Popular Science

It’s one of military history’s most exciting chapters. In 218 BCE, Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed the Alps with a squadron of 37 war elephants to invade Italy. 

While we can’t say which route he used to cross this rugged terrain, a new study published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) offers some new clues. The new analysis shows which of Hannibal’s potential routes would have been less taxing on his 40,000 men, 7,000 horses and 37 war elephants. His best option likely would’ve been the Col de la Traversette, a pass with an altitude of 9,669 feet on the border between Italy and France. 

Why did Hannibal cross the alps?

Hannibal hailed from Carthage, a dominant ancient Phoenician city-state and empire in present-day Tunisia. During the Second Punic War, Carthage controlled North Africa’s coast and the Iberian peninsula (present-day Spain and Portugal). Rome sought to use its naval dominance to force its rival to surrender. 

To bring the war right to Rome’s doorstep, Hannibal led his army over the Alps from France into Italy. This was easier said than done, as it required traversing rugged terrain, snow, and ice, while surviving mountain passes that were controlled by local tribesmen who could attack them from above. However, going through the mountain range meant he could avoid Rome’s fearsome navy on the Mediterranean and its army garrisons on land. 

Only two primary sources of the event survive and were written 20 and 160 years after the event. And since no archaeological evidence is available, interpreting the events of the crossing is difficult. All modern theories depend on interpreting the three place names used by the writer Polybius (Island, Skaras, and Allobroges) and the wider range of tribe and place names written by Livy. Scholars then compare those locations with current geographical knowledge.

According to Livy’s account, Hannibal marched his army across the Alps in just 16 days. However, Hannibal’s entire military campaign took over roughly two months and ended up being very costly. Hannibal lost upwards of 20,000 men and Carthage ultimately lost the war.

Why he used elephants for the crossing is still unclear. He may have intended them to provide a tactical element of surprise during his first battles against the Romans. He also may have hoped that the wonder of seeing these elephants may help him help recruit the Celts of Northern Italy to his side.

Saving energy

In this new study, a team from the University of Oxford in the U.K., the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), and Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany evaluated the competing theories about which route over the mountains Hannibal took. Previously, historians believed that he may have taken the Col du Clapier, an 8,127 feet-high mountain pass between Savoy, France, and Piedmont, Italy. 

The team used route modelling and elevation data, to estimate the energy cost of each possible Alpine crossing. They used data collected on how much energy modern African elephants would use to make a crossing like this, based on their body mass and the terrain. 

Their results suggest that the Col de la Traversette would have been both the shortest and most energetically efficient route. When compared to the Travesette route, traveling via the Col de Montgenèvre would have required 11 percent more energy. Col du Clapier would have required 16 percent more, while Col du Mont Cenis needed 19 percent more energy. 

The team’s models also underscore what a physical challenge it was to move an army (and elephants) through the mountains. If they took the Traversette route, the men would have lost 19 percent of their body fat reserves, which may be one factor behind the high human mortality rate later in battle. Hannibal lost roughly 20,000 men by the end of the campaign. 

Surprisingly, the new analysis suggests that the war elephants would have fared better on the crossing. Elephants would have only lost four percent of their fat reserves, based on the team’s models. These high energy reserves likely explain why many, if not most, of the elephants survived.

“The question of Hannibal’s exact route has been debated for generations,” Dr. Emilio Berti, a study co-author and biologist at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, said in a statement. 

“The new analysis does not eliminate all ambiguity, but it does strengthen the case for the Traversette route by demonstrating that it would better accommodate the demands of moving a large army that included elephants through extremely difficult alpine terrain.”

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During last year’s brief visit from the comet 3I/ATLAS, astronomers got an extremely rare glimpse into the cosmos beyond our solar system. As only the third known interstellar object to pass by Earth, the frigid, dusty rock has already provided researchers with new and unexpected data about deep space. But in addition to recently learning about the comet’s surprisingly alcohol-laden, ice volcano-covered composition, astronomers now say they have a better sense of its age. According to chemical traces detailed in a study published today in the journal Nature Astronomy, 3I/ATLAS is very, very old.

“3I/ATLAS is a really exciting opportunity to probe the composition of another planetary system, one that formed long before our Sun and solar system even existed,” Rosemary Dorsey, an astrophysicist at the University of Helsinki and study co-author, said in a statement.

3I/ATLAS was extremely bright upon its approach to Earth in July 2025, unlike the previously documented interstellar objects 1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov. This allowed Dorsey and colleagues a never-before-seen chance to examine details like its isotopic ratios—varying amounts of different forms of the same element. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, they paid particular attention to the carbon and nitrogen isotopes inside cyanide molecules swirling within 3I/ATLAS’ gas cloud. These traces are very susceptible to conditions present during a comet’s formation period, but afterwards do not alter much while it spends eons traveling through space.

Unlike local comets, the interstellar tourist contains unusually high nitrogen and carbon isotopic ratios. Based on this and other examinations, the team believes the comet was born in an outer region surrounding an ancient, low-metallicity star. These stellar objects contain few elements heavier than helium, implying they originated during a much younger era of the universe before it became more chemically diverse. Combined with evidence from other recent studies, it now appears that 3I/ATLAS began its travels long before the sun existed. The comet may even be over twice our yellow star’s age, making it more than 9 billion years old.

“[Interstellar comets] are sort of fossils from a planetary formation process that happened very far away, but that we get the chance to study from much closer,” added University of Edinburgh astronomer and study co-author Cyrielle Opitom.

3I/ATLAS is rapidly becoming more difficult to observe as it continues its journey out of the solar system, but the vast amounts of data astronomers collected while they could will will keep them busy for years. At least, until our next interstellar visitor arrives.

