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Media Platforms Design TeamDETROIT — The automotive world is downsizing. The high cost of fuel has forced automakers to shrink both the size of vehicles and sales expectations, too. Big, thirsty and, yes, profitable vehicles just aren’t moving off dealer lots the way they used to. Instead it’s the fuel-efficient smaller cars—not to mention the promise of pure EVs and new plug-in hybrids—that have commanded consumer attention. So it’s no surprise that full-size pickups are feeling the heat....

Media Platforms Design TeamSteve RousseauThe semi-autonomous car exists, but it hasn’t arrived, much in the same way Google Glass exists on a select few peoples’ faces but not on store shelves. Beginning with a DARPA-sponsored research contests just under a decade ago and popularized by Google’s self-driving Toyota Priuses, automotive manufacturers are quickly developing their own self-piloting systems and creating a flurry of autonomous features in various states of development and sophistication....

Jes SprouseSpring Grove, VA.Age: 36Years on Job: 2When Jes Sprouse was a kid, he used to watch mile-long coal trains rumble across the Wyoming plains, headed for the power plants his ironworker father had helped to build. Now, he is in the energy business himself, but instead of coal he focuses on algae farming. So far, his operation is limited to a single pond in his front yard, but he’s got big plans: to fuel America as a tycoon of algae pellets (for home use) and algae coal (for power plants)....

When Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record 31 years ago, baseball fans could watch the instant replay and then look up both players’ home run totals in Macmillan’s 1000-page Baseball Encyclopedia. Any further analysis of the two home run kings involved a pencil, a scratchpad and a slide rule. But when Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants bats for Babe Ruth’s record a few weeks from now, it’ll be a whole new ballgame for stat-obsessed fans....

Anybody who has reeled in an old-school chalk line could appreciate this high-speed model from Irwin. Called the Mach 6, this baby really zooms.The Irwin has a 6-to-1 metal gear assembly powering its retrieval. That is, for every turn of the metal handle, the drive gear spins six times. The line returns so rapidly you’ve got to be careful to not whip yourself with the thing if you’re really winding the handle quickly....

Northrop Grumman can’t pop the champagne just yet. Last month, the aerospace giant won the huge contract to build the Pentagon’s Long-Range Strike Bomber, a would-be successor to the B-52 and the B-2. Today, though, Boeing and Lockheed Martin—whose joint bid came in second in the contest—exercised their right to officially protest the choice.Related StoryWhy You Should Care About America’s Next BomberGiven the colossal size of the Northrop contract ($55 billion and probably more), this is no surprise: We fully expected Boeing and Lockheed to fight the decision....

Media Platforms Design TeamLAS VEGAS—MakerBot has already entrenched itself as one of the biggest names in the 3D printing industry—if not the biggest—and today the company continued to prove that that reputation has been hard-earned. At a press conference in the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, it took the wraps off its MakerBot Replicator 3D Printing Platform, which consists of a smaller Replicator Mini (the unit has the dimensions of the original MakerBot Cupcake), a more sizable Z18, and a prosumer Replicator, along with desktop and mobile apps....

The radioactive poison used in the assassination of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko isn’t strong enough to cause a public health scare, experts told us in the immediate aftermath of the international whodunnit. But there is, apparently, strong enough evidence for British investigators to have charged Russian businessman (and former KGB agent) Andrei Lugovoi with murder today. The details in this case, as always, will take a while to work themselves out; click here to learn more on The Popular Mechanics Show podcast....

Every new phone feels foreign. It’s a different size than you’re used to, with an unfamiliar weight and strange buttons. But when my Fairphone came in the mail, it felt almost alien. Like a tiny digital Superman, it came bursting out of the bubble wrap with a slew of company stickers and postcards proclaiming the phone’s plan to save the world.Fairphone—a startup based in Amsterdam that’s trying to manufacture a profitable and sustainable smartphone—is an experiment in idealism, and the company has no qualms boasting about it....

Q: I have a 2000 Ford Contour with an automatic transmission. While I was driving on the freeway using cruise control it jumped out of gear and has been doing so intermittently since then. Do you know what is causing this?A: Here’s the obvious question—Have you checked the transmission fluid? Low ATF wlll make it pop out of gear. I can’t really be much more help. I’d suggest getting the ATF changed at a transmission shop and getting an estimate....

