Popular Science

For decades, the prehistoric Hohle Fels cave in Germany has been a treasure trove for archeologists. Excavations have unearthed ancient musical instruments, jewelry, and even the world’s oldest human figurine. Now, scientists have discovered  artefacts that show our relationship with birds goes back thousands of years: a pair of thumbnail-sized bird figurines carved from mammoth ivory. 

The two birds were found in 2025, in layers dating back some 40,000 years to the Aurignacian period, which represents some of the earliest known culture in Europe. 

“The figurines demonstrate that the earliest artists were skilled ivory-carvers, who could depict delicate motifs in miniature form,” Nicholas Conard, an archeologist at the University of Tübingen who led the excavation, said in a statement. 

Depiction of a lying bird from the Ice Age site of Hohle Fels. Image: University of Tübingen

They were discovered less than five feet away from each other, which suggests they may have been carved by the same artist. The birds are extremely small, each measuring less than half an inch. Usually, figurines from this period measure between one to four inches. One of the figurines is complete and depicts what the researchers believe may be a brooding bird, while the incomplete one depicts a bird with outstretched wings that may be in flight or landing. 

“The carvings are not highly stylized but instead include many specific and unique features,” Conard added. “Here, the artist has recorded detailed observations that allow us to consider which kind of bird is represented and what the bird could be doing.” 

For instance, the bird with spread wings could be flying, landing, or mid-courtship. 

The researchers believe one of the birds may be a ptarmigan, a bird in the grouse family that is often seen in artefacts from Hohle Fels and is still living today. The other bird could also be a ptarmigan, but it’s also possible that it’s another bird in the grouse family or a bird of prey. Whatever they may be, the figurines offer a window into not just the natural world at the time, but also how our ancestors interacted with it. 

Depiction of a bird with outstretched wings from the site of Hohle Fels Cave. Image: University of Tübingen.

“Our region and landscape have always been the home of a vast range of birds, and nearby Lake Schmiechen is today a bird sanctuary,” added Stefanie Kölbl, the managing director of the Museum of Prehistory and Ice Age Art in Blaubeuren. “Even 40,000 years ago birds were here. Their song filled the air, and some species came to the region in the course of annual migrations. Their calls signaled warnings, and the residents of the region often used their hollow bones and even mammoth ivory to make flutes that produced magical sounds.”

Despite their tiny size, the figurines also raise many questions, including what meaning they may have held for the cave’s residents. Were they personal talismans? Could they be symbols of  identity for specific groups like a sigil? Perhaps the cave has more answers waiting to be uncovered. 

If you happen to be in Germany soon, the figurines will be on display at the Museum of Prehistory and Ice Age Art in Blaubeuren until April 2027. 

The post Ice Age bird figurines discovered in German cave appeared first on Popular Science.

Jackie the internet-famous bald eagle mom is still in critical condition, according to the latest update from the Ojai Raptor Center. She remains in intensive care, receiving oxygen therapy, supportive treatment, and around-the-clock monitoring by the staff. 

“Her blood values have declined again, with her packed cell volume (PCV) falling below 10 percent, and her condition remains critical,” the center shares.

The contrast CT scan and bone marrow biopsy she had earlier in the week have also given the team important new information, while the results of additional specialized testing is still pending. 

“Every decision we make is guided first and foremost by her medical condition, her welfare, and what is truly in her best interest,” they write.

A team from the Ojai Raptor Center taking care of Jackie. Image: Ojai Raptor Center.

Jackie was admitted about three weeks ago, after she was found injured on the ground near Dana Point Park on July 17. Cell phone video from a witness confirmed that she had an altercation with two other subadult eagles. She successfully fended off the other eagles by turning over and using her talons, but could not fly far away. She has since been diagnosed with anemia, and been under the Ojai Raptor Center’s care ever since.

This is a developing story and we will continue to share updates as they become available from the Ojai Raptor Center and Friends of Big Bear Valley’s (FOBBV) official channels.

Jackie and Shadow’s 2026 babies: Everything you need to know

It’s been another roller coaster nesting season for Jackie and Shadow, a pair of internet-famous bald eagle parents living in San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. After two of their eggs were destroyed by ravens in January, Jackie and Shadow laid two new eggs that have successfully hatched.

Chick 1 hatched on April 4 at 9:33 p.m. PDT, while Chick 2 followed on April 5 at 8:30 a.m. Their large nest in Big Bear Valley east of Los Angeles is livestreamed 24 hours a day by nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) and has captivated millions. 

On May 1, FOBBV announced the chicks’ names: Sandy and Luna.

How long will the chicks stay in the nest? 

Chicks usually stay in the nest until 10 to 14 weeks of age. Sandy and Luna were last spotted at the nest on July 23 and have likely left the area on what FOBBV calls their “grand journey.”

What challenges do the eaglets face?

Before leaving the nest, the chicks face threats from other birds of prey, including hawks, ravens, other eagles, and owls. Inclement weather can also present challenges for the chicks. In 2025, a March snowstorm resulted in the death of one of Jackie and Shadow’s three chicks.

During fledging, only 70 percent of eaglets survive. One of the greatest threats is from cars that can injure or kill the birds while they scavenge for food on roadkill. 

Who are Jackie and Shadow? 

The pair first got together in 2018 and successfully raised chicks in 2019 and 2022. However, their eggs failed to hatch in 2023 and 2024. Only 50 percent of eagle eggs successfully hatch, so this pair has already beaten the odds.

What happened to Jackie and Shadow’s 2025 eaglets?

In 2025, Jackie laid three eggs that all hatched in early March. On March 13, a strong snowstorm dumped up to two feet of snow and battered the nest with strong winds. Only two of the chicks were visible on the live cam when the storm passed by the next morning. FOBBV later confirmed the passing of one of the chicks. The two surviving chicks were later named Sunny and Gizmo after 54,000 names were submitted by fans.

What happens after chicks fledge? 

Young eagles usually fledge–or leave the nest and fly–when they can flatten their wings and have feathers capable of flight. This typically occurs when the birds hit 10 to 14 weeks of age. Males also tend to take their first flight a little sooner than females. 

According to FOBBV, fledglings from Southern California have been spotted as far south as Baja California, as far north as British Columbia, and as far east as Yellowstone National Park.

About 70 percent of bald eagles survive the fledgling stage. FOBBV does not tag their eagles, so it’s not possible to follow the chicks’ journeys after they flee the nest.

How can I help Jackie and Shadow?

FOBBV accepts donations to support its conservation efforts in the area. The organization recently reached a goal of raising $10 million to purchase land around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. A $5.5 million donation from Anna and Greg Brockman pushed the fundraiser to its goal ahead of a deadline. Greg Brockman is the co-founder and President of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Before the Brockmans’ donation, more than 25,000 donations had raised almost half of the necessary funds.

You can help the rescue organization nursing Jackie back to health by donating to Ojai Raptor Center’s Bald Eagle Recovery Campaign.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Popular Science’s parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

The post Jackie the bald eagle’s blood values drop again, still in critical condition appeared first on Popular Science.

Voyager 2 recently experienced its own “Big Bang” moment, allowing NASA scientists to squeeze a bit more life out of the intrepid space probe. Nicknamed after the universe’s origin story, the process involved powering off selected devices aboard the cosmic traveler, while simultaneously swapping them with less resource-hungry alternatives. At the same time, mission specialists needed to make sure Voyager 2 stayed warm enough to avoid entering a permanent freeze.

Both Voyager 1 and 2 have spent almost 49 years soaring through space. In the process, they’ve traveled further than any other human-made objects have ever gone before. Initially intended to provide never-before-glimpses of the outer planets, they have surprised researchers by continuing to send back remarkable data while sailing further into the unknown.

The Voyagers each draw power from three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, (RTGs) that use decaying plutonium-238 as fuel. These RTGs supplied about 470 W of energy at 30 volts at the mission’s outset in 1977. Because plutonium has an 87.74-year half-life, this means the spacecraft annually lose around four watts of their power. At this point in their journey, Voyager 1 and 2 are running on about two-thirds their original reserves.

NASA began strategically shuttering nonessential equipment in 2024, including Voyager 2’s plasma science instrument. The technology measured solar winds and planetary magnetospheres, making it largely irrelevant since the probe exited the solar system in 2018. Three instruments are still operational aboard Voyager 2—its magnetometer, plasma wave subsystem, and cosmic ray subsystem.

With the successful implementation of NASA’s “Big Bang” hack, Voyager 2 will save enough power to add another year of life to its remaining trio of programs. Given that Voyager 1 is farther away, engineers will next attempt a similar energy swap in the near future. If all goes as planned, it’s possible that at least one instrument aboard one or both of the historic explorers can continue communicating with humanity into the 2030s.

If nothing else, Voyager 2’s sibling is on track to pass a momentous milestone later this year. On November 18, 2026, Voyager 1 will officially have traveled 16,094,799,096 miles—or one light-day—from Earth. It’s a record distance that many of the spacecraft’s designers never imagined possible, and one that likely won’t be surpassed anytime soon.

The post NASA successfully gives Voyager 2 another year of life appeared first on Popular Science.

Turtle mothers are stubborn creatures of habit. They usually return to the same nesting area to lay their eggs, even in the face of great obstacles. 

