Media Platforms Design TeamWhen red imported fire ants—an invasive, stinging species found in the U.S. South and Southwest—swarm, they do more than pool their strength and intelligence. The ants become a new kind of versatile material, one with the properties of both a liquid and a solid.Press down on a clump of ants and, rather than spreading out the way a liquid would, the ants compress like foam and then bounce back....
LAS VEGAS–Avatar producer Jon Landau was on hand yesterday at Panasonic’s CES press conference to extoll the virtues of Panasonic’s plasma monitors (which the filmmakers used for on-set playback during the film’s production) and to discuss the future of 3D. PM caught up with him for a brief chat about life since the release of Avatar.Now that Avatar has grossed over $1 billion globally since its December 18 release, it is easy to forget the mixed pre-release buzz that included doubts about whether the public would embrace a movie some described as “Dances with Smurfs,” or a “Ferngully ripoff....
Name: Niven Ring, or RingworldNamed for: Larry Niven’s 1970 novel Ringworld and its sequels. Selected Science Fiction Portrayals: Besides those featured in Niven’s novels, similar but smaller structures, called Halos, appear in the Halo video game and media franchise. Also, the Orbitals of Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels and short stories. Someday, when humankind outgrows planet Earth, we might aim to build a habitat so vast we could never overpopulate it....
This electronic glove uses sonar technology to let the wearer “feel” things underwater that he or she is not physically touching. When it detects an object in range, the glove—developed by a pair of Japanese Ph.D. candidates from Tsukuba University—will provide haptic feedback to the user by hitting the fingertips with pulses of water. The closer the gloved hand gets to an object, the harder the jets pump water, letting the user know how close their hand is to the object....
You don’t always need to invent a new technology to go exploring in new places. Sometimes, all you need is to adapt an existing one just right. That’s how the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) is getting unprecedented views of the ocean floor: it’s using the same technology that Nissan develop to help people park their cars on dry land.Nissan calls the car tech the “Around the View Mirror....
Media Platforms Design TeamJaguar’s new F-Type Coupe made a dramatic first appearance tonight at Raleigh Studios near Playa Vista, Calif., in a hangar once used to construct the Hughes H-4 Hercules, otherwise known as The Spruce Goose.The original drop-top F-Type already had our hearts, winning a PM Automotive Excellence Award for design. But the new hard-roof version of the F-Type is a supermodel-class stunner. More importantly, it will perform better than the open-roof car thanks to a stiffer structure and an even more potent 550-hp R model (pictured)....
Media Platforms Design TeamFRANKFURT — Mercedes-Benz pointed the way toward future designs of its S-Class luxury sedan—and showed off a completely new kind of internal combustion engine—with a concept it calls the F700.The ultra-low, wavy and sleek body of the F700 falls in behind a huge horizontal grille reminiscent of the one on Mercedes’s Ocean Drive concept, but the rest of the body is a completely new, 21st-Century rendering of the S-Class, called Aqua Dynamic....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe world is populated by two kinds of guys: the ones who know what to do when something goes bust, and the ones who are always asking the first guys for help. Here’s your secret manual for staying on the right side of the divide. It’s filled with experts’ shameless shortcuts for dealing with everything from flooded basements to mysterious oil leaks to flat mountain bike tires. These down-and-dirty repairs won’t all last a lifetime, but they can certainly save the day....
Media Platforms Design TeamYou can tell a lot about the folks running a company by the magazines in their lobby. Walk into the Tesla Motors world headquarters in San Carlos, California and you’ll see just about every car magazine in existence on the glass coffee table—along with the latest PM of course—and books about the history of car design. The lobby is littered with car geek stuff.“The tires are meant to be burned off the car,” Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard proclaims just minutes after we arrived....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamBet you didn’t think there could be a downside to going green. Well, it turns out that better-insulated buildings can trap the emissions from run-of-the-mill photocopiers, hair spray and computers—causing harmful pollutants such as formaldehyde and benzene to creep into your eco-friendly indoor air. Enter the Green Light.Developed through the xDesign Environmental Health Clinic at New York University, the Green Light is essentially a chandelier with plants growing out of its base....
Media Platforms Design TeamSolar Impulse lands in Dallas.Solar Impulse—a plane as big as a jet that weighs only as much as a car and flies only by power from the sun—is currently on its way across America. And on the most recent leg of its journey the aircraft broke its own record for solar-powered flight. Pilot Andre Borschberg flew Solar Impulse 958 miles from Phoenix to Dallas, topping the 693-mile trek the team made around Europe last year....
