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Most DIYers shy away from doing electrical work for fear of getting shocked or causing a fire. And that’s certainly understandable; electricity is not to be trifled with. However, there are many simple electrical upgrades that, when done correctly, are perfectly safe. And few electrical projects are as simple and safe as replacing an old light switch.If you have wall switches that are old and badly faded, cracked, or just worn out and ugly, then replace them with brand-new switches....

San Jose, Calif.–Scientists at IBM’s Almaden research center have built the biggest artificial brain ever–a cell-by-cell simulation of the human visual cortex: 1.6 billion virtual neurons connected by 9 trillion synapses. This computer simulation, as large as a cat’s brain, blows away the previous record–a simulated rat’s brain with 55 million neurons–built by the same team two years ago.“This is a Hubble Telescope of the mind, a linear accelerator of the brain,” says Dharmendra Modha, the Almaden computer scientist who will announce the feat at the Supercomputing 2009 conference in Portland, Ore....

Media Platforms Design Team This illustration by Danielle Zawoy for the University of Florida depicts what a wingless electromagnetic air vehicle might look like as it flies in the atmosphere above Mars. Subrata Roy, an aerospace engineer from the University of Florida, recently submitted a patent application for an aircraft that just happens to come in the shape of a flying saucer. Dubbed a “winged electromagnetic air vehicle,” or WEAV, the battery-powered prototype is designed at less than 6 in....

In 1981, Clayton Anderson joined NASA as an intern. In 1983, he joined full time as an engineer. That same year, he put in his first of 15 applications to become an astronaut. He’s detailed his experiences in the space program in The Ordinary Spaceman, out now from the University of Nebraska Press. You can read our interview here. In this exclusive excerpt, Anderson talks about going from another rejectee to sticking with it until he had “the right stuff”: On Applying:The fact that I applied to become an astronaut fifteen times has not been lost on my friends, followers, or fans....

Media Platforms Design TeamCredit: AP Photo/Lucia GonzalezTraveling the back roads of northwestern Nevada, one family found themselves in a desperate situation. Fifteen miles from the small town of Lovelock, their 2006 silver Jeep Wrangler flipped and slid down an embankment near Seven Troughs, a mountain range in Pershing County. The immediate threat was the blistering Nevada winter, which on Monday reached temperatures of 21 degrees below zero. And with little phone reception in rural Nevada, they were stuck with no way to call and nowhere to go....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s taken us awhile to get around to publishing a review of the new 2013 for one simple reason: We’ve been a bit stymied by how to go about testing it. On the outside, the Air looks barely different from its predecessors. But on the inside, it packs some features that are so new that it’s actually difficult to evaluate them.MacBook AirThere are essentially four things worth knowing about Apple’s latest generation of ultrathin notebooks....

Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today.Media Platforms Design TeamHave trouble getting to the gym? Can’t kick that nasty habit? Just a glutton for punishment? Let mild electroshock therapy help.Productivity apps and devices aren’t exactly a new concept, but most operate on a positive reinforcement model. Created by author Maneesh Sethi, Pavlok is a $250 wrist band that will deliver mild shocks when you perform an undesired habit....

Media Platforms Design TeamDETROIT — Talk about hybrid (no, not that kind). We spotted this cross-branded, half-and-half GM prototype near the company’s test site in Michigan, and we’re pretty sure we’ve got it nailed down.From the front, this car is all Pontiac G8, the rear-drive sedan based on the Australian Holden Commodore (check out the Holden at bottom right for understructure clues). Unlike the twin-scooped G8 GT that Pontiac unveiled at the Chicago auto show in February, however, this prototype has a plain hood....

Media Platforms Design TeamOf the ingredients needed to make a car go around the famed 2.5-mile oval in Indianapolis at speeds in excess of 230 mph, some are familiar to even the most casual fans: plenty of horsepower, the aerodynamic wings that push the car to the tarmac and a courageous driver. But don’t forget perhaps the most crucial element of all: the car’s ride height, the distance between the bottom of the car and the track surface....

The international community met in Poznan, Poland, this week to discuss what it needs to–and can agree to–do to reduce the impact of climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. The U.N. plans to sign a new international climate treaty next year, and in negotiating recommendations delegates found common ground in many areas, including improving the way that countries share green-technology breakthroughs, financing climate change adaptation projects in developing countries, scaling up the “carbon market” and implementing risk and disaster management plans for the areas most sensitive to climate change....

