Caroline Delbert

I'm a writer, editor, researcher, and avid reader, and a contributing editor at Popular Mechanics. I'm also an enthusiast of just about everything, with bylines at the Awl, Tiny Cartridge, Eater, Scientific American, and more.

Technology

I love science and technology, especially when I can make complex topics readable and relatable.

Popular Mechanics •

Why Doesn’t the Living Human Body ‘Go Bad’ Like Leftovers on the Counter?

• Despite existing in the food safety danger zone, the living human body does not go bad. • Like in a tower defense game, our body is picking off invaders on multiple fronts at all times. • The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. I’ve never been a Reddit user myself, but I’m at least familiar with famous subreddits like r/Showerthoughts, where users have mini epiphanies or ask other netizens questions they’ve been pondering about. Recently, I’ve had a recurring “shower thought” of my o
Popular Mechanics •

This Is the Perfect Size Table for Your Jigsaw Puzzle, According to Math

• A fun, delightfully short paper shows us the math of how much space a jigsaw puzzle takes up. • The answer relies on how circles “pack” into a space, which is a major topic in physics research. • Representing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle as circles reflects how people lay pieces out and manipulate them. In new research posted last month to the ArXiV preprint server (meaning the work has not yet been peer-reviewed) biophysics researcher Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, Ph.D., and her family explore a
Popular Mechanics •

What Went Wrong With Alaska Airlines Flight 1282’s Door Plug?

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us? • A climbing Alaska Airlines flight depressurized at 16,000 feet. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. • The Boeing 737 MAX 9 used a door plug to fill an unneeded emergency exit; this is what blew out. • Inspectors don’t yet know what happened to the four bolts that hold the door plug. Since Saturday, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 has riveted the nation after a small par
Popular Mechanics •

Baking in Space Will Pose a Major Challenge

Here on Earth, preparing food is a universal activity. We do it every day, or pay for food that others have prepared. But preparing food in space presents unique challenges at almost every turn. American astronauts eat a combination of rehydrated freeze dried foods, traditional dried foods like jerky and fruit, and some foods that come in carefully prepared envelopes. There are also some foods that can occasionally be sent fresh, like garlic and onions. But will it ever be possible to bake in s
Popular Mechanics •

Hyperrealistic Cakes, With Regular Hardware Store Stuff

Hyperrealistic cakes (like the one pictured above) have been all the rage the last few years, from massively popular TikTok and Instagram accounts to Netflix’s 2022 competition show Is It Cake? The skilled and patient people who create these sweet treats strive for them to look just like everyday objects. But you may not know that many of the tools of the realistic cake trade (and of cake decorating, in general) aren’t from a fancy specialty shop—they’re from your local hardware store. With tha
Popular Mechanics •

Together, We Can Avoid the ‘Great Filter’ That Ends Advanced Civilizations

• The “Great Filter” is a hypothetical disaster event that stops growing civilizations from reaching the stars and contacting other advanced civilizations. • A NASA scientist writes about the biggest risks to humanity—like climate change, pandemics, and artificial intelligence—in a new paper. • These are serious, frightening possibilities—but we can work together to prevent many of them. In , a scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) brings together an eclectic team of researcher
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