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There’s no single right way to install bead-board wainscoting. It all comes down to your budget and how much time you want to spend on the job. Some professional finish carpenters remove the drywall behind the wainscoting and screw ½-inch plywood to the wall studs. The plywood provides a solid, consistent base, which is especially helpful for thick wainscoting (- to ¾-inch) or when the material is installed in laundry or mud rooms, where walls tend to take a beating....

When I first set up my basement workshop nearly 15 years ago, I didn’t have much time or money to invest, so I just banged together a 2 x 4-and-plywood workbench and mounted a sheet of perforated pegboard to the wall. This rudimentary layout served me well over the years. The workbench provided a large surface on which to build projects and fix furniture, and the pegboard kept dozens of hand tools neatly organized and readily accessible....

Every major remodeling project has a low point. For Jenny Joyce and Rob Crampton, owners of a 1901 fixer-upper in Seattle, it’s tough to say just when rock bottom arrived. Maybe it was the time that Jenny’s parents flew in to see the work in progress: While Rob was showering, the bathroom wall collapsed, spilling rotten wood and centi­pedes into the tub. Or maybe it was when, after jacking up the house, the couple lived for months without heat or insulation....

The Kepler telescope found evidence of thousands of planets orbiting distant stars, but also unearthed an unusual discovery: many, many of those planets circle their stars in scorching hot, close-in orbits that make Mercury seem like a slow-poke. So why do so many solar systems have half-a-dozen objects within a similar orbit to Mercury while we have none? Kathryn Volk, a post-doc at the University of British Columbia, has an idea of why: we had those worlds, and now they’re all gone but one....

From the floor of the New York International Auto Show, contributor Ken Juran files up-to-the-minute reports and photos.NEW YORK, April 13—Before we pick up with today’s press conferences, here are two more highlights from yesterday: the all-new 2007 Nissan Altima and the all-new 2007 Infiniti G35 sedan. At the same time bread-and-butter models for their respective divisions, these two are part evolutionary and part revolutionary. And we expect them to be just as lustworthy as their predecessors....

Prepare to receive your bite-sized dose of robotics information for the week. We continue our theme of tough robots (tougher than you and me, anyway) by turning to examine the perils of nuclear radiation. Excessive exposure to radiation (like Gamma rays) hardly ever turns human beings into unstoppable mutant killing machines; instead, it causes radiation sickness, resulting in hair loss, permanent sterility, internal bleeding and, ultimately, a grisly death. The exposure is so lethal that it has even been used as a tool for assassination, as in the case of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy who was allegedly poisoned late last year by a cup of tea laced with polonium-210....

Media Platforms Design TeamSome nausea, a little dizziness and a fast-beating heart—these are the things we expect when we stagger out of the seats of a roller coaster. But as the g-forces and adrenalin levels skyrocket, will increased risks of injury also be part of the experience? A group of physicians from Henry Ford Hospital think so. According to a recent case study of a 24-year old who turned his head to talk to his girlfriend just as the roller coaster plummeted, modern roller coasters may be linked to a common ear injury....

How intelligent does a phone have to be to deserve the title of “smartphone”? Should it be able to retrieve your e-mail? Probably, but not necessarily. Should a smartphone take high-resolution pictures, and play music and movies on the go? Many do–but then again, some don’t. “Smartphone” is a nebulous term that is as much marketing spin as it is a distinct category of mobile phone.Nevertheless, smartphones in one form or another have been around for over a decade, bringing e-mail and productivity software to anyone busy enough to carry their office around in a pocket wherever they go....

Media Platforms Design TeamCuriosity has sent a steady stream of findings back from Mars during its first year-plus on the surface of the planet. Today it unleashed more of a flood of data, as Mars Science Laboratory researchers published multiple papers outlining Curiosity’s findings in the journal Science. The most attention-grabbing: There’s an awful lot of water where the rover sits, and probably around the red planet.Curiosity found concentrations of water in the martian soil as high as 2 percent by weight....

Suppose a scientist could wave a simple, color-coded plastic card that could rapidly determine the chemical composition of the air and whether there were dangerous concentrations of any toxins. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have proposed a similar solution in a paper published in Nature Communications.The proposed sensor relies on bacteriophage, a benign virus tuned to self-assemble into colorful patterns when exposed to specific toxins. “Our phage litmus is a new type of colorimetric sensor, developed using viral particles, that exhibits different colors upon exposure to different chemicals,” says Seung-Wuk Lee, a bioengineering professor at Berkeley and coauthor of the study....

