HUNTER FENOLLOL Home Tech Editor Live your life like one big improv bit, and you’ll be prepared for anything that comes your way! PRODUCTS I’M USING RIGHT NOW 1 iPhone 13 Pro Max (256GB) A 120Hz Pro Motion display, powerful processor, and cinematic focus video recording feature combine to make for a palm-sized workhorse capable of editing videos and playing graphic-intensive games on the go. 2 TOTU USB-C Hub This portable hub creates my everyday workstation. It allows me to extend my Windows laptop across three external screens, and house all of my peripherals like a mouse, keyboard, webcam, hard drive, and condenser mic. 3 Tile Slim This credit card–sized Bluetooth tracker helps me find my wallet through the app or with the help of a smart assistant. 4 Garmin…
THE BIOLOGICAL LEARNING METHODS OF habituation and sensitization help organisms, including humans, adapt to changes in their environment. Each can be exemplified in riding a bike. As you learn to ride, you become habituated to the bike’s wobbles and respond less to its tilts and vibrations. You’re able to ride faster and farther as a result. But if you fall and hurt yourself, you’ll be more sensitized to the bike’s instability, and as a result more dependent on the brakes or training tools. Scientists in the field of neuromorphic computing, which aims to make computers smarter and more independent from human input, are working to reproduce aspects of habituation and sensitization in hardware. A new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates similar behaviors in a semiconductor…
ACTIVITY GROUP A360 ACTIVE TRAUMA VEHICLE KIT This kit includes everything you’ll need—from basic bandages and tourniquets to a chest seal—in case anyone is injured by your off-road adventure. $190 VIAIR 88P TIRE INFLATOR This tire inflator is easy to use and doesn’t need to be hardwired to your vehicle’s electric system. After connecting it to your battery using the included alligator clips, the 88P can inflate 33-inch tires in less than six minutes. $76 ARB E-Z DEFLATOR TIRE GAUGE The E-Z Deflator Gauge gives you an accurate measurement every time. With an analog display, there’s also no need to worry about batteries dying. $42 GARMIN IN-REACH MINI The In-Reach Mini sends text messages when there’s no cell reception and can alert the International Emergency Response Coordination Center, which will…
PICTURE THIS: A SPECIAL OPERATIONS team has set up an observation post on a rocky hillside in enemy territory. The team’s mission: provide surveillance of the terrorists planning an attack from their camp below, and then target the commander once preparations have reached their peak. Down in the camp, the commander is confident the valley above is free of danger. There’s little cover, and he’s outfitted his sentries with night-vision goggles that would light up with the heat signature of any threats. The special ops troops have covered themselves with camouflage that not only blends in with the rock-strewn hillside, but hides their tell-tale heat. The team is difficult to see during the daytime, but impossible to spot at night. Before the attack is set to commence, the commander calls…
POOL IS AS MUCH A BATTLE AGAINST CHAOS AS IT IS a battle between two opponents. Unless you’re a pro, it’s likely you’ll misalign your cue stick with the cue ball, or miscalculate the angle for your next shot. As your errors compound, the conditions on the table become less predictable. But a secret mathematical weapon known as a dynamical system could help you dominate the table. These systems function under a specific, consistent set of laws over time, meaning you can master them through study, observation, and experience. Researchers use them to build predictive models for things like planetary orbits and the path of a viral disease through a population. There are two primary types of dynamical systems: deterministic and stochastic. Pool is a deterministic dynamical system because it…
Let’s just say Inception isn’t totally far-fetched. It’s possible for someone to plant false memories or misinformation in your mind on purpose—with you utterly convinced that information is the truth. Consider the case of a Wisconsin woman named Nadean Cool. In 1986, Cool sought trauma therapy from Kenneth Olson, a psychiatrist. Olson used suggestive techniques, including hypnosis, to convince Cool she had repressed memories of being in a satanic cult, cannibalizing infants, and witnessing the murder of a child. Olson alleged Satan had possessed Cool, so he performed exorcisms on her. She came to believe she had as many as 120 personalities, including various angels as well as the devil. Years later, after Cool’s family helped her realize Olson’s malice, Cool sued her former doctor. The case settled out of…
THE DRY ROOM AT SOLID POWER’S Louisville, Colorado, facility is abrasively bright, and yet the low, encompassing hum of the fans and chillers is oddly soothing. It’s here in the humidity- and contaminant-free production area where Solid Power produced their first full-size solid-state lithium-metal battery cells. The cells, a shining silver contrast to their surroundings, were a moonshot. The technology, in theory, sounded too good to be true: a 10x jump in power (or 10x drop in size) from traditional lithiumion cells. Solid Power was aiming for more modest gains in its first prototypes, but could still see an 80 percent improvement in the near future. Then on August 7, 2021, three engineers donned protective Tyvek “bunny suits,” entered the dry room, and drew voltage from the largest prototype lithium-metal…