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Every single day, we’re constantly looking at pixels. The tiny elements make up the displays on our phone screens and televisions, and allow us to capture images on digital cameras. Generally, a pixel works by either controlling light (think a computer) or analyzing it (like a camera sensor). Now, researchers writing in the journal Nature say they’ve created a pixel that can do both. 

Called a Fourier pixel, the new pixel tech is based on a fundamental principle of physics: interference. When light is scattered by a surface, the waves can overlap with each other, even if they originated from different points. When two or more light waves overlap, they reinforce each other. If the light waves are out of step, they cancel each other out. 

The new pixels use this phenomenon to control light with wave-shaped sculpted surfaces. The name Fourier pixel  comes from Fourier analysis—a mathematical process that the team used to break down and understand how the waves behaved. Each patterned area, or pixel, turns light into a surface wave that travels along the chip’s surface. Then, in a different place within the pixel, the surface wave is scattered back out as a light wave. These scattered lightwaves can be used to generate colored images. 

In other words, the researchers carved tiny patterns into a chip that allows them to control how light waves combine. These patterns allowed them to create pixels that both steer and analyze light. 

“Thanks to the fact that the relevant surface profiles of the pixels can be determined using Fourier analysis, we can combine the control and analysis of amplitude, phase and polarisation on a single pixel,” said Sander Vonk, a study co-author and postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, in a statement. He added that Fourier analysis is mathematically simple, and does not require complex models.  

The findings could have far-ranging technological applications in the future. “Our new pixels for control and analysis could, therefore, become a useful tool in many areas,” said David Norris, a study co-author and materials engineer at ETH Zurich. 

One day, we might even have pixels that both capture an image and process it without needing a computer.

But in the short term, the team has more practical goals. They want to create a matrix of Fourier pixels that could be used to make more complex camera display devices. Still, you might have a future laptop screen capable of taking your photo. 

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It’s difficult to overstate just how much the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has helped advance our understanding of the universe. Since its debut in 2008, the 16.7-mile-wide subatomic smasher buried underneath Switzerland proved the existence of the Higgs boson particle (aka the God particle), highlighted the perplexing nature of muons, and even measured antimatter. Apocalyptic conspiracy theories to the contrary, it expanded on key concepts in quantum physics, while charting a path forward for researchers around the world.

Still, all good things must come to an end. On June 29, CERN announced that the LHC had officially entered “Long Shutdown 3,” thus ceasing operations after 18 years of remarkable work. But in keeping with some of the most mindbending quantum physics concepts, the LHC is technically both dead and not dead at all. 

Instead of a total decommission, the collider is now on schedule to begin receiving upgrades that will transform it into an even more powerful version of itself. The Large Hadron Collider is dead—long live the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HiLumi LHC).

“The LHC has exceeded every expectation,” CERN Director for Accelerators and Technology Oliver Brüning said in a recent statement. “Today we say goodbye to the LHC as we have known it, while preparing to welcome its successor…which will extend this scientific adventure far into the future.”

The LHC went dormant to receive upgrades and recalibrations during two prior Long Shutdowns in 2013–2015 and 2015–2018. However, these upcoming additions are major enough to usher in an entirely new phase of the atom smasher’s existence. Over the next four years, CERN and its collaborators will renovate the entire LHC complex and its facilities. These will include consolidating the North Area’s Super Proton Synchrotron, deconstructing the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso target area, as well as overhauling a section called the Experimental North Cavern 3 into a high-intensity fixed-target section. Researchers estimate that around 0.75 miles of magnets and other components will be removed and replaced entirely with new technology.

“The LS3 represents a huge and complex logistical and engineering undertaking,” said LS3 Coordination Team director Jean-Philippe Tock.

Unsurprisingly, starting up the new HiLumi LHC won’t be as simple as flipping a switch. A gradual reboot will begin in 2028 before becoming fully operational in 2030. As its name implies, the HiLumi LHC will generate a luminosity ten times greater than its predecessor, allowing it to gather data on the subatomic world in much greater detail while investigating subjects like the Higgs boson. From there, the potential for new discoveries is as vast as the universe itself.

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There’s a particular kind of trance that takes hold when you gaze into a glowing, flickering campfire—the kind where you don’t even notice that your marshmallow has gone from toasty treat to active volcano to some kind of science experiment gone horribly wrong, all while you were looking right at it. 

Fire has mesmerized us for as long as we’ve known how to control it. It warms us, feeds us, and lights our homes. But something else is clearly going on: right alongside premium entertainment and live sports, streaming services like Netflix somehow find room in their lineup for hours of fireplace footage.

For humans, anyway, fire is more than just a practicality—it’s closer to a fixation.

Dr. Daniel M.T. Fessler, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, has a theory about why. He maintains that kids who grow up building fires out of necessity actually lose interest in fire once they’ve mastered it. The fascination so many of us carry into adulthood, he argues, might just be unfinished business.

“Once people get good at building fire,” Fessler says, “they’re just not as interested in it anymore.”

Master it, and the magic disappears

Fessler’s original research on this dates back more than two decades, when he and his wife, an anthropologist, spent nearly three years conducting ethnographic research in Southwestern Sumatra, a large Indonesian island west of Java. They lived in a community where most households cooked over a wood fire, and only a few had transitioned to kerosene stoves. 

In these communities, Fessler observed, kids were around fire from the time they could walk, and often had more unsupervised free time than most American kids. Six-year-olds scooped embers from the family cooking fire so they could “bake” their mud pies—tiny imitations of the meals they watched the adults cook every day.

By age 10, Fessler says, kids in this community had complete mastery of fire, matching that of “any American outdoor guy.” And that was exactly when the fascination began to wane. 

