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Media Platforms Design TeamJeep will unveil this slightly facelifted Grand Cherokee to the public next week at the New York Auto Show. It may take a died-in-the-wool Jeep fan to spot the differences, so we’ll lend a hand in pointing out what Jeep has wrought. Up front, the headlights are rearranged so that the larger lens is on the outside, overlapping the inner. The grille is slightly larger—deeper really—but retains the same seven-slot Jeep trademark style....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: September 2011 Price: $300,000 (est.) Competitors: Aston Martin Rapide, Porsche Panamera 4 Powertrain: 6.3-liter V12, 651-hp, 504 lb-ft; seven-speed, twin-clutch transmission, all-wheel drive EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 11/18 (est.)What’s New: With a two-door, space-frame aluminum architecture and a 651-hp, 6.3-liter V12, on paper, Ferrari’s new FF looks like any other big GT from Maranello. But this car marks a big departure for the Italians. The first departure is the three-door hatchback body (known as a shooting brake in Europe), which acknowledges similar unofficial specials that have been built for super-wealthy customers over the years; if you wave a big enough check, Ferrari will build you a wagon....

Media Platforms Design Team1. Avoid sleazy or shady tactics.The first thing to do is make sure you’re not being scammed. Beware these 10 red flags: The Contractor …*Provides credentials or references that can’t be verified.*Offers a special price, but only if you sign a contract today.*Accepts only cash, requires large deposits or wants the entire cost up front.*Asks you to write a check in his name (not to the business).*Won’t provide a written contract or complete bid....

In general, the more bits, accessories, and attachments you buy for a drill, the more likely that drill is to be useful. So it might seem strange that today’s power drill manufacturers seem intent on removing stuff. Take this Bosch DDS182 drill driver. The drill itself is cordless, its motor is brushless, and the charging system is wireless.The Bosch still has plenty of parts, of course (see photo). What the manufacturer has removed are the pieces that aren’t useful: The ones that stand in the way of the drill in its purest, most essential form....

Media Platforms Design TeamLast month, we tackled pumpkins, but now it’s time for a different kind of carve-off. With just a few hours left until the big Thanksgiving feast, Popular Mechanics’ editors—and an expert from upstairs—give their tried-and-true turkey cooking and carving recommendations. –Erin McCarthyBenjamin Chertoff, Online Editor Ben favors the Wustof 9" Classic Cook’s Knife because “it’s perfectly balanced for precision work, yet carries a mass sufficient to slice through the thickest, darkest and most fowl of meats” he says....

Media Platforms Design Team Since we love cars and gadgets here at PM, our ears prick up whenever we hear of new developments in the world of radar detectors. Here then, we give a few moments’ consideration to the announcement at CES today of Cobra’s XRS 9960G (coming out in March, $360) with AURA database. Last year was the year of GPS-enabled radar detectors—the Escort Passport 9500ix was a standout in our tests....

Media Platforms Design Team Classes may be on hold for the summer, but the PM-sponsored Cornell Automotive X Prize team still has plenty of work to do during school break. Students will work throughout the summer to refine their mule car design and begin building the final entry for the trial phase of the Progressive Automotive X Prize this fall. Armed with data from May’s Green Grand Prix, the team is currently installing and testing a new digital control system that will increase the efficiency of its electric motor....

Media Platforms Design TeamStar Wars Reborn: The Airborne LaserAlthough rumors of its death have been greatly exaggerated, the embattled, multibillion-dollar Airborne Laser is fighting for its life. The most powerful battlefield laser in development, and one of the most ambitious weapon systems to date, the Airborne Laser is designed to prove that a megawatt-class chemical laser mounted on a large aircraft (in this case, a 747) can shoot down a long-range ballistic missile before it escapes the atmosphere....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe assignment was daunting: Build a remote-controlled aerial vehicle; make it tiny but highly maneuverable; install a camera so that pilots can navigate it into buildings using only a live video stream; and model the craft after an actual bird. “There could be no thrusters, no propellers,” says Todd Hylton, who oversaw the project for DARPA’s Nano Air Vehicle program—just two wings that flap.Matt Keennon, an engineer for California-based AeroVironment, led the team that met this challenge, building the first-ever robotic hummingbird....

The Force, it appears, may be with us sooner than expected. A study in the journal Nature this spring all but confirmed the latest evolution in the hard-charging, heady field of cybernetics: Monkeys can control machines with their brains. In the experiment, conducted by neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, a pair of macaque monkeys with electrodes implanted in their brains were able to quickly learn how to operate a robot arm as though it were their own, successfully fee ding themselves more than half the time....