Appliances, bedding, and grills, p.58 Smart displays, cameras, and TVs, p.60 Backpacks, bikes, and tents, p.62 Vacuums, gauges, and storage, p.64 Mowers, saws, and drills, p.66…
BEST BIKE HELMET Specialized Align II MIPS $50 Being a bit frugal with a helmet purchase doesn’t mean skimping on quality head protection. This lid from Specialized comes with the MIPS lining we know and love for its added buffer against angled impacts, and cyclists with larger domes will be happy to know it comes in sizes up to XL. BEST TENT Sea to Summit Telos TR2 $499 Ultralight backpacking tents aren’t prized for their livability. Despite manufacturers’ best efforts, these pint-size shelters can get stuffy fast. Sea to Summit found another way in the Telos by rethinking traditional tent architecture. The V-shaped Tension Ridge pole, which supports the ceiling and fly, is a striking contrast to other ridge poles that curve down. By flipping the design, the Australian brand…
NEXT TO CHECKING YOUR TIRE PRESSURE AND tread depth, putting on a fresh set of wiper blades is one of the most important things you can do to stay safe on the road. Along with making a ton of noise, old wiper blades won’t be able to clear your windshield in a downpour or snowstorm. Ergo, it’s imperative to regularly check that your wipers still have life in them, noting when they start chattering or smearing water across the glass. While the function of wiper blades hasn’t drastically changed over the years, as vehicles have evolved—along with the sizes and shapes of windshields—how well wipers rid the glass of water and any other detritus has changed, too. So we set out to determine which wiper could best suit your situation,…
BEST OVERALL RAIN-X SILICONE ADVANTEDGE Price: $36 / Performance: 2 wipes to clean / Noise: 58.1 dB When it comes to getting what you pay for, wiper blades are no exception. The Rain-X Silicone AdvantEdge was the most expensive wiper we tested, performing the best and remaining the quietest. It’s one of two blades on our list that applies a water-repellent coating as it runs along the glass. The AdvantEdge also features an aerofoil, which helps the wiper maintain the same level of contact with the windshield even when you’re driving at high speeds. The only demerit was the difficult installation, due to a universal mechanism that was much too complicated. It offers compatibility with different standards, but makes fitting quite a tricky process. BEST VALUE MICHELIN ENDURANCE XT Price:…
1. Wear an N95 mask or respirator to prevent inhalation of dust and grit (along with eye protection or a face shield). 2. Bolt your grinder to a pedestal or small stand so you can orient it away from other work surfaces or in an area of the shop where dust and grit won’t harm anything. 3. When possible, position grinding wheels over the end of a bench, so debris can fall to the floor. 4. If a grinder is bolted to your workbench, build an open metal box behind it to prevent grit and dust from covering everything else on the bench. 5. For shops in the garage, pull vehicles out onto the driveway before beginning work. This will protect painted and polished finishes, as well as glass, from…
Simultaneity is possible for activities that can be done unconsciously. So why can’t our conscious brains seem to multitask? If you’re trying to read this magazine while also listening to a podcast, you’ll probably end up frustrated, losing focus on one or both tasks altogether. There’s a reason for that: Your conscious mind is incapable of dealing with more than one thing simultaneously if those operations require the same parts of the brain. “Your [brain’s] language regions are processing the sounds, the words, the meaning of the sentences,” says Marc Coutanche, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. When you read and listen to two separate things, he explains, you’re forcing your brain to draw on the same resources. “Imagine a circuit where you’ve got multiple…
Shriram Ramanathan and his colleagues modeled their nickel oxide experiments after experiments previously conducted with sea slugs in the genus Aplysia. For centuries, scientists have used these slugs to study learning, behavior, and memory. The slugs can retain information for weeks—a killer “long-term” memory for an organism with a yearlong life span—and display a relatively high level of neural plasticity. It may not make them “intelligent,” but it does make them the perfect subject for researchers teasing out the origins of fundamental learning behaviors like habituation and sensitization. Aplysia’s colossal neurons, the largest in the animal kingdom, can grow to 1 mm in length. The neurons’ gargantuan size make it easier for scientists to physically see and study physiological responses to stimuli.…
