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Media Platforms Design Team In March, we briefly stopped testing reciprocating saws and debunking Hollywood sci-fi to celebrate our three National Magazine Award nominations—two nods in the Personal Service category for our August 2007 cover, “Facing Down Disaster"and our three part “Know Your Footprint” series, as well as a nomination for General Excellence in the 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 circulation category. The Ellies, given by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), are to magazines what the Oscars are to movies....

Media Platforms Design TeamCompetitors came from as far as Finland, China and France, but in the end the , brought by the Virginia Tech Hokies from Blacksburg, Va., beat out 16 other teams to win the . The school was pronounced “overall winner” at the closing ceremony in Madrid on Sunday, June 27. Two German universities of applied sciences—one from Rosenheim, the other from Stuttgart—respectively took second and third. The contest pits student-built, solar-powered homes against one another in judged categories such as architecture, market viability, appliances, lighting and six other contests....

So here we are, skimming over the bright blue Mississippi on a flawless summer afternoon–the river broad, the sun taking on a tinge of gold as it settles toward the green canopy of the Iowa shore. We’re doing about 50 mph, smooth as melted butter, when I realize that we’re headed straight for a low island covered in 4-ft.-high clumps of purple flowers.The guy at the controls, a 29-year-old race driver named Bill Zang, has no intention of turning away....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe world’s largest solar power plant is now up and running on California’s Carrisa Plains. The 550-megawatt project, called Topaz, is owned by MidAmerican Energy and was built by First Solar, a photovoltaic manufacturer based in Tempe, Arizona. Construction on the $2.5 billion farm took two years, with the solar farm becoming fully operational a touch before its projected 2015 launch.First Solar says Topaz’s 9 million solar panels will generate enough energy to power 160,000 homes....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhat does a Verizon iPhone mean? Well, first off, there’s no doubt it is terrible news for AT&T, which, until now was the only cellular network on which Apple loyalists could use the company’s extraordinarily popular smartphone. But both critics and customers have long agreed that AT&T’s service was the worst thing about the iPhone. Now customers interested in the Apple gadget-and-app universe have another place to turn....

It’s already the biggest-grossing campaign in Indiegogo’s history. With more than a week to go before its run on the crowdfunding site ends, the Solar Roadways campaign has more than doubled its $1 million goal. Solar Roadways is the brainchild of husband-and-wife team Scott and Julie Brusaw from Sagle, Idaho, who want to bring the humble road surface into the electronic age. Solar Roadways are comprised of rugged hexagonal glass plates in which are embedded solar cells, electronics, and LEDs....

LAS VEGAS — Bill has done his yearly parody video thing, this time mimicking an HP commercial for a future product from HP called the Home Server. It is essentially a fancy networked backup drive that allows people to centralize their movies, music and all sorts of documents, and it makes a lot of sense. Nevertheless, it is possible that Microsoft may be wrong on the need to localize their content....

2007 FORD EDGEMedia Platforms Design TeamEdge is Ford’s entry into the booming market for crossovers, a five-passenger vehicle that’s available with front- or all-wheel drive. One drivetrain is available, a 250-hp 3.5-liter V6 engine mated to a six-speed automatic. Figure prices to start in the mid-$20,000 range, not including extras like a “panoramic Vista Roof”, stability control system with rollover protection and side airbag curtains.2007 FORD SHELBY GT500Media Platforms Design TeamThe hottest Mustang ever, this limited-production Shelby GT500 boasts 475 hp from a supercharged 5....

Looks can be deceiving. The newest Dodge sedan shares its DNA with the front-drive Chrysler Sebring. So while its sheetmetal may say “tough guy,” its platform says “family man.” The five- passenger Avenger is available with the same choice of engines as the Chrysler, a four-cylinder and two V6s, but to help differentiate the Avenger from the Sebring, Dodge offers an awd version, the R/T AWD. Otherwise, the Avenger has the same four-wheel independent suspension and list of available features – including a dash bin to keep drinks cool and a plethora of airbags....

Media Platforms Design Team>1. Gasoline EngineThe three-cylinder, 1.0-liter turbocharged internal-combustion engine turns on as needed to power the electric generator. In other E-Flex cars, diesel engines or hydrogen fuel cells could be used.2. GeneratorThe 53-kw generator, powered by the engine, can recharge the battery in about 30 minutes and, under certain driving conditions, send current directly to the motor.3. Electric MotorThe 120-kw electric motor produces 160 hp. The car’s top speed is 120 mph....

