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There are few annoying starship-to-planet commutes in Star Trek. Instead, the transporter turns you into energy and data, then instantly reassembles you into flesh and blood at your destination. The Fly depicts a somewhat less successful attempt at the same thing.Theoretical physicist and unstoppable optimist Michio Kaku thinks humanity will achieve a version of teleportation in the real world. He predicts the transport of a molecule in the next 10 years, soon followed by DNA....

You have to remove your wedding ring before you set foot in Davenport Works, the sprawling aluminum plant owned and operated by Alcoa, in Davenport, Iowa. You have to wear safety goggles and earplugs, a hard hat, and steel-­reinforced metatarsal boots. And you’re happy for your armor, because this place is the Midwest heavy industry of your imagination—135 acres of beautiful cacophony along the banks of the Mississippi River. At every turn there’s a blast furnace disgorging molten aluminum, or a hot mill flattening ingots, or a sixty-ton crane motoring overhead, all of it making you feel eminently tiny and squishable....

Dell M109S DLP Micro Projector | $500Media Platforms Design TeamTraveling salesmen rejoice: The era of the micro projector has officially begun. This palm-size projector is the first to use Texas Instruments’ Pico technology–a shrunk-down version of the DLP chips that power large rear-projection TVs. Soon we should see the tech built into cellphones and portable media players, and the projector phone could be as common as the camera phone.Sony XrossFade Speakers | $500Media Platforms Design TeamSony’s speaker set turns iPod owners into instant DJs–its control console has two iPod docks and a built-in mixing board, and its two speakers and dual 7-in....

First, know this: Avengers: Age of Ultron is not quite the firecracker that Marvel’s The Avengers was. There’s nothing here that quite reaches the apogee of the first film’s Battle of New York—that may have been the best action sequence in a Hollywood film since the desert chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark. No, this follow-up doesn’t peak quite so high. But, strangely, it may be a more consistently good movie....

T-RaysMedia Platforms Design TeamThe ThruVision T4400 T-ray detector sees a gun hidden under clothing. Terahertz radiation, or T-rays, occur at a frequency of around a trillion hertz–between microwaves and infrared on the electromagnetic spectrum. Unlike X-rays, T-rays are nonionizing, so they don’t carry a cancer risk. They can penetrate clothing, packaging and a few millimeters into the human body, making them ideal for security screening and medical applications such as skin-cancer and tooth-cavity detection....

Mountain Hardwear Ardica JacketsPrice varies, out this fallMedia Platforms Design TeamThis line of jackets uses a built-in, wall-chargeable battery pack that infuses the jacket with heat. We’ve seen heated jackets before, but this one is more than a wearable electric blanket–it packs enough power in its lithium-ion battery to simultaneously charge gadgets using an in-pocket USB jack. I had a chance to try it out for a few hours on a cold, rainy mountain night, and it was positively difficult to go back to a regular jacket....

Media Platforms Design TeamConsider the Combo Tool PackagesThink those combo packages tools are only good as Christmas gifts for those 20-something first-time homebuyers you know? Perhaps not—they could be a good deal for more people, like the handyman whose power-tool set has some miles on it and could stand for an overhaul. Sure, you might end up with a flashlight that you don’t need, but you can also buy must-have tools, like a cordless drill, circular saw, and reciprocating saw together and save money versus buying them individually....

Media Platforms Design TeamA hazardous material worker sprays his colleagues after searching for anthrax at Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. (Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images) In an effort to safeguard labs working with dangerous biological materials, the U.S. government is looking at ways to ensure that the workers themselves do not pose a threat. In early April the advisory board tasked with boosting security measures will hold a meeting at a hotel near an Army base to solicit opinions from experts on the effect these steps might have on research into treating and preventing deadly infectious diseases....

The success of a new car design, especially a sporty one, depends on its ability not just to turn heads, but to inspire an almost primal lust in everyone from a college kid to his grandfather– hitting all the age groups in between. The new Camaro does just that–and it’s become one of the few cars outside the supercar ranks that will almost always elicit a conversation at the gas pumps....

