The Fourth of July is synonymous with fireworks displays, but before all the bright colors and thunderous booms, scientists are hard at work behind the scenes making each firework display its best.

Matt Shea has photos of himself at age 9 during a bicentennial celebration in 1976, wearing a tricorn hat. “Fifty years ago, a fireworks company would visit the fire department. They shot the ...

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — “We tried last year, and we failed,” said Tim Borden, project manager at Steamboat Fireworks and one of a four-man team behind the firework that set a world record in ...

Pyrotechnician Patrick Cyrana joins WIRED to answer your burning questions about fireworks. How are fireworks designed? How do they get their color? What is the most dangerous firework statistically?

When most of us think "fireworks," we think of brilliant bursts of light and color we've seen paint a night sky. But such bursts are merely the spectacular end of fireworks that likely took centuries ...