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Here’s my 1977 Can Am. It was an option package that Pontiac offered for the LeMans Sport Coupe from February 21 through June 30, 1977. All Can Ams came with either 400 or 403 engines, 400 transmission, special handling packages, variable-ratio power steering, bright striping, rear spoiler, “shaker” hood and Grand Prix instrument cluster. Cars destined for high-altitude states were equipped with the Oldsmobile-design 403. All others had the Pontiac 400....

Media Platforms Design TeamStacking the cards so a car manufacturer’s lineup maintains a semblance of performance hierarchy demands a delicate balancing act of engine outputs, power-to-weight ratios, and drivetrain nuances. Consider, for instance, Porsche’s eternal struggle to keep the Boxster nipping, but not encroaching, on the heels of the legendary 911.Audi’s latest S models creates a curious matrix that’s topped– in rather spectacular fashion– by the plus-sized S8. While the S6 and S7 are powered by a torquey, but relatively tame 420 hp twin-turbocharged 4....

Media Platforms Design Team(1) Russia has a long-term plan for the human exploration of space that it is showing off around the world.The Russian Academy of Science has crafted a 30-year plan to explore space, including manned expeditions. That’s according to Thomas Stafford, the chairman of the NASA International Space Station Advisory Committee, who says he’s seen the plan. The so-called Joint Human Exploration Policy is meant to involve multiple nations and “has the management structure of the International Space Station,” Stafford says....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamWASHINGTON — For the second year in a row, Mississippi State University (MSU) took home top honors in the Challenge X, a competition sponsored by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy that invites teams from colleges across the United States and Canada to mod an SUV and make it go green. GM supplied each of the 17 teams a with a 2006 Chevy Equinox, then let them employ any technology at their disposal to achieve better fuel economy and lower emissions while maintaining driver comfort and vehicle performance....

Media Platforms Design TeamOver at The New Yorker, Tim Wu identifies the two little, insidious words that explain why airlines have made flying more and more awful: calculated misery.Perhaps you didn’t realize there was a name for the way that the airlines nickel and dime travelers, but if you’ve flown lately, then you know all about the effects of this economic strategy. Unless you’re a devotee of Southwest Airlines, the good old days of free checked bags are pretty much gone....

LAS VEGAS— Sports cars come alive on racetracks. Yes, you certainly could push the performance envelop of a sporty car on the street, but it’s much safer and much more fun to take it to the track. Audi obviously agrees: For the international press launch of the all-new, mid-engined R8 sports car, the German company booked some time for us on a special handling course here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway....

Media Platforms Design TeamTechnology frequently trickles from aerospace and aviation into the automotive realm, but it’s rare when car tech makes the leap into the sports world.Thanks to their collaboration with the United States Olympic Committee and USA Track & Field, BMW found a way to embed technology normally reserved for their active safety and pedestrian detection R&D into software used to maximize athlete performance. Stereo vision and machine vision algorithms were incorporated into a program that measures three key parameters for long jumping: horizontal approach velocity, vertical takeoff velocity, and takeoff angle, and the tools are being used to help train athletes for the 2012 Olympic Games in London this summer....

You can’t complain about the years of service your old 4x4 pickup has put in. It has done yeoman duty, day in and day out. In return, you’ve been more than happy to do much of its maintenance yourself. Now, perusing the lubrication schedule in the owner’s manual, you see it’s time to change the lube in the manual gearbox. The manual calls for fresh lube in the axles and the transfer case, too....

Media Platforms Design TeamPrice: $39.99What is best in life? To crush your colleagues, to see them driven before you as you chase them around the office with perhaps the most powerful Nerf gun yet.PopMech just got a sneak peek of the Nerf N-Strike Elite Demolisher 2-in-1 Blaster prototype. Nerf is still working out the final version to be released this fall, but you can expect to see the gun at toy fairs beginning with the U....

Replacing a failed garbage disposer can seem daunting. There’s the usual trepidation about electricity and water, the unfamiliar sink connection and enough drain fittings to make leaks a real possibility. Then there are the hassles of comparison shopping and the suspicion that the job could run into real money. And finally, failed disposers don’t often leak, at least not in the beginning, so it’s easy to put things off.If this sounds familiar, you’ll be happy to know that replacing a disposer is really fairly simple....