Media Platforms Design TeamThanks to the Dawn spacecraft in orbit around Ceres, NASA has mapped enough of the dwarf planet/asteroid to put together this gorgeous fly-over video, all craters and bright ice spots present and accounted for.First discovered in 1801, Ceres was, for a time, considered a planet. Buy by the 1850s, the increasing number of objects detected in what we call the Asteroid Belt led to Ceres being re-designated as an asteroid or minor planet....

Imagine holding a yardstick at one end. When you flex your wrist even the tiniest bit, the far end of the yardstick whips back and forth. But if you hang a small weight on a spring at that far end, the weight’s inertia absorbs some of the yardstick’s kinetic energy and the whipping drops to a gentle sway.Scale that up, a lot, and you have a mass damper, the system that’s used to control movement in skyscrapers by reducing both the speed at which the building oscillates and the distance those oscillations cover....

The Anthropocene Epoch, the time period in which humans have held dominion over the Earth, has brought countless changes to the planet. Many of those haven’t been so good for the other species of the world—some experts, like author Elizabeth Kolbert, have even gone as far as to call this entire period the sixth major extinction event.So scientists wondered: Is there is a single year when humanity became the most powerful force affecting the state of the planet?...

Much to the chagrin of we who love them, mid-sized pickups have been one of the most neglected parts of the automotive world. Ford killed off the Ranger a few years back. Chrysler axed the Dakota. And when GM quit making the Chevy Colorado/GM Canyon duo in 2012, the field became so moribund that the remaining players, Toyota and Nissan, felt little need to improve their Tacomas and Frontiers.Things were bad....

To the outside observer, creating a 3D film must look like a piece of cake. Rather than filming with two cameras and adjusting settings by hand, as directors must do in live-action stereoscopic films, animators can set cameras with computers. Need another view to represent the right eye? Accomplished with the click and drag of a mouse. Not to mention that none of your computer-generated actors will refuse to leave their trailers–or throw fits when you move a light during a scene....

Next week, engineers at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico will try to break a land speed record, blasting a rail-mounted rocket sled at Mach 8.9 during a test of a classified Navy system. The test is scheduled to occur Jan. 30, officials there tell PM.The test is part of a secret project for the Navy, which is asking Holloman’s test team to propel a secret payload, designed at Sandia National Laboratories, at 1....

LAS VEGAS–The barrage of new products from CES includes a number of e-Ink devices, all lining up to dislodge the Kindle from its perch at the top of the market. Among the double fistful of readers for sale in 2010 will be the Skiff Reader, a sleek 11.5-inch device that has received a healthy share of buzz in the past few days. We’ve refrained from writing about Skiff until now because it’s backed by Hearst, Popular Mechanics’ own parent company, and because over the past year we’ve been sharing ideas on the device with the company’s development team....

Media Platforms Design Team"We’re here today to announce the first synthetic cell," said genetic pioneer Craig Venter at a press conference held on Thursday at Washington, D.C.’s Newseum. “This is the first self-replicating cell we’ve had on the planet whose parent is a computer.” Venter called his work the culmination of a “15-year quest.” He was flanked by a team of scientists from the Maryland-based J. Craig Venter Institute, including Daniel Gibson, Clyde Hutchinson and Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith....

Media Platforms Design TeamCABOT, Vt. — Missed Friday’s post to a long day of work and a sick family. Nothing serious; just the usual mid-winter head colds that have everyone in a bit of a funk. The snow is coming in earnest. Not like upstate New York, but we’ve been averaging at least a few inches almost every day, and it’s really starting to add up. On Wednesday, they’re calling for the first serious storm of the year....

Media Platforms Design TeamCAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait, June 20 — After an uneasy night, broken by the continual beeping of forklifts moving pallets of water and PX (post exchange) supplies around, I start off at the equipment draw area of the 401st Army Field Support for Day Two of my embed headed for Iraq: the mechanic’s fantasy tour.In open bays easily the size of a football field, everything’s big, clanging and noisy: Bradley fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and Abrams A1M1 tanks lined up in rows, mechanics scurrying over them like monkeys....