🌎 New Atlas stories of the week

by Aaron Turpen

It may surprise some to learn that Polaris has a serious research, development, and testing facility. I got a full tour of the place, along with a dedicated test track that I got to use later.

by Abhimanyu Ghoshal

The Aspark Owl hypercar from Japan was once the fastest electric production car you could buy. Its new drop-top version is said to go from 0-60 mph in just 1.72 seconds, arguably faster than any other car on the market ever.

by David Szondy

Air taxis might be the next big thing but they can't get very big if there's no place for them to land. AutoFlight Aviation Technology is developing a vertiport that's essentially a solar-powered barge that can go where it's needed – water permitting.

by Paul Ridden

Taiwan's Tern Bicycles has listened to its customers and delivered a belt-drive Vektron folding ebike as part of the fourth-generation rollout in the US, which also includes a regular chain-driven flavor that offers a sportier ride.

by Abhimanyu Ghoshal

In a major breakthrough in human tissue replication, for the first time ever a 3D-printed cornea has been transplanted onto a legally blind patient's eye, successfully restoring their sight.

by Bronwyn Thompson

Avian influenza viruses have a gene that makes them incredibly resistant to heat, rendering our body's natural defense system – fever – powerless in fighting infection. In fact, higher temperatures actually help those bird-derived bugs replicate.

by Bronwyn Thompson

The World Health Organization has finally made its recommendations on using GLP-1 therapeutics for weight loss, though it remains to be seen whether it changes their status for prescribing or price. And scientists still have some concerns.

by Maryna Holovnova

Terrified of bloodwork, needles, and clinic bills? Science is getting closer and closer to collecting our health data in fast, affordable, and pain-free ways – the latest example being a cup sticker that measures vitamin C levels in the user's sweat.

by C.C. Weiss

After a rather slow 2024, 2025 saw more multitool debuts than we could keep up with. Our favorites included a reimagining of Leatherman's most popular, a skeletal Swiss Army knife, and a Gerber campsite classic that starts fires.

by Adam Williams

This recently completed tiny house, by Vagabond Haven, packs a lot of comfort into a compact footprint. Designed to sleep two people, it's fully equipped for off-grid living and is envisioned as a vacation home or rental.

by C.C. Weiss

So many rooftop tents on the market weigh well over 100 lb. The all-new Weekend from Groenberg shatters that mold and weighs in at a fraction of those figures. And for a limited time, it also prices in at a fraction of the competition.

by Ben Coxworth

As any snowboarder knows, the board does not just float dreamily across soft, puffy snow. It bangs and it shakes and it chatters against the hard-packed slopes, which is exactly where the shock-absorbing ShredLORD is designed to come in.

by David Szondy

Britain's DragonFire laser weapon upped the ante on November 20 at the Ministry of Defence's Hebrides Range in Scotland when the high-powered, solid-state laser for the Royal Navy shot down drones flying at 351 knots (404 mph, 650 km/h).

by Bronwyn Thompson

Japanese company Science is commercially producing its Mirai Ningen Sentakuki – Human Washing Machine of the Future – after an overwhelming response at the Osaka-Kansai Expo this year. Only 50 models will be made, with a price tag of US$385,000.

by Michael Franco

While lithium extraction technologies generally focus on ways to get the essential metal out of the ground, there's another source to mine: existing batteries that no longer work. A new technique could now make that process economically viable.

by Bronwyn Thompson

Thermal imaging has become wildly accessible, thanks to technological advancements that have made it more affordable than ever. Thermal Master's Thor 002 sits squarely in that sweet spot. And it's about a third of the price of its main competitors.

by Bronwyn Thompson

You may be sitting on – so to speak – a very valuable asset that scientists would love to get their hands on: your poop. As well as blood, plasma and organs, you can now donate fecal samples to stool banks for research and use in transplants.

by Ben Coxworth

Nobody wants harmful bacteria on objects such as medical implants, yet we also don't want them building up a resistance to antibiotics. Well, help may be on the way, in the form of metal structures that kill the microbes by poking holes in them.

by Pranjal Malewar

Using advanced chemistry and AI, a team of Carnegie researchers uncovered new chemical traces of Earth's earliest life in 3.3‑billion‑year‑old rocks, and evidence that oxygen‑producing photosynthesis began over 800 million years earlier than thought.

by Abhimanyu Ghoshal

Industrial pipes carrying water or chemicals invariably get gunked up as deposits accumulate on their internal surfaces. Researchers in Texas have found that lining pipes with lab-grown diamond film can prevent buildup like nothing else.