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Media Platforms Design Team ARLINGTON, Va. — We’re here at the second panel of the afternoon, “Water 2025,” where five leading researchers took a deep dive into the future of the nation’s water delivery systems—how to monitor them, and how not to run out of what may be our most precious resource. Have your own question for our panelists? Leave it in the comments section below, and they’ll come back to answer them!...

Media Platforms Design Team Browse expert reviews and compare info on the HHR at the Media Platforms Design Team For the ‘08 model year, Chevrolet has decided to attach its top performance label, SS, to an unlikely model: the HHR. Like the PT Cruiser, it’s essentially a small, front-drive family wagon. So we haven’t exactly seen it as a stoplight tire burner. However, the HHR SS does look cool. And adding the powerful, 2....

Honda has redesigned its Odyssey minivan for 2011. But, frankly, the Odyssey was already such a solid product that the new one isn’t that much better. The big question is if a little bit better is enough to attract buyers out of other types of vehicles and into a van.From a practical standpoint, minivans have all other sorts of family transportation covered. The vans are roomier than any crossover, more economical to operate than a full-size SUV, and far more readily adaptable to cargos of people or things than station wagons....

On-Sale Date: NowBase Price: $23,780 to $26,080Competitors: Mini Countryman S, Hyundai Veloster Turbo, Jeep CompassPowertrains: turbocharged 1.6-liter I-4, 197 hp, 184 lb-ft; 6-speed manual or CVT; FWD or AWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 25/30-31What’s New: This Juke follows the template of the 370Z Nismo, with sportier styling and substantive improvements to the handling of the ordinary Juke. There’s also a boost of 9 hp and 7 lb-ft to the turbocharged four-cylinder, for a grand total of 197 hp and 184 lb-ft....

LOS ANGELES — It’s been a while since Acura introduced its current large sedan, the RL. Now, get ready for its successor, which should look a lot like the Advanced Sedan Concept (ASC) that Acura revealed here today. “We wanted to capture the essenece of an ultra-luxurious sedan,” says Dave Marek, chief designer for Honda R&D Americas, Inc. Like other recently shown Acura concepts, the ASC has sharp creases and angular lines that have become an Acura brand hallmark....

For those of us out there who’ve dropped our iPhones in the toilets, good news: Apple is working on ways to waterproof its mobile devices. A hydrophobic coating applied to internal parts would give the phones a little added protection in case they get caught in a rain storm. Or a storm drain.The coating would be 1 to 10 microns thick, hardly adding any weight to the device and requiring little to no additional room....

Media Platforms Design TeamLAS VEGAS — Custom-bike builder Bourget’s has entered the quad market with its $90,000 Shredder F-80, an upscale four-wheeler powered by a 425 hp, 383 Fast Burn Chevy Crate V8. Hidden under sculpted aluminum, the automotive-derived powertrain includes a Turbo 350 automatic transmission, a Winters “Quick Change” rear end and Porsche 930 CV joints. Power rack-and-pinion steering eases handling, and massive custom 17 x 12 aluminum wheels and four-wheel independent suspension endow this brutish four-wheeler with some serious cornering grip....

Leaves are a surprisingly serious threat to trains. Each autumn, when they fall onto railways, trains can mash them into a slick trail that makes it hard for the cars to stay in contact with the rails. Leaf problems result in more than 4.5 million hours of commuter delays.Dutch Railways is testing a new solution: lasers. Mounted on the front of the train, lasers will sweep away debris and keep rails dry....

If you remember the trusty Elmer’s bottle that glued you through grade-school arts and crafts, then you also remember how hard you had to squeeze it sometimes just to get enough for a single piece of construction paper. No more: Elmer’s is getting an overhaul courtesy of LiquiGlide, an MIT offshoot that developed an ingenious no-stick coating.LiquiGlide shocked the world three years ago with its amazing ketchup demo. A glass bottle with the slippery coating on the inside poured out the tomatoey stuff easily—without someone having to pound on the bottom or use a knife, and without ketchup sticking to the sides of the bottle....

Media Platforms Design TeamTwo European scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics today for what might be called the grandfathering of the iPod—a process that helps hard drives physically shrink, while still increasing storage capacity. In 1988, Frenchman Albert Fert and German Peter Grunberg each arrived at the same conclusion that changes to the magnetic field of a hard disk can be interpreted as the ones and zeros that form the basis for all electronic data....