During the spring and summer (aka baby season), it’s not unusual for the New England Wildlife Centers south of Boston to receive calls about turtles and roads, Priya Patel, the center’s Wildlife Medical Director, tells Popular Science. These include turtles trying to cross a road, on a road, or possibly struck by cars. 

“Turtles are on the move as soon as it starts getting warm in the spring,” Patel explains. “They usually tend to brumate [reptilian hibernation] in one spot and then when they come up in the spring, they’ll find their partners, mate, and then they have specific areas where they usually like to lay their eggs every year. And they’ll try to get to that area, no matter what’s in their way.” 

Given their perseverance, it’s unsurprising that turtle mothers will also find their way into backyards. They hide their eggs so expertly, however, that the average person is unlikely to recognize a turtle nest unless they see the mother in action. And even then, many people are unsure of what the turtle is up to. 

“Most people don’t know what they’re doing when they find them. They’ve just seen them in a spot for a long period of time and then they’re worried about them,” she adds. 

Depending on the situation, the wildlife center asks people to either send in pictures or video before disturbing the turtle, unless the turtle is obviously injured. 

Based on photographs, the wildlife center might tell residents to simply leave the turtle alone for the time being, because she could be laying eggs. If the turtle is endangered, however, then it’s good to let someone know. 

By shining a light through the shell, vets can see the developing turtle embryo inside and confirm that the egg is viable. It’s a simple technique that offers a glimpse at the next generation before they hatch. Image: New England Wildlife Center.

“If it’s an endangered species, then we would recommend you report it,” Patel explains. “And then the state or a conservation group like Mass Aubon might come out and flag the nest.”

When the wildlife center does receive an injured pregnant turtle, they do everything in their power to care for her. If she is beyond saving, the team will collect her eggs and incubate them to make sure that at least the babies survive. Even in the case where the mother can be saved, the team will induce egg-laying chemically and incubate the eggs so that the mother can focus all of her energy on healing. 

If you come across a turtle during baby season that you’re worried about, reach out to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator or a local wildlife center.And make sure to have your camera on you. Photographs or a video could help experts decide what you should do next. That next action might consist of simply appreciating—from a distance—a committed mama hard at work. 

The post What to do if you find a baby turtle appeared first on Popular Science.

Archaeologists in western Turkey recently discovered a detailed account of 1,600-year-old tax fraud so brazen that ancient Rome made it a deadly offense. Initially believed to be funerary ode inscriptions, the Late Antiquity stone tablets actually provide vital missing information in a notably widespread corruption case that spanned more than a decade—and even implicated the estate of Emperor Valentinian III’s daughter, Placidia.

The artifacts found at the ruins of Stratonikeia in western Turkey relate to a financial case documented on similar stones studied by researchers since the 18th century. Around 465 CE, Roman officials began receiving complaints about tax officials operating in western Asia Minor who were reportedly issuing payment receipts without actually recording the specific totals. They then related lower numbers to the imperial treasury in Constantinople and pocket the excess money.

Despite the flagrant issue, it would take around 15 years for Rome to enact effective reforms. But in 480 CE, a Praetorian Prefect known as Flavius Illus Pusaeus Dionysius finally managed to clamp down on the problem. To ensure an end to the corruption, Dionysius threatened to strip the estate from his special envoy sent to handle the situation unless it was handled. He also issued a much more intense declaration to the suspected fraudsters. Anyone convicted of the scheme would be put to death.

As Arkeonews recently noted, Rome sent at least 11 other imperial orders between the 4th and 6th centuries about properly issue tax receipts, but none mentioned capital punishment. According to University of Warsaw historian Paweł Nowakowski, the decision to dramatically up the consequences for fraud was likely motivated by more than lost money.

“It’s less about the scale of the offense and more about defying imperial will: a kind of rebellion or affront to the emperor’s authority,” he said. “That may be why we see such a severe punishment for officials abusing the imperial family’s estate.”

Nowakowski also suggested the new death penalty was more rhetorical than actionable. He cited other Roman dictates that sometimes mentioned intense penalties to highlight the seriousness of the matter, without any evidence of someone receiving the punishment.

Nevertheless, the decree’s intensity appeared to work. Rome didn’t have a habit of distributing public stone inscriptions across the empire unless the message was received by locals.

The post In ancient Rome, tax fraud was punishable by death appeared first on Popular Science.

People looking to buy or rent a new home expect to get a good look at the place before writing out a check. Online listing makes this easier with room by room photos, and, in some cases, even remote tours conducted through virtual reality headset. But it turns out these virtual real estate walk-throughs go back much further than expected. A new study published in the journal Early Popular Visual Culture, found examples of a fancy London real estate firm offering proto-virtual walk-throughs of property listings dating back as early as the 1830s. 

Their virtual medium of choice was the cosmorama: a gallery where a wealthy buyer could look through a lens and see a magnified, illuminated painting of a property and its surrounding grounds. Though cosmoramas, like their better-known peepshow cousins, were widely used as a form of 19th-century visual entertainment, this is one of the first known examples of the technology being used for a commercial real estate application.

“What we’ve discovered through this latest research project, however, is that its use extended beyond simple entertainment: the appeal of cosmoramas was that they sold an experience of virtual travel,” John Plunkett, a University of Exeter professor and study co-author, said in a statement. “This was utilised by estate agents seeking to sell luxury properties and country estates.”

A form of visual entertainment, cosmoramas were made of a series of paintings viewed through a magnifying glass. Image: C. Blunt, ‘popular description of the cosmorama’, La Belle Assemblée, nº155, vol. 24, November 1821, 233. Cosmoramas: an early, immersive visual adventure

Historians trace the first cosmorama back to Paris in 1808, though they didn’t really pick up steam until the 1820s. The medium was typically presented indoors, and consisted of a series of detailed paintings viewed through a magnifying lens. Use of the lens enhanced perspective and gave the illusion of greater depth. It was an early way for people to have an “immersive” visual experience.

Cosmoramas took off in popularity as a means of visual entertainment largely across Europe and the Americas. They were a form of escape and virtual travel in an era where getting far from one’s immediate hometown wasn’t common. Viewers looking through the lenses could suddenly find themselves transported across the world to some distant country, or get a glimpse of what life might feel like in someone else’s shoes. And while it’s easy to take for granted today, in a world of abundant Netflix shows and never-ending doomscrolling, cosmoramas were a visual marvel for their time.

Plunkett was researching examples of cosmoramas in 19th-century England when he came across a newspaper clipping advertising something previously unseen. A real estate firm called Brooks and Hedger (later named Brooks and Greens) ran an ad dating to 1838, saying they were offering cosmoramic views of certain property listings for sale. The firm claimed to use the medium to offer hundreds of views of estates, showing an aerial, bird’s-eye view of the house and its adjoining grounds. To pull this off, artists would have had to go to each listing and painstakingly paint the scene by hand. Brooks and Hedger offered the cosmoramic viewings for the better part of 20 years, though most of the adverts Plunkett found date to the 1840s.

One of those newspaper advertisements notes how the cosmorama of the property listing depicts a mansion and its surrounding estate with “all the vividness and truth of nature.” Naturally, given the intense amount of labor needed to make these designs, cosmoramas were reserved for more expensive, higher-end listings.

A newspaper advert for a real estate listing promotes the immersive benefits of a cosmorama. Image: ‘Brooks and Green’, The Patriot, 4 April 1842.

“Its great advantages over mere verbal description, is that a purchaser, intent on visiting a distant property may thus enjoy the advantage of having it brought, as it were, within his view, or of selecting for inspection from amongst many, that which best suits his taste and fortune,” the advertisement reads. 

From cosmoramas to virtual reality

Plunkett says the listings are a reflection of a shifting cultural and economic environment at the time. Urban population growth in England and Europe led to an uptick in property sales throughout the 19th century. Meanwhile, more and more competition for  a shrinking supply of properties, led to the creation of the first specialized real estate agents. With competition growing, these sellers had to get creative to entice the biggest spenders. They didn’t know it at the time, but those real estate agents would help create a standard for listings that endures to this day through iterations of various visual mediums.

“But the founding of the first specialised estate agents set in motion a more professional approach to marketing property, fuelled by population growth, urbanisation and improved transport links,” Plunkett added. “In that context, we can see how Brooks and Green pioneered the virtual tour, over 150 years before digital technology would fully realise this potential.”

In That Time When, Popular Science tells the weirdest, surprising, and little-known stories that shaped science, engineering, and innovation.

The post 19th century real estate agents used ‘peepshow’ technology to sell glitzy mansion appeared first on Popular Science.

At first glance, this adult male bird looks just like any other piping plover (Charadrius melodus) scurrying around the beach. But he is missing some crucial body parts.

“We’re always looking on the sand for piping plover footprints because they have this really distinctive, three-toed pigeon-toed walk,” Laura Minich Zitske, a wildlife ecologist at Maine Audubon and director of the Coastal Bird Project tells Popular Science. “We first noticed that there were some funny tracks that we couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. And then we saw this guy without any toes, so we’ve been calling him ‘no toes.’”

