Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2013 i Popular Mechanics

ON THE COVER PopMech interactive designer and illustrator Anthony Verducci digitally composed the all-too-familiar disaster scene on this month's cover. Though, with a certain degree of planning, you, too, can survive. As a boy, reader Greg Millard got this 8-inch-wide model of the Avro saucer as a gift from his father, an air vice-marshal in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Our February cover story revealed the U.S. military's Cold War–era flying saucer program ("Declassified: America's Secret Saucer"). Mark F. Gan of El Paso, Texas, thought the feature was a great historical update. "Those two [saucer] prototypes were proof of concept but, unfortunately, flew badly," he writes. "They could not possibly be confused with UFOs." Charlie Barrett of Flower Mound, Texas, zeroed in on the design's functionality: "Why on earth did…

INTEL TEST DRIVES TOP TECH HOT RIDES DOWN THE ROAD ICONICIZED This is what happens when customization company Icon makes its version of a classic truck. PAGE 47 BACK ON TOP A positive vibe pervaded the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. We picked five favorites to highlight. PAGE 48 REVIEWS 2013 Toyota RAV4 2013 Lincoln MKZ 2014 Subaru Forester 2013 Land Rover Range Rover 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible 2013 Husqvarna TR650 Strada The Corvette is America's oldest sports car, so ingrained in our history that it's a piece of our national pride. It's the American Dream on four wheels—the car you stare at in your neighbor's driveway because it's fast and sexy and, most of all, attainable. This has never been truer than with the 2014 Corvette Stingray, which goes into…

STRATEGY: SUPPLIES One Month of Food MREs and dehydrated meats and vegetables have their place, but you can maintain a comfortable stockpile of food without treating it like a culinary last resort. The strategy is called "store what you eat, eat what you store," and it means creating a rotating buffer of food that can be built up over time. Surprisingly, there's little consensus on how much of a buffer is necessary, but we suggest at least four weeks' supply. This photo shows 315,000 calories of food, plus the water needed to cook it—that's enough to keep a typical family of four fed for a month. It's a combination of carbs (rice, beans, pasta) and easy-to-eat canned goods (soup, fruit, veggies, tuna, peanut butter), as well as sanity savers such…

INSIDE THE POPMECH LAB "In theory, LCD screens make for easy framing. But you need a steady hand to prevent camera shake when holding the screen in front of you." – RACHEL Z. ARNDT AVAILABLE LENSES BRAND NIKON CANON SONY OLYMPUS PANASONIC SAMSUNG NUMBER OF LENSES 1 LENS Interchangeable-lens mirrorless cameras offer unparalleled shooting flexibility compared with even the most versatile point-and-shoots. But each manufacturer has a proprietary lens mount, so when you buy a brand of camera, you're also buying into that company's lens lineup. Though you can exploit any of Nikon's and Canon's SLR lenses, some capabilities—such as autofocus—might not work. 2 CONTROLS While almost all mirrorless cameras include aperture, shutter speed, exposure, and ISO controls, lower-end cameras tend to bury these in menu screens. Higher-end ones put…

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY 6/10 AGES: 7+ BUILD TIME: 2 HOURS PARTS COST: $25 HOW TO MAKE IT GEARBOX/AXLE LED LIGHT AA BATTERY CASE (WITH SWITCH) FOAM PIECE CORK Nasa's rover has mars covered; build this one to explore closer to home.Mars is hot! Well, actually, it's frigid. But since searching for signs of former life on the Red Planet is all the rage, we asked Jenny Young of Brooklyn's Robot Foundry to help us devise a minirover project. It teaches the basics of electrical circuitry, motors, and even lighting. The build is complex enough to engage experienced gearheads, yet simple enough for novices to do with a little help. They'll learn the fundamentals of robotics—for a fraction of NASA's budget. BUILD THE ENGINE 1. Assemble the Elenco 2-in-1 Gearbox (from…

     • WORKING WITH THREADS      • STICKY WINDOWS      • Tool Test: Angle grinders Even if you've never tried growing food, there are good reasons to sacrifice some of that green carpet for a starter bed. First, chances are you don't use your lawn as much as you think—how long has it been since you played Frisbee out there? Second, most turfgrass has a thirst that can only be satiated by overhead sprinklers, which lose a lot of water to evaporation and runoff; veggies, by contrast, can be watered by efficient drip irrigation. Then there's dealing with the weeds, the grubs, and the chemicals needed to keep that grass glossy. If you're going to put that much effort into your yard, why not get a little payback? You'll save money, even if…

Auto      • CHARGING TROUBLE      • FLOODED TRUNK      • TURBOS AND OCTANE YOU CHANGE ENGINE OIL EVERY FEW THOUSAND MILES, BUT HAVE YOU EVER EVEN LOOKED AT YOUR DIFFERENTIAL? Changing the differential oil—it's one of the most-overlooked maintenance tasks on non-FWD light trucks, SUVs, and passenger cars. Because the differential is at the rear and under the car, it gets none of the star treatment that the engine up front does. However, if lubrication in the differential fails, you won't be getting very far for very long. Fortunately, you only need to change this oil every 30,000 to 50,000 miles (as always, check your owner's manual). The differential is a component in all cars and is designed to compensate for the difference in distance the inner wheels and outer wheels travel…

