HowStuffWorks Newsletter
Explore the weapons and combat systems used by the armed services. A broad range of topics in the Military Channel includes tanks, aircraft, biological warfare and stealth technologies.
Topics to Explore:
Students at the actual TOPGUN school aren't as cocky as the characters in the movies, but the fictional version gets a lot of other things right.
Ukraine is seeking foreign volunteers to join the fight against the Russians. But unless you've got military experience and elite skills, you probably should stay home.
Russia has been accused of using the extremely dangerous weapons against the military in its war against Ukraine. Exactly what are they and what makes them so deadly?
Advertisement
In 2016, U.S. diplomats in Havana, Cuba, reported strange sounds and steady pulses of pressure in their heads. Many still have unexplained illnesses. Now at least two incidents have occurred in D.C. What's going on?
Israel's Iron Dome defense system is capable of intercepting — and destroying — thousands of incoming rockets targeting civilian areas. Here's how the sophisticated system works.
By John Donovan
In 1961, the Soviet Union detonated the biggest, most powerful nuclear bomb ever built. One of the cameramen who recorded the event said it sounded "as if the Earth has been killed."
Suicide is the fourth most common cause of death among veterans with PTSD. There are ways we can step in and help make sure these heroes don't become statistics.
Advertisement
President Joe Biden announced new regulations surrounding ghost guns. What are these untraceable guns that allow a purchaser to assemble them from parts?
Members of the U.S. armed forces and their loyal dogs have always had a special relationship – so special that the canine usually outranks its handler. What's behind this military tradition?
Hypersonic missiles, which could reach distant targets in a matter of minutes and wreak destruction with their own kinetic energy, are a potentially destabilizing threat to world peace.
U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers routinely jump out of helicopters into dangerous waters, risking their lives to save others.
Advertisement
Tank Town USA is just one of a few places in the country where you don't have to be in the military to pay to drive a tank.
The Manhattan Project built the city of Oak Ridge in rural Tennessee, where secret facilities produced uranium-235 for the atomic bomb.
The U.S. Air Force showed its might during this unprecedented exercise. But why?
Without question, they save lives — but they aren't 100 percent failsafe.
Advertisement
All six countries are in the Americas.
By Dave Roos
The search team used a radar-equipped drone to locate a P-38 from the so-called "Lost Squadron" that crash-landed in Greenland in 1942. But the story doesn't end there.
The debate over the legality of 3D-printable guns rages on, but how big an issue will they turn out to be?
The ArmaLite AR-15 rifle has become a hot-button issue in the American landscape. Where did the rifle originate and how did it become so controversial?
Advertisement
The Trump administration wants to develop a new generation of low-yield nuclear weapons that could be used without launching an all-out nuclear war.
Exposure to this nerve agent in minuscule amounts is enough to kill several human beings.
By John Donovan
Torture was formally abolished in Europe in the 19th century, but reared its ugly head again in the 20th century. Why did it reappear and what is its future?
By Diana Brown
The increasing interest in autonomous weapons around the world is alarming scientists, and there's a growing movement to halt the development of these weapons before the technology has a chance to proliferate.
Advertisement
Sand turned to glass at White Sands Missile Range. What do we know today about the remnants of the world's first nuclear blast?
By Mark Mancini
Could a tiny creature called a tardigrade hold the key to slowing biological time, giving soldiers more opportunity to recover from life-threatening injuries?