CAST YOUR MIND FORWARD 150 YEARS and picture a truly wild piece of infrastructure: a particle collider that circles the entire moon like a belt. It might sound outlandish, but the physicists who proposed this idea last summer say that the vast structure could be possible in the next century. Particle colliders propel charged particles like protons and electrons together at high speeds. On Earth, some are circular, like the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. Others are built in straight lines. Both designs help particles reach phenomenal speeds. The energy from the collisions can create matter in the form of new particles, including some of the largest ones that we know of (like the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle that helps give other particles mass). So having the extra…
CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORMS For centuries, armies used brightly colored uniforms to control troops, allowing leaders to organize their infantry into tightly packed columns that delivered volleys of firepower. By World War I, as small arms improved, armies sought more subdued uniforms and began experimenting with darker patterns (brown, khaki) to blend in with the dirt of trench warfare. By WWII, U.S. troops in the Pacific wore camouflage patterns to blend in with jungle vegetation. GHILLIE SUITS In the 19th century, Scottish gamekeepers constructed these loose suits of dyed strips of fabrics to blend in with their surroundings and catch poachers. Lovat Scouts, the first snipers employed by the British Army, adopted and used the suits during the Boer War. The shaggy, dark suits break up the wearer’s profile to remain undetected.…
An elliptical pool table design from YouTuber “The Q” claims to make you sink your ball every time. But Donnay says this assertion is partly false. “Saying that you’ll always go in the hole is a little misleading if you don’t specify where you begin [on the table],” he says. But The Q found the one foolproof place on the table to begin your shot. An ellipse has two points on its major axis, called foci; if you trace a ray from one focus until it bounces against the edge of the ellipse, it will always pass through the other focus as a result of the bounce. The Q’s pool table has the pocket positioned at one focus, so if you set up your ball at the other focus and…
Mark Williams remembers his ankles resting beside his head. He was lying facedown on the floor of a hotel lobby, with his left ankle next to his right ear and his right ankle next to his left ear. For Williams, an avid outdoorsman and hunter, it was an improbable occurrence—one made possible due to the mangled mishmash of concrete and steel that had crashed down on top of him, trapping him while tearing both his legs out of their sockets. Even so, Williams, now in his 70s, was one of the lucky ones: He survived the Hyatt Regency Hotel tragedy of 1981, a calamity that killed 114 people and injured more than 200 others. The evening of July 17, 1981, was a lovely summer Friday in Kansas City, Missouri. For…
I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON AIRPLANES FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, but resurrecting vintage combat aircraft is the most challenging and rewarding specialization I’ve encountered. I started focusing on warbirds when someone asked me to help them rebuild a Hawker Sea Fury fighter, and over the ensuing decade, my small New Zealand company AvSpecs took on more projects for local and international clients, including American-built Curtiss P-40 fighters and British Supermarine Spitfires. But the restoration community in New Zealand had always mused about the legendary, nearly extinct de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito, a former RAF WWII plane made almost entirely from wood. The Mosquito was a unique piece of the United Kingdom’s wartime history. It was a versatile twin-engine workhorse used as a fighter, bomber, reconnaissance plane, trainer, attack…
BEST PILLOW PillowCube Pro $110 One of our test editors, after going through nine pillows in the past year alone, finally found the PillowCube Pro. It’s supportive, stays cool, and retains its shape throughout the night thanks to viscoelastic polyurethane and nanofibers. He’s sleeping better, is waking up less sore, and no longer has five pillows stacked on his bed at any given time. BEST MATTRESS Casper Wave Hybrid Snow $3,195 (Queen) If you’re a hot sleeper, consider Casper’s new Snow technology. We tested it in this model, with its HeatDelete Bands and QuickCool Cover, which Casper claims will keep you 6 degrees cooler than the standard Wave Hybrid. While we didn’t get actual data, our tester was certainly more comfortable and supported. BEST HUMIDIFIER Levoit VeSync Classic 300S $80…
BEST AIR COMPRESSOR ARB CKMP12 On-Board $321 ARB makes some of the best equipment in the overlanding business. The CKMP12 features a hard-anodized cylinder bore and a Teflon-impregnated carbon-fiber piston seal for performance and reliability. It also leaves plenty of headroom, if you wish to add an air tank down the road. BEST PHONE MOUNT Quad Lock Car Mount $50 Smartphones are invaluable resources for drivers, adding GPS navigation to any automobile. But don’t just leave yours in a cup holder. The Quad Lock Car Mount gives you handsfree access to your mobile device, while wirelessly charging it. BEST NAVIGATION APP OnX Offroad $30 Planning an overlanding adventure is often fraught with difficulty. OnX alleviates some of that. The subscription-based app is like having 5,000 paper maps in a much…
