Headliner
Watch: World's biggest snowman dwarfs city in northeastern China
by Bronwyn Thompson
If you're chionoandrophobic, we recommend looking away now. Standing 62 ft tall, 46 ft long and 36 ft wide, 2025's largest snowman has been erected in China. The smiling icy monster required 124,000 cubic feet of snow, and has become an instant hit.
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Highlights
Human-scale cardboard aircraft came surprisingly close to real flight
by Monica J. White
Could cardboard really lift a person into the air? YouTuber Peter Sripol put this idea to the test by building a sit-in cardboard airplane and pushing it to the edge of flight, showing the potential of even the humblest of materials.
The best everyday health advice we learned from science in 2025
by Michael Franco
2025 certainly saw some major health-related breakthroughs including a universal cancer vaccine. But the year was also filled with smaller findings that can still have a big impact on your day-to-day health. Here are 18 of them.
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Is Trump's Golden Fleet the Great White Fleet of the 21st century?
by David Szondy
The Trump administration has announced that it wants to build a new class of battleships. But this is just one element of the Golden Fleet –a larger program of naval reform aimed at a major transformation of the US Navy and its strategy.
World's smallest autonomous robots could one day save your life
by Omar Kardoudi
These microscopic robots are smaller than a grain of sand. At 200 micrometers wide, they're autonomous, programmable, and cheap enough that high school students are already learning to operate them in labs.
Smarter bike helmet hides a secret weapon for better brain protection
by Paul Ridden
We recently reported on an e-mobility spin-off from Rivian that launched a modular ebike that rides without a chain or belt. Pre-orders for the T-MB are now open, but Also is already looking to protect your noggin with a light-packing smart helmet.
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Digging up the past: Important dinosaur discoveries of the year
by Bronwyn Thompson
Dinosaurs may be long extinct, but 2025 made it clear that they’re anything but settled science. New fossils, reanalyses of famous specimens and increasingly sophisticated tools have helped us learn more about how they lived, moved, fed and evolved.
Smart headphones hide a fold-down immersive display in the headband
by Abhimanyu Ghoshal
Virtually every headset for immersive content is about as subtle as a foghorn in a library. A South Korean hardware brand is trying to make them a little less conspicuous by sneaking a headset into a pair of mostly nondescript headphones.
Hisense's next laser projector boasts 6,000 lumens on a 300-inch screen
by Abhimanyu Ghoshal
Hisense has already put out a bunch of impressive projectors to suit different needs this year, and with the upcoming XR10, it's pulling out all the stops to tempt laser home cinema enthusiasts – it'll do 6,000 lumens across a 300-inch screen.
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Advancing with animals: Standout biomimicry of 2025
by Bronwyn Thompson
From water-skipping robots to elephant-skin inspired cooling materials, engineers have continued to find inspiration in nature in order to move technology forward for humans. And it's set to take center-stage in the new age of robotics.
Smart sourdough kit uses onboard AI to help you bake bread
by Shirl Leigh
Beginning sourdough bakers can lessen their struggles with Crustello, a Kickstarter from American AI tech company Race Box. It takes the stress out of being a helicopter parent of a sourdough starter kit, by modernizing an ancient baking method.
Elsewhere
🦕Did you know they use puppets to create the incredible dinosaur scenes in Apple TV's Prehistoric Planet series?
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