It’s no secret that Audi has been developing a new coupe positioned above the A4 Cabriolet. But we had yet to hear the official word on its existence—until last night. At an informal dinner in Montreal, we chatted with Audi of America’s Executive Vice President, Johan de Nysschen, about the new model. He told PM that the A5 is a larger coupe slotted in between the BMW 3-series and the BMW 6-series, competing directly with the Mercedes-Benz CLK....
Media Platforms Design TeamFor more than a century, Popular Mechanics has provided life-saving advice for outlasting storms, surviving outdoors, and preparing for disaster. Find out how to survive anything right here.A 14-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service, Nick Meyers has been the lead climbing ranger of the Mount Shasta Ranger District since 2010. His team is on call year-round to lead search-and-rescue efforts, averaging ten to twelve annually.Real and Present Danger Media Platforms Design TeamAn avalanche needs a few things to happen: a slab—a cohesive mass of snow—and a surface for it to slide down, like a frozen crust, hard old snow, or the ground....
The next generation of ground-based telescopes are coming to give us an unprecedented view into the cosmos. Today, the Giant Magellan Telescope was approved to begin construction in Chile. When it opens its eyes in 2021, it will be the largest telescope in the world … for a little while, anyway.The building of the GMT marks the beginning of the era of extremely large telescopes—those whose light-gathering surfaces measure in excess of 80 feet....
Media Platforms Design TeamAt first glance, the Toshiba Libretto W100 computer looks like a pint-size netbook. But open it up, and a keyboardless dual-screen tablet reveals that it is basically a super-size mutant version of a Nintendo DS. I recently spent some hands-on time with the machine and was left with very mixed feelings.The Libretto’s design is clever, for sure (albeit one with more than a few echoes of Microsoft’s now-dead Courier tablet project), and we can appreciate its inclusion of a front-facing Skype-friendly camera....
Chatterton was in the States, so Mattera did the only thing he could think to do by himself in Samaná, a city in the Dominican Republic not far from where the Golden Fleece reportedly sank—he went to talk to old fishermen. He started near the cemetery, carrying a bottle of Brugal rum and a rusty can full of gasoline. Mattera handed the men his gifts and took a shot with his Spanish....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhat’s so special about your stove? Give me your elevator pitch.HWAM Autopilot IHS not only controls combustion automatically but also allows you to set the room temperature to the required level with the help of a remote control that even tells you when to refuel your stove. Electronic precision benefits the environment, reduces fuel consumption, and makes life easier for you. How does the Autopilot IHS (Intelligent Heat System) work?...
Media Platforms Design TeamAnything that purports to break the laws of physics—even a little—should be subject to great skepticism. And that’s what’s happening this week to NASA’s purported “impossible” engine. Earlier this week, we reported on NASA’s test of a microwave thruster that seemingly broke the laws of physics, but needed more verification from outside experts. Today’s there’s pushback about the test.John Timmer at Ars Technica writes that one of the biggest problems with the study is that the team found positive results in both the experiment and the negative control—not a good sign when you’re trying to prove something....
Media Platforms Design Team Braselton, Ga.—BMW’s storied M division has stepped up to what is, quite literally, its biggest challenge ever: Create M editions of the X5 and X6 crossovers. With its origins as the company’s motorsports arm, the high-performance M GmbH division has always rendered track-worthy machines based on already admirable enthusiast-oriented cars, exemplified by the M3 or the pulse-pounding Z3- and Z4-based M roadsters and coupes. We had a chance to take the 2010 X6 M on the fast and fabled Road Atlanta racetrack—scene of many BMW racing triumphs—aiming to prove the 555-hp vehicle’s credentials to wear an M badge....
Objectified[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/S9E2D2PaIcI?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0[/youtube]Director: Gary HustwitGood product design is about more than just looking good–a well-designed product is intuitive enough to act as its own instruction manual and beckons users to make it a part of their lives. This industrial design documentary will be most anticipated by those who have seen the director’s previous documentary, Helvetica–a compelling film the explores the history and impact of the font. Objectified features interviews with an all-star cast of some of the world’s most influential living industrial designers, including iPod designer Jonathan Ive, controversial BMW designer Chris Bangle and former Braun design chief Dieter Rams....