All of the new wipers were very close in performance, with some indistinguishable. Regardless of how long we let the paint sit—in an effort to make it more difficult to clear—the results remained the same. While we were surprised to see almost no substantial difference in performance, the hard-worn control wipers’ lack of capability reinforced that you should regularly replace your wipers regardless of where you drive. The control set was hampered by smearing until the final wipe. Following our test protocol, we remained confident that any fresh set will give you a performance advantage. Unfortunately, wipers are easy to overlook as you complete a check of your vehicle before a road trip. While other components—tires, brakes, lights—are paramount to your safety, bad visibility due to old wiper blades renders…
THE HUMBLE BENCH GRINDER IS A STAPLE of the handy-person’s home shop, largely due to its versatility. But, while you can employ one to remove metal from just about anything, the traditional kind may not provide the precision you need for every grinding operation. Here, we shed light on the best ways to use the different types of grinders, gleaned from our testing. Bench Grinder What could be simpler than using a bench grinder? Step up to the machine, turn it on, and press an offensive bit of metal into the spinning, abrasive wheel. Right? Well, yes, and no. There are some things to keep in mind to grind both successfully and safely. Heat is your enemy. It builds up very quickly, can damage metals, and makes things too hot…
MEIER STRIVES TO BE the world’s most eco friendly high-performance ski. We produce every thing ourselves right here in the Rocky Mountains. The wood core is the heart and soul of every ski, and to date, all of ours are largely made from locally sourced poplar, maple, and beetle kill pine (trees killed due to a fungus spread by mountain pine beetles). These dead trees are fuel for forest fires. By removing this fuel source and using it in our skis, we’re helping mitigate wildfire risk, and are giving the trees a chance to return to the mountain where they grew up. To lay-up the ski, we use an environmentally friendly, plant-based epoxy. We slather the epoxy over the entire surface of each piece—the base, tech components (like carbon fiber…
The world’s busiest billionaire says you waste serious brainpower taking a thought, compressing it into a few words, and communicating it to another person who must then decompress those words into a thought. But with a direct neural interface like the one Musk is working on through his brain implant startup Neuralink, it could be possible to improve the bandwidth between your brain’s cortex (the layer that deals with functions like long-term planning) and the digital world by up to 1,000 orders of magnitude, according to Musk. Someday, this could mean telepathically talking to others or maybe even uploading your consciousness into a robot or another person’s brain.…
TO DRIVE A VEHICLE IS TO GET IT STUCK. Snow, sand, or mud will claim us all eventually, but if you’re prepared, you can likely get yourself back on the road without a tow. When you find your wheels spinning, the first step is to not make the situation worse. Stop spinning your wheels immediately says Chris Komar, an instructor at Team O’Neil Rally School in New Hampshire. You’ll only dig yourself deeper and risk breaking a half shaft, CV joint, or clutch. “If you’re 20 percent stuck, it doesn’t take much to become 100 percent stuck,” he says. During the winter, Komar rescues up to three vehicles per day. Next, lower your tire pressure—regardless of the vehicle—by 30 percent, says Komar. Lower pressures enlarge the contact patch of your…
Freeman Dyson, a prolific British-American physicist, first introduced his eponymous Dyson Sphere concept in a landmark 1960 paper. In it, he describes the futuristic energy-capturing structure as a “hollow ball built around the sun.” The theoretical device, covered in solar panels and mirrors, could wrap around a solar system’s largest star to harvest its energy. But because the contraption would cover the sun, it could have dramatic consequences for Earth’s ecosystem. A better alternative, then, is a Dyson Swarm—a take on the Dyson Sphere that features a collection of smaller, individual harvesters that orbit the sun like satellites, wirelessly transferring solar energy to the moon.…
IN FEBRUARY 2020, BETELGEUSE, A PROMI - nent star 642 light-years away in the Orion constellation, began to dim, suggesting it was in the throes of death. Astronomers’ telescope observations and computer simulations revealed the real culprit: a roving dust cloud that temporarily crossed in front of the star. When Betelgeuse eventually does run out of fuel and enters the supernova stage of a star’s life, it will generate a brilliant display of stellar fireworks in the night sky. Astronomers estimate that a handful of stars in our galaxy go supernova every century. Throughout Earth’s history, it’s likely some of these stellar explosions have been close enough to cause catastrophic damage to our planet and, as some researchers believe, potentially alter the evolutionary trajectory of life. The charge has drawn…