In July, photos of “no toes” began to spread among birders. They found their way south to Lorraine Margeson in Florida, after Maine biologist Alex Lamoreaux tagged her in a photo on Facebook to see if she knew this particular plover. A retired shorebird biologist and 23-year volunteer with the Florida Shorebird Alliance, she is a well-known force for bird conservation, particularly for piping plovers.

“There’s just no one else that looks like this,” Margeson tells Popular Science. “This is not an injury I’ve ever seen on any bird.” 

Fully named Phoenix the Footless, Margeson first spotted him in January 2023 around Outback Key in Fort De Soto Park southwest of Tampa. The shorebirds spend the fall and winter in Florida and other states along the Gulf Coast, before flying up north towards the Great Lakes, Great Plains, Mid-Atlantic, and New England for summer breeding season. 

Phoenix successfully pulled up prey from the sand. He was also observed defending his feeding territory from other plovers nearby. Its behavior seemed completely normal despite missing all of its toes. Image: Alex Lamoreaux.

“All of the birds are always coming and going. Some stay, some pass through. One day, I see this poor bird that has fishing line around both its feet,” Margeson recalls. “I immediately called our rescue organizations and the park rangers. We made 20 forays over a couple months to try to get the bird and get the line off. And the little bugger would fly off every time.”

After about a month and a half of this wild plover chase, Margeson noticed that the bird’s feet were developing gangrene and turning black. She was preparing to have to catch him so that he could be humanely euthanized, since parts of his feet were already falling off.

“He must have been so miserable,” Margeson says.

Phoenix’s injuries in March 2023. Image: Lorraine Margeson.

However, when she returned to the beach one day, she noticed a bird running around the sand without any feet, just like any other piping plover. Margeson named him Phoenix the Footless after this remarkable recovery. 

Instead of migrating north, Phoenix stayed put in Florida that first year without his feet as the wounds were healing. He is now migrating just like other piping plovers. 

While birds can survive injuries like this one, Minich Zitske says that it is still fairly rare. Fishing line is particularly dangerous for these tiny birds, but even something as small as a human hair can also be troublesome.

“Especially for chicks because once plovers are adults, they’re not moving on their feet quite so much. They’re mobile within hours of hatching, and running all over the beach,” Minich Zitske explains. “We were able to catch a chick that had been entangled in human hair, and one of its legs was getting swollen, but we were able to remove that hair.”

Typically, ornithologists consider it a good sign if a bird is able to fly away, but the risk of infection still looms. Fortunately for Phoenix, the injuries healed and he is continuing about his bird life. He has not had chicks of his own yet, but observers with Maine Audubon say that he is going through the normal motions to try and nest. 

Phoenix spending the winter in Florida (left) and summer in Maine (right). Image: Lorraine Margeson/Alex Lamoreaux.

Some populations of piping plovers are still listed as endangered, while others are considered threatened. Either way, these birds are rebounding thanks to decades of conservation efforts. This year’s piping plover nesting in Maine has been particularly successful. After only 33 nesting pairs were spotted in 2011, a record-breaking 190 piping plover pairs were spotted on Maine’s beaches this season. As of August 7, 342 chicks have already fledged and 9 are still in Maine.

“If we hadn’t seen all those birds, we wouldn’t believe it,” Minich Zitske says.

Birds like Phoenix the Footless also demonstrate how animals can heal and beat the odds without human intervention. Piping plovers are only six-inches-long, but as Margeson puts it, “they are the toughest little shits that ever walked the planet.”

The post Piping plover beats the odds after losing feet in fishing line appeared first on Popular Science.

While internet-famous bald eagle dad Shadow doesn’t have to care for eaglets Sandy and Luna around the clock these days, he still swung by his habitat yesterday. According to Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV), he perched on one of his preferred trees over Big Bear Lake for about 45 minutes.

One banded nearly mature eagle joined him for a moment, but Shadow did not appear to be in the mood for company. He left the perch in less than 30 seconds, before that visitor flew in the same direction. Later on that morning, a “very vocal” sub adult eagle showed up on the nest and spent 40 minutes there before flying out. 

“It is not uncommon for visitors to stop by the nest in the off season,” FOBBV writes. “We believe this eagle is too young to be looking for a nest or territory; it is also not the right time of year. We cannot say with any certainty whether this eagle is a male or female or if it is the same sub adult eagle that has been active in the habitat the last few weeks.”

Shadow’s nesting partner Jackie is continuing her recovery in Ojai. Jackie was admitted to the Ojai Raptor Center about three weeks ago. She was found injured on the ground near Dana Point Park on July 17, after an altercation with two other subadult eagles. Cell phone video from a witness confirmed that the adult successfully fended off the other eagles by turning over and using her talons, but could not fly far away. 

She has been diagnosed with anemia and received contrast CT scan, bone marrow biopsy, and other advanced diagnostics earlier this week. 

If you would like to send a thank you card to the care team that is taking care of Jackie 24/7, the Ojai Raptor Center asks well-wishers to send them to the following address:

Ojai Raptor Center

Attn: Patient 26-519

P.O. Box 182

Oak View, CA 93022

This is a developing story and we will continue to share updates as they become available from the Ojai Raptor Center and FOBBV’s official channels. 

Jackie and Shadow’s 2026 babies: Everything you need to know

It’s been another roller coaster nesting season for Jackie and Shadow, a pair of internet-famous bald eagle parents living in San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. After two of their eggs were destroyed by ravens in January, Jackie and Shadow laid two new eggs that have successfully hatched.

Chick 1 hatched on April 4 at 9:33 p.m. PDT, while Chick 2 followed on April 5 at 8:30 a.m. Their large nest in Big Bear Valley east of Los Angeles is livestreamed 24 hours a day by nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) and has captivated millions. 

On May 1, FOBBV announced the chicks’ names: Sandy and Luna.

How long will the chicks stay in the nest?

Chicks usually stay in the nest until 10 to 14 weeks of age. Sandy and Luna were last spotted at the nest on July 23 and have likely left the area on what FOBBV calls their “grand journey.”

What challenges do the eaglets face?

Before leaving the nest, the chicks face threats from other birds of prey, including hawks, ravens, other eagles, and owls. Inclement weather can also present challenges for the chicks. In 2025, a March snowstorm resulted in the death of one of Jackie and Shadow’s three chicks.

During fledging, only 70 percent of eaglets survive. One of the greatest threats is from cars that can injure or kill the birds while they scavenge for food on roadkill. 

Who are Jackie and Shadow? 

The pair first got together in 2018 and successfully raised chicks in 2019 and 2022. However, their eggs failed to hatch in 2023 and 2024. Only 50 percent of eagle eggs successfully hatch, so this pair has already beaten the odds.

What happened to Jackie and Shadow’s 2025 eaglets?

In 2025, Jackie laid three eggs that all hatched in early March. On March 13, a strong snowstorm dumped up to two feet of snow and battered the nest with strong winds. Only two of the chicks were visible on the live cam when the storm passed by the next morning. FOBBV later confirmed the passing of one of the chicks. The two surviving chicks were later named Sunny and Gizmo after 54,000 names were submitted by fans.

What happens after chicks fledge? 

Young eagles usually fledge–or leave the nest and fly–when they can flatten their wings and have feathers capable of flight. This typically occurs when the birds hit 10 to 14 weeks of age. Males also tend to take their first flight a little sooner than females. 

According to FOBBV, fledglings from Southern California have been spotted as far south as Baja California, as far north as British Columbia, and as far east as Yellowstone National Park.

About 70 percent of bald eagles survive the fledgling stage. FOBBV does not tag their eagles, so it’s not possible to follow the chicks’ journeys after they flee the nest.

How can I help Jackie and Shadow?

FOBBV accepts donations to support its conservation efforts in the area. The organization recently reached a goal of raising $10 million to purchase land around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. A $5.5 million donation from Anna and Greg Brockman pushed the fundraiser to its goal ahead of a deadline. Greg Brockman is the co-founder and President of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Before the Brockmans’ donation, more than 25,000 donations had raised almost half of the necessary funds.

You can help the rescue organization nursing Jackie back to health by donating to Ojai Raptor Center’s Bald Eagle Recovery Campaign.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Popular Science’s parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

The post Outside eagle spotted on Jackie and Shadow’s nest appeared first on Popular Science.

We give them names like Otis, Chunk, and Diver. We gamify their annual salmon run (and indulge in some friendly competition ourselves) as we watch them gorge on sockeye salmon during what’s affectionately known as Fat Bear Week. We fall in love with the spring cubs, otherwise known as cubs of the year (COYs), delighting in their silly antics as we watch them grow and learn.

From our safe remove in front of our laptops or phones, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the roly-poly brown bears we’re watching on the Brooks River livecams, a beloved livestream stationed at the Brooks River inside Alaska’s Katmai National Park, aren’t animated characters on a kids’ TV show. But then something happens to remind us that what we are really watching is nature, at its most untamed, uncensored, and—at times—most cruel.

Over the past few weeks, two different mother bears at Brooks River have killed cubs that weren’t their own. Park naturalists believe these mark the first documented cases of female-perpetrated infanticide at Brooks River.

“These situations are challenging, often difficult, and frequently confusing,” Mike Fitz, resident naturalist for Explore.org, the nonprofit that runs Katmai’s live bear cams, said during a livestream discussion park rangers led after the first incident. “We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat. But their ferocity is real, the risks they face are real.”