Mentawai woman cooking in the kitchen of a traditional house in her village on Siberut island in western Sumatra, Indonesia. Children in these rural communities are often exposed to fire at a young age. Image: Getty Images / Nataliia Milko

Fessler sees this as an example of a concept evolutionary psychologists call “prepared learning,” the idea that evolution doesn’t always hardwire us with full instructions for things, but gives us a head start on learning the important stuff fast. In the case of fire, a natural fascination with fire drives the motivation to master it. Once kids master it, it no longer has the same powerful draw.

Conversely, kids whose curiosity about fire never finds a useful outlet may end up spending their adult lives staring into the firepit for hours on end. 

“The idea,” Fessler says, “is that if you don’t have the right developmental experiences, that motivation doesn’t shut off, because you never have enough input into the system for it to say, ‘Okay, we’ve done our job. We can step back now.’”

Not every piece of evidence fits neatly into Fessler’s theory, though. A 2015 study he co-authored tested college students in Anchorage, Alaska, a population with varying levels of fire exposure and mastery, and found something unexpected: People who’d grown up with more fire experience actually reported more enjoyment of it as adults, not less.

Fessler is careful not to overstate the case. “It’s possible that, even in our Anchorage sample, participants did not have sufficiently extensive daily experience with fire as a mundane tool during childhood,” he says. “Or, our hypothesis might just be wrong!”

More than a spark

Fessler’s theory isn’t the only research into the role of fire in the human story. Research led by Christopher Lynn, an anthropologist at the University of Alabama, has explored a related but separate question: Not why we’re drawn to fire, but what it actually does to us once we’re looking at it. 

In one study, he tracked blood pressure while volunteers watched fire under different conditions and found a measurable drop, particularly when the fire included its natural crackling sound. The effect grew stronger the longer people watched.

Lynn’s research also touches on dissociation—not in the clinical sense, but the same everyday kind of “zoning out” you’d experience getting lost in a good book or a movie. Fire, his research suggests, might trigger a mild version of that state, where attention narrows, and the mind quiets down.

The research points to something bigger than personal comfort, too. Evolutionarily, more easygoing people may have had a real advantage around the fire. Calmer group members tend to create less social conflict. They’re more cooperative, more willing to share food, more likely to watch each other’s backs. A fire that helped people relax might have rewarded those who were able to take advantage of that calm, not only in the moment, but in the alliances and solidarity it made possible. 

Fessler, for his part, is not surprised by any of this.

“It’s not surprising to me that we see these relaxation effects,” he says. “Part of it is probably due to the stimulus properties of fire itself, part of it is the emotional attraction to it, and part of it is clearly cultural.”

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Fessler admits he is a bit puzzled that fireplaces continue to be a selling point for modern homes, given their relative inefficiency, cost, and environmental impact.

“If you look at real estate listings, what do they describe? The number of bedrooms, the square footage, the number of bathrooms, whether it has a swimming pool and the number of fireplaces,” he says. “Which is completely absurd.”

Grown-ups may never shake the urge for a fireplace to stare into, irrational as it may seem. But there might be a smarter way to handle that same curiosity about fire in kids. 

Fessler points to fire safety programs in Germany that skip the usual “stay away” warnings American kids grow up hearing. Instead of telling children to avoid fire entirely, the programs teach them how to build and handle it safely. Fessler isn’t sure how the program’s designers arrived at this approach, but says it tracks with everything his research suggests.

“Instead of just saying ‘don’t,’” he says, “they’re saying, ‘here’s how you handle fire safely and responsibly.’”

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 a two week expedition off the coast of Brazil, an international team of researchers discovered 31 new marine species, including a fast-moving gossamer worm, a creepy fish, and other organisms that look straight out of outer space. Take a look and learn more about some of the newly-discovered creatures living deep in the southern Atlantic Ocean.  

This is a new species from the genus Tomopteris, commonly known as gossamer worms. Tomopterids spend their entire lives in the water column, living just below the surface to over 4000 meters. Little is known about their lives despite prior studies of their unusual, brilliant yellow bioluminescence. The expedition science team tested new technology that provides scientists with new, non-invasive ways to study these remarkable animals. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute.

The mission focused on the ocean’s midwater, the part of the ocean below the water’s surface and above the seafloor. It is about 600 to 3,300 feet deep and is the least understood ecosystem on Earth, despite the fact that it’s teeming with life. The immense water pressure makes it extremely hard to study. 

This juvenile glass squid, collected by ROV SuBastian at 779 meters depth in the South Atlantic, was photographed on R/V Falkor (too) using a prototype multiview macro camera system developed through a collaboration between the Dr. Jan Hemmi (University of Western Australia, the Bioinspiration Lab at MBARI and Dr. Karen Osborn (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History). The system allows scientists on the ship to quickly document the finest details of an animal from three directions at once. This data gathering reduces the disturbance to the animal and captures anatomical, color and posture details that are lost within minutes to hours once the animal is collected. Image: Emily Clark / MBARI via Schmidt Ocean Institute Emily Clark / MBARI via Schmidt Ocean Institute

“The largest habitat on Earth, the midwater, is filled with incredible animals we are only just starting to understand,” said Karen Osborn, the expedition’s chief scientist, in a statement. “I continue to be fascinated by the fantastic variety of solutions they have evolved to survive in this formidable environment, and that drives me to keep asking questions about our ocean.”

The science team documented this larval fish at a depth of 966 meters during a dive with the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian. Dr. Marcelo Melo of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo in Brazil specializes in the taxonomy and evolution of deep-sea fishes; he will try to match this baby form with the adult form the animal will eventually grow into. Image ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

The Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel (R/V) Falkor (too) tackled the problem with an array of high-tech tools: an underwater robot named SuBastian, a virtual reality chamber, and a gravity machine—a tracking microscope that studies microbes in a rotating wheel. They also used a spinning wheel confocal microscope nicknamed “the Squid” to image living cellular structures inside organisms for the first time. 

