This website uses cookies

Read our Privacy policy and Terms of use for more information.

Headliner
'Living sand' aims to bring crops to infertile desert wastelands

'Living sand' aims to bring crops to infertile desert wastelands

by Maryna Holovnova

There are very few plants that can grow in sand, but farming in a desert is hard to imagine. Or is it? Scientists in the UAE are trying to make it happen. With their new method, growing crops in sand may become possible in the near future.
Today’s newsletter sponsor

Smart starts here.

You don't have to read everything — just the right thing. 1440's daily newsletter distills the day's biggest stories from 100+ sources into one quick, 5-minute read. It's the fastest way to stay sharp, sound informed, and actually understand what's happening in the world. Join 4.5 million readers who start their day the smart way.

Highlights
MotorcyclesTransport

Epic ride: 201,901 miles, four records and $150,000 for charity

by Utkarsh Sood

American rider Patrick Cornell, also known as "Vroom Old Man," has notched up 201,901 miles (324,928 km) over 12 months across the USA and Canada aboard his 2025 Indian Pursuit. Why, you ask? To raise money for the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation.
Tiny HousesOutdoors

Top 10 tiny houses that are designed for family living

by Adam Williams

Living in a tiny house with a family is always going to be a challenge, but some models are better equipped than others to make it work. We've picked 10 of the best examples that make family life on wheels easier.
Special promotion for New Atlas readers

This $29.97 Visual Studio deal gives developers AI-assisted coding

Writing code can mean a lot of repetitive work. Visual Studio Professional 2026 is now $29.97 (reg. $499.99), with AI-assisted suggestions and refactoring tools that can help developers spend more time building and focusing on the end goal.
AutomotiveTransport

Jensen Interceptor GTX is Britain's emphatic reply to the Ford Mustang

by Utkarsh Sood

For years, the US has had the Mustang. Britain, meanwhile, has had trouble keeping its great sports-car names alive. It took time, but Britain finally looked across the Atlantic, saw what Ford did with the Mustang, and said: yeah, we can do that too.
Consumer TechTechnology

The slimmest semi-solid-state power bank is perfect for small EDC kits

by Abhimanyu Ghoshal

BMX's SolidSafe Air power bank is an impossibly slim model at just 6.8mm. And since it's a semi-solid-state model, this promises not to swell or catch on fire in your pocket like conventional power banks can.
MotorcyclesTransport

Evoke’s budget electric moto promises serious everyday rideability

by Utkarsh Sood

Hong Kong-based Evoke Motorcycles seems to be back from its limbo, with the Nrgy e-moto. The company recently celebrated its 10‑year anniversary with a grand opening of a brand‑new manufacturing factory, while also revealing the all-new $4,995 Nrgy.
MaterialsEngineering

Modern miracle? Plastic waste transformed into effective fertilizer

by Malcolm Azania

Inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s Future Boy Conan anime series featuring bread made from plastic, a Japanese engineer has created a way to turn waste plastics into fertilizer. The global threat of plastic waste could become a boon for global agriculture.
AutomotiveTransport

7-seat ladder-frame Mitsubishi Pajero is back to combat 4x4 status quo

by Utkarsh Sood

It’s been five years since Mitsubishi pulled the Pajero from its global lineup. Make that closer to a decade for regions that knew it as the Montero. But not long after the company released the first teaser, we got the SUV's full-fledged debut.
Special promotion for New Atlas readers

Is Your Training Data Actually Model-Ready?

DNSMOS gives you a score, not whether that data fits your model. Treat it as pass/fail and you'll train on audio that looks clean but hurts performance, while tossing good data for no reason. Voices' CTO DJ Jalali just published a white paper with the four-step framework the team uses to set internal thresholds instead.

Tiny HousesOutdoors

Towable A-frame is about as small and simple as a tiny house gets

by Adam Williams

A lot of people neither want nor need all the extra space found in a full-size tiny house. This A-frame on wheels is for such minimalists. With a length of just 15 ft and containing one room, it's as small and simple as it gets.
MotorcyclesTransport

Has an Indian disruptor just built the world’s lightest off-road helmet?

by Utkarsh Sood

There are a few things in motorcycling that make me immediately suspicious. A rather unheard-of helmet manufacturer suddenly announcing that it has built the world's lightest off-road helmet will definitely get my attention. But is it legit?
Elsewhere

Single-exposure microscopy development allows incredibly detailed real-time look inside living cells. Spatial polarization-induced florescence fluctuation imaging - or SPIFFI for short - reportedly overcomes multi-frame challenges of traditional super-resolution microscopy while "achieving resolutions of about 80 nanometers."

Get your next issue ad-free – and support our work: join New Atlas Plus!