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Media Platforms Design TeamPopular Mechanics has built a spacecraft-design game into our May iPad issue as an inventive way to report on a fast-expanding area within aerospace engineering. Entrepreneurs are racing to devise sophisticated new ways to land spacecraft on both alien worlds and Earth, both for NASA and private space firms. , which lets users juggle the factors that go into spacecraft lander design, is the first interactive game we’ve built into our digital edition....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe next RAM Home Safety Prep Show presented by Popular Mechanics comes to the New Orleans area this weekend. Saturday, June 23, from 10 to 5, our cavalcade of workshops by survival gurus, first responders, and hurricane experts hits the floor of the Ponchartrain Center in Kenner, La. 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....

Malaysia Air Flight 370 disappeared from screens two months ago yesterday. What happened to it is as much of a mystery today as it was on March 8. Inevitably, that has stoked suspicions that searchers have been looking in the wrong place. That is especially true as the last promising lead, the detection of underwater pings consistent with a jet’s data recorders, fizzled out after an initial deep sea hunt came up empty....

Large single-cell molds make one weird robot. Klaus-Peter Zauner of the University of Southampton, UK, developed a six-legged robot that is remotely controlled by Physarum polycephalum—a yellow slime that inhabits moist places, moves away from light and toward its food sources, bacteria and fungi. The mold, which can grow to be several meters long, responds to its environment through a series of tubes that are filled with cytoplasm.The nyctophobic robot is controlled by sensors mounted on the top of its body....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf the idea of unmanned aircraft tracking targets from above is unsettling, imagine how a future Chinese or Iranian submarine captain could feel at being hunted by a robot ship on the surface.That’s the idea behind the Pentagon’s Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel, or ACTUV. The program, run by DARPA, awarded the company SAIC the contract to build a prototype submarine-hunting ship. Officials say construction of the 130-foot surface vessel will begin soon....

Media Platforms Design TeamGeorge Miller isn’t one to half-ass his movies. Hell, he probably tried to cast a real talking pig in Babe: Pig in the City before being convinced out of it. No surprise, then, that the apocalyptic Mad Max: Fury Road, which opened this weekend, is a hellscape of practical effects. That includes the flame-throwing guitar, because of course there’s a flame-throwing guitar.Among the sights and sounds of Mad Max: Fury Road is a character known as “Doof Warrior” riding a truck with a giant set of amps and sporting a guitar that shoots fire....

Media Platforms Design TeamUpdate 6/8: A full trailer for Ridley Scott’s ‘The Martian’ has been released, and it is epic. View full post on YoutubeWe’ve been waiting a long time for a peek at Ridley Scott’s film adaptation of The Martian, the bestselling sci-fi novel by Andy Weir. Yesterday, we finally got that peek in the form of a video posted to the fictional Ares 3 crew’s YouTube channel.The promo is shot in the style of many NASA videos that show people on Earth what astronauts are doing in space—like, for example, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti demonstrating how to make a taco aboard the International Space Station....

When lead game designer Stone Librande decided to build the future, he found places for inspiration: The grimy, pollution-choked cityscape of Blade Runner, the social philosophy of Pixar’s Wall-E, and Gene Roddenberry’s utopian dream in Star Trek. But his future was going to be different. Librande is the lead designer on SimCity, the decades-old town-building simulator, casts the player as mayor of a growing metropolis. As graphics and mechanics have improved through several iterations of the game, the premise has pretty much stayed the same....

Media Platforms Design TeamLAS VEGAS — This was my first visit to the Consumer Electronics Show, but I’ve been to trade shows before: After arriving and registering I immediately took care of the important things—first, find the restrooms. Second, figure out where to get coffee. Third, check Internet access: Uh oh. There’s no free wifi at the Sands Conference Center, where today’s events are taking place, just an incredibly overpriced house wifi connection (how overpriced?...

