Popular Science

Cells suspended in a water-based gel make up the “ink” in this 3D printer. CREDIT: WAKE FOREST INSTITUTE FOR REGENERATIVE MEDICINE This article was originally featured on Knowable Magazine. A hand touches a scalding hot plate, sharp pain erupts and immediately, the body gets to work. Damaged cells send out distress signals; immune cells rush in. As inflammation subsides, a coordinated repair process begins.

A siphonophore—a colonial marine invertebrate related to the venomous stinging Portuguese Man-o-war—is scanned using Deep Particle Image Velocimetry (DeepPIV) at a depth of 350 meters. This species was undescribed prior to this encounter and is likely new to science. DeepPIV is a laser- and optics-based imaging system that quantifies both the motion of liquids and the 3D shape of transparent animals.

Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment in 1752 was a pivotal scientific event, which demonstrated the connection between lightning and electricity. Image: FPG via Getty Images 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.

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The NOAA Fisheries response team uses poles with specialized knives to cut entangling lines. Image: Alaska Department of Fish and Game/Jamie Musbach (NOAA Fisheries Permit # 24359) 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.

George Washington's original 1789 inauguration overcoat (left) is a golden-yellow color, but researchers believe it originally was a deep plum color as the reproduction shows on the right.

The America250 time capsule (left) and the bell jar that will fit on top of it, shown here in the machine shop where they were created at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland Image: Rich Press/NIST America’s Time Capsule is about to go underground until 2276.

Shaker women, such as the women pictured on the left, invented all sorts of things, including the circular saw. Image: Bildagentur-online / Contributor / Getty Images (left); duncan1890 / Getty Images (right) In the 2025 musical film The Testament of Ann Lee, a radical 18th-century prophetess who claims to speak with God leads her followers from England to America. Remarkably, this story is based on real history.

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