A female octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) consumes a jellyfish at 800 meters depth. This large pelagic octopus (her mantle is 40 to 50 cm long) spends her entire life in the open ocean. Males of this species only grow to 30 centimeters (approximately 12 inches). Females can grow up to four meters (13 feet) and weigh 75 kilograms (165 pounds). This species is rarely seen alive, and most of what is known about it has been determined from specimens caught in trawl nets. 
Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

“This opens a new door for researching deep-sea physiology, linking cellular architectures to organism function. We can now witness live internal processes within these extreme organisms adapted to withstand immense pressure and darkness,” Manu Prakash, a bioengineer at Stanford University, said in a statement. 

This is a new species of lobed comb jelly, as identified by Dr. Dhugal Lindsay (JAMSTEC). These ctenophores are unlike comb jellies that trail long, sticky tentacles behind them to catch prey; lobates are characterized by two large, muscular oral lobes that extend beyond their mouths and are used to trap prey. ROV SuBastian pilots recorded this observation at a depth of 560 meters. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

These technologies allowed the researchers to rapidly identify new species onboard the vessel. Among them are a funky-looking glass squid, ethereal jellies, and tiny single-celled organisms. 

The team collected footage of this siphonophore at 552 meters depth. The imaging systems tested on R/V Falkor (too) allowed researchers to create millimeter-scale, 3D renderings of the creature in its natural habitat. Most species identifications take place ashore, using samples or small pieces, but these systems allow scientists to see and study the entire animal as it lives in the water. Based on images and measurements collected at sea, Dr. Dhugal Lindsay of JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) is confident that this animal belongs to an undescribed genus, perhaps even a new family of physonect siphonophores. Based on the detailed anatomical and genetic data collected in the water and on board, scientists will be able to compare this animal to those collected elsewhere around the globe and give this physonect a name. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute.

“The novel suite of technologies on this cruise is a glimpse into the future of marine biological science,” added Jyotika Virmani, the executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. “We look forward to a future in which scientists study marine life as elegantly as this team did—and in virtual reality.” 

A Solmissus, or dinner plate jellyfish, preys upon a ctenophore, commonly known as a comb jelly. Unlike most jellyfish that passively drag their tentacles behind them, Solmissus swims with their tentacles extended in front of their body to snare ctenophores before vibrations alert the prey. They are believed to be gelatinous apex predators that play a major role in regulating comb jelly populations in the Ocean’s twilight and midnight zones. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

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Today, we celebrate the United States’ semiquincentennial, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. During reflective national moments like these, we tend to focus on the political ambitions and accomplishments of our nation’s founders and those that followed. However, American independence was not won through perseverance and politics alone. Many of our nation’s founders were also practitioners of “natural philosophy” or what we call science today. 

“America is America because of our prowess in science and innovation,” Darryl Williams, Senior Vice President of Science Education at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, tells Popular Science. “Benajamin Franklin [along with our other founders] saw the opportunity for this new nation to really have as part of its fabric this focus on science to enhance and improve the human condition.”

The need to create a distinct intellectual identity was not just appealing for the nation’s founders, but undoubtedly crucial for independence from England.

“I think the economic piece of it is really critical. The very practical need to assert economic independence from England really drove a lot of the early conversations,” Adrianna Link, Curator of History of Science at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, tells Popular Science.  “Questions like how could we increase crop efficiency or deal with agricultural pests [including the Hessian fly] were fundamental to our survival.”

Whether a purely intellectual or economic pursuit, science was not only fundamental to our independence and ability to thrive as a nation in 1776,  but remains so in 2026.

Ben Franklin with a key and a kite (and much more) 

Benjamin Franklin’s contributions to early American science are arguably the most widely known and celebrated. His numerous inventions included the odometer, the lightning rod, the flexible catheter, and bifocals, but Franklin also considered the very act of accumulating knowledge and sharing information to be the noblest of pursuits. In a letter to Sir Joseph Banks dated July 27, 1783, he wrote  “I begin to be almost sorry I was born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be known a hundred years hence.”

To support this effort in the then American colonies, Franklin founded the The American Philosophical Society (APS) in Philadelphia in 1743. Its purpose was simply stated as“promoting useful knowledge.” APS is not only the oldest learned society in the United States,  but also the longest continually operating press in the country. APS’s flagship journal Transactions of the American Philosophical Society was first published in 1771 and continues through today.  

“Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky,” an artistic rendition of Franklin’s kite experiment painted by Benjamin West, c. 1816. Image: Public Domain via Google Art Project

“Franklin thought a lot about how best to allow people to have access to and share information,” says Williams. Franklin had previously founded the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731, and donated books from his personal collection to what would become the Franklin Public Library. The library remains the oldest public lending library in the U.S.

Franklin was also one of our earliest and brightest science communicators. In 1752, he successfully demonstrated the electrical nature of lightning with his famed kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment. Franklin recounted the event in the Pennsylvania Gazette on October 19, 1752, providing detailed instructions for, “drawing electric fire from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron,” so that others could replicate his experiment. His experiment was reproduced by many including an account published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in July 26, 1753. His findings were also celebrated across Europe. 

“Benjamin Franklin had all these incredible inventions that, again, have impacted society even through today, but I think his biggest legacy is really this idea around participatory science,” adds Williams.

