Posts

Media Platforms Design TeamIllustration By Dimitris LadopoulosNo matter what, I am told, don’t hit the brakes. Like a living crash-test dummy, I obey, stepping on the accelerator and aiming the black Cadillac STS at the trunk of another STS a few hundred yards ahead.I am in San Francisco, at the annual World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), looking for the best new ideas in solving traffic congestion. And that’s how I ended up at the wheel of this specially equipped STS, riding with a GM engineer and consultant, Dave Acton, a leading proponent of the theory that in order to make highways more efficient, we need to make cars smarter....

It sounds like fodder for a horror movie. Sunday night, there will be a blood moon. It’s on the same night as the “supermoon,” when the moon approaches its closest orbital approach to Earth. Oh, and the angle of light from the sun will be just in time to cause an eclipse. Better get your ritual sacrifice ready!Or don’t. This is not a sign of the Apocalypse, but rather, a series of cosmic coincidences....

Many American schools in poorer communities need textbooks and ball fields and higher teacher salaries. They also need something Popular Mechanics can help provide: furniture. The desks and tables and shelves that are the infrastructure of everyday learning. We partnered with DonorsChoose.org, a remarkable organization that helps teachers crowdfund projects in their own classrooms, to find teachers in need. We then connected the teachers—one at an elementary school in rural Alabama, one at a high school near Detroit—with makers whose skills matched the projects....

When the GT-R goes on sale next summer, the Porsche Turbo, Corvette Z06 and Ferrari F430 will have a brand-new playmate. The GT-R is Nissan’s supercar. It channels 475 hp from its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 through a six-speed paddle-shifted transmission and a sophisticated all-wheel-drive system. The bogey? Zero to 60 mph in well under 4 seconds and a top speed of almost 200 mph. To achieve those performance parameters, Nissan had to prioritize the exterior design of the GT-R for that mission....

Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today. Media Platforms Design TeamPhoto Credit: Bjørn Christian TørrissenWho isn’t amazed by geckos? These crazy creatures can run at speeds of 20 body-lengths per second. When you think you’ve finally got them cornered, they’ll run up the wall and across the ceiling like Spiderman.We know their feet are super-sticky. But did you ever wonder how their feet get unstuck?...

Lots of great works of art have challenged the establishment. But few have gone so far as to earn a parking ticket. Sort of.Austrian artist and sculptor Erwin Wurm recently installed a surreal, curving truck sculpture on the streets of Karlsruhe in collaboration with the city’s Center for Art and Media. Then Karlsruhe officials gave the sculpture a parking ticket. Although the red truck’s cab and front wheels are on the street, its bed curves upward so that the back wheels rest on the side of the adjacent building....

The Overnighters is a documentary ostensibly about the fracking-driven oil boom in North Dakota. But the central character isn’t a roughneck—he’s a preacher. Early in the film, pastor Jay Reinke walks the halls of Concordia Lutheran Church, singing hymns. Round- faced and sporting his trademark purple shirt and spectacles, Reinke isn’t serenading only God or himself. This is his morning wake-up walk for the men who stay nights at his church....

Media Platforms Design TeamPatio DJConsider that quintessential warm-weather hearth, the barbecue. What better way to complement the sounds of chatting friends and sizzling burgers than with a playlist of hot tunes?Traditionally, outdoor sound systems have fallen into two categories: First is the boombox. Nowadays, many of these portable stereos have integrated iPod docks, making them easy to use, but none could qualify as a serious sound system. A second, more labor-intensive path is to permanently wire weatherproof speakers (see “All-Weather Wiring,” next page)....

Glamping, also known as glam camping or luxe camping, is all about the frills. But it’s also quietly, insistently insane. Take, for example, Natura Vive’s new Skylodge Adventure Suites, each of which hangs cliffside above the Sacred Valley of Cusco, Peru.For about $1,000 per night, you can sleep in one of these suspended “transparent luxury capsules.” All you have to do is climb the 400 feet up to get into one....

Vulnerabilities in drug pumps might allow hackers to remotely introduce lethal doses of medication to patients. This claim comes from Billy Rios, who’s been researching security issues with drug pumps manufactured by Hospira. The weakness affects multiple models made by the manufacturer, he says, affecting more than 400,000 pumps worldwide. Previously, Rios found security vulnerabilities that allowed hackers to change the minimum and maximum dosage of a drug allowed by the machines....

