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Measuring How Effective Smokeless Fire Pits Actually Are

HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH FIRE GOES BACK hundreds of thousands of years.

Ego's ZTR Is the Electric Lawnmower to Beat Out Gas

We love the power and versatility of gas-engine mowers.

We Turned a Retro Camper Into Our Home for $10,000

How to UPGRADE 106 SQUARE FEET FOR YEAR-ROUND LIVING

The Math That Helps the James Webb Space Telescope Sit Steady in Space

Want to solve for Lagrange points yourself? An undergraduate student who's taken an advanced mechanics class and vector algebra has all the tools they need to find those solutions.

TEACH A KID DIY, ENGINEERING, AND PHYSICS WITH A FREEWHEELING TABLETOP CATAPULT!

This historical design is perfect for young builders.

So You Want to Skydive From Space?

Endless threats: A loss of pressure in a space diver's suit could result in decompression sickness.

My Dirty Car Has a Dirty Secret: It's a Surprising Gas Guzzler

CAROLINE DELBERT IS A WRITER, AVID READER, AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR AT POPMECH. SHE'S AN ENTHUSIAST OF JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING HER FAVORITE TOPICS INCLUDE NUCLEAR ENERGY COSMOLOGY, THE MATH OF EVERYDAY THINGS, AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF IT ALL

How the Complicated Physics Inside Your Coffee Mug Could Lead to Better Robots

The natural human gait walking along a straight path (x) affects the trajectory of the coffee (z) in the cup based on the velocity of the gait.

Cooking With the Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens

In the late aughts, Ooni revolutionized homemade pizza-making when it introduced the first outdoor, portable pizza oven.

Everything You Need To Get Started In Magnet Fishing

In addition to treasure hunting, magnet fishing has an environmental aspect-it helps to clean up our waterways.

Do the U.S. Navy's Aircraft Carriers Still Rule the Seas?

USS Gerald R. Ford steams in the Atlantic Ocean in 2019. The newest U.S. aircraft carrier cost a hefty $13 billion to develop

Could Solid-State Hydrogen Storage Be a Serious Alternative to Batteries?

A laser shines light on nano thin film inside a canister, releasing hydrogen that can feed a fuel cell.

Can a Retired Rocket Engine Take Us to Mars?

The space shuttle's main engine was mothballed with the program in 2011. Now NASA believes it's the future of interplanetary travel.

How and Why Microplastics Invade Our Everyday Lives

Organizations like the Ocean Cleanup use nets (above) to capture large pieces of trash, but microplastics often slip through. Data from a 2016 study (left) found that fibers made up as much as 71 percent of microplastics that flow into the Great Lakes.

Life in the Fast Lane: Peek Inside the RVs of NASCAR's Finest

NASCAR DRIVERS FACE A GRUELING SCHEDULE, SPENDING more time at the track than they do at home; the 2022 NASCAR schedule will cover 39 weekends this year, with up to 19 consecutive weeks of racing.

We Built the World's First V-8 Tesla

The Rich Rebuilds team had a dead model S. They fixed it with a Camaro engine

This Is the Closest Scientists Have Gotten to Reaching Absolute Zero

The absolute temperature scale gives measurements in Kelvins-unlike Celsius and Fahrenheit, which use degrees. Absolute zero is thus 0 Kelvin, not 0 degrees Kelvin.

TCL's Latest 6-Series Television Is the First Affordable 8K TV

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Someday, a Pig-to-Human Organ Transplant Could Save Your Life

Kidneys aren't the first pig part to enter a human body. Doctors routinely transplant pig heart valves into human patients.

This Natural Treasure Contains the Secret to Stronger Armor

Keshi pearls, sourced from Akoya pearl oysters, can exhibit up to 2,615 layers of nacre, built up over a span of 548 days.

Plotting the Lot: Which Cordless Lawn Mowers Cut the Most Grass

THE TEST

I Bought a GHOST TOWN

This abandoned California mining village once had 400 buildings. Now I'm restoring the 20 that remain.

Digital Locks Are Shackling the Future of Tinkering

It's likely been decades since you last found a service manual included in the box with a new tech product. The Right to Repair movement seeks to change that.

HOW TO BUILD a BACKYARD GREENHOUSE

Step-by-step plans for making a plant-filled oasis

Did the U.S. Lose a Crucial Testing Ground When It Left Afghanistan?

Members of the 82nd Airborne Division test C4 in Afghanistan in 2002