David Rittenhouse and the Transit of Venus

By the 1760’s, the stars and planets literally and figuratively aligned for Franklin’s APS.  On June 3, 1769, Venus passed directly between the sun and the Earth, becoming visible against the solar disk. Called the Transit of Venus, the celestial event had also occurred in 1761, but attempts by the global scientific community to directly observe and document it were unsuccessful.

David Rittenhouse, astronomer, surveyor and inventor, joined APS in 1768, and used his skills to lead the American efforts to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus. Armed with his own homemade telescope, his team’s observations and measurements were later published in The Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions and helped French astronomer Jérôme Lalande accurately determine the precise distance between the Sun and the Earth. That measurement is still used today and called the astronomical unit (AU).

Under Franklin and later Rittenhouse and Thomas Jefferson’s leadership, APS showed how to mobilize a network of well-educated individuals and share their observations and data with counterparts across the colonies and Europe. 

“This kind of transatlantic exchange was as much part of the early identity of the APS as was the formation of something that one might think of as distinctly American science,” says Link.“If you think of Franklin as kind of creating the preconditions for America’s scientific success, it’s really Jefferson who establishes that close connection between the APS and the New Republic’s commitment to doing science.”

An account of the Transit of Venus over the sun, published in the APS Transactions (Vol. 1). This account was made by Reverend John Ewing in 1771. Image APS. Magnificent megafauna and America’s first science museums

To further promote and popularize science in the newly formed United States, public-facing natural history museums formed in the later 1700s. Early curators first had to establish and build natural history collections almost completely from scratch, while also improvising and experimenting with how to exhibit the scientific discoveries of the day. 

“It was very minimal storytelling [at first]. It was more along the lines of, this is what we have…very curiosity cabinet-style presentation,” Matt Gibson, Curator of Natural History at the Charleston Museum, tells Popular Science.

The Charleston Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, considered America’s First Museum, was founded by the Charleston Library Society at the eve of the American Revolution in 1773. Its early founders and contributors included distinguished South Carolinian Thomas Heyward Jr., a member of the Second Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

At first, the museum was open only for Charleston’s Elite. After a major fire in 1778 and dwindling funds in the decades that followed, the Library Society transferred all of its collections to the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina in 1815. They opened to the general public in 1824, charging 25 cents for adult admission.

“When they opened, they had some 4,000 minerals [on display], prints and paintings, and numerous natural history specimens,” Jennifer McCormick, Chief Curator at The Charleston Museum, tells Popular Science. “We still have three objects from the [18th century collection] that includes a crested chief’s helmet from the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), a Cassava strainer, and three spears from Suriname.” 

Peale’s Museum opened in Philadelphia in 1784. Its founder Charles Wilson Peale was a painter, Revolutionary War officer, state assemblyman, scientist, and naturalist. His first exhibition was 44 portraits that he painted of early American heroes including Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. In 1786, his museum began showcasing natural curiosities alongside his portraits. In 1794, Peale accepted the role of APS librarian and moved the museum to their building. Rittenhouse’s famed telescope is among the surviving artifacts at APS.

“One of the things that Peale did very deliberately was thinking about this [connection] between science and American identity. He paired natural history specimens with portraiture. You’d have George Washington’s portrait alongside the mounted mastodon skeleton, which was a huge kind of wonder in the American imagination [at the time],” says Link. 

During the Pliocene, this region’s forests and waterways would have provided lush habitat for herds of mastodon. Image: Mural by Jay Matternes. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

This push to showcase the biggest and fiercest animals that once roamed the continent, was not just about generating business or buzz. It was politically motivated as well. “After the revolution, there was all that conversation about how American flora and fauna were inferior to those found in Europe” says Link. “That’s why the mastodon discovery is such a critical one for [America] and the APS, too because that was an example of America actually having impressive megafauna.” 

The Charleston Museum maintained its own impressive collection of  extinct American megafauna over the centuries including the estuarine crocodile (Gavialosuchus carolinensis), a giant ground sloth (Eremotherium laurillardi), Jefferson’s ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii), and the false-toothed bird Pelagornis sandersi, a bird species with a wingspan somewhere between 21 to 24 feet.

These early museums and their natural history displays not only captured the public’s imagination, but likely served as inspiration for countless 19th century natural history museums that followed, including The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia (1812), The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. (1846), and The Field Museum in Chicago (1894). 

Us and the state of American science today 

Science has come a long way since the American Revolution—thank you, germ theory and vaccines. But the dogged pursuit of knowledge and scientific integrity that was among the earliest preoccupations of our nation’s founders remains vital to the continued success of our science and nation. 

Acquiring knowledge and using it to improve our new nation and the lives of its citizens remains something that we experience every day, through the use of weather and crop disease forecasting tools that saves lives, genetic research to improve and personalize medicine, and advanced computing and instrumentation to help decipher the complicated history of our planet and universe.  

While 18th Century practitioners of natural philosophy did not need the specialized skills, multimillion dollar instruments or the advanced degrees required of today’s scientists, science, at its very core, is still achieved through careful observation and critical thinking. And that’s something Franklin, Jefferson and other early scientific revolutionaries hoped to instill in every American.

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How the timber rattlesnake became a symbol of American independence

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A juvenile humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) entangled in the opening to Alaska’s Endicott Arm was successfully freed after a multi-agency rescue mission. Endicott Arm is a narrow fjord located about 50 miles southeast of Juneau. While remote, it’s a major destination for cruise ships and commercial fishing vessels that can be a risk to whales and other marine wildlife. 

According to a statement from NOAA on June 24, several mariners noticed the entangled juvenile whale on the evening of May 10 and reported the sighting to the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network 24-hour hotline. The whale was caught in lines from two commercial Tanner crab pots. Since each pot weighs around 800 pounds, they essentially acted as anchors on the animal, making it unable to move. 