In a sprawling industrial site, a mix of open, dust-swept killing fields, claustrophobic hallways and obstacle-laden vehicle bays, 8-foot-tall mandibled aliens are cutting down team after team of Homo sapiens soldiers. Those aliens, called Elites, are not only larger than their opponents, they also possess force fields and advanced beam weapons that emit crackling blue and red plasma bolts. The Elites are among the toughest of the Covenant, a confederacy of alien species united under the banner of religious fanaticism and galaxy-spanning war....

Media Platforms Design Team’Tis a beautiful day. Well, except for that one dark cloud that looms ahead, directly in your path through the countryside. Relax, it’s a short summer cloudburst, and you’ll pass through it in a minute or two. Raindrops dance on your windshield, forcing you to turn on your wipers. The blades, however, only twitch. Uh-oh. A few seconds later, the now indispensable rubber strips make a low-speed swipe across the glass, smearing the bugs and grit into a translucent paste, groaning and squeaking every inch of the way....

Media Platforms Design TeamAll eyes on the bridge of the USCGC dart between navigation screens and a flash of yellow bobbing several thousand yards off the ship’s gently pitching bow. The 225-ft Coast Guard ship is cresting whitecaps churned up by 20-knot winds as it slowly approaches its target: a lighted buoy in New York Bay that has not been pulled from the water for service in nearly two years.JuniperIt’s easy to recognize Coast Guard buoy tenders by their unique jet-black hulls....

Media Platforms Design Team1. EngineThe turbocharged Lycoming TE0-540E is mounted high to allow ground clearance for the pusher propeller and belly-mounted sensors.2. Payload BayFirebirds are built with high-definition video and infrared sensors to track targets, eavesdrop on enemy communications, and serve as a communications relay for friendly troops. The payload bay can be configured for many missions, ­saving money by serving as a multipurpose platform.3. CockpitWith two pilots in the cockpit, the Firebird can operate in airspace shared by commercial airplanes; while unmanned, the craft is suited for long-endurance ­missions....

Media Platforms Design Team(Illustration by Martin Laksman)1. Stop–Assist LeverTo stop or slow down more aggressively, the stop–assist lever drives the wheel slightly ahead of the bike so the rider leans back more.2. BalanceTogether with an accelerometer that establishes a center of gravity, three silicon gyros, each the size of a human hair, monitor side-to-side and front-to-back balance. If a rider leans too far forward, the Ryno’s software automatically moves the wheel forward under the rider to maintain stability....

Media Platforms Design TeamSomething’s in the water in Ogden Marsh, Iowa–and it’s turning the town’s residents into bad neighbors. In The Crazies, a genetically engineered weapon (manufactured by the military, naturally, but on the way to being destroyed) leaks into Ogden Marsh’s water supply, making the town’s residents ill and incredibly violent. When confronted with the infected, the only thing to do is run: All rationality has been eclipsed by aggression....

Media Platforms Design TeamAs 2012 comes to a close, the Toyota Motor Corp. is poised to re-claim its status as the world’s largest automaker, while General Motors and Volkswagen are in a tight race for second place.The auto industry is headed for a record sales year, with car and truck sales set to top 80 million vehicles for the first time in history. Toyota, having recovered from epic challenges following 2011’s tsunami in Japan, have pulled past General Motors, whose sales have steadily been recovering following a government bailout in 2009....

Volvo has announced that it will build an assembly plant in the United States as part of its plan to become a “truly global carmaker.“The Swedish brand, now owned by the Chinese company Geely, currently builds cars at two factories in Sweden and two in China. Volvo has not said which models would be built at the U.S. facility, or what the planned annual production capacity will be.Having a factory in the NAFTA region can provide overseas automakers some protection against currency fluctuations....

Media Platforms Design TeamDealing with a flat tire is a pain. There’s no good long-term solution to the problem other than just taking the old one off and replacing it with a shiny and new one. Even the best run-flat tires are a temporary solution. Wouldn’t it be grand if the tire could just fix itself instead?We’re now one step closer to that bright future. Scientists in Dresden, Germany have created a rubber out of commercially available bromobutyl rubber that heals itself....

Media Platforms Design TeamYour new book and PBS show, How We Got to Now, are about the history of various technologies, and the unintended way that one invention can spawn anotherand even lead to social changebecause of what you call the hummingbird effect. What is that, exactly?I live in a part of California where there are a lot of hummingbirds. I saw them flying around, and I started thinking. Bees and plants co-evolve: Bees go into flowers to get the nectar they need to survive, and they transfer pollen that helps the flowers reproduce....