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Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall.

Latest in Ask Us Anything

A postcard advertises the GM (or General Motors) Chevrolet Nova Custom coupe, seen from both the side and from the rear with the hatchback open, 1974. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
Technology

How do cars get their names? Art, science, and a legal process.

By Kristin Shaw

An Opened Prescription Medicine Bottle Among Many Other Sealed Bottles on Yellow Background High Angle View.
Health

How prescription drugs get their names

By Julia Craven

CALIFORNIA, USA - MAY 9: U.S. President Biden arrives at Moffett Federal Airfield of NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, United States on May 9, 2024.
Technology

Why does Air Force One take so long to replace? It’s not just bureaucracy.

By Mack DeGeurin

Florida, Coral Gables, Classic Car Show, 1955 Pontiac, blue, chrome bumper,
Technology

Why don’t cars have bulky bumpers anymore? 

By Kristin Shaw

an arm covered in a rose tattoo
Science

Where does tattoo ink go in your body? There’s one particular spot.

By RJ Mackenzie

A pattern of ears on a background
Science

Why can some people wiggle their ears?

By Clarissa Brincat

two side by side illustrations. on the left, a man with a red background sweating next to a thermometer with a high temperature. on the right, a man with a blue background shivering next to a thermometer with a lower temperature
Environment

What is ‘feels-like’ temperature? A meteorologist explains.

By Laura Baisas

Young woman yawning, close up
Science

Why do some people need less sleep?

By Clarissa Brincat

Once considered vestigial, the appendix may play an essential role in gut health.
Science

Which body parts do humans not need?

By Julia Craven

noses and a green stink cloud
Science

Can bad smells harm you? 

By Keith Wagstaff

girl dreaming waking up
Science

Why don’t you remember all your dreams?

By Lauren Leffer

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare–as seen in the bright flash on the right side–on September 10, 2017. The image shows a combination of wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, which has then been colorized.
Science

Could the Carrington Event happen again?

By Laura Baisas

Close up on woman white teeth.
Science

Could we ever regrow our adult teeth?

By Harri Weber

dog depression
Science

Do animals experience mental illness?

By Mack DeGeurin

a bird with white and black plummage and an egg on a nest and three other birds standing around her
Environment

Which animals reproduce at the oldest age?

By Laura Baisas

(Original Caption) 1938-Close-up of the very front end of a 1938 Cadillac La Salle. This smaller counterpart to the Cadillac features a smaller radiator grille, and four headlights, as well as the hood ornament and bumper.
Science

Why don’t cars have hood ornaments anymore? 

By Kristin Shaw

Voyager Golden Record cover on black background
Science

What is on the Voyager Golden Record? Shockingly, not The Beatles.

By Andrew Paul

flying with cellphone airplane mode
Science

Why do we still have to use airplane mode?

By Tom Hawking

The long finger sticking out of the Sun at the bottom left of this image is a coronal mass ejection. It was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on August 31, 2012.
Science

Does the Sun make noise?

By Harri Weber

an orange cat with green eyes with its tongue out
Environment

Why do some cats have orange fur? New hue clues in an old mystery.

By Clarissa Brincat