The mariners’ alert allowed regional coordinators to develop their response plan in a timely manner. “We formed a network of eyes on the water—vessel crews coordinating real-time updates between one another and relaying them to us,” said NOAA Fisheries Marine Mammal Specialist Suzie Teerlink in a statement. “That communication was critical. It gave us insight into the nature of the entanglement, helped us build a safe response plan, and gave us confidence that we could relocate the whale.” 

A response team made up of biologists from NOAA Fisheries, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Marine Mammal program, and local partners from Alaska Sea to Shore mobilized the very next day. They worked over five hours to make four precise cuts that freed the whale from the pots and most of the entangling lines. 

“Cutting gear off an animal of this size can be dangerous,” said John Moran, a NOAA research fisheries biologist and advanced responder on the team. “We use long poles fitted with specialized knives to extend our reach. That allows us to cut lines while reducing the risk of being injured by a 40-ton animal.”

The responders are hopeful the remaining will eventually fall off the whale.  

Entanglements are a major problem in Alaska. Since 1998, there have been more than 140 confirmed reports of entangled large whales. That number is likely far greater, since many entanglements go unreported. Unable to move, the animals can drown or starve, develop life-threatening infections, and may be hit by vessels.  

“We are incredibly grateful to the whale watch community and everyone who reported this entangled whale to the NOAA Fisheries hotline,” said Sadie Wright, Large Whale Entanglement Response Coordinator for the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region. “The details provided by the public enabled our response team to prepare and execute a safe response to this life-threatening entanglement, leading to a successful outcome.” 

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With the United States’ 250th birthday coming up on July Fourth, it may seem like George Washington is everywhere, from a live PBS broadcast featuring Ken Burns at Colonial Williamsburg to two-part screenings of the musical Hamilton where actor Christopher Jackson plays the Revolutionary War hero.

But at the Morristown National Historical Park in New Jersey, visitors can almost touch the first president of the United States—or at least part of his jacket. In honor of the country’s semiquincentennial, the park that commemorates the Continental Army’s encampment from December 1779 to June 1780 has put together a special exhibit displaying items from early American history. George Washington’s very own overcoat is included, but this isn’t any ordinary suit jacket, though. It’s the overcoat that George Washington wore to the ball on his inauguration night in 1789. 

Originally known as his “golden suit” because of its bright gold-yellow color, a careful analysis of the garment conducted by the Smithsonian and Morristown National Historical Park revealed that it wasn’t golden at all.

Dr. Asher Newsome, a physical chemist at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute, used a special technique known as mass spectrometry to analyze a tiny amount of fibers from the coat. 

Smithsonian experts analyzed a tiny amount of fibers from the historic coat, but—don’t worry—the garment wasn’t harmed. Image: Asher Newsome, Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute

Don’t worry, the Founding Father’s priceless suit wasn’t touched. The fibers Newsome analyzed had just fallen off the coat thanks to Father Time. Curators usually refer to these types of specimens as “self-sampled.”

Once Newsome received these self-sampled fibers in the mail from Morristown, he got to work. Using a technique called Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (or DART-MS), Newsome was able to figure out the exact natural dyes used in the famous coat. 

“Nowadays, there are untold thousands of synthetic dyes, but there’s a very small number, relatively, of natural dyes,” Newsome tells Popular Science.

After running a DART-MS analysis, Newsome could look at the chemical signatures present in the fibers. He then matched those signatures to the known chemical signatures of different natural dyes to figure exactly which dyes were present in Washington’s suit.

And Newsome didn’t just find one dye: He found a range of different natural dyes from across the colonial world. “There’s shellac, which comes from an insect. There’s madder,” he says, “that comes from a root. There’s Brazil wood, walnut, logwood. Those all are dyes that were identified positively.”

Each of these dyes create a range of different colors. Shellac, which comes from an insect Kerria lacca native to India and Southeast Asia, creates a crimson to deep purple color. Madder comes from the roots of flowering shrubs in the genus rubiaceae, and creates a strong red color. Similar to shellac, Brazil wood can create a red or purple color. Walnut creates browns and tans. And, finally, logwood produces a rich royal purple color.

Based on Newsome’s analysis, curators at Morristown National Historical Park created a replica of Washington’s suit using the exact natural dyes present in the original. The replica wasn’t a golden color at all, but a rich, vibrant plum color. 

In fact, when a patch of the dyed plum-colored silk was left in the sun, it turned a yellow-golden color. That might explain how Washington’s famous overcoat turned golden in the centuries since he partied on his inauguration.

Behold what George Washington partied in! Get down, Mr. President. Image: Philip DePaola

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America’s Time Capsule is about to go underground until 2276. In honor of the United States’ 250th birthday, America250 will bury the zombie-proof historical repository this Fourth of July at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And you do not need to be in the City of Brotherly Love to watch. A livestream of the event will begin on July 4 at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

Speakers will include Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, U.S. Semiquincentennial Commissioners Reginald Browne and Cathy Gillespie, America250 Executive Vice President Jennifer Condon,and Independence National Historical Park Superintendent Thomas Caramanico.

All 50 states, Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories contributed items to the time capsule. Some notable objects include fabric from the Wright Brother’s plane, a North Atlantic right whale bone, a feather from a bald eagle that served in the Civil War, an Olympic gold medal, and an Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max. 

The time capsule is a multi-year collaboration among America250, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Library of Congress, the National Park Service, Independence Historical Trust, and additional project partners. The stainless steel capsule was built to withstand 250 years of water, and mainly consists of two sections. A tube-shaped container holds the capsule’s precious cargo, while a larger bell jar-like device seals it with an air pocket. That jar works similarly to pushing an upside-down bucket in a pool of water. 

