastructure, cookware, and weaponry. At that time, much of England’s lead was often shipped to Dutch cities including Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Hornsea 3 wreckage is likely a testament to this era, since it’s located on a historical shipping route between the U.K. and the Netherlands.

The team added that while the ingots are the most significant discovery made during their survey last year, they waited to announce their find until they secured a new home for them. After further examination and preservation work, the artifacts will reside in the Peak District Lead Mining Museum. 

“These ingots are a direct link to the past,” Alison James, MSDS Marine director of heritage services, said in a statement. “As a landlocked maritime archaeologist based in Derbyshire, “I love the thought that these ingots, potentially made from Derbyshire lead, have gone to sea and are now available for public view.”

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Your next fancy face cream or bubbly bottle of imported wine may have made its trip across the Atlantic Ocean on a massive sailboat. 

Starting next year, international shipping giant DHL plans to transport certain products from Europe to the United States using a new wind-powered vessel designed by French startup VELA. But the 220-foot-long sailboat is a marked step up from Viking longships or the Mayflower in 1620. Inspired by yacht racing, the modernized craft is made primarily of aluminum and carbon fiber and travels at around 14 knots, or roughly 16 miles per hour. Its trimaran (three-hulled design) increases stability and helps it cut through open ocean swells.

Though an improvement from sailboats of previous generations, VELA’s massive ship isn’t exactly what most would call lightning fast. At 16 miles per hour, it’s no match for air freight, which crosses the Atlantic in a matter of hours. Traditional container ships, while slower than planes, typically follow fixed routes and can make the crossing in about nine days. VELA, a sleek vessel that’s guided by wind, will travel alternative routes and may take up to 15 days. DHL is hoping that the lack of blazing speed won’t be an issue for certain customers selling higher-end products that don’t necessarily need to reach their destination in an Amazon Prime-level hurry. The goods most likely to make the sailboat journey include wine, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

“The potential of wind-powered cargo vessels lies in their application on selected trade corridors where demand for lower-emission transport solutions is increasing,” DHL Global Forwarding tells Popular Science. 

“The primary objective is to expand the range of transport options available to our customers, enabling them to choose solutions that best fit their priorities,” DHL adds. 

News of the partnership was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Turning to past tech to solve modern climate problems 

DHL’s interest in VELA’s sailboat stems from a push to find new ways to reduce carbon emissions. International shipping is a significant source of greenhouse gases, accounting for around 3 percent of all global carbon dioxide emissions. And while electrification and sustainable fuels have started to address emissions in cars and planes, shipping has remained stubbornly tied to heavy fuel oil. It is  cheaper than more refined alternatives, but far more environmentally harmful because it produces high levels of black carbon and sulfur dioxide, both of which are linked to increased risk of heart and lung disease.. DHL, for its part, has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Most of that transition will likely come through cleaner shipping fuels, but wind-powered options like VELA boat could help fill in some gaps.

Founded in 2023, VELA claims that it has created the first sailing cargo ship with three hulls specially designed for freight transport. Most recreational sailboats have a single hull or double hull, but the company’s trimaran design brings added stability. This extra stability is crucial for the long transatlantic journey and also allows for a wider base, so the boat can support particularly large sails. When extended, the sail area comes out to 6,705 square feet. The mast is made of carbon fiber and the sails use high-performance fabric, both choices borrowed from racing yacht design.

The boat’s propulsion system runs almost entirely on wind, save for a small engine it uses to navigate within ports. Solar panels on the deck power electricity for the crew and help keep certain cargo like pharmaceuticals climate controlled. The ship’s reliance on wind means, by necessity, it won’t follow the same standard routes cargo ships typically travel. Instead, like early transatlantic sailors, its path will be dictated by natural guiding winds.

The ship is massive compared to other sailboats, but puny when stacked up against a cargo ship. When fully stocked, it can reportedly carry 415 metric tons of material, or around 600 European pallets. That’s reportedly about five times more than a typical cargo plane, but roughly one-fifth the capacity of a standard cargo ship. Those limitations will help dictate the particular kind of cargo the sailboat will transport. Since it’s focused on lighter pallets, the sail boat lends itself more toward moving smaller luxury items. All told, VELA estimates its wind-powered boat will cut emissions by 99 percent compared to air freight and 90 percent compared to container ships.

VELA did not immediately respond to Popular Science’s request for comment. 

Gondola’s, solar boats, and snowshoes: alternative delivery methods 

Though DHL is specifically seeking out VELA to provide more environmentally sustainable shipping options, the sailboat design offers some other potential upsides. For starters, its smaller and lighter design means the sailboat can access smaller ports. That’s important because the handful of major ports large enough to support full-scale cargo ships are bottlenecked and experience a constant backlog. By accessing smaller ports more off the beaten path, VELA’s sailboat can load and unload cargo much faster. 

Relying on wind for propulsion means the boat will also generate far less noise pollution than cargo ships, which is good news for whales and other marine life. Its mostly aluminum body means it’s also easier to recycle once it reaches the end of its life cycle.

DHL tells Popular Science its use of VELA’s sailboat isn’t intended to replace conventional sea freight or air transport. Instead, they hope it will serve as an alternative option for specific routes and shipment types. When the ship makes its maiden voyage in 2027, a certain allotment of cargo space will be reserved for DHL. The shipping company, meanwhile, will handle the logistics network necessary for the crossing, as well as customs and warehousing.

And while it might seem odd for a major shipping company like DHS to embrace sailboats, it wouldn’t be their first experimentation with unusual-looking vehicles. They already use gondolas to navigate Venice’s canals and a solar powered boat in Berlin. In rural parts of Normal, delivery drivers even use snowshoes to take the final steps necessary to leave packages at customers doors. 

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