Hydroplaning occurs when a vehicle's tires lose traction on wet roads

Explaining the Leidenfrost effect, where water can hover and move against gravity

Water droplets can glide across surfaces whose temperatures are well above water's boiling point. This heat instantly vaporizes the bottom of the droplet, creating a layer of steam that the rest of the droplet rides and bounces upon. This can be seen when sprinkling water on skillets to determine if the surface is hot enough to cook on.

Hurricane Helene dumped enough water to fill Lake Tahoe

Alongside a rainstorm that moved into the region ahead of it, the hurricane released an unprecedented 40 trillion gallons of rain on the southeastern US, causing catastrophic flooding and at least 100 deaths. Meteorologists suggest climate change is exacerbating the severity of such events.

Watch a goldfish drive a car

Dutch engineer Thomas de Wolf created a car for a goldfish, or a water tank on wheels that is directed by the movements of the creature inside it. Using a motion-sensing camera, when Blub the fish moves to one side of the tank, the camera moves in the same direction.

Avalanches happen when layered snow fails, often on perfect ski slopes

Snowpacks form unstable layers as weather shifts; a weak, refrozen layer buried under fresh snow can shear and release a slab avalanche on certain steep slopes. Triggers range from new snowfall to the movement of skiers, while survival depends on the presence of ski partners, beacons, and rescue teams.

Today's cars use turbocharged hybrid engines and AI-assisted technologies

In addition to enhanced speed, serious accidents and technological advances have led to major innovations, leading to more aerodynamic and more protective cars.

Flood recurrence intervals are based on independent probabilities

The term "100-year flood" does not mean the event will only occur once every 100 years, but it has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. Soil saturation, watershed size, and urban development can impact flood severity.

Hydrogen vehicle adoption has struggled due to high costs and stiff EV competition

Despite features like fast refueling and zero emissions, hydrogen vehicles face significant hurdles in affordability and infrastructure. As of 2025, there are about 200,000 electric vehicle charging stations compared to fewer than 100 hydrogen fuel ones.

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.

Hurricanes spin due to differences in air and ground speed as they move across Earth

The movement of an object across latitudes causes it to take a curved trajectory because its speed no longer matches that of the ground beneath it. This phenomenon, called the Coriolis effect, explains why hurricanes spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

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 complex science of snow removal

Plowing snow seems simple, but its actually a technically complex task and requires significant logistics, patience, and funding. New York City's 19,000 miles of roads require days to plow at a cost of $12M per inch of fallen snow, and roughly 17 million tons of salt were applied to road surfaces across the US in a recent year. Dive into the details of snow removal with an in-depth and funny video.

Formula 1 cars are the world's fastest regulated road-course racing automobiles

F1 is the highest international level of open-wheel racing, where the wheels are not covered by the car’s body, differing significantly from NASCAR, which have covered wheels.

Deep-sea trenches form when one tectonic plate subducts another underwater

Oceanic plates sink when colliding with less dense continental plates, bending the seafloor into steep depressions that can be almost 11 kilometers deep. Many of Earth’s strongest earthquakes occur at these plate boundaries, often featuring volcanic activity.

Tornado myths include suggestions to hide beneath a bridge or to open windows

Winds can accelerate due to a tunneling effect as they pass under a structure, making seeking shelter from a tornado in a mobile home or recreational vehicle highly discouraged. Significant tornado damage results from debris being picked up and hurled by strong winds, making it unsafe to be near windows that may shatter.

Geological features on Mars' surface provide evidence of massive past flooding

The presence of river valleys, enormous canyons, and other structures carved by water on Earth suggests that water flowed abundantly across Mars' surface. The layering of rocks in the walls of these structures indicates the intensity and volume of these flows.

Heatstroke is when the body's core temperature becomes dangerously high—and needs to cool

Warning signs that the body is overheating include rapid breathing, cramps, heavy sweating, nausea, and feeling lightheaded. Drinking plenty of fluids, seeking shade, and cooling the body down as quickly as possible with icepacks can help reduce the risk of heatstroke.

Windmills can be designed to pump groundwater for irrigation or land drainage

A gearbox within the windmill converts the windmill's rotation into the vertical motion of a piston that pushes water up a pipe. It also drives the rotation of an Archimedes screw to move water to higher elevations.

Colored paint lines on new tires mark different types in the factory

Each stripe helps warehouse workers and distributors identify tire types at a quick glance. This innovation became important a century ago as manufacturers scaled operations and developed distinct product lines.

Humans need higher levels of water-soluble vitamins that easily pass through the body

There are two types of vitamins: lipid soluble and water-soluble. Water-soluble vitamins like B vitamins and vitamin C are in the watery parts of fruits and easily pass through the human body before being taken up by the bloodstream or exiting your body. But lipid (fat) soluble vitamins must be absorbed through the intestinal wall, carried by proteins, and then may be stored in the liver and other body parts—meaning there is greater risk of overdosing.

Batteries are likely to stop working sooner in cold temperatures

The electrolyte separating the cathode and anode of a battery can thicken, impeding ion flow. Lower temperatures also slow the rate of chemical reactions, further reducing battery capacity. Large draws of power, such as when using heaters, heated seats, etc., in a car during winter, exacerbate battery drain further.

Many chemicals used in fracking fluid have been classified as toxic

Although the fluid has been known to leach into drinking water supplies, raising health concerns, fracking is exempt from federal clean water regulations due to a loophole in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 championed by former US Vice President Dick Cheney.

Swimming boosts the risk of contracting swimmer's ear by fivefold

The term swimmer's ear is a bit of a misnomer since other factors including scratches to your ear from Q tips, trapped perspiration inside the ear when you sweat, and living in tropical climates can elevate the risk of contracting this outer ear infection. But swimming poses the greatest risk: widely cited research has found that swimming elevates the risk of contracting this infection fivefold.

Wet macular degeneration affects 10%-15% of those with macular degeneration

This form of molecular degeneration refers to when excess blood vessels form in the back of the eye and damage the macula. If someone with this condition looks at straight lines, they will typically appear wavy or crooked.

Why Japan builds airports on water

Some of Japan's roughly 100 airports are built on water—that is, engineers have created new land in bodies of water specifically to construct airports. This six-minute video explains why the country is doing so despite the higher cost of such airports.

Drought conditions force fewer ships to sail the Panama Canal daily

In 2023, canal authorities reduced traffic in the canal amid severely dry conditions. These seven infographics from the Woodwell Climate Research Center explain exactly what happened that historically dry October, and how it affected global supply chains.

Jeep culture, explained

Jeeps originated as all-purpose vehicles in World War II and have since become the most common off-road vehicle. Owners greet each other with a wave, but there's a pecking order. Drivers of younger, less-modified models are expected to initiate the wave to older, vintage Jeeps. Also, all those rubber ducks are tokens left on that particular Jeep from admirers.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

Hurricanes, which rely on air consistently spinning in the same direction, cannot cross the equator because air curves in opposite directions north and south of it.

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.

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

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

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.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Poison ivy's characteristic rash is caused by an allergic response to an oily compound in the plant called urushiol.

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

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.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Planarian flatworms are small, aquatic worms with exceptional regenerative capabilities. When cut, the worms can regenerate multiple bodies in a matter of weeks.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

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

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per 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.