DISASTER ENGINEERING Salvaging the Costa Concordia Wreck More than a year after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the Italian coast, the ship remains where it wrecked. More than 400 workers are attempting one of the largest salvage operations in history, a process that will cost around $400 million and will take at least until this summer to complete. They have a tough slog ahead: Just removing the 2100 tons of fuel took 31 days and 20 vessels. Because the ruined ship is lying on its side, the engineering teams have to hoist it upright—preserving a seabed lush with coral, sea-grass meadows, and giant clams—before towing it to a safe harbor for disassembly. — MARY BETH GRIGGS HOW THEY'LL RAISE IT BUILD THE BASE The wreck sits atop a steep…

Suddenly, the idea of asteroid mining is everywhere. As a recent feature here in POPULAR MECHANICS noted (August 2012), asteroid mining has gone from a "someday" idea to a business plan for more than one company. As a professor who's been writing, teaching, and practicing space law since the 1980s, I say, why not? Asteroids are valuable, they're out there, and they are free for the taking. Or are they? Asteroids are certainly available, and they're valuable. More than 750,000 asteroids measure at least 1 kilometer across, and millions of smaller objects are scattered throughout the solar system, mostly in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Even a comparatively small asteroid is potentially quite valuable, both on Earth and in space. A 79-foot-wide M-type (metallic) asteroid could hold 33,000…

In late 2012 scientists, researchers, and optimists gathered in Houston for the second annual 100 Year Starship Symposium, a Pentagon- and NASA-supported project to promote the technology needed to construct an interstellar spaceship. Inspired by the audacious enterprise, PM envisioned a spacecraft ready to take 200 people on a 90-year trip to Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star 4.24 light-years away. Astronomers are finding more potentially habitable planets in the universe—humanity just has to figure out how to get to them. CREATE AN ECOSYSTEM Interstellar missions require a revolution in food production. One thing missing in deep space: sunlight. Scientists at Kennedy Space Center are tailoring the wavelengths of LEDs to grow specific crops. Space farming also demands a deeper understanding of microorganisms that support plants. "How do you renew…

The Guide to youir DIY Life DIY TECH The Raspberry Pi offers a dizzying number of potential uses. Let's get started. p. 78 DIY HOME Grow a vegetable garden to cut grocery bills and end lawn-care headaches. p. 88 DIY SCIENCE Learn to track backyard visitors and reveal what's traipsing on the grass. p. 96 DIY ADVENTURE 3-STEP BIKE REHAB TAKE THAT RUSTING 10-SPEED AND REVERSE YEARS OF NEGLECT with a rag and an allen wrench set. Then saddle up and roll! p. 86 DIY AUTO Haven't gotten your hands dirty lately? Changing your differential oil should fix that. It's good, filthy fun. p. 98…

Q: A tiny red dot appeared on my computer screen a few weeks ago, and it hasn't gone away. Is there anything I can do to make it disappear? Your red dot is a red subpixel that's stuck on, keeping the red liquid crystal activated and therefore turning white light red even when it shouldn't. LCD screens are made up of thousands of pixels, each of which is made of three liquid-crystal subpixels—one red, one green, and one blue. When activated electronically, these subpixels filter a white backlight into a colored dot. A stuck pixel is relatively solvable; dead pixels, in which none of the subpixels turns on, and hot pixels, in which all of them are on, are harder to fix. There are two things you can do to…

It depends on what you're trying to tighten. For plumbing fittings or pipe assemblies, snug the parts by hand and then use a wrench to finish. The additional amount of tightening with a wrench is known as turns past finger-tight or turns from finger-tight (TPFT or TFFT, respectively). The amount of TPFT can range from one-sixth of a turn for a small brass flare fitting to a one-quarter turn for the nut on a flexible supply riser tube to three full turns for a large-diameter steel pipe fitting. When installing a plumbing fitting such as a faucet, spray head, or flex tube, read the directions that come with the part or check the fine print on the product tag; the TPFT information is easy to overlook. Specifications for individual parts…

While it's possible that new battery is bad, you may have another problem. Just to eliminate the easy fix first, drive down to the local parts store and have them test the new battery. A load tester measures how well the battery can store and release electric charge. If the battery tests good, that means there's a problem with the charging system, or that something is drawing power when the car is off. To test the charging system, start the car and let it idle in a well-ventilated place. Grab your multimeter and set it to the DC-voltage option. Although cars operate at 12 volts, the charging system should deliver a steady 14-volt output. Measure this by placing the multimeter's positive probe on the positive terminal of the battery, and…