Media Platforms Design TeamBAGHDAD, June 26 — Tonight around 1800, walking past the U.S. embassy compound’s military checkpoint manned by proud Peruvian soldiers, I hear in the distance a deep, heavy whump, whump. Last time I heard that sound, it was 2005 in Camp Taji. I register it but don’t say anything, and, although we both glance toward the direction of the sound, neither does my PAO escort.This compound is converted from one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces—think Arabian Nights a la 1970s Las Vegas, only worse....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photograph by Mandel Ngan/ AFP/ Getty Images)The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has just released a summary of its 2009 Infrastructure Report Card, and the news isn’t exactly surprising-it’s bad. The purpose of the report card format is to make the study easily accessible to the public, replacing the opaque engineering-speak of structural deficiency and design lifespan with familiar letter grades for each of 15 categories, as well as a cumulative tally....

(Published in the September 2000 issue)Plus, just in case, how to repair a flat tireIt was 112 years ago that John Boyd Dunlop invented the first pneumatic (air-filled) bicycle tire—and a few days later, the first flat. Riders have been dealing with flats for decades, but now a California-based company, Specialized Bicycles, has applied for patents on a combination of technologies that promise flatfree riding without loss of performance.Aimed at recreational riders and cycling enthusiasts, the new next-generation Armadillo family of road, off-road, and hybrid tires is the result of an intensive two-year collaboration between Specialized and DuPont to combine the ride and handling of the company’s premium cycling tires with an innovative three-stage flat-protection technology....

The flood that hit my hometown of Montpelier, Vt., 14 years ago this March, had a sneaky feel to it. The water didn’t come from up the Winooski River, which skirts our downtown; it backpooled quietly into the streets. Spring snowmelt and steady rain had swollen the river to near its banks, breaking its thick ice cover into truck-size chunks that formed a clog in a bend just below town.Within minutes, shopkeepers noticed water sliding across their floors....

The power of symbolism is not lost on Iran’s military hardliners. In a nationally televised exercise today, the nation’s military blew up a mock U.S. aircraft carrier. More than a dozen speedboats swarmed the phony ship during the practice attack.Why obliterate a prop? The Guardian says Iran meant the demo to be a “message of might” as negotiations over the country’s nuclear program approach a drop-dead date in a few weeks, and that the Revolutionary Guard wanted to show it could sink the pride and joy of the American Navy....

Media Platforms Design TeamStocks and bonds? I don’t know much about them. In fact, I don’t know anything about stocks and bonds. I’ve lost money in the stock market; come to think of it, I’ve lost money in real estate too. But I’ve never lost money on cars. The reason is simple: I’ve always bought cars I really want to own. If you buy a car that you like, and it loses its value, at least you still like it....

Media Platforms Design TeamPopular Mechanics: The Yogi Cam allows you to stay with wildlife and film as they’re moving, which has never been done before. Why did you need a camera like that??Ted Oakes: When you watch a feature film, just about every shot is a tracking shot, where the camera is moving horizontally along with the action. The reason Hollywood uses it is because it immerses you in the action, and it’s easy to achieve because you can tell the actors to walk from A to B and then you have a camera on a dolly, and you follow them as they do it....

It was only a matter of time before professional sports got into the virtual reality game. Last week, for example, the NBA along with Turner Sports and NextVR broadcast the opening night game between the Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Pelicans in VR.But what if you could use the technology to do more than just give fans a 3D game experience from home? Imagine if you could show fans what it’s like to be sitting on the bench next to their favorite players listening to the coach give a pre-game speech, or give a fan the perspective of a running back as he breaks off a 50-yard touchdown run....

Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today.Media Platforms Design TeamPhoto credit: Getty ImagesOn April 2, 2013, President Barack Obama revealed the BRAIN Initiative, a bold strategy to better understand the most complex human organ. Now, neuroscientists advising the President on his ambitious plan delivered a final report to the National Institutes of Health asking for $4.5 billion in funding to be spent over more than a decade....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe modern era of recycling began in the meandering wake of the Mobro 4000. The infamous garbage barge spent much of 1987 traveling up and down the eastern seaboard looking for a place to dump its 3000-ton load of New York trash. It was refused at every port. By the time the spurned vessel returned to Long Island, still ferrying its fetid cargo, it had become the poster child for what was trumpeted as a national crisis: dwindling landfill space....

Media Platforms Design TeamRetired Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger has held the world’s record for the longest human freefall in history for fifty years, and it looks like he’ll be hanging on to it a little bit longer. Red Bull’s Stratos Challenge, in which pilot Felix Baumgartner would , has been put on indefinite hold “with immediate effect” as a pending multi-million dollar lawsuit from Austrian promoter Daniel Hogan works its way through the legal circuit....