Even the experts who watch these bears every day admit they’re confused. So what would drive mother bears to kill another’s cub?

The nonprofit Explore.org runs Katmai’s live bear cams at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska. Video: LIVE Brooks Falls – Katmai National Park, Alaska 2026 | explore.org, Explore Live Nature Cams Unwanted adoptions might fuel mother bears to attack cubs

Although experts don’t have a definitive answer for why these back-to-back infanticides happened, plain aggression doesn’t appear to be the cause. According to Dr. Stephen Stringham, a bear researcher and author whose recent work has focused on bear infanticides, it comes down to something stranger: adoption in the animal kingdom.

Stringham says in cases of bear infanticide, the killings often follow a pattern: cubs from two different mothers end up mingling—playing, wrestling, and otherwise producing some of the adorable footage we watch on livestreams. In doing so, they also start to pick up each other’s scent. If this mingling continues, an unrelated cub can end up nursing, seeking protection, or otherwise drawing on resources meant for the mother bear’s own cubs.

“They can’t tell kids, ‘Go home, go to your mother, I’m tired of you,’” Stringham says. “[These unrelated cubs] are competing with her cubs for her milk and for her attention. It’s not to her advantage as a general rule to allow that to happen.”

Something close to this pattern occurred in the first of the two Brooks River incidents. Bear 806, a mother already caring for two cubs of her own, had allowed an unrelated spring cub to play alongside them. Then she chased the cub down and killed it.

Making it stranger still is the fact that just months earlier, Bear 806 had taken in a cub that wasn’t biologically hers: a cub known as Biggie, who’d been abandoned in the spring by his mother. The same maternal instinct that led her to adopt one unrelated cub didn’t extend to another.

“It’s not fully known,” Stringham says, of what actually tips the balance between adoption and infanticide, triggering a bear to attack a cub she had previously tolerated. 

Bear 806 seen on the bear cam after attacking the young cub. Image: Explore.org

The second incident, involving an unidentified mother bear attacker, occurred away from the cameras, downstream from where the park’s cams are stationed. However, the infanticide was documented by a park visitor and confirmed by rangers. Jolly, a six-year-old bear known to rangers, was identified as the victim’s mother. She was later seen in the area where her cub had been killed, appearing to search for the cub.

Dominance may play a role in infanticides

Stringham’s research offers another clue into these infanticides: the possibility that the relationship between the victim cub’s mother and the attacker may play a role.

“In the cases where we’ve been able to distinguish there was a difference in rank, it’s always been [the bear] that was acting in a more dominant fashion,” Stringham says, meaning that the more dominant bear is often the one that ends up killing the other mother’s cub. “I’m not talking about there being a long history of Bear A always dominating Bear B, but that there’s been a general tendency in that direction.” Whether or not this was the case in either of the Brooks River incidents has not been confirmed. 

Food scarcity might lead to similar bear/cub attacks

Stringham added that competition over food is unlikely to have been a driver in these specific attacks, but could potentially fuel other mother bears to kill another mother’s cubs. During times of scarcity, mother bears might become increasingly intolerant of adopted cubs intermingling with their own.

“When you’ve got several different litters out there simultaneously, there’s a much higher chance that cubs are going to intermingle with each other and start smelling like each other,” he says. “And if there’s lots of fish, the females may tolerate that. But when they choose to leave the falls, and certainly when fish get scarce, things might get a little more dicey.” When the food supply dwindles, mother bears look out for their own. 

Nevertheless, Stringham is not certain whether that was the case in these specific incidents.

“That would be pure speculation,” he says. 

Bear 335 seen with her three cubs in July 2026. Image: Explore.org When something runs from a bear, predator instinct kicks in

Rangers did observe one other factor in the case of Bear 806: the cub ran when it saw the mother bear, which may have caused the situation to suddenly escalate into a predatory chase behavior. This echoes the advice rangers give to humans: Don’t run from a bear. Though Stringham notes, cubs run constantly during play without triggering an attack from their own mothers.

Bears, however, don’t operate on human logic, which is why Katmai rangers are quick to remind livestream viewers not to judge these animals using our own morality.

“We shouldn’t villainize a bear because they killed another bear. We shouldn’t blame a bear because she wasn’t able to protect her cub,” Christine Loberg, a Katmai ranger, said during the discussion.

For Katmai park ranger Sarah Bruce, the upsetting event is a useful reminder to the rest of us: that even from our comfortable vantage points in front of our screens, we’re not as detached from the harsh realities of nature as we might think.

“I constantly have to remind myself that I too am a part of this wild planet,” she said. “This happening on bear cam is not separate from me also living on this earth. This is just kind of what it means to kind of be alive.”

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

Related 'Ask Us Anything' Stories

Jimothy the raccoon has a rare spinal condition. Here’s what that means.

Why some animals eat their babies

Do animals really mate for life?

Could raccoons become the new dogs?

Animals have personalities. Here’s what shapes them.

How marine mammals stay hydrated in a salty sea

Why are there so many birds?

The post Why do mother bears kill cubs? The answer is complicated. appeared first on Popular Science.

A small natural history museum in New Hampshire has a colorful new visitor: a blue lobster. This unique creature certainly had a long journey to its current home. He was captured by commercial fishermen in New Bedford, Massachusetts, sent up to Maine, and then down to New Hampshire. The crustacean was then donated to Explore the Ocean World, a hands-on museum in Hampton Beach. 

Ellen Goethel, Explore the Ocean World’s owner and curator tells Popular Science he is currently acclimating in his new tank. “He’s a beautiful lobster,” she says.

Researchers estimate that blue lobsters like this one are about 1 in 2 million. 

This unique crustacean will spend the summer at Explore the Ocean World in New Hampshire. Image: Ellen Goethel/ Explore the Ocean World. Why are some lobsters so colorful?

American lobsters (Homarus americanus) are usually a greenish-brown color, to help them blend in with the rocky seafloor. They get their color from a red-orange pigment called astaxanthin. When astaxanthin binds to proteins in the shell—including a blue-colored protein called crustacyanin—its color shifts, producing a lobster’s familiar hue. 

But some lobsters end up more colorful. Rare genetic mutations can alter the amount of crustacyanin or how it interacts with astaxanthin, producing a striking blue shell. Other colors include half-orange half-black, cotton candy, or even calico patterns. A lobster’s diet can also impact its shell color. For example, individuals that only eat small fish rather than shrimp and crabs get less astaxanthin, which can affect their coloration.

The chance of finding a blue lobster like this one is about 1 in 2 million. As for the other colors, the chance of finding a red lobster is 1 in 10 million, split-colored is 1 in 50 million, and albino and cotton candy are 1 in 100 million.

This particular lobster was caught near New Bedford, Massachusetts. Image: Ellen Goethel/ Explore the Ocean World. Winning the lobster lottery

Come Labor Day, this particular blue lobster will once again be on the move. Goethel says the  museum will shut down its tanks, and return all of its animals to the ocean. 

Before they’re released, each of the museum’s multicolored lobsters will be fitted with a tag so that the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department can monitor it. This way, if one turns up in a fisher’s trap, the fisher can call the department and report where it was caught, so researchers can track its migration patterns. Then, the lobster can be set free once more. 

“They kind of won the lottery,” says Goethel. “All of the lobsters that we have have a little extra safety measured into their lives.” 

The post Rare blue lobster gets another shot at life in the ocean appeared first on Popular Science.

Polyvinyl chloride, better known as PVC, is most frequently found in pipes, credit cards, plastic bottles, electrical cable insulation, and other everyday items. PVC demand is high, too, with around 40 million tons of the material produced every year. It’s also one of the most difficult plastics to recycle, thanks to its additives and high chlorine content, meaning the vast majority of PVC winds up in landfills.

Researchers say they have finally found a way to convert the serious ecological issue into something equally useful and far less harmful. According to a study recently published in the journal Nature, PVC can now be broken down and repurposed as a key ingredient for industrial lubricants.

“Number one, we have proved that it is feasible to use plastic waste to make high-performance lubricants,” Guioliang “Greg” Liu, a chemical engineer at Virginia Tech and study co-author, said in a statement. “Number two, these lubricants are green, and they can meet the emerging needs for sustainability by the market.”

Graduate student Adrian DiMarco prepares a sample of engine oil created from upcycled plastic waste in Greg Liu’s lab. Credit: Luke Hayes / Virginia Tech

To transform PVC, Liu’s team places the plastic into a solvent along with chemical compounds like aluminum trichloride and alpha-olefins. That combination is then heated for three hours at 158 degrees Fahrenheit. The end result is a substantially thick oil, aka a lubricant.

Liu said the idea came to his team because PVC is one of the most easily activated types of polyethylene. Theoretically, this means that the plastic should be easily convertible into other, more useful molecules after replacing their chlorine atoms. However, initial trials fell short of their goal. The resulting PVC goop was too soft, gooey, and unable to withstand the high performance needs of existing industrial lubricants.

“One day I realized—if this polymer is so gooey and so soft, why don’t I just keep breaking the polymer chains down to smaller segments that mimic lubricants?” Liu recalled.

After additional refinement, this new end product is a comparatively eco-friendly oil that may find its way into the next generation of industrial lubricants. Moving forward, the team is now working to make their invention even more sustainable, scalable, and affordable for general use.

