Popular Mechanics • February 15, 2023

Prison Islands Are Desolate, Lonely Places—And Their History Is Just as Bleak

What happens when an island is taken over, turned into a prison or penal colony, and later left deserted?

itch.io • February 1, 2023

No Substitutions: A Browser Game About Cooking

This is a word substitution game made for Gaming Like It's 1927. Explore eight real passages from a "domestic science" book, then swap out words found elsewhere in the book.

Popular Mechanics • February 24, 2022

Get to Know Occam's Razor, the 'Only Thing That Distinguishes Science From Religion'

Occam’s razor is a figure of speech and fundamental idea that helps us remember the value of simplicity. Scientist Johnjoe McFadden's recent book follows the man himself and his outsize impact on centuries of science to come.

Unwinnable • December 27, 2021

The Best Books of 2021 | Unwinnable

Kazuo Ishiguro is a wonder, telling stories that often tilt toward allegory about the forward march of time. In 2021’s Klara and the Sun, Ishiguro combines the fable-like dreaminess of The Buried Giant with the dystopia of Never Let Me Go.

Popular Mechanics • October 31, 2020

How Chess—and 'The Queen's Gambit'—Can Teach You a Strategy for Basically Anything

Talking with Inkle's Jon Ingold and chess master @Rasmansa about how chess strategy helps us make and understand decisions.

Popular Mechanics • July 31, 2020

Hot New Medicine: This 1,000-Year-Old Mixture of Garlic, Onion, Wine, and Cow Bile

Scientists are studying a millennium-old medicinal recipe they say might be able to kill some antibiotic-resistant bacterial structures: onions, garlic, a splash of wine, and cow bile.

STEM Toolkit • July 30, 2020

Create simple video games with Itch.io

This week in issue 13 we’re going to talk about itch.io and making narrative games. Itch.io is a public platform for all kinds of games, but independent creators in particular love it.

Popular Mechanics • July 21, 2020

Science Confirms Plato's Theory: Earth Is Made of Cubes

New research shows a Platonic ideal may be true after all: The world may primarily break into cubes, and not just in Minecraft.

Popular Mechanics • July 3, 2020

In Defense of Games, Which We Shouldn't Have to Defend

Both board games and video games have been in the news this week, between a high-profile ousting of leadership at Cards Against Humanity and a series of allegations against game developers.

STEM Toolkit • June 9, 2020

Cheering for STEM Kids, Even If You Don't Like Math

For our first essay feature, our writer Caroline Delbert discusses what language to use when learning about STEM with children — and how important it is to be enthusiastic about problem-solving.

STEM Toolkit • June 6, 2020

STEM activities: Making small stuff huge

This week in issue 5 we’re going to talk about big things.

STEM Toolkit • May 21, 2020

Lego Mania: Making movies, animals, furniture, and microscopes

This week we’re going to talk about Lego bricks.

STEM Toolkit • May 16, 2020

Computer-generated animals! + more STEM activities

Our brains are great at recognizing objects and patterns, but computers don’t have eyes, or the same parts and sections our brains have. They can only do the jobs people have taught them to do.

Popular Mechanics • May 13, 2020

The Mixed-Up Story of the 1979 Porsche 935

The internet went wild over a $500,000 Apple racing car replica. The story begins with the Porsche 935, which Porsche developed as the racing model counterpart to the 911 Turbo.

Unwinnable Exploits • May 2, 2020

Making Do in Battle Chef Brigade

Battle Chef Brigade has given me the inspiration I need to keep cooking through the pandemic. Just like in real life, a key sauce can transform your dish – but someone with the right pantry can excel with any ingredient.

Popular Mechanics • January 24, 2020

Sounds Like DirecTV's Big Satellite Is About to Blow

DirecTV has asked for special permission to move a satellite it says is likely to explode in about a month, The Verge reports. In an FCC filing, DirecTV says an “anomaly” (the company doesn’t elaborate) in December burned up some of the battery packs, leaving them structurally damaged.

Popular Mechanics • January 14, 2020

Detroit's Glorious Robocop Statue, Nearly a Decade in the Making, Is Almost Done

After nine years, Detroit is finally getting that RoboCop statue, dammit. The Detroit Free Press reports that the comically long-delayed statue’s parts are all fully fabricated, and now they're all just waiting on a final weld and finishing patina.

Popular Mechanics • January 3, 2020

Tons of Great Books, Movies, and Music Just Entered the Public Domain

On January 1, a new batch of copyrighted materials entered the public domain. For 20 years between 1998 and 2018, the U.S. release of public domain works was suspended following a grim corporate lobbying campaign by the Walt Disney Corporation.

Eater • January 2, 2020

The Cooking Show at the End of the Road

“Today on Check the Pantry, it’s a battle royale featuring mustard,” Jeff Lockwood’s voice says over the radio. Lockwood’s cooking show, Check the Pantry, which began in 2018 on the local public radio station KBBI, explores food culture one ingredient at a time in Homer, Alaska.

Popular Mechanics • December 31, 2019

Tonight New York City Will Drop the Ball on Climate Change

The organization that runs the nationally televised Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration has announced that this year’s countdown is dedicated to teachers and students who are studying and addressing climate change, Grist reports.