LAS VEGAS — A hammer is a hammer, right? Well, the Stewart Manufacturing Co. begs to differ. Its new design still pounds nails like before—the genius is in how it removes them. It has an extension on its forged head that’s slotted to grip nails. Slip it over the nail head and pry out the nail with an 8 to 1 leverage advantage over an ordinary hammer claw. Plus, the head extension aids in one-handed nailing by holding the nail for driving....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Volvo wagon is back. All hail the Volvo wagon! The slow-selling V70 met its demise in 2010 and the V50 followed in 2011, but now the Swedish wagon returns as the 2015 Volvo V60. And it comes with a fancy new trick: Cyclist Detection system with auto brake, a software upgrade to the carmaker’s existing Pedestrian Detection setup. The system, which works only in daylight, is so good that Volvo engineers are modifying it to help drivers in Australia avoid hitting kangaroos....

The GPS on your incredible pocket supercomputer is a modern miracle, but it’s far from perfect. We’ve all had Google Maps tell us that we are somehow walking between two streets. But new dirt cheap, centimeter-accurate GPS could fix all that and open up whole new worlds of awesomeness, especially for virtual reality.The problem with the GPS on your phone is that the antenna in there is small and cheap. Bigger, bulkier antennas have no problem getting super accurate results, but they can cost thousands of dollars and don’t quite fit in your pocket....

Media Platforms Design TeamBehold the Internet Arcade: a web-based collection of hundreds of games that span two decades of the arcade golden age, from the 1970s to the 1990s. Built by Jason Scott, the arcade is an enormous dose of video game nostalgia. The emulators he created even include boot-up sequences in which the games run through a self-analysis.You could (and maybe should) lose yourself for days in this game collection....

Media Platforms Design TeamAs if the skyrocketing cost of gas and food weren’t bad enough, we must now deal with the rapidly rising price of water. In Ventura County, California, residential water and sewer fees in 2003 were about $15 a month. Today, the average homeowner pays $72 per month, and the price is expected to climb to $80 by next summer. The news isn’t any better in North Arlington, New Jersey, where in 2006, homeowners paid a base service charge of $40 annually for water....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: NowPrice: $29,995 ($32,950 MSRP plus $795 destination fee, minus federal incentive rebate of $3750)Competitors: Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, Chevrolet Volt Powertrain: 2.0-liter I-4 with electric hybrid, 141 hp 129 lb. ft.; total system power of 195 hp; CVT; FWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 108 mpge/92 mpgeWhat’s New: This summer we drove the first C-Max, a traditional hybrid by Ford that competes with the Toyota Prius V....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then Ford should be thrilled by the glut of Sync-like infotainment systemspopping up all over the automotive landscape. Possibly the most noteworthy is the Bose Media System. Like Sync, the Media System offers a variety of entertainment features (mostly music playback), plus hands-free phone capability and satellite navigation. It also matches Ford with a user-friendly interface that seamlessly integrates all of its functionality without confusing the user....

Q: My daughter has a 2001 Ford Explorer with 90,000 miles on it; it runs great. However when I changed the oil I found coolant in the oil, but the coolant level is full. In my 90 years I have never seen this happen. What is going on? A: Well, there are three alternatives: 1. Someone is pouring coolant into your oil filler cap. 2. Coolant is leaking, probably from a bad head gasket, into the oil....

Space: the biggest thing there is, at least in our universe. Douglas Adams, in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, once wrote, “Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.” But to give a sense of just how big it is, the Exploratrium put together this handy tool to help you make the most accurate solar system possible, utilizing the nine classical planets. So yes, Pluto ekes by....

Media Platforms Design TeamGerber Kick Axe /// MSRP, $90. Can be found for as low at $40. The Promise: A heavy, full-size axe is overkill for most weekend campers, who usually only need a blade that is big enough to accumulate campfire kindling. By taking cues from the world of multitools, the Gerber Kick Axe promises to pack enough power to chop branches, and to fold shut in order to save precious backpack space....

Media Platforms Design TeamMost wood-burning stoves in the U.S. are woefully outdated. Of the roughly 10 million wood stoves in use today, between 70 and 80 percent are older, dirtier, and less efficient than those currently approved for use by the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA-certified units are up to 50 percent more efficient than a typical 30-year-old clunker. That means they’re not only cleaner but also far cheaper to operate in the long run....