“Lubricants are the silent hero out there. We often don’t recognize they exist, but they are out there working quietly,” said Liu.

The post Hard-to-recycle PVC turned into sustainable lubricant appeared first on Popular Science.

A team of engineers created new, Blade Runner-esque eyewear that gives wearers a glimpse into the hidden world of infrared light. 

Though it’s literally all around us, humans can’t naturally perceive infrared. Each tiny infrared photon does not have enough energy to trigger the light-sensing cells in our retinas. To work around this biological limit, a team from the Beijing Institute of Technology built a system that captures infrared light and converts it into electrical charges. The charges are then funneled into an OLED- layer (like those used in some laptops and monitors) built directly into the glasses’ transparent lens. Once converted, the process turns infrared into light human eyes can actually see. 

Previous conversion efforts represented all infrared light as a single color. These glasses can pinpoint different infrared wavelengths and represent them as varying hues of red and cyan (yellow), all while still letting natural visible light pass through. The end result is a pair of glasses that let the user simultaneously see infrared wavelengths next to ordinary visible light through one lens.

The researchers aren’t subtle about the perceived impact of the device. They refer to this new ability to see infrared vision as a “paradigm shift,” and a step towards surpassing our evolutionary biology. What that actually means for everyday people in more practical applications, however, is still less clear. 

“By surpassing the evolutionary boundaries of biological photoreception, this technology paves the way for next-generation visual prosthetics, high-fidelity augmented reality, molecularly sensitive substance identification, and robust navigation in degraded visual environments,” the team writes in the paper. 

Their findings were published last week in the journal Science Advances. 

The infrared-to-full-color upconverter is applied as (A) the wearable eyeglass and (B) the new-generation retinal photoreceptor. Image: Fu et al. 2026 ‘Science Advances.’
Humanity’s lackluster eyesight 

When it comes to light perception, humans are pretty limited compared to many other animals. Rattlesnakes, vampire bats, and certain beetles and all perceive infrared waves. Bees and birds likewise have the ability to perceive ultraviolet light. Humans can’t do either. In fact, our eyes are limited to wavelengths somewhere between 400 to 700 nanometers, which means we can only see somewhere less than one hundredth of a percent of the total electromagnetic spectrum. As a result, the researchers say that humans are “inherently blind to infrared radiation.” 

But what humans may lack in eyesight, they can make up for in ingenuity. To convert infrared, the team used tiny engineered particles called mercury telluride colloidal quantum dots. These particles are capable of absorbing infrared photons. That absorbed light was then funneled into a light-emitting OLED layer with two separate color channels: a red layer that lights up first, and a cyan layer that only gets triggered once the red layer is overwhelmed by a stronger or shorter-wavelength signal. Weaker, longer-wave infrared light results in a red image, while stronger, shorter-wavelength infrared light produces a red-cyan mixture.

That conversion system was then fitted into a pair of lightweight, 23-gram (about half an ounce) eyeglasses. In testing, researchers shone infrared light onto various shapes and moving objects. The glasses then rendered that infrared in shades of red or a red-cyan mixture, overlaid on top of a normal field of visible light. 

Infrared visualization wearable eyeglass displaying infrared intensity-controlled emitted color and luminance variation. Image: Fu et al. 2026 ‘Science Advances.’

The glasses achieved their scientific goal, but they likely won’t be seen on any runways anytime soon. Their flimsy frame is made of a strip of beige plastic, with the display covering only one eye. The final product looks something like a cross between a low-budget Cyberpunk eyepiece and the disposable 3D glasses used in early-2000s movie theaters.

These aren’t the only infrared vision devices currently in the works. Another research team out of the University of Science and Technology of China recently designed a prototype contact lens that can similarly detect infrared wavelengths and present them as color. Though both this and the infrared glasses are still very much in the lab and testing phase, researchers from both teams see their work as a stepping stone to one day give wearers a kind of “super vision.” 

And while it might not sound as impressive as comic-book-style X-ray vision, it would at least give humans a leg up in the infrared department compared to bugs and birds.

The post Infrared glasses could push the boundaries of human eyesight appeared first on Popular Science.

Boaters and birders enjoying the early days of summer on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay knew that a bird with colorful feet didn’t belong there. The red-footed booby (Sula sula) was spotted off Thomas Point Park in Anne Arundel County, hundreds of miles away from its usual haunt in the tropics.

“It was only the second red-footed booby officially recorded in the state,” Steve Sheffield, a field biologist at the University of Maryland and president of the Maryland Ornithological Society, tells Popular Science. “The range for the red-footeds is extensive. It goes all the way out into the Pacific Ocean, and in the east, it goes to the West Indies, Caribbean. It’s more of a Pacific bird, but extremely rare here.”

Red-footed boobies are the smallest of all boobies. Few seabirds display such a variety of color phases. Their legs and feet are red. Bill is pale blue. Juveniles are wholly brown or blackish gray with black bill and facial skin. Gray legs. Immature have patchy underwings without definite pattern, white back, mottled gray-brown head, and red or brownish legs. Image: Hagerty, Ryan/USFWS.

They typically spend long periods of time out at sea, and are prone to wandering far out of range. Combine this wanderlust with increasingly abnormal weather patterns and rapidly warming ocean waters, and sightings of these tropical birds can increase. Maryland saw its first red-footed booby back in 2024. 

“I think it was off course, so there was probably some kind of a tropical storm that knocked off course and up here,” says Sheffield. “That’s not that big of a deal because they can change their course easily.”

According to the boaters and birders on the bay, the bird appeared friendly, jumping from boat to boat, and landing at various points along the shoreline. 

While it has not been seen since late June, another rare tropical species has been spotted in Maryland. Birders caught its relative the brown booby (Sula leucogaster) visiting boats and stopping on buoys around the Chesapeake in July. They are slightly more common than their red-footed relatives, but still excited the region’s avian enthusiasts.

A brown booby on the Palmyra Atoll, about halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa. The circular string of about 26 islets is nestled among several lagoons and encircled by 15,000 acres of coral reefs. Image: Andrew S. Wright/USFWS, Pacific Islands. ANDREW S WRIGHT asw@ieee.org

“The birders in this area were trying to find any boat owner that would take them out,” Sheffield laughs. 

As temperatures have warmed due to climate change, a number of southern bird species have settled in Maryland. Usually spotted in Texas, Anhingas (Anhinga anhinga) are now breeding in the Bay State. Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), and even some southern bat species are also moving up the coast and changing the ecosystems in ways that we don’t fully understand yet. 

Despite the summer heat, both the brown and red boobies are not putting down roots in Maryland and have gone on their way. Their quick visits highlight how fleeting and exciting nature can be. 

“One of the things that’s great about being a field biologist is you never know what you’re going to see. It’s like Christmas every day,” Sheffield says. “I can go out birding and see this weird bird flying by with red feet, that turns out to be a red-footed booby. It’s just a thrill to be outside when you never know what you’re going to see.”

The post Rare tropical red-footed booby spotted in Maryland appeared first on Popular Science.

Do you really need to reapply sunscreen every two hours? Is chemical sunscreen bad for you? If it’s cloudy out, do you still need to wear sunscreen? There is plenty of misinformation about sunscreen out there, and it can be really tricky to parse out what’s true from what’s a flatout lie. That’s why in our most recent episode of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything podcast, we dive deep into the most common sunscreen myths. Turns out, I’ve been thinking about spf completely wrong. 

Ask Us Anything answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions—from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. So, yes, there’s a reason most of us are right handed and no, dinosaurs have never actually spit venom. If you have a question for us, send us a note. Nothing is too silly or simple.

This episode is based on several Popular Science articles, including: “Do I really need to wear sunscreen every day? We asked dermatologists.,” “Mineral vs. chemical sunscreen: What’s best for protecting your skin?,” and “What exactly is the UV Index? A dermatologist explains.” 

Subscribe to Ask Us Anything

Listen and follow Ask Us Anything on your favorite podcast platform:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Or wherever you get your podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript

Sarah Durn: Quick: True or false? 

You only need sunscreen if it’s sunny. Higher SPF means you can stay outside all day. Chemical sunscreen is dangerous. Mineral sunscreen works better. On cloudy days, you don’t need to wear any sunscreen. 

If you answered true to any of those, congratulations, you’ve fallen for one of the most common myths about sunscreen.

Welcome to Ask Us Anything from the editors of Popular Science, where we answer your questions about our weird world, from “Why do parrots talk?” to “Why are airplane seats so tiny?” No question is too offbeat or banal. 

I’m Sarah Durn, an editor at Popular Science. 

Laura Baisas: And hello, I’m Laura Baisis, PopSci‘s news editor.

SD: And this week, we’re wondering about sunscreen, specifically, what are the most common sunscreen myths—something, Laura, you’re kind of an expert on. 

LB: Guilty as charged. Big sunscreen enthusiast over here. Not a dermatologist, did not go to med school, but yes, sunscreen enthusiast. 

SD: Yes. Okay, so I feel like sunscreen has become weirdly controversial.

Laura Baisas: It really has, and it’s absolutely unfortunate. Somewhere along the way, protecting yourself from skin cancer turned into an internet debate. 