Tomorrow NASA’s Orion capsule—the one designed to someday take humans to Mars—will undergo what’s called a “Minimum System Test.” In other words, a few of its parachutes won’t work, on purpose. NASA wants to see exactly what it looks like when things go wrong. When Orion comes back into the atmosphere on re-entry, it will be moving quick. By the time it hits the thick inner atmosphere, it’ll be cruising along at some 300 miles per hour....

Media Platforms Design TeamBest Seat in the HouseFeaturesSweeter BlackBerryBionic GripA Vault for Cellphone ContactsMaximum Bang for Your BuckIn the crowded field of high-tech deer hunting gear, it’s easy to confuse overpriced gadgets with genuine improvements. Here’s our wish list of the season’s most innovative equipment. – Erik SofgeSpeaker of the HouseSecurity BlanketPassing the Bar ExamA few companies are selling small, user-friendly breathalyzers that can supposedly detect alcohol on your breath. Are they accurate enough to be more than a novelty act?...

View full post on YoutubeNow that the Solar Impulse has set endurance records for solar-powered flight, including staying aloft for more than 24 consecutive hours, the plane is coming to America. As we reported in December, the Swiss project’s backers are bringing Solar Impulse to California this year. Beginning in the spring, they will fly across America in multiple legs, concluding the trek in New York. But first they have to get their plane to the States....

Media Platforms Design TeamYou ever cautiously exit a rental car lot or a parking lot with restricted access? If so, then you’ve seen those large metal spikes poking up from the pavement, cruelly curved towards oncoming traffic. Driving the right direction–exiting, in other words–the spikes flatten as you roll over them; but it’s hard not to imagine what it’d be like driving over them the wrong way: tires shredded, much skidding, mayhem with broken glass, general destruction....

Media Platforms Design TeamOne of the best iPhone games ever has a sequel: TwoDots, from the makers of Dots, is just as addicting, whimsical, and fun as its predecessor. Like the original game, which has been played more than 6 billion times, TwoDots is wildly popular. The game was released May 29 and is already the top free app in the App Store.Both games are based on the same concept: Connect dots of the same color to eliminate them from the screen....

Media Platforms Design TeamHaving fun with fire extinguishers at the last RAM Home Safety Prep Show—March 2012 in Northwest Arkansas.The Reliant Center in Houston is the next stop for the RAM Home Safety Prep Show presented by Popular Mechanics. This Saturday, June 2, from 10 to 5, our cavalcade of workshops by survival gurus, first responders, and hurricane experts hits the floor of the event center.Come and meet Mykel Hawke of Man, Woman, Wild on Discovery; Colby Donaldson of Top Shot on History Channel; and Chris Grundy of Cool Tools on the DIY Network....

Media Platforms Design TeamImage: FloorPlanner.comThe Internet age hasn’t forgotten us home improvement junkies. Online tools and smartphone and tablet applications of all kinds (such as PopMech’s 10 favorite DIY apps) are waiting to help you make your house better.For example, earlier this summer The New York Times covered online CAD platforms taking on the role of virtual architect. While I don’t think there will ever be a replacement for a design professional’s experience and natural talent, I do think having a tool for putting your design ideas in visual form can be very useful....

In an 1889 travel article, the New York Times waxed enthusiastic about a nearby but, it said, little visited attraction: “the wondrous Palisades…. basaltic precipices of the Hudson.” Rising on the west side of the lower Hudson River for 20 miles in New Jersey and New York, the towering Palisades are actually the visible remnants of enormous floods of magma that flowed hot about 200 million years ago, cooling into a vast expanse of basalt that extends to Europe, Africa and South America, much of it buried deep under the Atlantic Ocean....

Media Platforms Design TeamGetty ImagesA new leaked CIA document from WikiLeaks reveals a few government secrets that could be useful for travelers this holiday season. In it, the CIA explains how to avoid a secondary screening at the airport if you’re traveling abroad.The basic tips: Don’t bring too many new items in your luggage (sorry, Christmas gifts); don’t be nervous and visibly sweating; don’t change your itinerary within a day of your flight; don’t be weird about passport screening procedures; and make sure your luggage isn’t disproportionate to your purported reasons for your trip, which could mean how it’s packed or how fancy the stuff on the inside is....

Media Platforms Design Team1. Oil, Transmission Fluid, Brake FluidWhat to do with it: Most auto parts stores accept these lubricants for free. You can even combine them—just put them in a sturdy, sealed container, such as an old oil or washer-fluid bottle. Use a funnel to keep spills to a minimum. You can also take them to a recycling center or hazardous-waste facility, but check to see if there are specific drop-off days....