The high-tech box will remain buried within Independence National Historical Park, the site where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and signed. It will remain sealed until July 4, 2276.

Related America250 Stories

America’s Time Capsule includes fabric from the Wright Brother’s plane, whale bone, poker chips, and more

Do not open until July 4, 2276: U.S. buries a ‘zombie-proof’ time capsule

How the timber rattlesnake became a symbol of American independence

The largest peacetime maritime gathering in U.S. history comes to New York City

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NASA is ringing in the country’s 250th anniversary with a collection of Fourth of July themed images and videos highlighting cosmic wonders far beyond the United States. Researchers recently visualized a set of images across a spectrum of red, white, and blue hues compiled by the Chandra X-ray Observatory as well as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). To compliment the sights, NASA also produced new sonifications—a method to transform astronomical information into often ethereal soundscapes.

About 11,000 light-years away from Earth, the supernova Cassiopeia A’s X-rays (seen above) are rendered in blue and purple, while infrared wavelengths are shown in red and white using data from JWST. The X-ray overlays capture the destroyed star’s expansive blast wave of elements including calcium, iron, and oxygen. Meanwhile, the infrared components illustrate the explosion’s growing shell filled with cosmic dust.

NCG 3603, which contains a massive cluster of stars on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

The gigantic star cluster inside the nebula NGC 3603 (about 20,000 light-years away) shines in a second image. 

The spiral galaxy is seen face on, with concentric pale violet cloud rings flecked with scores of stars in white, pale blue, soft red, and golden yellow. Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

The third showcases the Messier 94 spiral galaxy. The luminous formation about 16 million light-years away visible around the galaxy is called a starburst ring, home to new stars. The new sonification subjects include Messier 94, with various pitched tones mapped to a glass marimba representing objects like neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes.

For the nebula NGC 3603, piano notes serve as stand ins for objects depending on their brightness.

To see and hear all of the seasonally appropriate offerings, click here.

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Viewers tuning into the 2026 World Cup may not realize it, but they are staring at a piece of high-tech equipment hundreds of years in the making with every single kick. The seemingly simple soccer cleat has progressed from a chunky leather work boot worn in factories to a marvel of modern engineering made with advanced synthetic materials and composites. Some of today’s cleats even weigh in at less than a pack of playing cards. The evolution of these soccer cleats, or “football boots,” as they’re often called, mirrors the evolution of the beautiful game and its players over time.

That progression essentially breaks down to a few key components: the shoe upper, the sole and toe guard, and, of course, the cleats. Each part looks radically different today than when players first started knocking balls around hundreds of years ago. The leather for the upper of the shoe once came from kangaroo hide (not cowhide). The cleats, now scrupulously modeled in 3D simulations, originated as sharp metal nails, the kind sold at a local hardware store. These changes are the result of fierce competition between a handful of major brands, each pushing the game, and the athletes’ speed, power, and physics-defying spin, forward.

The early years: leather work boots with sharp metal nails

Modern soccer as we know it began somewhere between the 18th and 19th centuries. Those first few hundred years were far less organized than the game millions around the world view on their screens today. People (most often middle- or lower-class workers) played for leisure, without formal leagues or professional teams. As a result, those hobbyists typically played with whatever equipment they had lying around. That often meant leather work boots or even their bare feet. Those early days are how soccer footwear earned the moniker it has almost everywhere outside the United States: football boots. The name certainly fits. Soccer shoes in the late 1800s and early 1900s were indistinguishable from the rugged, high leather boots seen on factory floors.

Vintage soccer boots and ball at the Beamish Open Air Museum in County Durham, England. Image: Dea/S. Vannini/Contributor via Getty Images.

But players started making modifications pretty quickly. Work boots lacked traction, which isn’t ideal when playing on British turf often muddied by rain or slicked by winter frosts. To compensate, early soccer players would hammer nails into the soles of their shoes, which would dig down into the grass and provide at least a bit more stability. That slight improvement came at a cost. Anyone caught on the receiving end of a DIY soccer cleat loaded with sharp, likely rusting metal nails probably wasn’t getting back up to finish the game.

Designs started to change in the late 1800s, as organizers attempted to standardize more parts of the game. In 1886, the then-newly formed Football Association in England released a document laying out a handful of equipment guidelines intended to make the game marginally safer. Importantly, shoes of some kind were now mandatory. The document also banned the use of nails in shoe soles, unless their edges were covered with leather. Relatively quickly, a new basic standard was formed: an all-leather, lace-up boot with six studs spread out along the sole. That stud layout would mutate into the cleats of today.

How a pair of German brothers changed the game

Soccer cleats saw occasional iteration during the early 20th century. However, a real turning point that would define the future of both the shoe’s sole and its support is the work of two brothers from a small German town. Rudolf and Adolf Dassler from Herzogenaurach (often referred to as Herzo) created the first fully specialized soccer shoes. Their company’s name, Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik, translates to Brothers Dassler Shoe Factory in English.

Theirs was the first company to specialize in optimizing design for performance, in both soccer and running. According to the Hulu documentary series Sneaker Wars, a series of odd events led the Dassler brothers to provide backup shoes for American sprinter Jesse Owens during his historic performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The ensuing name recognition would make them the most sought-after athletic shoe, but it would also drive a wedge between the brothers. They eventually split and created two of the most important brands in soccer footwear: Adidas and Puma. More than a century later, both of those now-international companies still have their headquarters in the tiny German shoemaking town.