SD: Ugh. Yeah, people argue about mineral versus chemical sunscreen, whether sunscreen causes cancer, whether you need it indoors, whether SPF 100 means you can bake on the beach for eight hours.

LB: And spoiler alert, like a lot of things on the internet, the takes are not great. 

SD: Surprise, surprise. Today we’re separating sunscreen fact from sunscreen fiction. 

We’ll bust some of the biggest myths, explain how sunscreen actually works, and answer a question that before prepping for this episode I had never stopped to ask: Who even invented sunscreen?

LB: Turns out the answer involves ancient Egyptians…

SD: …Olive oil…

LB: …and World War II. 

SD: Buckle up, we’ll get there. 

Now, before we dig into it, we want to know what questions are you pondering? If there’s something you’ve always wondered, submit your question by clicking the “Ask Us” link at popsci.com/ask. Again, that’s popsci.com/ask, and click that “Ask Us” link.

LB: Please send us your questions. 

SD: Send them! And with that, we’ll be right back after a quick break to tell you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about sunscreen

Welcome back! Laura, now before we get into all of these sunscreen myths, I kind of wanted to know: Who invented sunscreen? 

LB: Hmm. Good question. 

SD: Yes, because it feels like one of those things that just kind of has always existed. 

LB: Right, always was in your medicine cabinet. 

SD: Yeah. 

LB: So like people didn’t just turn into red tomatoes in the sun without it, right?

SD: Well, not surprisingly, people have been trying to avoid sunburn for literally thousands of years, ’cause painful. Although sunscreen meant something very different in the past. 

For instance, in ancient Egypt, people mixed together pastes made from things like rice bran, jasmine, and other plant ingredients, and rubbed the paste into their skin to make it appear lighter since, problematically, lighter skin was associated with wealth and royalty.

LB: So did they know that they were actually blocking the sun’s harmful UV rays with those pastes, or no? 

SD: No, not at all. So sunscreen actually started more as a beauty product than a health product. 

LB: Kinda wild when you think about it. 

SD: I know. And the ancient Greeks, meanwhile, rubbed olive oil on their skin. 

LB: But wait, doesn’t oil make you burn more easily?

Like I’m thinking, you know, 1960s, poolside tanning oil, you know, vintage polka dot bikinis, those types of things, no? 

SD: Totally. But yeah, not olive oil. Modern testing suggests olive oil actually had an SPF of around eight, so not great by today’s standards. 

LB: Better than nothing. 

SD: Yes.

LB: Honestly I wasn’t expecting olive oil, as you can tell from my surprise, to be such a success story.

SD: Eh, success story. You know? Temper your expectations. 

Unfortunately, you know, things did go downhill after that. Pretty early on Europeans became obsessed with skin whitening creams—again, problematic—many of which contained really, really harmful ingredients, also problematic, like lead and mercury. 

LB: Not mercury. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. 

SD: Yeah, yeah, and lead is no picnic either. 

History has a fun habit of discovering something that’s shiny or mysterious and deciding, you know what? Let’s put it on our skin. 

LB: What’s the worst that could happen? It’s just our skin. 

SD: Right? 

LB: Just our body’s biggest organ. 

SD: No. Oh, yeah. 

LB: So wait, does that mean that sunscreen’s history briefly also kind of became poison’s history?

SD: Yeah, unfortunately. Modern sunscreen didn’t really show up until around World War II. Soldiers were using this thick, red petroleum jelly

LB: Mm-hmm.

SD: They must’ve looked great, to prevent sunburn. And then after the war a pharmacist named Benjamin Green mixed it with things like cocoa butter, you know, to make it a little less gross. And eventually that became Coppertone. 

LB: Truly one of my favorite smells in the whole world. So that, you know, petroleum jelly to Coppertone, kind of a big glow up. 

SD: Oh, yeah, right. From wartime to beach vacations. And now sunscreen is a multi-billion dollar industry. 

LB: Which is really great progress, but it has also created about a billion myths about when to use what kind of sunscreen, what UV rays even are, if it gives us cancer, things like that.

LB: Yeah, so let’s get into it, because there is a lot of misinformation out there. So sunscreen myth number one: If it’s cloudy, I can skip sunscreen, Laura? 

SD: This is, uh, probably the easiest one. Basically, no, you still need it when it’s cloudy. Clouds block visible UV light much better than they do ultraviolet light.

About 95 percent of the UV radiation reaching Earth comes in the form of UVA rays, and those rays can come through clouds and even windows. 

SD: Hold up, windows? 

LB: Yeah, windows don’t fully protect the skin from UV rays. So this is why dermatologists recommend a broad spectrum sunscreen that blocks both UVA rays, those are the ones that cause tanning and aging, and UVB rays, which are more responsible for sunburn and many skin cancers.

SD: Okay, so are most sunscreens broad spectrum, or is this something we have to look out for? 

LB: Most are, but to be absolutely sure, always check the labels to make sure it says broad spectrum, and ask a dermatologist. That’s personally my favorite route. 

SD: Oh, man, I’m gonna need to, like, check mine immediately.

Okay, so myth number two: What about mineral sunscreen versus chemical sunscreen? I feel like the internet loves to debate which one is better, so which one wins out? 

LB: Honestly, there is no winner. Both are great when used the right way. 

SD: Mm. 

LB: They just work a little bit differently. Mineral sunscreen uses zinc oxide or titanium dioxide to reflect UV rays.

So think about that classic goopy white sunscreen from every beach movie in the ’80s. 

SD: Ah, yes, the completely white nose. 

LB: Yeah, exactly. Luckily, modern zinc oxide and mineral, uh, sunscreens are much less ghostly, um, unless you’re me. Sometimes I admit I look like a ghost, but that’s a whole separate story.

SD: Me too. 

LB: Chemical sunscreens, they work a little bit differently. Instead of reflecting the UV rays, they will absorb the light and release it as these, like, little puffs of heat. Unfortunately, you can’t see the little puffs, but that’s kind of what’s happening. 

SD: Fascinating. So neither one is bad.

LB: Exactly. Sometimes people hear chemical and panic, but dermatologists are very clear on this. There is no evidence that sunscreen actually causes skin cancer, whether it’s mineral or chemical, and the evidence overwhelmingly says the opposite, that it can prevent cancer. 

SD: So this next one is definitely something I’ve wondered about/kind of maybe still believe.

Myth number three: If I wear a higher SPF, am I set all day? Please, maybe? 

LB: As someone who swims for long periods of time outside, I really, really wish this one was true, but it’s not. SPF is unfortunately not a timer. Whether it says SPF 30 or SPF 100, activities like sweating, swimming, touching your face all will slowly remove the sunscreen throughout the day.

One dermatologist I interviewed actually told me something I really love that kind of helps understand how that works. After about two hours, your sunscreen has basically just turned into a moisturizer. It’s not effective anymore. 

SD: Okay. Bummer. Definitely don’t do that enough. Um, okay, myth number four: It’s not hot, so I don’t need sunscreen.

LB: This is a really common misconception, and it’s even gotten me in trouble before. You know, we’re really marketed sunscreen way more in the summer, but yeah, that hunch is right. Temperature itself has absolutely nothing to do with UV exposure. You could have a really chilly fall day with a surprisingly high UV index. You can even get burned skiing because all of that, you know, pristine white snow will reflect sunlight back onto your exposed face. So the thing to check is not temperature, it’s UV index. 

SD: Not fun. Yeah, so this whole time my weather app and the UV index has been trying to help me. 

LB: Exactly. It’s usually right there near temperature. Check the UV index. It’s basically a little forecast of how intense the sun’s ultraviolet radiation is gonna be on any given day. 

SD: Okay. This is maybe silly, but what exactly is ultraviolet light? 

LB: No silly questions on this podcast. Come on. You can basically think of sunlight as this giant rainbow of different kinds of energy.

SD: Huh. 

LB: The light we can actually see is just, like, one tiny slice of that rainbow. 

SD: Sure. 

LB: Ultraviolet, or UV light, sits just beyond the violet end of that rainbow. It’s invisible to our eyes. 

SD: Invisible, but definitely not harmless. 

LB: Exactly. Definitely not harmless, and invisible to humans. Some animals can absolutely see in UV light, which is pretty cool

And yeah, they’re not harmless. UV rays can damage the DNA inside your skin cells, and that’s what leads to sunburn in the short term. 

SD: Yikes. 

LB: And over many years of exposure to UV rays and subsequent burning, your risk for skin cancer increases, along with signs of aging like wrinkles and dark spots.

Not as serious as cancer, but also something most of us want to prevent. 

SD: Okay, yikes. So the UV index is basically telling you how aggressive those invisible sun rays are going to be that day. 

LB: Exactly. The higher the number, the less time it takes for your skin to start getting damaged. 

SD: So is there ever a UV index where I can just, you know, skip the sunscreen?

LB: Well, according to the dermatologist I spoke with, if you’re, like, truly indoors and the UV index is, like, a two or lower, let’s say at some time in February if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, you’re generally okay. But the thing is they still recommend making sunscreen use part of your daily routine, ’cause that way it just becomes a habit. 

It’s a lot easier to build on that habit than to remember which days are considered UV safe, which are pretty much none. 

