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Media Platforms Design Team2009 DETROIT AUTO SHOW PREVIEW:• CADILLAC: 2010 Cadillac SRX• CHEVY: 2010 Chevrolet Equinox• GM: Direct-Injection Lineup Expanding• VOLVO: Volvo S60 Concept First LookDEARBORN, Mich.—Hot on the heels of the 2010 Mustang introduction comes the souped-up SVT version, the Shelby GT500. According the Director of Advanced Production Creation for Mustang, Herman Salenbach, the 2010 version “Summarily outperforms the old car in all parameters.” An injection of 30 hp brings the tally to a stunning 540—and that will certainly help back up his claim....

On-Sale Date: July 2013Base Price: $19,900 Competitors: Mini Countryman, Honda Fit, Kia Soul, Scion xB, Nissan CubePowertrains: 1.4-liter turbocharged I-4, 160 hp, 180 lb-ft; six-speed manual; six-speed dual-clutch automatic, FWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 24‚ 25/33What’s New: The 2014 Fiat 500L aims to build on the success of the sub-compact 500 coupe in America—but in a bigger, five-door hatchback form. With four trim levels (Pop, Easy, Trekking, and Lounge) available, Fiat hopes there is a 500L for every consumer....

Milwaukee M12 HackzallMedia Platforms Design TeamThe reciprocating saw may be one of the homeowner’s most versatile tools, but it’s also one of the most unwieldy–using one typically requires two hands and an outlet, making it less than ideal for tight fits or quick jobs. The 12-volt, battery-powered Milwaukee M12 Hackzall ($180) lies somewhere between a full-scale recip saw and an electric carving knife. Arm it with a standard saw blade (or a bundled extra-short one) and it can quickly cut precise holes or reach small spaces....

MORE BOLD IDEAS:* TRANSPORTATION: Tomorrow’s Smarter Vehicles* MEDICINE: Future Mods for Our Minds and Bodies* ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Bright Ideas for Smarter WattsBuild Better Airlines and Airplanes With NASA TechMedia Platforms Design Team(Illustration by Jeremy Cook)The story of winged human flight begins without a tail–the Wright Brothers’ first successful glider didn’t have one. Soon, biplanes ushered in the now-standard tube-and-wing design for aircraft, but experiments with blended wings never really stopped. The planes are potentially more aero­dynamic and consume less fuel, though they are harder to maneuver....

High-school language classes, online courses and foreign immersion programs might teach you how to say, “pass the trousers,” in Italian, but none of them can teach you one crucial language: Car.On any given day, your car might decide to speak to you, and not in the manner of those old Chrysler New Yorkers from the 80s. Your car might whistle or screech, thump or groan, or decide to engage you in a game of charades with a performative shimmy....

Media Platforms Design Team(Published in the February 1998 issue)More: The World’s Biggest Cruise Ship.Norman L. Nixon loves to talk about the enormity of it all. “Walk in a straight line for about 12 minutes,” he says. “If you don’t dawdle, you’ll cover slightly less than a mile. Now, make a right turn and walk beyond the length of two football fields. Duplicate these lines to make a rectangle, then look up to the height of a 25-story building....

What’s better than one bookshelf? One bookshelf that’s actually more than one bookshelf.The Japanese company Nendo has designed a bookshelf called nest that’s actually two bookshelves. How does that work? The actual solution is rather simple, really: The second shelf is only half as thick as the first. It is hidden within the first and slides out when pulled, effectively leaving a hollow middle to the first shelf. Or you could just pull it out a bit, creating a grid of several smaller shelves....

The Claim Slap Chop spokesman Vince Shlomi once promised that “you’re gonna be in a great mood all day because you’re gonna be slapping your troubles away with the Slap Chop.” Trouble-free slapping is no guarantee, as a recent police report alleges. But in the advertisement, the Slap Chop’s rotating blades easily dispatch potatoes, nuts, cookies and tuna. “Stop having a boring tuna, stop having a boring life,” Vince says. After slapping the tool repeatedly, Vince says, “You’re gonna have an exciting life now....

The Claim: “Just stick up the base, slide in the bulb, and you’ve got light!” This shatterproof, battery-operated Stick-Up Bulb can be installed “without an electrician.” With a thimble-size krypton bulb housed in an acrylic shell, the device basically repackages a flashlight in the shape of a light bulb. The Test: Navigation of an unlit coat closet and tool shed, time trials to determine battery life, and incorporation into an award-winning pumpkin sculpture....

For all its similarities to Earth, it’s easy to forget that Mars is its own place, frigid and weird. Like Earth, there are avalanches. Unlike Earth, it’s not frozen water falling, but solid carbon dioxide. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this falling 65 foot flow catapulting down a slope on the Martian North Pole. Like on Earth, the ice is partly coming loose from the interaction of the sun warming it enough to cause fractures, which they break off the piece of ice and careen it down the side of the mountain....