Not long after the company’s formation, Puma moved footwear forward by introducing the first boot with an interchangeable stud. That single part was important because it meant demanding players could swap out different-sized plastic and rubber studs to best suit different pitches and weather conditions. Meanwhile, shoe designs started becoming lower cut, resembling a modern sneaker more and more. Aside from aesthetics, this design change allowed for better player movement and agility. Players could run faster and change direction more quickly, which translated to better performance on the pitch.

The soccer cleat also had to adapt to changes in the way the game was played. By the 1960s, an increasing number of teams were adopting artificial grass. The longer, more traditional studs struggled to grip properly on the slicker surface, so shoe makers began using shorter, rubber cleats. Around the same time, in 1966, Puma introduced its Puma King model, which connected the upper part of the shoe to the sole. This design would go on to be copied by others for years.

George Cohen, right back for Fulham Football Club, sorting out a pair of football boots during a training session on July 26, 1967, at the Fulham training ground in Ewell, Surrey, England. Cohen was a squad member of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup. Image:  William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. William Vanderson About that kangaroo leather…

About a decade later, Adidas made the more controversial design decision to use kangaroo leather in its 1979 Adidas Copa Mundial. The material was prized for its lightweight, uniquely soft texture, and durability. It was a big hit. 

That model would go on to become one of the best-selling shoes of all time. The kangaroo-based material came to be known as “K-leather” and became a gold standard in the industry. That’s only recently started to change. ESPN estimates the global commercial kangaroo product industry was worth $200 million in 2021, a figure propped up by K-leather shoes.

In 2023, both Puma and Nike announced they would cease production of any product made with kangaroo leather by the end of the year. That decision came on the heels of a handful of proposed state and federal bills in the U.S. aiming to make it illegal to sell kangaroo-based products. At the same time, advances in synthetic leathers were increasingly becoming more attractive for shoe makers in terms of both performance and production cost.

Cleats enter the television era

Since the 1990s and 2000s, soccer shoe design has iterated more rapidly. This breakneck pace of innovation is attributed to both rising viewership and participation among players around the world and to the rise of American shoe maker Nike as one of the biggest brands in the sport. Several models stand out during that period for advancing the shoe’s tech and science. Adidas’s 1994 Predator added strips of rubber on the shoe’s toe, which provided extra grip that the company and players say translated to bigger, curvier bends on the ball. Though the degree to which that was the shoe’s doing or the player’s skills remains up for debate.

In 1998, Nike’s Mercurial became one of the more influential shoes to use synthetic leather instead of the real thing. Fast forward 16 years, and Nike would go on to release its Magista line, crafted out of a single piece of fabric, which meant it essentially fit more like a sock than a shoe. Magista would go on to influence a number of other models, some of which are still trying to emulate that sock-like look. It took less than 100 years for the soccer shoe to evolve from a heavy leather work boot to a nearly weightless piece of synthetic fabric some might mistake for loungewear.

United States Women’s National Team striker Mia Hamm in action against Brazil during the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinals on July 4. Image: Peter Read Miller /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images. Peter Read Miller The modern era: computer model, ultralightweight material, and bright colors 

Instead of cobblers working in dark rooms, making soccer shoes now is more likely to involve a team of engineers comfortable with 3D computer models. Today’s major manufacturers turn out new ideas in computer simulations and make fine adjustments to every part of the shoe, from upper size to cleat shape and positioning, to try to give players an edge.

Nike reportedly uses a tool called Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to test out plate positioning digitally prior to real-world testing. In a 2016 interview with Popular Mechanics, a Nike executive said data gleaned from FEA revealed that new chevron-shaped studs improved propulsion and multidirectional movement over previous blade-shaped studs. 3D modeling has also helped make overall shoe designs even lighter and better at gripping than before. This reduced weight and added grip complement the modern game, which often prioritizes outright speed and power above all else. Exemplifying that, Adidas made the world’s first soccer cleat weighing less than 100 grams in 2015. To put that in perspective, that’s about the same weight as a four-pack of AA batteries.

Cleat makers are also embracing new types of polymers and synthetic materials that early shoemakers couldn’t have dreamed of. Nike introduced what it calls Anti-Clogging Tech, which uses an adaptive polymer and hydrophobic solution that keep mud from getting stuck in plates, which can reduce grip and traction. Doing this reportedly required understanding the molecular structure of mud. More recently, the company has also introduced adaptive traction technology, which lets pegs in cleats automatically adjust to varying turf conditions, extending deeper into the ground on softer grass and acting more like a stable stud on harder pitches.

Nike boots with the flag of Brazil during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Brazil and Japan at Houston Stadium on June 29, 2026. Image: Hugo Rivera/Jam Media/Getty Images.

But maybe the most noticeable innovation in shoe tech that most fans will notice during matches at this year’s World Cup has little to do with tech at all. It’s the colors. For decades, soccer cleats were almost exclusively monochrome white or black. That’s certainly not the case today. The field is inundated with a full panorama of bright, bold colors, with hot pink being particularly popular. This shift to brighter colors is partly so T.V. viewers can more clearly spot the shoes at home, but it also has a more strategic, psychological component. It apparently makes elite players feel like they have an edge.

“What we’ve been hearing consistently from the athlete and the consumer, especially when it comes to big moments, is that bright colors give them confidence,” Nike Global Footwear Product Line Manager Odinga Nimako said in a recent interview with The Athletic. 

While the game’s massive stadiums and even bigger player personalities may attract the bulk of attention during this year’s World Cup, it might be worth taking a moment to look down and appreciate just how far those boots have traveled.

In The History of Every Thing, Popular Science uncovers the hidden stories and surprising origins behind everyday things.

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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.

The post July Stargazing: Meteors, more meteors, Pluto, and even more meteors appeared first on Popular Science.

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.

The post Man uses a Game Boy Camera to photograph Jupiter appeared first on Popular Science.

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.

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