How fighter jet ejections work

64-year-old accidentally ejects himself from fighter jet

A surprise company outing to an air base caused a 64-year-old French man so much stress that he flung himself from a fighter jet in mid-air, grabbing the ejector button in a panic and tumbling through the skies above France before landing in a field.

Fire engines are among the most complex vehicles on the road

These vehicles are purpose-built to carry water, foam, hoses, ladders, and lifesaving equipment to a scene in minutes. This animated video pulls apart every system inside a pumper truck, showing exactly how the machinery that fights fires actually works.

What it feels like to crash an F1 car

Crashes are common in Formula 1, but due to improvements in safety measures like the HANS device and the Halo, driver deaths are far less common. But what does it feel like to crash? This video features the world's top drivers talking about specific crashes and their thought process as they head toward the wall at 150 mph.

Six stories of survivors who fell from the sky

Rarely are there survivors when airplanes explode in air or crash due to the extreme speeds and elevation of the craft. Sometimes, though, people survive. Here are six stories of people who defied the odds and lived after falling from a plane.

The basic science of rockets

How do rockets work? What is the science behind a rocket launch? How does a rocket go into space? In this short and simple video, we discuss the science of rocket propulsion and what takes to get these vehicles into orbit.

Jet fuel is expensive—which is one reason why it's tough to make an airline profitable

Jet fuel is typically a commercial airline's second-largest expense, second only to labor. Oil prices can be volatile—there have been recent significant increases in jet fuel prices given the 2026 Iran conflict, for instance.

What it takes to become a professional jockey

This short documentary follows a young, amateur jockey through early mornings and exhaustive gym sessions, where she rides a simulator made to look like real horses. It's a peek into a highly specialized (and highly unusual) athletic pursuit.

Knowing how to use an EpiPen is a life-saving skill—learn how with this video

If someone has a severe allergic response, including trouble breathing or two or more allergic symptoms, it may be necessary to administer epinephrine, usually through an injection. Epinephrine autoinjectors—often called EpiPens—should be injected into the mid-outer thigh, even through clothing, for about 10 seconds, depending on brand. Sometimes another injection with a separate EpiPen is required if the patient does not get better after a few minutes.

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

The Kopp-Etchells effect—named after two soldiers who died in action in Afghanistan—may occur when kicked-up material shaves off fragments from a helicopter blade's abrasion strip. Due to a property called pyrophoricity, the fragments react with air and ignite, producing halos.

NASA uses a specialized plasma wind tunnel to test heat shield technology

The ArcJet Complex ionizes compressed air that fires onto shields at hypersonic speeds, replicating the conditions of high-speed, planetary reentry. An enhanced facility incorporates lasers to mimic the radiant heating experienced during high-energy atmospheric traversal.

See how the elite warriors of the Aztec Empire trained

This video explores the Aztec military’s elite Eagle and Jaguar warriors, known for their courage and combat skills, and highlights their rigorous training regimen. It concludes with a workout routine modeled on their methods.

Aviation expert breaks down the safest seat on an airplane

The bottom line is air travel is very safe—much safer than road travel. But you can always up your chances. So, here's one expert's take on the safest seat on an airplane.

Go inside Air Force One

Air Force One is the official aircraft used to transport the US president, serving as both a mobile office and command center. Over the decades, its technology, security, and symbolism have evolved—from Roosevelt's early prop planes to today's highly advanced Boeing jets.

Visualize what happens to atoms during nuclear fission and how the process produces energy

Nuclear fission occurs when an unstable, often massive, atomic nucleus splits into smaller ones—daughter atoms—and releases energy. Within a nuclear reactor, these daughter atoms can collide and combine with neighboring atoms, destabilizing them and triggering a chain reaction of atomic splitting.

How a panel blew off a Boeing plane in mid-air

As Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 climbed just over 16,000 feet into the sky, a refrigerator-sized panel was ripped from its side, forcing it to land. Few of the 171 passengers were injured. This infographic explains how the panel tore from the body of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane, which had only been in service for eight weeks.

Pilots are familiar with multiple types of turbulence, each with varying severity

Each type is defined based on what disrupts airflow in the atmosphere, including thunderstorms, mountains, and wakes produced by aircraft that previously took off. Pilots classify turbulence as light, moderate, severe, or extreme based on how it affects aircraft movement.

What do you know about WWI's only Black fighter pilot?

This in-depth article follows the life of Eugene Bullard, a Black American nicknamed the "Black Swallow of Death" for his work in WWI. Though much of Bullard's life is known, some pieces, like what happened to Bullard's brother who vanished in the Jim Crow South, continue to escape historical record.

See technicians use rappelling gear to make wind turbine repairs from 35+ stories up

Although drones are used to conduct initial reviews from the ground, mechanical engineers trained in turbine maintenance face extreme risks during close inspections more than 150 meters off the ground.

Tattoo removal breaks apart ink particles

Tattoos place ink below the skin's surface layers in packets too large for white blood cells to clear out. By breaking the ink into smaller pieces, the immune system, which is responsible for removing foreign matter, can process them.

Gregory Jarvis was an Air Force veteran who flew as a civilian payload specialist on Challenger

A Hughes Aircraft engineer with a background in electrical engineering, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis was assigned to STS-51L to study how fluids and satellite propellants behave in weightlessness during shuttle maneuvers.

What is a sneeze? (And can it kill you?)

A sneeze is an important involuntary reflex to expel something that is irritating your nose. But can it kill you? No, say these silly video hosts. Although, the sneeze can expel air, saliva, and mucus at nearly 100 miles per hour in a five-foot radius. See them break it down with this quick, quirky video.

A tube-and-diaphragm system tells gas pumps when to stop providing fuel

As long as air passes freely through a small hole at the end of the nozzle, the diaphragm is inflated, and fuel flows normally. Once fluid reaches the hole, the change in pressure from the difference in air and fluid densities collapses the diaphragm, which cuts the flow of gas.

A brief guide to espionage

Spies have one of the most challenging and dangerous jobs in the world, risking their lives and legacy to extract secrets in the interest of their country. This in-depth explainer breaks down one of the profession's oft-ignored aspects: The...

We hear because soundwaves are converted into electrochemical signals in our ears

This science teacher video systematically walks through the biology of the outer, middle, and inner ear. The explanation starts with the auricle, an external part that funnels sound through the auditory canal, and the tympanic membrane (the ear drum), which vibrates when sounds hit it. Beyond that, as the video details, is the eustachian tube, which is connected to the back of our throats and allows air to pass in and out to equalize ear pressure.

Wrestling terms you need to know

Wrestling may be scripted, but it’s built on its own vocabulary. From "babyfaces" and "heels" to "kayfabe" and "finishers," this explainer breaks down the key terms that shape what fans see in the ring—and what’s really going on behind the scenes.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

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

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

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.

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic content)

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

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.

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.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

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

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

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.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

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.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.