Trials riding is a gymnastic motorsports spectacle in which motorcycle and rider conquer seemingly impassable terrain with gravity-defying moves. Think of it as rock climbing—on a motorcycle. It very well may be the coolest motorsport you’ve never heard of. The sport dates back to the turn of the twentieth century in England. But the first national event here was in 1972. Since then, the sport has developed a small but fierce cult following....

Media Platforms Design TeamMotion sensors watch an elderly man’s movement around his home, looking for stumbles or extended stillness that could mean a fall or a medical emergency. Smart appliances look for changes in a woman’s routine and alert caregivers to possible distress. An automated home-safety assistant offers an Alzheimer’s patient a gentle reminder to turn off the stove before he walks away.The great hope for senior care is that smart technology will provide an assist that helps older people live independently and stay in their homes rather than have to move to an assisted living center or nursing home....

Media Platforms Design TeamWith clutch pedals all but gone the way of the mimeograph, I couldn’t help but give an emphatic “Yes, please!” when offered a loan of the last manual transmission Lamborghini, the Gallardo LP560-2 50th Anniversary.An exotic as simultaneously common and unique as this particular strain is seemingly made for the automotive press, providing exactly the sort of fodder that makes a thin slice of the enthusiast fringe fawn over what will soon be a bygone era in the exotic car microcosm....

Media Platforms Design TeamChina’s lunar calendar finally has a cover photo. The first images from Chang’e 1, the tricked-out Chinese lunar probe, were shown off today by Premier Wen Jiabao at a Beijing ceremony meant to stamp the country’s place in what some are calling the first global space race.The crater-laden, black-and-white picture, stitched together from 19 individual shots, shows a section of the moon’s surface 290 miles long and 174 miles wide....

Media Platforms Design TeamPOPULAR MECHANICS: In The Physics of Superheroes, you mention that you grew up on comic books. Did they at all influence your interest in physics?JAMES KAKALIOS: Actually, yes! Â Many superhero comic books of the 1960s highlighted and glorified science in particular, and intelligence in general. They served as mini-training manuals for future research scientists. They emphasized knowledge of the rules of nature–often the Flash or Batman would make use of some bit of scientific trivia when battling a supervillain....

Media Platforms Design TeamThis week, all eyes were on NASA as it conducted the first flight of the Ares I, the first launch vehicle the agency designed since the Space Shuttle. October also witnessed progress in other space launches, some of which are seen as possible replacements for the towering NASA rocket. But a comparison of the milestones met in the last two weeks shows why NASA’s Constellation program remains important, and is exceedingly difficult to replace....

Media Platforms Design TeamAs a fan of all things go-fast, I approached a test of the Specialized Turbo eBike with some measured skepticism. After all, isn’t it easy to distrust something called “Turbo” that’s not actually driven by a turbo, let alone an internal combusion engine?This wasn’t my first test of an eBike (that distinction goes to Smart’s two-wheeled creation), but what I did learn about the Specialized was that riding EV-assisted cycle is actually a whole lot of guilt-free fun....

cellspacing=“0” cellpadding=“0” border=“0”>1 SOLAR PANELSMedia Platforms Design Team The design hasn’t been finalized, but the unmanned radar airship will likely use top-mounted solar cells to stay aloft for up to a year. style=“font-size:8pt; padding-right:5px;">2 PROPULSION The airship will probably rely on low-speed electric propellers: It’s intended to stay in one posi- tion, at an altitude of more than 65,000 ft., for extended periods style=“font-size:8pt;">3 RADAR ARRAY The curved array will be attached to the airship’s super- structure, and will be able to monitor a 400-plus-mile swath of rural and urban terrain....

http://i.imgur.com/GyONiFD.gifNerf's new Rival blasters are not just some puny dart guns. Revealed back in February, this new line of guns fires tiny, dimpled balls that exit the barrel at speeds of up to 70 MPH. The first pair of Rival guns—one an air-powered model (the Apollo XV-700), the other a battery-powered flywheel rifle (the Zeus MXV-1200)—are clearly aimed towards older kids and kids-at-heart that are leaning towards the paintball end of the recreational gun spectrum....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe CraftsmanReader: Daniel “Dusty” JerzakMaterials: $50,000-plusTime: 15 monthsResult: 143 pieces of handcrafted furniture–and one classic house saved from decay.* See the Mission Furniture Runners-Up* Submit Your Own DIY ProjectThe Brooklyn Center, Minn., home of Daniel “Dusty” Jerzak and James “TJ” Renner showcases nearly 150 pieces of mission-style furniture–all designed and handcrafted in their garage shop. When Jerzak and Renner bought their turn-of-the-century home in 2003, they got a contractor’s special–a former hangout for crack addicts, with buckling ceilings, missing windows and rotting pipes....