Follow along as Felix Baumgertner skydives from space
Felix Baumgartner is going to skydive from space today. At Popular Science, editor Jennifer Bogo is on site and live blogging the whole thing. As of 12:18 Central time, Baumgartner was in his capsule...
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How humans evolved to explore
Boldly going where nobody's gone before. In a lot of ways, that idea kind of defines our whole species. We travel. We're curious. We poke our noses around the planet to find new places to live. We're...
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The horrors of an avalanche (and the beauty of really amazing online journalism)
Now this is how you do multimedia. At The New York Times, John Branch tells the amazing, terrifying story of 16 backcountry skiers and snowboarders caught in an avalanche in the Cascade mountains in...
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Inside L.A.'s lost subway
I always forget that Los Angeles has a subway at all, let alone the fact that it used to have a much more extensive one. Parts of that old subway have sat, abandoned, beneath streets and buildings for...
View ArticleJourney into a volcano
Back in July, I told you about an crane system used to lower tourists into the now-empty lava tubes of an extinct volcano. Now, you can travel down into Iceland's Thrihnukagigur volcano yourself — via...
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How space radiation hurts astronauts
NASA image of the Crab Nebula, a remnant of a supernova. Scientists think that Galactic Cosmic Radiation comes from places like this. Space is full of radiation. It's impossible to escape. Imagine...
View ArticleMars needs seitan
There will be no bacon on Elon Musk's Mars. UPDATE:Elon Musk would like you to know that he is not trying to be the Emperor of Mars and has no authority to ban meat there. (Thanks Carl Franzen!)
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Dutch reality TV show offers one-way trip to Mars
A television company in Holland is seeking volunteers for a one-way trip to Mars. The good news is that the sort of people who would volunteer to be on a reality TV show will be on a one-way trip to...
View ArticlePut a GPS on your cat
When one of Caroline Paul's cats disappeared for 5.5 weeks, it inspired her to find out what Tibula (the cat) was really up to when he left home. The process of this is pretty fascinating. The outcome...
View ArticleSome things to think about before you apply to go to space with Mars One
Mars One wants to send human beings on a one-way trip to Mars by 2023, funding the mission via the proceeds of a reality television show about human settlers on Mars. If you're like me, part of your...
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The Moon's mysterious dust
I'd never seen this NASA photo of Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan before. It was taken after one of his three moonwalks with crewmate Harrison Schmitt, though you could be forgiven for assuming that...
View ArticleVoyager I: Maybe still in our solar system, maybe not
Call it Schrödinger's space probe: Voyager I may or may not have left our Solar System. Some of the information the probe has collected suggests that it's slipped the surly bonds of the Sun, while...
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Researchers find 22 new photos of early 20th-century explorers marooned in...
What's better than new shots of Mount St. Helens? How about some new photos of the Ross Sea Party — a group of men who traveled to Antarctica to set up supply depots for Ernest Shackleton in 1914 and...
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Century-old box of Shackleton expedition negatives discovered in Antarctica
The Antarctic Heritage Trust of New Zealand announced (PDF) that it had discovered a century-old box of photographic negatives from Captain Scott's last expedition base at Cape Evans, depicting Ernest...
View ArticleSpaceship docks with ISS, astronaut immediately tweets awesome photos
No ship has a better helm. #ISS Fly Navy! pic.twitter.com/7ixBgPRZKU— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) May 29, 2014 A Russian spacecraft carrying three people docked successfully at the International Space...
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Malaysia blames quake on naked selfie tourists, some of whom now can't go home
In Malaysia, a government official blamed a recent earthquake that jolted Mount Kinabalu on a group of European and North American tourists who outraged locals by snapping nude photos at the mountain...
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As we marveled at Pluto, this spectacular comet image came out
While we were busy enjoying the spectacular images of Pluto, ESA's Rosetta camera released this image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (more…)
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Travel through a breathtaking ice cave in Iceland
Martin Critchley shot this lovely ice cave footage, which proved so popular he released an extended cut. (more…)
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Colorized film and photos of a deadly Antarctic Expedition in 1912
In 1912, Herbert Ponting captured remarkable film and images of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition. Amateurs and pros have all worked to restore and colorize Ponting's work....
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This googly eyed stubby squid might make your day
E/V Nautilus explores the ocean, sharing highlights of their video captures, like this adorable googly-eyed stubby squid seen off the coast of California. (more…)
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Comic about three weeks on an oceanographic research vessel
Lucy Bellwood, an adventure cartoonist of the beloved (to me, at least) ligne claire school of illustration, created this webcomic about spending time aboard the R/V Falkor, "a state-of-the-art...
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Antarctica's Blood Falls mapped and analyzed a century after discovery
One of the weirdest places in Antarctica is Blood Falls, a five-story cascade of blood-red liquid pouring from Taylor Glacier. Researchers finally traced its source: a saltwater lake millions of years...
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Treasure trove of deep-sea specimens includes dongs of the deep
Australia's Sampling the Abyss project went 2.5 miles underwater 62 miles off the east coast of the continent, netting a treasure trove of delightful creatures, including a peanut worm that in Rob...
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Deep-sea expedition seeks clues about how extraterrestrial life might exist
Life on the Rocks is a fascinating account of a scientific expedition to a craggy archipelago off Brazil, where conditions may unlock secrets about possible life forms on Europa, Enceladus, and other...
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How to cook and eat a gourmet meal in Antarctica
Very quickly. Before it, and you, freeze. On Cyprien Verseux's Twitter account, wonderful snapshots of fun with food on the bleak, frozen ice sheets of Antarctica. “I had no idea that having lunch on...
View Articlethe International Space Station has been in orbit for 20 years!
You read that headline right: the ISS has been bopping around our planet for two long decades. How do you celebrate one of the greatest collaborative scientific undertakings in human history? If...
View ArticleDIY submarine? DIY submarines!
Last year, Shanee Stopnitzky dropped her doctoral studies in marine biology for another soggy pursuit: submarines! Picking up a pair of used submarines (apparently they're not just for the Canadian...
View ArticleMelting sea ice forced scientists on Arctic mission to make emergency detour...
A German icebreaker ship carrying scientists on a year-long international expedition through the high Arctic finally reached the North Pole, after melting sea ice forced an emergency detour. From AP:...
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You can take a diving tour of the Titanic wreck for $125,000 beginning May 2021
Bloomberg reports that the Washington-based OceanGate Expeditions will begin offering underwater tours of the Titanic shipwreck next summer. The nine so-called "mission specialists" allowed on each...
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Take a nerve-wracking trip 600 feet down this abandoned silver mine
If your palms are too dry, this descent into a partially-collapsed abandoned Nevada silver mine should moisten them right up for you. Excellent camera work under incredibly dangerous conditions. Check...
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