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Media Platforms Design TeamThe idea was straightforward and simple from this magazine editor’s standpoint—parlay the buzz about into a conjectural story about the weapons and tactics of a lunar battle. But my “battle for the moon” scenario started to fall apart immediately­—mostly because the moon is of such little military utility.China’s lunar ambitionsThe causes of American unease regarding the Chinese space program are easy to trace. A Chinese orbiter is currently circling the moon, looking for landing sites for unmanned missions....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf you record a music video while floating in space, which country controls the copyright laws? That’s the out-of-this-world legal question Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield had to face after his rendition of “Space Oddity,” filmed aboard the International Space Station, went viral last year. Hadfield had secured the rights to the song through David Bowie and his publisher before recording it, and they agreed to keep the video freely available online for a year....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamAmericans love television, but we hate commercials. But love ’em or hate ’em, the ads that interrupt our favorite shows for around 16 minutes of every hour have been the price we pay for free programming. The FCC gives away portions of the radio spectrum to television broadcasters for free, and they in turn give us television for free, making their profits by selling a portion of that airtime to advertisers hawking products—everybody wins… sort of....

At least two people are dead after a major explosion linked to a gas leak destroyed two buildings in Harlem on Wednesday. Residents reportedly smelled gas before the blast, but the source of the leak may not be known for sure for a while. In the meantime, this is what we know about why most major gas-related explosions happen.Many of these leaks come from underground pipes. When that happens, gas travels the path of least resistance....

Media Platforms Design Team- The first thing to do in any kind of vehicle is to let the air out of the tires. Drop the pressure to levels way, way too low to use on pavement. Twelve to 15 psi is good—less if you have narrow, high-profile tires. This increases the tire’s footprint, allowing it to float over the sand instead of digging a trench.-Needless to say, as soon as you get back to terra firma, the first thing to do is to reinflate....

Media Platforms Design Team style=“background-color:#ccc;">1970s Millers Falls Dyno-Mite Electric SawHow many M.I.T. engineering Ph.D.s does it take to repair a dishwasher? In the case of a balky Maytag at Eric Wilhelm’s house in Oakland, Calif., one doctorate sufficed. After a plastic wheel on the dishwasher’s upper rack broke off of its assembly, Wilhelm faced a classic consumer conundrum. The same plastic part had broken and been replaced three times–and now the warranty had ended....

Media Platforms Design Team BEST FORDETAILShydetools.com style=“padding:1px;background-color:#e4e5e7;text-align:center;border-right:1px dashed #fff;">A jack-of-all-trades tool with a 5/64-inch-thick blade. Some models have a metal cap on the end of the handle for bumping in loose drywall nails. style=“padding:1px;background-color:#e4e5e7;text-align:center;">Blade is made from flexible poly­styrene. Bending it after putty or filler has dried is often enough to crack off and remove hardened goo, prolonging the tool’s use.Roy BerendsohnSenior Home EditorRoy Berendsohn has worked for more than 25 years at Popular Mechanics, where he has written on carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, lawn care, chainsaw use, and outdoor power equipment....

An Indonesian air force C-130 crashed in in the city of Medan on Tuesday, crashing into two empty residential buildings and killing dozens. According to Al Jazeera, the pilot of the plane radioed to report a problem after takeoff, after which the plane caught fire and crashed. The C-130 was a military plane undergoing a perfectly standard trip, transporting military and their families. 12 crew and 101 passengers where on board, and account for most of the casualties....

Q: We own a 2005 Toyota Camry with 27,000 miles. In October 2009 the car went into the Limp Home mode (Check Engine light on) for the first time. We had it towed to the local Toyota dealer who kept it for three days and didn’t find any error codes related to the problem. We brought it home and drove it for a couple of weeks without incident until it went into Limp Home with the Check Engine light on again....

Media Platforms Design Team The big question on last night’s Lost, “Dead is Dead” might have been “What’s in the shadow of the statue?” but our question is “What is the statue, and what does it have to do with the smoke monster?” To get the answer, PM turned to James P. Allen, a Wilbour Professor of Egyptology and Chair of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies at Brown University. As Ben explored the chamber beneath the Others’ temple that seems to be Smokey’s lair, he comes across a variety of hieroglyphics etched into the walls....