Media Platforms Design TeamPM’s workshop, a dedicated space in a New Jersey industrial park, gives editors a place to fabricate things and photograph them for the magazine. So far we’ve populated it with a full set of mechanic’s tools, five different welding machines, an assortment of fabrication tools, automotive bodyworking tools and sundry supplies. Luxuries include a tire-mounting machine, a parts-washing sink filled with solvent, a glass-beading cabinet and a sandblaster....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe author discovered GM’s Project Driveway somewhat randomly online, and now will chronicle his experiences in this test-fleet version of a Chevy Equinox for PM over the next three months.NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Ever sign up for a contest you just know you don’t have a prayer of winning, and you fill out the form anyway? That’s what I did last summer–but I actually won. For three months, I get to drive a next-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle implanted in the body of a Chevy Equinox....

This Thursday, the U.S. Open will begin at a golf course in Washington State where all 18 holes stay where they’re supposed to be and don’t drive away during your approach shot. How unoriginal. How jejune.It’s time for a change. Because we have seen the future of golf, and it involves giant earth-moving vehicles carrying mobile greens.Media Platforms Design TeamOut in Arizona, Caterpillar built a driving range where not only the green but also the trees and the sand traps are on the move, carried around by big ol’ trucks....

Media Platforms Design TeamI lost my computer. I have a password on it, and I also have tracking software. Will the password lock keep the tracking from working?Your two computer-safety technologiesa login password and tracking softwaremay work against each other. Tracking software, such as Find My Mac for Apple computers and Prey for PCs, Macs, and Linux machines, requires you to be connected to the Internet to work. (Prey is the best option for PCs because it is nearly invisible on your computer, making it hard for thieves to disable....

PICK UP POPULAR MECHANICS FOR MORE!* ON SALE NOW: How to Win the Google Lunar X PrizeIn space, no one can hear you change your mind.For decades, NASA kept a tight fist around the construction and operation of the spacecraft that ferried its astronauts and hardware into orbit. Sure, an army of private contractors actually built the vehicles, but NASA oversaw the designs–and always kept the pink slips. Now, however, the agency seems to be shifting course, as NASA officials insist that the budding commercial spacecraft fleet represents the only way the United States can realize its dreams of solar-system conquest on schedule and at an affordable cost....

Neanderthals may have lived in caves, but they made the most out of their cave homes, including creating rock “stoves” to heat water. A 60,000 year old cave in Barcelona, Spain contains rock structures that seem to have been used as a place to heat water. The cave also showed evidence of compartmentalizing. The discovery was made by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution.For instance, there was an area for trash, an area for animal butchering, a primitive bedroom, and a primitive tool shed....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen he’s not charging up an Energon sword and handing out beatings to every passing Decepticon, Optimus Prime moonlights as glorified car service. For this week only, fans in Dallas (June 16), Phoenix (June 19), and Los Angeles (June 21) can request a 15-minute ride from the Autobot leader via Uber.This won’t be some lame Toyota Corolla hastily painted with Michael Bay’s signature red-and-blue flames, this is the massive, Western Star truck built specifically for Transformers: Age of Extinction....

Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today. Media Platforms Design TeamPhoto Credit: James WillamorHibachi Heaven. Hey Cupcake! Guac N’ Roll. That’s just a tiny sampler of the meals on wheels that are part of America’s exploding food truck phenomenon. We have websites like RoamingHunger.com that show the real time locations of food trucks in more than 30 cities. And even smaller towns like Waco, Texas, are getting onboard....

Grime TestWe sealed the cameras in a container full of dirt, sand and dust for three days, regularly shaking the package.Casio: The bits of dirt that got into the camera’s doors and crevices were nothing a Q-tip couldn’t handle. Kodak: The Kodak saw the least dirt seep in, if only because its monolithic frame had the fewest nooks and crannies.Olympus: A few pieces of sand worked their way into various hinges and crevices, and some particles seemed to interfere with the flip-up lens cover....

Cold SoulsDirector and Screenwriter: Sophie BarthesSome of Sundance’s biggest buzz was reserved for Cold Souls–a Charlie Kaufman-esque film about an actor named Paul Giamatti (played, conveniently, by Paul Giamatti) who goes through an existential crisis while performing a stage production of Uncle Vanya. In real life, Giamatti might respond by buying a Porsche. But in the world of Cold Souls, there’s a thriving underground market for human souls, which allows Giamatti to place his own soul in storage, thus freeing him from pain (and, naturally, happiness) until he’s over what’s ailing him....