SD: Bummer. So the advice is basically just put on your dang sunscreen. 

LB: Exactly. Your future skin will thank you. 

SD: Man. Oh, well. So, so much for an easy answer. And with that, it’s time for a quick break.

LB: But when we return, we’ll talk about how E. coli might just become the next big sunscreen ingredient. 

SD: Oh my God, E. coli? 

LB: Yeah, that E. coli. 

SD: Oh, no.

Okay, so Laura, E. coli. Tell me what the heck a gross bacterium that spreads disease has to do with sunscreen. 

LB: I know. This one is really, really weird, but kind of fascinating. Um, yeah, that same bacterium that is found in our poop and can shut down pools and beaches, not exactly the skin ingredient anyone was asking for.

SD: I, I definitely did not ask for it, just to clarify. 

LB: No, no, same, same. Sunscreen enthusiast and I didn’t say put the E. coli on my sunscreen, please. But a team of researchers aren’t just, you know, haphazardly putting this bacteria into sunscreen. They’re actually turning the bacteria into these tiny chemical factories.

Um, they basically engineered E. coli to produce a compound called gadusol. 

SD: Oh my gosh, gesundheit. 

LB: Yes. So gadusol is this natural compound that some fish make, especially in their eggs, to protect themselves from that same ultraviolet light that damages our skin. But the problem is there’s not a lot of gadusol in nature, and it’s very difficult to extract.

SD: Mm. 

LB: So instead of harvesting it from fish like fish oil, these scientists taught bacteria how to actually make gadusol. 

SD: Okay, wild. So future sunscreen inspired by fish, manufactured by bacteria, approved by science? 

LB: Approved potentially.

SD: Okay. 

LB: You know, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll get to that. It’s, it’s not ready for primetime just yet.

But what’s cool is the bacteria got really good at it. Um, after the team tweaked their genetics and growing conditions, they boosted the gadusol production by almost 93 times. 

SD: Whoa. 

LB: Yeah. Early tests suggest that the gadusol has antioxidant properties as well, kind of like vitamin C, so this could help neutralize some of those damaging free radicals that are, um, caused by sun exposure.

SD: Wait, wait, wait. So it might not just block UV rays, it could help clean up some of the damage that they cause? I mean, that’s pretty cool. 

LB: It is. I mean, it’s obviously still really early on, so again, don’t go out looking for E. coli sunscreen at the pharmacy. They haven’t compared it head-to-head with current sunscreens. They still have to prove it’s safe and effective on our skin. It would need that lengthy regulatory approval before it ends up on store shelves, but it’s just something kind of cool that scientists are working on. So yeah, don’t throw out your favorite SPF just yet for many reasons, including this.

SD: Wow, I would never think I would be into E. coli sunscreen, but maybe I’d try it. 

LB: I definitely would. I’m a little weird on that, on, on that front. 

SD: Whoa. 

LB: But yeah, science is, science is weird. 

SD: Science is weird. Fish sunscreen made by bacteria. Who knew? 

LB: But that’s why we love science, right? 

SD: We love it.

LB: And that’s it for this episode. But don’t worry, we’ve got more episodes of Ask Us Anything live in our feed right now. Follow or subscribe to Ask Us Anything by Popular Science wherever you enjoy your podcasts. And if you like our show, leave us a rating and review. 

SD: Do you have a favorite sunscreen? Let us know in the comments.

Our producer is Alan Haburchak, and this week’s episode was based on a series written for Popular Science by our very own Laura Baisis. 

LB: Thank you, team. Thank you, sunscreen, and thanks everyone for listening. 

SD: And one more time, if you want something you’ve always wondered about explained on a future episode, go to popsci.com/ask and click the “Ask Us” link.

Until next time, go reapply sunscreen and keep the questions coming

LB: Just put on the dang sunscreen, please. 

SD: I probably need to reapply, like, right now.

The post 4 sunscreen myths too many people still get wrong appeared first on Popular Science.

The 2026 Florida Python Challenge ended on July 19, and organizers have officially finished tallying the number of bagged snakes. Over 10 days, 907 participants hunted down a collective total of 280 invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) across the Everglades. While hunters did not catch quite as many snakes as last year (294), the winner shattered the record for most pythons caught. This achievement earned him a hefty first place prize.

Speaking with Tampa Bay News 10, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission program coordinator Sarah Funck confirmed that professional python hunter Tom Rahill received $10,000 for personally nabbing 96 of the apex predators. That’s 36 more pythons than last year’s winner, Taylor Stanberry, although she did make history in 2025 as the first woman to take the top spot.

Burmese pythons began proliferating in the Florida Everglades after their accidental introduction into the region during the 1970s. With no major competition from native predators, the invasive snakes exploded in population while decimating local wildlife. Conservationists estimate between 100,000 and 300,000 pythons now live in the state, despite ongoing efforts to rein in those numbers. An average adult Burmese python reaches about 13-feet long, while pregnant females can lay up to 70 eggs at a time.

Rahill has professionally hunted pythons for over a decade and is the founder of Swamp Apes. The nonprofit offers conservation projects to veterans and first-responders. During this year’s competition, he also helped one veteran catch a 17-foot-long python. 

While the nine additional prize winners across the professional, novice, and military tiers have yet to be announced, it’s hard to envision a much bigger snake getting crowned the longest python. Then again, it’s certainly possible—the longest Burmese python on record was nearly 19-feet long.

The post Florida Python Challenge winner slayed 96 snakes appeared first on Popular Science.

Internet-famous bald eagle mother Jackie is showing signs of worsening anemia. According to her caretakers at the Ojai Raptor Center, her packed cell volume (PCV) has dropped to 13 percent, which means her anemia has worsened in the past two days. 

“Our veterinary team is responding quickly,” they write. “Additional advanced diagnostic testing is now underway, and expedited laboratory testing has been requested as we continue working to better understand her condition and guide the next steps in her treatment.”

View this post on Instagram

Jackie was admitted to the care center two weeks ago. She was found on the ground near Dana Point Park on July 17, following a short altercation with two other subadult eagles. Cell phone video confirmed that the adult was able to fend off the other eagles by turning over and using her talons, but could not fly far away. 

Back in Big Bear Valley, activity on the nest that she shares with partner Shadow has quieted down. Their chicks, Sandy and Luna, have likely left the area on their own journeys. This is a developing story and we will continue to provide updates. 

Jackie and Shadow’s 2026 babies: Everything you need to know

It’s been another roller coaster nesting season for Jackie and Shadow, a pair of internet-famous bald eagle parents living in San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. After two of their eggs were destroyed by ravens in January, Jackie and Shadow laid two new eggs that have successfully hatched.

Chick 1 hatched on April 4 at 9:33 p.m. PDT, while Chick 2 followed on April 5 at 8:30 a.m. Their large nest in Big Bear Valley east of Los Angeles is livestreamed 24 hours a day by nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) and has captivated millions. 

On May 1, FOBBV announced the chicks’ names: Sandy and Luna.

How long will the chicks stay in the nest? 

Chicks usually stay in the nest until 10 to 14 weeks of age. As of August 1, it appears the 2026 chicks have fully fledged.

What challenges do the eaglets face?

Before leaving the nest, the chicks face threats from other birds of prey, including hawks, ravens, other eagles, and owls. Inclement weather can also present challenges for the chicks. In 2025, a March snowstorm resulted in the death of one of Jackie and Shadow’s three chicks.

During fledging, only 70 percent of eaglets survive. One of the greatest threats is from cars that can injure or kill the birds while they scavenge for food on roadkill. 

Who are Jackie and Shadow? 

The pair first got together in 2018 and successfully raised chicks in 2019 and 2022. However, their eggs failed to hatch in 2023 and 2024. Only 50 percent of eagle eggs successfully hatch, so this pair has already beaten the odds.

What happened to Jackie and Shadow’s 2025 eaglets?

In 2025, Jackie laid three eggs that all hatched in early March. On March 13, a strong snowstorm dumped up to two feet of snow and battered the nest with strong winds. Only two of the chicks were visible on the live cam when the storm passed by the next morning. FOBBV later confirmed the passing of one of the chicks. The two surviving chicks were later named Sunny and Gizmo after 54,000 names were submitted by fans.

What happens after chicks fledge? 

Young eagles usually fledge–or leave the nest and fly–when they can flatten their wings and have feathers capable of flight. This typically occurs when the birds hit 10 to 14 weeks of age. Males also tend to take their first flight a little sooner than females. 

According to FOBBV, fledglings from Southern California have been spotted as far south as Baja California, as far north as British Columbia, and as far east as Yellowstone National Park.

About 70 percent of bald eagles survive the fledgling stage. FOBBV does not tag their eagles, so it’s not possible to follow the chicks’ journeys after they flee the nest.

How can I help Jackie and Shadow?

FOBBV accepts donations to support its conservation efforts in the area. The organization recently reached a goal of raising $10 million to purchase land around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. A $5.5 million donation from Anna and Greg Brockman pushed the fundraiser to its goal ahead of a deadline. Greg Brockman is the co-founder and President of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Before the Brockmans’ donation, more than 25,000 donations had raised almost half of the necessary funds.