Omnipresent dashcams and the trend of very, very low flybys in Ukrainecombine for this stunning piece of video. It shows an Mi-8 helicopter buzzing over cars driving on the highway in Ukraine, before settling into a route that keeps it just a few dozen feet above the highway.View full post on YoutubeJudging from the (Google Translated) comments on the video, opinion is divided on why exactly the Mi-8 was doing some nap-of-the-earth flying....

CABOT, Vt. — The first day of December, and appropriately enough, it’s getting cold here. Actually, it would have been more appropriate if it had gotten cold about a month ago, but after a November of record highs and record lack of snow, winter seems to be settling in. The warm, snowless November was as disconcerting as it was pleasurable. When does weird become normal? Because it seems as if this sort of “weird” weather, when it’s t-shirt temperature on the last day of November, when it rains in January (and February, and March), when the April remains of our wood pile are greater than the year before, is really becoming the norm....

Today, even Pontiac has a folding hardtop. So it’s no surprise that BMW would equip its new 335i Convertible with a disappearing metal roof. The 335i uses the 300-hp twin-turbo inline Six found in other 3 Series models. Even carrying an additional 400 pounds over the Coupe, the car is quicker than just about anything in its class. It also has the same kind of rock-solid chassis rigidity as the Coupe....

Media Platforms Design TeamSausalito, Calif.—Acura’s research indicates that younger car shoppers (Gen X and Y) have fewer prejudices against wagons than boomers and are far more likely to see the sense of vehicles that carry as many people and as much stuff as SUVs, but without the extra mass and higher center of gravity.Hence the Acura TSX Sport Wagon, a car that will be made available in relatively few numbers until the research is proved right....

In the golden ’60s, when biker guys Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith and Bud Ekins blasted around the California desert on any Sunday, they mostly rode British 500cc 4-stroke Triumphs and BSAs they’d modified themselves into heavy, unreliable, dangerous brutes wearing knobby tires. In the ’70s, 125cc and 250cc 2-strokes took over. These little Singles were much lighter, more powerful and way faster than the clunky 4-strokes. They also annoyed the neighbors with their ring-a-ding exhaust and clouds of blue smoke....

On August 6, the world watched as NASA landed its Mars Science Lab, called Curiosity, into a crater on Mars. The most advanced robot ever to visit another planet, Curiosity is crammed with instruments working together to puzzle through the question of whether life existed on Mars. “As humans, our senses are very integrated,” says Pamela Conrad, MSL deputy principal investigator of sample analysis. “We want to extend our senses to Mars....

Media Platforms Design TeamOf course the Spark would one day go electric. Chevy’s munchin-sized new gas-powered car doesn’t hit dealers until later this year, but the automaker is already preparing an electrified version. The EV car will go on sale sometime in 2013. At this point, Chevy hasn’t released any specs like the range, the recharge time, or even the price. Today, we simply got a chance to talk to the engineers who are currently testing the car in Torrance, California....

Observations from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe found an unexpected gas in the tail of Comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko: molecular oxygen, or O2. And it could throw a wrench in the hunt for alien life.Oxygen is abundant in the solar system and galaxy, but molecular oxygen (that is, O2) is less so. Oxygen is incredibly reactive, often bonding to other elements, which is why there’s lots of water, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide (among others) to go around....

For many Americans, the first time they heard the term “smart grid” was in a campaign promise. During the 2008 presidential race, McCain and Obama both used it in stump speeches and debates, sometimes associating it with the necessary preparations for a flood of plug-in hybrid vehicles, sometimes as a simple upgrade to our stressed and seemingly fragile electrical grid. Further definition might not have seemed necessary–it’s a grid, and it’s smart, which is clearly better than a dumb one....

Media Platforms Design TeamHomestyler 3D Floor Planner by Autodesk (makers of the industry-standard AutoCAD) is a free Web app intended for those residential and light-commercial interior-design projects that fall just short of “professional.” While this program wasn’t the easiest to get the hang of, it could be a valuable tool for a homeowner considering a home remodel.At first glance, I wasn’t sure who was the target market for AutoDesk’s app. It seems to be geared toward the homeowner considering a remodeling project and looking for a tool to help visualize the outcome....