Media Platforms Design TeamTiresStart by checking the air pressure in both tires. Tires lose pressure slowly over time. Low tire pressure can make motorcycles hard to handle and increase wear and tear on your tires. This is a particular concern after your bike has spent a winter in the garage because air pressure decreases with colder temperatures.While you’re looking at your tires, check for cracks, dry rot, or other damage, and make sure your tread is in good shape....

Native Hawaiians have never sat well with the observatories at Mauna Kea, one of the tallest mountains in Hawaii. To them, it’s sacred land. To astronomers, it’s the best view of the heavens. But when the largest telescope in the world was planned there, it was a bridge too far, and protests swelled up, blocking construction of the site.But now, the Supreme Court of Hawaii has stepped in to block construction of the telescope, the latest turn in the embattled telescope....

Media Platforms Design TeamToday General Motors announced that it is acquiring 7 percent of the French automaker Peugeot, making GM Peugeot’s second largest shareholder. In a statement, the two companies said they would share vehicle platforms and what’s known in the industry as “modules”—major subsystems such as HVAC or electrical architectures. Also, the companies will create a “global purchasing joint venture.” There are currently no plans to begin selling Peugeots here in the United States....

View full post on YoutubeRed we could create. Green, no problem. But blue was a stickler, and without the ability to create blue diodes, today’s white LEDs—which are everywhere from our homes to our headlights—would not be possible.Scientists Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura won the Nobel Prize in Physics today for their work to produce bright blue light from semi-conductors. Where researchers first discovered in the 1950s and 60 that running electrical currents through some semiconductors allowed them to create red and green light, yon need those colors and blue to combine into white light....

I edited our “Home Invaders” feature on ousting unwanted critters from the house for the November issue of Popular Mechanics, so I was well prepared to deal with a little home invasion of my own—or so I thought. Sunday night, at about 11:30, I heard a thumping noise in the portion of my house’s attic served by a small door through the bedroom wall. Monday morning, at about 4:30, I had a look behind the door and found that the insulation had been chewed off a copper heating pipe....

Media Platforms Design TeamWe knew Deinocheirus mirificus was strange just from looking at its gigantic arms, which reached up to 8 feet long and featured curved talons up to 8 inches long. Thanks to the discovery of new fossils, scientists have solved the mystery of what this enigmatic dinosaur looked like—a giant, toothless, sail-backed, duck-billed omnivore.The first known remains of this dinosaur were unearthed in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in 1965....

A fledgling spaceflight company announced today that its hopes to launch rockets into orbit from an enormous plane built of many 747 components, and do it before the end of the decade. Called Stratolaunch, and backed by veteran spaceship builder Burt Rutan and Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, the commercial outfit wants to start by launching small- to medium-sized commercial satellites into orbit from a spaceport in the Mojave Desert. Their sights are set on ferrying humans to orbit by 2020....

Following a $50 million funding round last month, reddit launched its next big thing Wednesday morning: a crowdfunding site called redditmade. The service allows reddit users to create and sell their own products, similar to services like Cafepress and Zazzle.You can use redditmade to design t-shirts, hats, stickers, or “something super specially customized and unique,” reddit’s announcement says. The site will help you source products for your creation and in some cases even assist with the design....

Media Platforms Design TeamA trip from Phoenix to Sacramento turned horrifying for 115 passengers aboard Southwest Airlines Flight 812 on April 1, when the cabin shuddered with a loud bang, a violent woosh of air and the sudden release of the overhead oxygen masks. A 5-foot hole ruptured in the Boeing 737-300’s aluminum skin as the jet reached 34,000 feet, instantly sucking the breathable oxygen out of the plane. The pilots quickly descended to a lower altitude with breathable air and landed safely in Yuma, Ariz....

You can now get an all-brick Squishee at LEGO’s new Kwik-e-Mart based on the convenience store from The Simpsons. The set comes with its proprietor Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (but not his brother Sanjay), as well as robber Snake, Chief Clancy Wiggum, Homer and Marge Simpson, and Bart. There’s even a frozen Jasper hiding in the fridge.The whole thing is incredibly detailed, with 2,179 pieces and an interior to the store that folds out from the larger exterior, allowing you to peruse aisles of overpriced dog food and overripe hot dogs....