Media Platforms Design TeamScientists have discovered the first tyrannosaurus trackways—groups of footprints that reveal its path. While individual footprints have been found before, these newfound 70-million-year-old fossils are the first known trackways of tyrannosaurs. The evidence provides the first record of the carnivore’s gait, and reveals that these great carnivores may not have been lone hunters but, rather, walked together.The trackways, outlined in a study in the journal PLoS One today, were discovered in the forests of northeastern British Columbia in 2011....

Media Platforms Design TeamEditor’s note: This story was originally published on April 27, 2009.The integrated research facility at Fort Detrick, Md., doesn’t look menacing. The three-story glass-and-brick structure, which could fit seamlessly into any suburban office park, is typical of buildings designed by architects who read studies linking sunlight with worker productivity. The leather chairs in the atrium seem to encourage lounging. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which operates the IRF, plans to install a coffee bar in the atrium....

Media Platforms Design Team CHICAGO — If you’ve been dreaming of some hip, new-wave version of the hippie microbus, dream on. Instead of drawing on its storied van heritage, Volkswagen said here today that it plans to implement Chrysler’s minivan architecture for a distinctly American van. VW’s seven-passenger Routan minivan will be manufactured at Chrysler’s Ontario plant—the same line that produces the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan, both of which won a 2008 Popular Mechanics Automotive Excellence Award in the versatility category....

View full post on YoutubeAccording to the European Space Agency’s newest video, humanity lunar future includes roving Roomba-esque 3D-printers and domed homes made of packed moon dust that will house four people in the ever-twilight of the Moon’s South Pole.As awesome as this looks, this video is admittedly government-sponsored science-fiction; it was produced by the British architectural firm Foster + Partners and based on the science they thought might be feasible for a 2050 mission....

Media Platforms Design TeamFrom single pills providing a day’s nutrition to , bite-sized food replacements have been present in fiction for a long time. And the fuss all started with suffragette.bubblegum that serves you a three-course dinnerWhen the American Press Association called for futuristic visions of America as the country geared up for the 1893 World’s Fair, Mary Elizabeth Lease answered the call. Lease, a popular feminist orator, imagined that humans would have long since turned to synthetic food by 1993, freeing women from kitchen duties....

Media Platforms Design TeamThis morning, The Guardian released a classified U.S. government document exposing a huge data-gathering operation by the NSA. At the request of the FBI, Verizon Business Network Services was ordered by a secret FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court to turn over all telephony metadata to the NSA from the period of April 25 to July 19, 2013 (which means it’s presumably ongoing).Let’s start with what this doesn’t mean....

Media Platforms Design TeamClick here for more on the Buick Enclave in our New Cars and Trucks Buyer’s Guide, where you can choose from over 200 new models and expert reviews, then compare the Enclave with up to five other rides! The new Enclave takes Buick back to the brand’s roots with a quiet ride, striking style and smooth performance. The Enclave shares a platform with both the Saturn Outlook and the GMC Acadia, but because it’s a Buick, this eight-passenger crossover is more about pampering....

Media Platforms Design Team LOS ANGELES — The all-new, three-row Toyota Sequoia is bigger inside and out and borrows heavily from the technicals of the Tundra pickup truck. Two engines are offered. If you opt for the 381-hp 5.7-liter V8, your SUV can tow 10,000 pounds thanks to 401 lb.-ft. of stump-pulling torque. Mileage isn’t great—14/19 city/highway—though a hybrid option is in the works. Inside, the three-row seats lean, fold, slide and otherwise alter themselves to add to passenger comfort....

When Lamborghini’s next-gen Gallardo LP 560-4 dropped earlier this year, the sleek two-seater impressed: it wore sharper clothes inherited from the seven-figure Reventon, produced 40 hp more, and shed a few pounds. Even its E-gear transmission got 40 percent quicker in “Corsa” mode, making it a more serious contender in the supercar world. So removing the top on the newest Gallardo is the next logical step in the evolution of the LP 560-4....

Media Platforms Design Team2009 DETROIT AUTO SHOW PREVIEW:• FORD: 2010 Ford Shelby GT500• CHEVY: 2010 Chevrolet Equinox• GM: Direct-Injection Lineup Expanding• VOLVO: Volvo S60 Concept First Look DETROIT—Cadillac has downsized its next-generation 2010 SRX. The midsize luxury crossover must compete with the Lexus RX350, Acura MDX, BMW X3 and X5; so unlike the previous version, the shape of this new SRX is more in line with the rest of the class....