Yesterday marked 46 years since Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the lunar surface, following a harrowing landing. It also marks another historic milestone, one that represents a messier side of the exploratory spirit that propelled astronauts to the moon. Forty-six years ago, humankind first took out the trash on another world. Forty-six years ago, humankind first took out the trash on another world....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe tragic MV-22 Osprey crash in Morocco that killed two Marines this week is likely to reopen the debate about the controversial aircraft’s safety. The Osprey earned its bad reputation during its development, when 30 Marines died in three crashes, including 19 in a single 2000 accident in Arizona, and its detractors no doubt will point to this crash as further evidence of its untrustworthiness. There is no solid information about the cause of the latest crash....

Media Platforms Design TeamThere’s no set of exactly right privacy settings for Facebook, and you may decide your child needs a more private or more open profile than the one we recommend below. Take what follows as a starting point for everyone under 18—and, really, for everyone in general.PrivacyWho can see your future posts? FriendsWho can look you up using the email address or phone number you provided? FriendsDo you want search engines to link to your timeline?...

Media Platforms Design TeamListen to Glenn Derene discuss the H-racer on thePopular Mechanics ShowDownload and listen nowSubscrive via iTunes. . .The H-racer ($40), a new toy car from a Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, is a fascinating look into the potential hydrogen economy—although a sad excuse for a toy. The H-racer is pretty much pointless without it’s Hydrogen Station accessory ($40), which extracts hydrogen from water using electrolysis. That process is powered either by an included solar panel or by AA batteries....

Media Platforms Design TeamI’m a cycling enthusiast, and when the weather is bad I use a bicycle trainer in my apartment. But riding to nowhere has always felt pointless. This got me thinking about how I could use my pedaling to produce electricity. By driving a generator with the movement of the back wheel, I figured I could run a lamp or charge my phone. Realistically, this wouldn’t do much to cut my utility bills (or carbon emissions), but it would give my indoor riding a sense of purpose....

We could soon see what a brain on acid looks like: A team of researchers at Imperial College London and the Beckley Foundation want to take brain scans that can directly show the effects of LSD. They’ve, in fact, already done the research. What they need is the money to publish the results.Crowdsourcing may seem like an unusual step for neuroscience—that is, until you consider the subject matter: a (very) illegal drug strictly controlled by the British government....

Media Platforms Design TeamAUSTIN, TEXAS—In March 2012, Elise Andrews started a Facebook page called, “I fucking love science.” The group was never supposed to be anything more than posting for Andrews’ friends, but by September 2012, it had passed 1 million likes, and today it has over 10 million. Now, the massively popular page is getting its own TV show. Here at SXSW, Late Late Show Craig Ferguson just announced that he would be producing the IFLS TV show, which will feature “a mix of live-action, animation, and recreations that demonstrate the random manifestations of science that connects us,” according to The Wrap....

Everybody knows that by far the coolest part of Back to the Future: Part II is the scene where Marty McFly escapes his arch-nemesis by zooming through the air on his rad Mattel hoverboard. And every year since then, we’ve said to ourselves, “Well, where are our hoverboards? We were promised hoverboards!“Media Platforms Design TeamWell, now Science has finally said “OK. “Jill and Greg Henderson, the founders of Hendo, released a video today featuring their prototype hoverboard....

There is little that director Scott Derrickson didn’t revamp in The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 film in which an alien named Klaatu comes to Earth to warn against humanity’s proliferation of nukes in space. The story trades Cold War fears for more pertinent environmental themes; the spaceship advances from traditional mechanical UFOs to sleek, bright spheres. Even Klaatu’s spacesuit gets an upgrade. But the biggest question for filmmakers was how to portray iconic robot Gort....

Last week a Boeing 777 at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport suffered an engine explosion on the tarmac. Though all passengers and crew successfully escaped, the design flaw could have resulted in a much worse outcome. And the FAA told Boeing and General Electric about it four years ago. “Because cracks were discovered on one HPCR 8-10 spool between the 9-10 stages in the weld joint, this unsafe condition is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design,” the FAA report reads....