Science, Tech, Outdoor & Innovation News

Spray-on armor for plants offers a new tool for global food security

January 10, 2026 | Malcolm Azania
By adjusting a typical polymer synthesis, researchers have created a spray-on polymer solution that could save billions of tons of crops. It's harmless to plants, and weakens the cell membranes of a variety of harmful bacteria.

Sub-$40,000 personal eVTOL could be in buyers' hands later this year

January 08, 2026 | Ben Coxworth
Ever since its launch in 2021, the Jetson One has looked like it might be the first personal eVTOL to reach consumers. If Chinese company Rictor is to be believed, however, its similar X4 should ship later this year – and at a fraction of the price.

BYD overtakes Tesla as the world’s largest EV manufacturer

January 10, 2026 | Utkarsh Sood
BYD and Tesla’s sales reports for 2025 are out. The Chinese carmaker has officially surpassed Tesla to become the world’s best-selling battery electric vehicle maker, selling a total of 2,254,714 all-electric cars in 2025.

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For decades, the Mitsubishi Delica has proven itself a rugged, reliable base van for mini-camper vans and pint-sized adventure vans. And now it's joined by an even smaller Delica camper van, the purely kei-size Delica Mini Pop micro-camper
What was announced as a 2050 pipe dream by Kawasaki, the company's hydrogen-powered, four-hooved, all-terrain robot horse vehicle Corleo is actually going into production and is now expected to be commercially available within a few years.
The all-new Backcountry series from Gazelle Tents gets ruggedized with a heavy-duty, 4-season design built to camp comfortably from sweltering desert basins to high-alpine snow drifts ... and all stops in between.
VW’s ID.UNYX sub-brand has adopted an “in China, for China” strategy, and the new ID.Unyx 08 carries that baton forward as an electric SUV built exclusively for the Chinese market – meaning readers in the West can’t get one – which is a bit of a bummer.
Whether it’s internal combustion being pushed in new directions, electrification finding more convincing use cases, or brands revisiting legacy nameplates, 2026 is shaping up to be a year where companies take real risks instead of playing it safe.
Weighing less than most rooftop tents and taking up far less space than a camper, the Camp Tonneau Tent is always at the ready for truck camping but stows completely out of the way for unencumbered everyday commuting and cargo hauling.

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Last year, Subaru surpassed Toyota and Lexus to become the most reliable carmaker according to Consumer Reports. This year, Toyota reclaims its crown. And there’s one damning stat: Four out of the top five most reliable car brands this year are Japanese.
In the South China Sea, the aqua-colored waters of an expansive shallow reef platform suddenly gives way to a near vertical shaft of vast darkness – an ocean sinkhole almost entirely devoid of oxygen and, in turn, marine life as we know it.
High on sheer cliffs in China, ancient coffins are wedged into rock faces hundreds of feet above the ground. These dramatic burials, now re-examined using ancient DNA, point to a broader practice where disparate cultures all had their own "sky graves."
For nearly a century, a strange band of 5,200 holes carved into a hillside has defied explanation. Stretching for nearly a mile along the edge of the Pisco Valley, Monte Serpe – "serpent mountain" – may have finally revealed its secrets to scientists.
A team of Australian bodyboarding ratbags has managed to capture staggering footage of an extraordinary oceanic phenomenon: a place where four 12-ft (3.7-m) waves regularly converge into an oval dip, with explosive results.
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.