These jets are critical for moving people and goods around the world, but they are also wildly out of step with global efforts to fight climate change by reducing emissions. Airlines and aircraft manufacturers are aware of their large and growing carbon problem. Aviation is responsible for about 2.1 percent of global CO₂ emissions, which is roughly comparable to the CO₂ emitted by all gasoline motor vehicles in the U.S. annually. But nobody can agree how to fix it.
The technologies contending to decarbonize the airlines are hydrogen, biofuels, and batteries. Boeing and Airbus, the two largest aircraft manufacturers in the world, have very different opinions on which of these heralds the future of large passenger jets. But they appear to agree on one thing: The cost, complexity, and lackluster performance of battery-electric propulsion makes this technology a dead end for large-scale aircraft. After Airbus mothballed its most advanced hybrid-electric prototype, the 100-passenger E-fan X, in 2020, the company has switched its focus to hydrogen fuel cells. Boeing has largely placed its bets on biofuels and hydrogen for large passenger jets, though the company is making strategic investments in smaller-scale electric aircraft such as the "air taxi" being developed by Wisk Aero.
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Underwater UFOs - A retired U.S. Navy admiral believes that the government should look to the oceans to help solve a mystery in the skies.
A retired U.S. Navy admiral believes that the government should look to the oceans to help solve a mystery in the skies. Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet, former Oceanographer of the U.S. Navy, recently published a paper arguing that unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP, more commonly referred to as UFO) and unidentified submersible objects (USO) are linked, and should be studied further.
Synching Up Our Circadian Rhythms - If you've ever done any kind of long-distance travel, or just woken up feeling under-rested thanks to daylight saving time, you know how important your circadian clock is.
If you've ever done any kind of long-distance travel, or just woken up feeling under-rested thanks to daylight saving time, you know how important your circadian clock is. Like many things in your body, your circadian rhythm is more complicated than it might seem on the surface. Rather than being entirely brain-based, it's actually controlled by a collection of several circadian clocks (central and peripheral) that all work together to keep your gears turning like a well-oiled machine.
SKINWALKER RANCH REVEALED
The 512-acre ranch has captivated real-estate tycoons, TV producers, and the U.S. government. What are they searching for?
Upgrade Your Living Room With This DIY - MID-CENTURY COFFEE TABLE
This project is easy to build and customize to fit your space.
CHASING AN ASTEROID
HOW NASA DEFIED INCREDIBLE ODDS TO GET ITS ASTEROIDHUNTING OSIRIS-REX MISSION OFF THE GROUND AND IN THE PROCESS UPENDED WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
INDISPENSABLE LESSONS FROM A POP MECH LEGEND
With people moving around so much these days, it's perfectly natural to wonder how an editor can just come along and stick like a barnacle to the hull of Popular Mechanics, lasting for 35 years.
SAVING THE SUGAR BUSH
A technological revolution has transformed the ancient tradition of sugar making-with big implications for local economies and ecosystems imperiled by climate change.
Whether We Live in a Simulation
IN THE 1999 FILM THE MATRIX, NEO DISCOVERS A truth to end all truths-the universe is a simulation. While this premise provides fantastic sci-fi fodder, the idea isn't quite as relegated to the fiction section as one might expect.
MANIPULATION AND MEDICAL ETHICS
The taking of cervical samples wasn't the only medical procedure of dubious consent in Lacks's story.
Henrietta Lacks
IT'S NOT SURPRISING THAT Henrietta Lacks-whose \"immortal\" HeLa cells were pivotal in developing treatments for diseases such as polio, HIV/AIDS, and COVID19-is referred to as \"the mother of modern medicine.\"
