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Robert A. Heinlein’s 1958 novel Have Space Suit–Will Travel opens with a kid–“Kip” Russell–entering a soap slogan competition to win a free trip to the moon. While all he gets is a lousy space suit–a used one at that–the idea of private space travel in a contest has proven irresistible, and now that commercial spaceflight is here, new contests aim to make fiction reality.Space enthusiast Tony Webb tells Popular Mechanics he founded espacetickets....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: Fall 2011Price: $14,000–$21,000 (est.)Competitors: Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai AccentPowertrains: 1.8-liter I4, 138 hp, 125 lb-ft; 1.4-liter turbo I4, 138 hp, 148 lb-ft; five- or six-speed manual, six-speed auto, FWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 28–30/37–40 (est.)What’s New: The Sonic is an all-new car developed with input from GM’s worldwide engineering operation. Replacing the Aveo in the slot beneath the Cruze in size, the Sonic will be available in both hatchback and sedan body styles....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe last space shuttle flight has now launched. And with Atlantis safely in orbit, many are reflecting on the legacy of the shuttle program, which lasted a little over three decades and for much of that time was at the center of America’s human spaceflight program. While it was a magnificent technological achievement, and had many great accomplishments, it was a failure in the primary purpose for which it was built: to dramatically reduce the cost of access to space, and make such trips routine and safe....

Those letters you read during an eye, where the font gets progressively smaller as you move down the chart? That’s a Snellen chart, and it’s 153 years old. Eye care has made huge advances since then, but the process of diagnosing for a pair of glasses hasn’t changed much. The doc asks you “One, or two?” while flipping between called trial lenses, listening to your subjective input.Media Platforms Design TeamMIT researchers have made tiny, portable versions of the hulking diagnostic tools required to give a spot-on glasses prescription....

NEW YORK - Now that BMW/Oracle’s next-generation America’s Cup boat, USA 87, has been unveiled, the syndicate is being a little less reluctant to release photos of the boat under sail. And my speculation turns out to be correct* – the distance from the mast to the forestay (or ‘j’) is unchanged, as is the distance from the mast to the stern. So the shortened bow means a shortened boat, with the small bow sprit making up the distance....

If you’re like me, you’ve got digital music on your computer, on CDs and saved on any number of MP3 players strewn about your house and in your car. My personal MP3 player grand total right now is four. Hey, I just had to get a 4GB iPod Nano. it’s so small, so thin…okay I guess there’s no justifying my personal music player addiction. I still have a junk drawer full of old Walkmans....

In the May 2007 issue of Popular Mechanics, we tested seven popular compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and found that the light quality in all of them topped that emitted by traditional incandescent bulbs. Following that lab test, we received a lot of questions from readers regarding the environmental impact of the mercury contained in CFLs. For more of the lowdown on these energy-saving bulbs, we crunched the numbers and checked in with the Department of Energy and Russ Leslie at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe footage of oil that continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico is a stark reminder that the United States’ reliance on liquid fuel has consequences. A substantial portion of this fuel powers vehicles: In 2008, 97 percent of energy consumed for transportation in the U.S. was supplied by liquid fuel—much of which was made from oil imported from foreign countries. Photosynthetic plant and algae-derived biofuels are additional sources of fuel (think ethanol and biodiesel) but today’s technologies are less than 1 percent efficient at converting sunlight into energy we can use....

A flash of yellow whips through your peripheral field of vision, as a taxicab screeches into a downshift in front of you. The driver flips you a hand signal rooted in antiquity as he blithely makes a right turn from the third lane, forcing you to slam on the brakes. There’s only one appropriate response–you slam your palm against the center of the steering wheel to audibly signal your displeasure with the hackie’s driving, personal hygiene and relationship with his mother....

The front page of today’s Wall Street Journal carries a story about the rising costs of staple foods, driven largely because of rising demand for biofuels. I find this profoundly disheartening, because it’s the sort of story that only happens when we’ve abandoned critical thinking and creative problem solving. Are we so insistent on the American way of life as we know it – cheap gas, the freedom to drive whatever, wherever, and whenever we wish – that we’re actually going to choose sharply escalating food prices, rather than make so-called sacrifices elsewhere?...

