Somewhere high above New Jersey, I yanked the oxygen mask off my face, worried I was about to throw up.
Maj. Jason Markzon, the pilot of our F-16 fighter jet, had just steered the plane through two tight, hard turns, part of an aviation procedure…

I flew in an F-16 with the Air Force and oh boy did it go poorly

It’s a very bad time for aviation: The pandemic has people understandably wary about flying, and has spurred airlines to send beloved but aged aircraft like the 747 into retirement earlier than they had planned. Planes are grounded; air traffic is…

Microsoft’s new Flight Simulator looks real enough to scratch your air-travel itch

Three slices of fresh apple pie sit on the kitchen counter, and you and a trio of buddies are drooling over them. What do you do? Try to grab a piece right away, and you risk a tussle with a pal who makes the same move. Hesitate, and you might get…

It’s time to explain some game theory

The pandemic has forced countless people to reevaluate how they exercise. And since so many have shifted to working from home or been laid off, the normal activity they may have received from, say, walking to a nearby subway station has vanished—not…

Balance boards make for a scary, fun, and surprisingly perfect pandemic workout

Pilots sometimes train in simulators—machines on the ground that do their best to mimic the experience of operating an aircraft in the sky. This month, the simulators that give F-35 pilots the chance to practice down on terra firma at Nellis Air…

The US’s flagship fighter jet simulator is now multiplayer

Just before 9 a.m. on a blue-sky Louisiana morning, a giant gray B-52 bomber gradually lifts off the tarmac with some 190,000 pounds of fuel on board, a trail of dark exhaust behind it.
A few seconds later, there’s a small glitch: One of the…

Inside a training mission with a B-52 bomber, the aircraft that will not die

In the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s deaths, the US is focusing on police reform. Among new measures on the table is an emphasis on the cameras that police officers wear on their bodies. In fact, a new proposal on Monday from…

Police body cameras were supposed to build trust. So far, they haven’t.

If all goes according to plan tomorrow, two NASA astronauts will blast off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, bound for the International Space Station (ISS). It will be the first crewed launch from US soil since 2011, when the Space Shuttle…

Astronauts explain what it’s like to be ‘shot off the planet’ in a shuttle

Jump ropes are more complex than you may realize. They range from the classic, nostalgia-inducing beaded ropes of playgrounds, to speed ropes equipped with a light, thin metal wire that can cost north of $100.
With the pandemic keeping so many people…

Jumping rope is an unbeatable cardio workout—if you do it correctly

The US military’s most futuristic and problematic fighter jet is the F-35, a very expensive aircraft that costs the Air Force around $82 million a pop. Exorbitant price tags like that, and other considerations, are spurring aircraft makers and air…

Boeing’s new autonomous fighter jet has a pop-off, swappable nose

Back in January, Boeing flew its fancy new widebody aircraft for the first time. Called the 777x, the plane’s flashiest feature is wings that literally fold up at their tips. The wings are longer than the ones on previous versions of that airplane—a…

NASA’s weird wing design could lead to futuristic, fuel-efficient airplanes

On April 28, two teams of high-performance jets buzzed over big American cities, including New York and Philadelphia. Those fighters belong to the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels, the Air Force and Navy aerial demonstration teams, and are F-16s and…

Everything to know about the fighter jets in the ‘America Strong’ flyovers

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When one of these 6-foot-long drones takes off from a facility in Ghana, a rope catapults the little airplane off a ramp and into the sky. With that dynamic launch and its two 14-inch propellers…

Speedy drones are helping Ghana test for the novel coronavirus

Anybody who has ever observed a dog moving around—maybe it’s just walking, jumping, or catching a frisbee—has probably noticed just how dynamic, complex and natural a canine’s motions can be. The animal probably doesn’t think much at all about the…

Google taught a robot dog new tricks by having it mimic the real thing

You type all day, but a good pen offers a connection to the written word that your keyboard lacks. These eight have you covered for various tasks.
The recyclable aluminum body of the Baronfig Squire Rollerball is thicker toward its point, which helps…

Eight great pens to match your writing style

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Last week, an Air Force C-17 lifted off from Afghanistan and flew to Germany. On board the large cargo aircraft was an intricate bio-containment system populated by three government contractors who were…

First mission for the Air Force’s flying hospital pods: Pulling COVID-19 patients from Afghanistan

Perfection often requires iteration. Even after releasing a product, designers, programmers, and engineers will continue to reinvent subsequent generations. But sometimes they get it right the first time. These items were so good from the get-go,…

Twelve classic products that were perfect from the start

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If you had more than one car in your garage and life suddenly got financially tight, you’d probably start driving the most fuel-efficient one the most. And if those trips involved fewer people, well,…

The pandemic could shrink the global aviation fleet by nearly 10 percent

Follow all of PopSci’s COVID-19 coverage here, including the most recent numbers and tips on how to make your own masks.
The coronavirus pandemic has understandably spurred millions to think about how they protect themselves—and others—in public…

How the National Guard dresses for COVID-19 and other disasters

Klatch Coffee’s Elida Geisha Natural 1029 is grown on a reserve near the Barú volcano in Panama, where the cold air causes trees to grow two to three times more slowly, limiting harvests. You pay $100 for 18 grams, enough to brew an 8-ounce cup of…

To brew the world’s most expensive cup of coffee, upgrade that Keurig

The belly of a big Boeing 777 American Airlines aircraft offers plenty of space for cargo. In fact, the deck to which your bags disappear on a typical flight can hold as much as 100,000 to 120,000 pounds of freight. That’s the equivalent, in pounds,…