Metal fragments can create glowing rings when sand chips them off helicopter blades

Volcanic ash is composed of fragments of volcanic rock, minerals, and glass

These abrasive particles are hazardous to aircraft. They can melt within engines and re-solidify on turbine blades, preventing forward propulsion. If inhaled, chemicals within ash can be toxic, and the particles can embed themselves into the lungs' ducts, causing suffocation.

Electrical discharge from stressed rocks may produce lightning

Although flashes of light in the sky likely result from storms or damaged transformers and power lines coinciding with geological events, some scientists theorize that fracto-luminescence, or earthquake lights, may be caused by discharged built-up static electricity.

Watch over a dozen fireworks effects

Adding pellets of salt to gunpowder within a fireworks shell causes them to explode with different colors, but the type of gunpowder used also has an effect. Finely ground gunpowder burns quickly, producing streaks that swiftly burn out.

Spikes of light around stars are artifacts of light bending around the mirror supports

Through diffraction, electromagnetic waves can bend around obstacles, as observed in the silver linings at the edges of clouds, where light should be blocked. Within reflecting telescopes, starlight diffracts around struts—beams holding a secondary mirror in place—and spreads perpendicular to them, creating pairs of spikes.

Fiberglass and epoxy resin on blades complicate the recycling of wind turbines

Between 85 and 95% of a turbine's materials—except for the blades—can be recycled. Blades have been left in landfills when not repurposed into playgrounds and sheds, but new processes may allow them to be made into pellets for injection plastics and concrete.

Metals can be welded together in space without needing heat

On Earth, oxygen naturally reacts with metals to form an oxide layer on their surface, which prevents two different pieces from fusing when they come into contact. If the layer is worn away without oxygen to replenish it, metals can instead stick together upon impact—a phenomenon known as cold welding.

High-altitude kites can perform airborne collection of energy from high-speed winds

Winds at high altitude are stronger and more consistent than those near Earth's surface, where natural and artificial barriers disrupt airflow. Kites pulled by the wind can extend a tether like a yo-yo, creating electricity in an attached ground generator.

Firework or sparkler burns, even if they cover a relatively small area of skin, can significantly affect our range of motion.

How fighter jet ejections work

One of the most complex pieces of equipment in a fighter jet is the pilot's ejection apparatus, and the process of ejecting is far more challenging and violent than its depicted in film. This six-minute video breaks down the protocol step-by-step.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Sound can shatter glass if its frequency matches the material's natural vibrations

The sound made by an object when struck is its resonant frequency, which is the sound made when energy is dissipated. Providing energy at that frequency amplifies the vibrations, rather than allowing them to dissipate, which can deteriorate the object's structural integrity.

Shooting stars, or meteors, are fragments of asteroids and comets that burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating streaks in the sky called meteor showers.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors'

Included photos include scans of missing or damaged digits, a chunk of missing flesh, a facial injury from a homemade firework in a glass bottle that exploded in the patient's hand before it was thrown, and an injury where a patient's finger bone flew into someone's leg.

Holograms are produced by shining light through recordings of interference patterns

When one half of a split laser beam that was reflected off the surface of an object recombines with its other, unreflected half, the two produce an interference pattern that becomes etched onto holographic film. When light shines through the back of the film, it reacts with the pattern to create the reflected light, projecting the original object.

DNA may serve as a flame retardant by self-extinguishing some burning materials

When DNA burns, phosphate groups release phosphoric acid, and nitrogenous bases release ammonia. These molecules, along with the sugar in DNA's backbone, shift the combustion reaction toward the formation of intumescent char. This puffy, carbon-rich layer protects open flames from burning the material beneath.

Particle beams can be used to alter the surface properties of artificial joints

Surface hardening and embedding specific elements or coatings can improve the biocompatibility and bone tissue integration of these implants. Particle accelerators are significant sources of the radioisotopes needed in medical diagnostics, and microwave linear accelerators are used in the majority of cancer irradiation treatments.

Humans have used bioluminescence as a means of military advantage

During World War I, the British Navy sank a German U-boat after spotting the blue light forming at the sides and in the wake of the boat. Jellyfish slime was applied to a Roman walking stick for nighttime guidance, while bioluminescent fungi in Indonesia fulfilled the same purpose.

A 'halo' protects drivers

After the 2015 death of driver Jules Bianchi, Formula 1 mandated that all cars include a protective barrier called a “halo.” This video breaks down how that measure saved the life of Romain Grosjean, who survived a horrific crash in 2020 at a race in Bahrain and later credited the halo as the reason for his survival.

The ‘Bullshit Bombers’ of the Vietnam War and their mountain ghost

Armed with marketing insight and leaflets, these US soldiers tried to use propaganda to get the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese military to abandon their weapons and leave the war. But what’s more effective than a leaflet’s promise of a decent cup of coffee amid bombing? Ghostly threats from the great beyond. Learn more about weaponized superstition in this 42-minute podcast episode.

Chromium contaminants in a ruby crystal gave the world's first laser its red color

The red light originates from a long-lasting excited electron state in the element's atomic structure. The brittle gray metal has historically been used in pigment production, the manufacturing of rust-resistant stainless steel, and the creation of durable coatings with long-lasting shine for metals, wood, and leather.

Playing around with an AR sandbox

The white sand acts as a projector screen and a topographic map image is projected on the surface. An XBOX Kinect is positioned to read the contours of the sand and draw new topographic lines according to how the sand is moved.

The extremophilic origins of watermelon snow and its impact on glacial melting

Also known as "blood snow," the red coloration is produced by snow algae that thrive in extremely cold conditions and take the shape of red spherical cysts in winter. To protect themselves from more intense summer solar radiation, these psychrophiles accumulate red, orange, and yellow pigments, intensifying their coloration and causing glaciers to reflect less sunlight than if they were white.

The 1978 prediction of the Kessler syndrome popularized the risks of space trash

A paper published by NASA scientists Don Kessler and Burton Cour-Palais described a scenario where the density of objects in orbit becomes so high that collisions between them create a cascading effect of runaway debris, preventing future space travel. The risks were confirmed from returned telescope parts showing debris impacts.

A WWI war helmet outperformed modern gear in this study

Your great-grandparent's World War I helmet stuffed in the back of a closet may be just as effective at preventing brain injury from some blasts as a modern-day military helmet. This article further explains a study that pitted WWI and modern helmets against each other.

Planeterrellas create artificial auroras that mimic the atmospheric displays of light by setting up an electric field between two metal balls in a jar filled with a small amount of air.

Why does that bag look like a face?

If you've ever spotted a face hidden in an inanimate object, you've engaged in a timeless phenomenon known as pareidolia. This three-minute video explains why and how it happens.

The artwork at Burning Man is impressive and transient

Huge sculptures, mutant vehicles, concert stages, the Man, and other spectacles created at Burning Man each year are often destroyed by the end of the event. If they aren't burned, they'll often be repurposed or trashed.

Phantom limbs were first documented in the 16th century by a French military surgeon

Ambroise Paré, the military surgeon, observed this phenomenon among soldiers who'd lost limbs, yet the term wasn't formally coined until hundreds of years later, by Silas Weird Mitchell, an American Civil War surgeon.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.