Media Platforms Design TeamRegional analysis of city islands within a 20-km radius of bin Laden’s last known location (red dot). The United States military’s attempts to track down Osama bin Laden in the seven-plus years since the World Trade Center attacks have been notoriously fruitless. But a new study suggests the way to find America’s most wanted criminal is to treat him like an endangered species. In the study, released in MIT International Review, University of California-Los Angeles geographers Thomas Gillespie and John Agnew modeled the terrorist leader’s possible whereabouts by using the same techniques conservationists use to track the dispersal of animals and likely migration patterns....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn top of the jet lag, Canadian businessman Jeremy Gutsche had another headache to deal with after flying from London to Singapore. He got slapped with a bill for $1,171 for using the in-flight wi-fi. According to the Wall Street Journal, Gutsche says he signed up for a 30-megabyte plan for the flight, which cost $28.99. And though he knew he would be charged for going over the limit, he was shocked at how much he racked up just by looking at 155 pages, mostly through checking emails and uploading a PowerPoint presentation....

At 4 a.m. EDT, 28 seconds after the Mission Director gave permission to launch, mission control stopped the countdown for the launch of the Boeing Delta II rocket carrying the CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites. The abort came after the loss of the primary and backup phone communications between the Mission Director Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales Space Command in France. The two centers are currently evaluating the communication breakdown and liftoff has been rescheduled for 6:02 a....

Popular Mechanics: I’ve always been fascinated by taxidermy, because all the guys in my family are hunters. How did you get interested in it?Melissa Milgrom:I was on safari in Africa in 1994 and I wandered into a hunting camp. I found myself in the carcass room, and I was pretty much horrified because I had never seen a pelt before. When I came back, I had to satisfy my macabre curiosity—what they were going to do with those pelts?...

The Internet has come a long way since the early 90s. For instance, the Apple homepage here? That was no fan page. That was Apple’s actual homepage in the early Internet days, a far cry from the crisp and clean Apple.com of today. Listen, kids, things were more fast and loose back in the days when pages took three minutes to load and “good web design” was virtually non-existent.This first Apple site reportedly dates from around 1993 or 1994....

“Sure-footed all-wheel-drive handling.” That’s the kind of lingo you’re likely to hear in car ads and marketing material, and it has prompted me to shout at televisions, print ads, and the occasional car-company rep: All-wheel drive doesn’t help handling!It’s disingenuous to say or infer that AWD enhances cornering prowess, or that it’ll help a driver avoid a fallen tree or dodge Bambi. When it comes to handling, all-wheel drive is overrated (not to mention heavy and gas-sucking), especially in foul weather....

Media Platforms Design TeamBefore last NFL season kicked off, PopMech reviewed some of the best apps for fantasy football freaks. We found that Yahoo’s app has been decidedly lacking—this despite the fact that it’s the number one fantasy site in the country. This year, though, the app is finally up to code for those who want to obsess over their rosters on the go.In the recently updated app—now available for free download—Yahoo has gone beyond simplifying its design and interface....

For his new documentary Cartel Land, which comes out this Friday, director Matthew Heineman, embedded himself with two vigilante groups rising up against the Mexican drug cartels on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. In Michoacán, Mexico, a civilian group led by a small-town physician called the Autodefensas wage war against an infiltrating cartel. Meanwhile, in Arizona, he follows a self-appointed border-patrol movement on the lookout for drug-trafficking coyotes. It’s a harrowing account of enforcing your own law in a lawless land, and Heineman went under fire—filming through shootouts in Mexico—to show us....

Media Platforms Design TeamIn 2003, the Nissan Murano set a new benchmark for crossover SUV design. The swelling fenders, bullet nose and aggressively sporty profile looked entirely radical compared to the segment’s boxy rides of the time. Catch an old Murano on the road today, and it still looks modern. So with such a groundbreaking original, it made sense that Nissan played its redesign safe and stuck close to a proven formula....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Team DUSSELDORF, Germany — Mercedes-Benz is usually quick to exploit new segments, and in some cases even to create them. That’s what they did when the CLS 500 was launched two years ago—a design we declared as the best of that year. Now everyone is working on some type of four-door coupe. But you can’t be first every time. And Mercedes-Benz is a bit late to the party for premium compact crossovers—a segment pioneered by the BMW X3 and now occupied by the Acura RDX and upcoming Audi Q5....