Media Platforms Design TeamReports of the Nobel Prize in physics being awarded for Giant Magnetoresistance dumbed down the science to the foundations of the iPod. But the confusing mechanics of the hard drive belies its undeniable usefulness in the world of electronics.For the record, Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) is not a band of 15-ft.-tall mutants who have joined together to save the world from a diabolical villain with the power to influence metal....

Despite some initial hesitance from President Bush before the G8 Summit on promising hard numbers to reduce greenhouse gases this week, the U.S. and other members of the Group of Eight reached today what could be a landmark accord: they found the will to fight global warming and have agreed to “seriously consider” a goal of cutting emissions in half by 2050. Although the pact sets an official target for reductions, each nation will be able to choose for itself how to go about meeting it—and there is no method of enforcement if a nation fails to comply....

Over the past few weeks, public protests over Chinese actions in Tibet have spread from the streets of Lhasa to cities where the Olympic torch is appearing on its way toward Beijing. Meanwhile, a quieter online conflict has come into focus, with Tibetan rights groups saying they are facing a growing number of digital attacks–even more than when protests first escalated. The incidents provide details on threats aimed at other targets: Security consultants say that some of the attacks involve computer servers in China that were previously used to target several United States military contractors....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe old Harrier is a temperamental beast, and sometimes it refuses to fly. Today, Oct. 9, 2010, the fuel pump craps out, and the wrench gang sits around glumly, waiting for the spare part to arrive. The timing of the ­breakdown is demoralizing. Thousands of people have flocked to Culpeper Regional Airport in rural Virginia to witness the spectacle of Sea Harrier XZ439—the only operable aircraft of its type in civilian hands—thundering through the air, approaching its top speed of 730....

Google’s new headquarters plan is almost a blueprint for Biosphere III. Inside the office there are entire areas of controlled wilderness, ramps instead of stairs, modular pop-up offices moved by a robotic crane—the kind of stuff normally reserved for the brain of Buckminster Fuller rather than real life architecture. It’s not an office so much as a high-tech, ultra-controlled terrarium that’s ever-changing on the inside. Open office doesn’t even begin to describe it, because it only has the most tenuous connection to our idea of an office environment....

Just in case you find yourself in a hostage situation or a romantic rendezvous goes wrong, the key to escaping handcuffs is a standard paper clip. That’s what Grant Thompson suggests in this useful YouTube video about breaking free from any professional-grade cuffs.According to Thompson, all it takes is biting the small end of the paper clip to make dent in it. After that, make a handle and stick it in the keyhole to twist it until you free the one hand....

Media Platforms Design TeamFirst and foremost, “How to Make Crappy Stuff Awesome” is an exercise in diagnosis. After lugging a bent bicycle wheel through two rush hours on three different subways to the Williamsburg home of 3rd Ward, I still only had a faint notion of what I wanted to do with it: Namely, build a coffee table that spun like a Lazy Susan. Tim Dowse, the mastermind behind the class, told me to start by looking at what I couldn’t change (the spokes) and what I could work with (the post)....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe press corps tumbled out of the bus, into a patter of rain. No matter‚ we were already soaked by a downpour as we waited to load the buses. The sky opened up just before military security officials brought in the bomb-sniffing dog; we stood in the rain as the pooch snorted at our gear. The griping ceased as the bus lurched into motion. Dozens of journalists‚ six school buses of them‚ became children at summer camp: Wet, armed with cameras and gaping out a bus window....

Frozen FlashQ. When I bought my digital camera, I saw a variety of memory cards advertised as “high-speed” and “high-performance.” Are they really any faster?A. Flash memory cards do vary in performance. The first flash memory cards could record data at around 150 kilobytes per second. Some manufacturers take this speed as a base line of 1x and assign modern cards ratings such as 32x or 80x, signifying a certain multiple compared to the speed of the original standard....

Q: I bought a used Daewoo. Currently, my mileage is 85,049. The battery died last week so I had it replaced. Since then, when the radio is turned on, it flashes ….COD_ _ _ _ . I have gone to 3 auto parts stores, back to the dealer where I bought the car, and back to the mechanic who replaced the battery to get this fixed. Everyone tells me that I need a 4 digit code, but no one has it....