You can help the rescue organization nursing Jackie back to health by donating to Ojai Raptor Center’s Bald Eagle Recovery Campaign.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Popular Science’s parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

The post Jackie the bald eagle’s anemia worsens appeared first on Popular Science.

Earlier this summer, a group of wellwishers assembled inside Livermore, California’s fire station #6 to sing “Happy Birthday” to a light bulb. While not the most expected recipient of well wishes, anything that’s survived for 125 years deserves a celebration. Unfortunately, the Centennial Light’s impressiveness is often overshadowed by a decades’ old conspiracy theory based on half-truths and a misunderstanding of physics.

Although light bulbs are everyday items today, they were once only available as handmade luxury items. Artisans working for 19th century manufacturers like Ohio’s Shelby Electric Company optimized their products to ensure the longest lifespans. Despite the care required to make them, the early incandescent light bulbs relied on pretty basic principles—a thin tungsten wire sealed inside an airproof glass encasement glows white-hot after receiving an electric current.

There’s an issue to this setup, however. Heat dictates an object’s brightness and its peak emission wavelength, which is seen as visible color by the human eye. To achieve a peak visible emission, tungsten needs to reach a temperature of around 5,700 degrees Celsius (10,292 degrees Fahrenheit). For reference, that’s about the temperature as the surface of the sun. The hurdle is even more insurmountable given tungsten’s melting point of about 6,192 degrees Fahrenheit. This means any filament’s peak emission must fall within the infrared spectrum, whose wavelengths are longer than visible light but shorter than microwaves.

Shorter wavelengths make whiter, brighter visible light, so only small temperature increases improve a light bulb’s overall efficiency. But the hotter the filament gets, the more its atoms evaporate as the metal deteriorates. Knowing this, early light bulbs were all about balancing brightness and efficiency with lifespan.

So how has the Centennial Light lasted for 125 years, and how did it get wrapped up in a conspiracy theory? To answer that, it’s best to understand the allegedly nefarious plot concocted by a group known as the Phoebus Cartel. In all fairness, the Phoebus Cartel was a very real entity formed by international companies including Phillips and General Electric in 1925 who aimed to control the rapidly expanding incandescent light market. The cartel managed to accomplish this through a mixture of price-fixing and famously establishing a standardized 1,000-hour lifespan across its light bulbs. Although the Phoebus Cartel disbanded about 14 years later amid the outset of World War II, its standardized lifespan remained a benchmark for decades.

Critics often cite the Centennial Light and its over one million hours of near-continuous illumination as an example of how sturdy and well-made light bulbs once were prior to the rise of “planned obsolescence” manufacturing–but it’s not that simple. The fire station’s antique is ostensibly a 60W bulb, but it actually only draws four watts of power—and even then, it’s dimmer than a usual 4W light thanks to its inefficiency. According to electronics and software blogger Maurycy, the likely explanation is that someone at Shelby Electric Company accidentally crafted a handmade bulb with a ridiculously high filament resistance, and subsequently sold it as a night light.

Instead of proving conspiracy theorists correct, the Centennial Light actually offers a case study of why manufacturers adopted certain standards that still influence today’s products. Classic incandescent light bulbs hypothetically could burn for a very long time, but they’d offer such a dim output that no one would want to buy them. Promising a 1,000-hour lifespan ensured everyone benefited from uniformly bright, similarly long-lasting bulbs that didn’t cost a fortune in electricity bills. In reality, the only reason the Centennial Light made it this far is because its glow is barely visible.

Meanwhile, technological progress also pokes holes in the conspiracy theory. Companies eventually moved away from incandescent lights to fluorescent and LED options, largely because those are even cheaper, longer lasting, and more reliable.

Have big businesses engaged in shady tactics to line their pockets throughout history? Absolutely. However, light bulbs simply aren’t the clearest example of planned obsolescence.

The post The world’s oldest lightbulb has been shining for 125 years appeared first on Popular Science.

Antarctica is in the red. Well, at least the continent’s striking Blood Falls are. Situated on the eastern edge of the Taylor Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, this dramatic outpouring of crimson water plunges into Lake Bonney. Its signature hue comes from the iron-rich brine cascading down the rock face, but exactly where that water came from is not clear. However, one thing is now clear—that salty water is bustling with marine life, despite being miles away from the ocean.

According to a study published today in the journal Nature Geoscience, the water flowing through Blood Falls has a distinct community of marine organisms. The presence of these salt water-specific organisms indicates that the water system beneath the glacier has a marine origin.

“Finding what is effectively a thriving marine oasis in a polar desert—more than 20 miles from the ocean—was extraordinary,” Andrew E. Allen, a study co-author and microbial ecologist at the University of California, San Diego, tells Popular Science. “The diverse microbial community we found retains a biological connection to an ancient marine environment while demonstrating the remarkable resilience and adaptability of life.”

Previous geochemical studies of the area suggested that the water source that feeds Blood Falls likely originated when seawater flooded the Taylor Valley during past warm periods. The water source was then isolated beneath the advancing Taylor glacier when sea levels fell.

The team collecting samples at Blood Falls, a feature of the Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, where iron-rich subglacial brine emerges creating the striking red outflow that flows into proglacial west lobe of Lake Bonney. Image: Bryan Minnea.

To learn more about the origin of the microbes at Taylor Glacier and Blood Falls, the team analyzed 167 samples of water, sediment, and air. They used several genetic techniques to identify the microorganisms in each sample. They found that the microorganisms in the red ice, sediment, and mud at the lowest edge of the glacier (called a terminus) were almost entirely associated with marine environments. The surrounding sites were dominated by organisms found in freshwater and on land. 

“The biological activity that we observed from mRNA analyses suggests that this relic marine community isn’t just frozen in time but has somehow persisted despite a very dramatic change of environment,” Allen explains. “The distance these communities reached in the Dry Valleys could be really important for interpreting the extent of ancient flooding.”

In future studies, the team hopes to do more genomic sequences to get a better understanding of when these communities of tiny terrestrial and marine microbes split apart from one another. 

“Life never ceases to amaze,” says Allen. “If we look sensitively enough, we repeatedly find things that we didn’t expect to find.”

The post Antarctica’s Blood Falls teems with life from unexpected source appeared first on Popular Science.

Most people learn about deep sea discoveries in the days and weeks after marine biologists make them, but you don’t need to be aboard a research vessel to experience new finds in real-time. Since July 19, a crew on the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Okeanos ship has conducted regular surveys of the abyssal plains near the Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. And if your schedule is free later today, you can join the exploration.

On August 3 at approximately 5:30 p.m EDT, the expedition’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is scheduled to arrive at the seafloor after a three-hour descent. At a depth of nearly 3.5 miles, the pitch-black abyssal waters (and its residents) will require illumination from onboard lights. Over roughly four hours, the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) will examine and map the deep sea environment and water column about 0.6 miles from the boundary with American Samoa, while using onboard sensors to collect marine data. These include CTD-mounted (conductivity, temperature, and depth) equipment, an acoustic Doppler profiler, and already deployed Argo floats. The new information will help inform future exploration plans while also gaining a better understanding of the region’s current environmental health, as well as increase public awareness on conservation efforts.

“The cruise is a scientific exploration and mapping activity that supports the Cook Islands’ understanding of its deep ocean. It will help build baseline knowledge of areas that remain difficult to access and not well understood,” reads the expedition’s website.

The Cook Islands lack many natural resources apart from deep ocean minerals, and NOAA’s surveys are intended to help local Cook Islands representatives develop better plans for economic growth. That said, NOAA confirmed the mission does not immediately authorize any commercial seabed harvesting.

Additional livestreams are planned nearly daily until the mission’s conclusion on August 13. All surveys are subject to local weather conditions.

The post How to watch a live deep-sea exploration in the Pacific appeared first on Popular Science.

Earlier this month, Cape Wildlife Center in southeast Massachusetts posted a call for help on social media. The animal rescue service was asking for donations for their rescued animals. That request isn’t unusual, but what they needed that money for certainly was. 

“We have to admit, this is a strange request even for us. We’re asking you to help us buy… mice,” reads the post, featuring a photograph of two fluffy owls. 

The wildlife center went on to explain that for many years, a special partnership has provided them with lab mice that were no longer necessary in the laboratory. These donated mice were then eaten by both Cape Wildlife Center’s wildlife hospitals’ patients and a significant number of their ambassador animals. 

The dynamic “quietly helped save thousands of wild lives.” But “unfortunately, that donation has come to an end.” And it couldn’t have come at a worse time—during baby season and Cape Wildlife Center’s busiest year ever. 

Every year, their hospital patients and ambassador animals chow down on around 31,725 frozen mice. If the organization buys them on the open market, it will cost their yearly budget an extra estimated $30,000 to 45,000. And as they rightfully point out on their social media post, food for their animals isn’t an expense that can be put on hold.    

“Every hawk, owl, fox, snake, and weasel that comes through our doors depends on a species-appropriate diet to heal. We can’t substitute something else, and we can’t ask them to wait until the budget catches up,” they wrote. “Feeding them is simply part of the care they need.”

The social media post wrapped up with a request for donations, and a happy update about a donor who will match all dollar donations to the mouse fund up to 10,000 dollars. Receiving that news mouse-t have made their day.  

The post Wildlife center needs 31,725 frozen mice a year appeared first on Popular Science.