LET THE RECORD SHOW Sales of vinyl have grown steadily over the past five years, and record players are catching up, with 50 percent more units sold in 2011 than in 2010. Now they're everywhere from Urban Outfitters to Walmart. Maybe it's time you tune out iTunes and turn on the turntable. — JENNINGS BROWN FOR THE DJ Audio-Technica AT-LP120, $300 In 2010 Panasonic stopped making the granddaddy of all DJ turntables, the Technics SL-1200. Audio-Technica fills the void with a near-replica of the coveted machine, retailing for about $200 less. FOR THE NOSTALGIST Crosley Collegiate, $150 Spin back the wheels of time to the 1950s with this three-speed, hot-rod-inspired player. "As kids my brother Stevie Ray and I listened to records on our Montgomery Ward portable turntable, but now…

It's a frosty, bright November morning in rural Minnesota, and the 60-ton battle tank is rumbling heartily, like a big metal cat ready for the hunt. My head is poking out of the driver's hatch, beneath the 22-foot-long cannon barrel. This beast, an '80s British Chieftain, was designed to tear up the toughest, most advanced armor the Soviet Union could throw into battle. Opposing me, 30 feet away, sits a 15-year-old Ford Focus. I toggle the gearshift with my left foot, push the release button atop a pair of levers used for steering, and press the gas pedal. The behemoth eases forward like a land-bound battleship, the treads clanking with a near-musical chime. Fifteen feet to go. Ten. Five. A part of my brain, conditioned by years of careful driving,…

Sounds Easy? Not so Fast . On One's Clatmed the Prize in 32 Years. But two Teams are very, very Close. A huge, spindly, spiderlike contraption arches over the AstroTurf of an indoor soccer stadium near Toronto, its X-shaped trellis of carbon-fiber tubing so diaphanous that it's hard to make out. The end of each truss arm terminates in a pair of shiny, fragile rotor blades made of foam, balsa, and Mylar. From the center of this precarious assemblage, 130 feet across, hangs a skein of slender cords that supports a dangling, wheelless bicycle frame. If this all seems rickety, it becomes doubly so when wiry 31-year-old Todd Reichert clambers up and settles onto the bike seat: The double arch above him sags and sways like a hammock as it…

     • UNSTICKING PIXELS      • MANAGING CALENDAR TIME ZONES      • ONLINE AD TRACKING The Raspberry Pi is about the most minimalist computer you can buy. Made of little more than a single circuit board, the $35 computer arrives with no case, keyboard, monitor, or mouse—and, most importantly, no operating system. But a blank slate can be a fun place to start with a computer, especially when, like the Pi, it runs on Linux, an open and collaborative operating system that is receptive to tons of coding tweaks. With a bit of noodling, and some computer leftovers from PCs long retired, you can turn the diminutive computer into anything from a streaming music player to a regular old word-processing, Internet-surfing desktop. MAKING THE PI The Raspberry Pi comes from England, where Eben…

Susan Lindell grew up as a "car person" in Minneapolis. When she split for New York a decade ago she was making a living repairing guitars, and she ditched her car for a 1980s 10-speed—which, naturally, broke down. Lindell (above) didn't know how to repair it, but she knew she could learn. "I'm obsessive about fixing things," Lindell says. Hobby turned into profession, and she has long since dumped guitars for rehabbing vintage bicycles at Brooklyn's Recycle-A-Bicycle, where she is the manager. Often, Lindell says, a bike found at a garage sale—or rusting in your own garage—will need only a few simple repairs. Here's the right way to get the tires, chain, and brakes in shape. ADVICE FROM THE EXPERT Before starting, rig a bike stand; anything that gets the…

Thanks to expanded housing developments and, in some areas, recovering wildlife populations, animals and people are seeing more of each other these days. Coyotes, deer, and raccoons now live in honest-to-goodness cities. Bears have been found hibernating in New Jersey basements. Mountain lions are prowling Western jogging paths—sometimes with horrific results. David Moskowitz, an instructor at the Wilderness Awareness School in Washington state, helps amateurs learn to ID local wildlife. "Animals work hard to live in our blind spots," Moskowitz says, and reading their tracks is a good way to uncover their identities and habits. To learn what's living near your home, build a simple tracking box—essentially a very shallow sandbox. Place it in an area where animals are likely to show up (beneath a bird feeder, for instance). Then…

1855: Sir Henry Bessemer patents an affordable method of mass-producing steel: blowing oxygen through molten pig iron to remove impurities. The innovation changes architecture from the ground up. 1857: A tall building's not such a marvel when you have to take the stairs. Elisha Otis makes the skyscraper a realistic proposition by designing the first truly safe passenger elevator for New York City's five-story E.V. Haughwout department store. 1857: A tall building's not such a marvel when you have to take the stairs. Elisha Otis makes the skyscraper a realistic proposition by designing the first truly safe passenger elevator for New York City's five-story E.V. Haughwout department store. 1903: A Cincinnati reporter stays up all night waiting for the 15-story Ingalls Building, the first reinforced-concrete skyscraper, to…