The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a honeybee. In many ways, your world is small. Your four delicate wings, each less than a centimeter ...

Static electricity often just seems like an everyday annoyance when a wool sweater crackles as you pull it off, or when a doorknob delivers an unexpected zap. Regardless, the phenomenon is much more ...

Scientists developed a new model, which shows that rubbing two objects together produces static electricity, or triboelectricity, by bending the tiny protrusions on the surface of materials. Most ...

Add Popular Science (opens in a new tab) More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results.

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even butterflies and moths do it. As lepidopterans flutter their wings, friction with the air causes them to accumulate static electricity — enough to potentially pull pollen ...

Scientists have developed artificial heterostructures made of freestanding 2D and 3D membranes that have an energy density up to 19 times higher than commercially available capacitors. Electrostatic ...

Static electricity—specifically the triboelectric effect, aka contact electrification—is ubiquitous in our daily lives, found in such things as a balloon rubbed against one’s hair or styrofoam packing ...

In this quick science demo, I show how to turn dish soap, water, and a straw into bubbles you can actually control. I walk ...

Static electricity is so commonplace that it can come across as simple. Rub a balloon against your head, and the transfer of charges will make your hair stand on end. Shuffle your feet on a carpet, ...