Transportation
Many of us take public transportation or fly in airplanes on a regular basis, but have you ever wondered how all of these things work? This collection of transportation articles help explain how people get from place to place.
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We may fantasize about soaring through the sky, but humans aren't aerodynamic creatures. Could human flight be possible with personal jet packs?
Going through airport security is the worst part of flying for most people. Now you may be asked to turn your cell phone on in the security line. Why do you have to do that? And does it really keep us safe?
By Beth Brindle
Measuring how fast an aircraft travels depends on whether you factor in the speed of the wind behind it.
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Predicting turbulence isn't an exact science, but airline pilots use a variety of tools both high-tech and low before asking you to buckle up.
In 2015, the U.S. population numbered 320 million, but less than 10 percent of those people rode the rails. So who does?
By Julia Layton
Train crashes are in the news lately, but are our fears justified?
Choosing your seatmates through social media? Facial recognition technology to match you and your luggage? The airline industry has the ideas... but will it adopt them?
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Imagine whipping through the sky at thousands of miles per hour. This special type of jet engine can do exactly that.
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an unmanned aerial vehicle traveling faster than the speed of sound!
By Chris Opfer
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was just named world's busiest airport, again. What lands the ATL in the No. 1 spot again and again?
By John Donovan
Electric-propelled boats, which are much quieter and more environmentally friendly than gas-powered motorboats, are finally beginning to hit the waves and find their market.
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The words aren't arbitrary, so why do pilots and sailors call out 'Mayday!' rather than something else?
You've heard all about the exploits of Amelia Earhart, but do you know the story of Bessie Coleman, the first Black American woman to receive a pilot's license?
Before Yeager did it, people thought it was impossible to break the sound barrier in flight. But he proved them wrong, even flying the plane while nursing two cracked ribs.
Airlines are flying planes with no passengers, due in part to the worldwide outbreak of coronavirus, but also for economic reasons that have nothing to do with disease.
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Without the system that pumps unused air from an aircraft's engines into the cabin, passengers and crew would be unable to breathe at 30,000 feet. But how does that system work?
Camera-equipped commercial drones are cheaper and require less training. Is it time to say goodbye to your local eye-in-the-sky traffic reports?
In the world of flight, it's a fine line between flying high and falling fast. Can you name 10 of the innovations that keep planes and their passengers airborne?
Ready for a fifth mode of transportation? Elon Musk is. He's sketched out a proposal for a nearly supersonic transportation system that could shoot you from San Francisco to Los Angeles faster than you can watch an episode of "Game of Thrones."
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One of the key pieces of infrastructure that we could really use in the U.S. is a high speed, efficient, and effective train system.
In January 2004, the citizens of Milan, Italy, were preparing for a strike that would shut down all public transportation. Since an estimated 28 percent of greater Milan's 3 million populace relied heavily on public transit, the strike meant gridlock for most of the city.
What is the future of supersonic flight? Learn more about the future of supersonic flight in this article.
They're the stuff of headlines, often characterized as evil in the sky. But what are drones and how do they get off the ground and fly?
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Writing a legible message on paper requires a steady hand; writing one in the sky requires a steady everything.
By Julia Layton
Ever sprinted through one of these behemoth airports desperate to make a flight? Here are the world's seven largest airports, not by passenger volume, but by sheer size alone.
By Dylan Ris