IF YOU REMEMBER WHEN MONOPOLY’S RICH Uncle Pennybags wore a monocle, or when Curious George had a tail, or when Looney Toons graced your childhood TV set, you’re wrong. Pennybags has perfect vision, Curious George is as tail-less as a guinea pig, and the show is correctly spelled Looney Tunes. But before you question your reality, you’re not alone. People all over the world have these same mis-recollections. It’s called the Mandela Effect, and the term can be traced back to one person’s inaccurate memory. In the 1980s, a self-described paranormal researcher named Fiona Broome claimed that she remembered hearing about the death of Nelson Mandela, the prominent South African antiapartheid activist, while he was in prison. However, Mandela emerged from prison in 1990 and went on to become president…
In the weeks preceding the Hyatt Regency collapse, a national architecture association circulated a report warning against the type of suspended pedestrian bridges that were in the hotel’s lobby. Those bridges’ subsequent failure became the catalyst for sweeping changes in the construction world. “It woke us up, to some extent, to look at not only the way we’re analyzing and designing projects, but the whole procedure of construction,” says William D. Bast, principal and regional director at national engineering firm LPI, Inc. The International Code Council revised the International Building Code. It now mandates that materials have to be looked over by a design professional or tested before they’re put into the building. Cement, for instance, undergoes an air-content test in a cylindrical air meter to ensure as little gas…
As their grip on Europe loosened, Nazi Germany appointed January 30, 1943, as a national day of celebration to bolster morale. The date marked the 10th anniversary of Adolph Hitler’s rise to the Chancellorship, and German high command planned a day of rousing speeches on international radio. But in England, the RAF saw the occasion as an opportunity to stick a thumb in the eye of Germany’s top leaders and break the facade of Nazi invincibility. Most of the RAF’s bomber fleet was unsuited for a mission so far from home. The 1,100-mile roundtrip flight to Berlin, in broad daylight, would span five hours of exposure to flak and enemy fighters. Only one aircraft in the RAF’s inventory had a chance. Mosquito fighter-bombers, faster than the other planes in the…
BEST SMART DISPLAY Portal Go $199 Facebook’s wireless Portal Go has two distinctions: its unmatched video chatting experience and the Calendar app’s integration with Google or Microsoft work accounts. Regarding the former, AI automatically centers the screen and adjusts volumes. And the latter lets you take Zoom or Teams calls directly from the device. BEST BLUETOOTH TRACKER Tile Pro $35 While not as slick as AirTags, the Tile tracker lineup is hardware-agnostic, has a crowdsourced finding network, and performs better as a local Bluetooth tracker, with superior range and sound. Should you lose whatever it’s attached to, simply open the Tile app and activate the Pro’s tone or see its last pinged location on a map. BEST TV LG C1 $2,100 The biggest draw of the 65-inch C1 is the…
BEST CORDLESS MOWER Ryobi RY401140US $499 This U.S.-built mower can cut a tremendous area with its two (6-Ah) batteries, and its X-shaped blade leaves a pristine surface in its wake. Rear-wheel drive translates to good hill climbing and side-hill performance, and its bagging on all surfaces (level, sidehill, and uphill) is also commendable. BEST SMALL SHOP VACUUM DeWalt DCV517B $129 The DCV517B is only slightly larger than a hand vacuum, but it’s still thoroughly DeWalt. It provides superior vacuuming power and the ability to tackle anything from a bowl of breakfast cereal dumped on the floor (milk and all) to a handful of metal shavings on top of your workbench. The HEPA air filter is incredibly robust. BEST CIRCULAR SAW Flex FX2131A-1C $249 One of the most productive tools we’ve…
Beam Design Frame-style wipers are limited to five or six pressure points where they meet the windshield. Beam wipers achieve consistent pressure, thanks to a metal beam that runs the length of the blade. More contact means a better clean. Aerofoil Conventional wiper blades can sometimes be blown away from the surface of the glass, inhibiting their performance. That’s why you’ll see beam blades use an aerofoil outside the shell to keep the wiper stuck to the windshield at any speed. Blade Material Many modern wipers have silicone blades, which clear water better due to the material’s hydrophobic properties. Plus, they are more durable. But this does make them considerably more expensive than their older, rubber-based counterparts.…
EYE PROTECTION Use it. Take it from someone who had a tiny bit of hot metal fuse to their eye and need removing. Aside from that not being fun, the risk of losing sight is just not worth the time it takes to don eye protection. While there are all kinds of fancy types, an ordinary set of goggles is all you need. GLOVES They seem like a good idea, but grinding wheels—as well as wire wheels found on many grinders—can grab gloves, pulling them, and hands, into the machine. So skip them. LONG HAIR AND LOOSE CLOTHING Just like gloves, anything long and loose—hair and clothing, for example—can get caught and pull you into the machine. Tie your hair back, and avoid baggy clothes around the grinder. WORK RESTS…
“We laminate multiple wood boards together to create core blocks, then saw them vertically to integrate the different species. We shape them and attach a high-density plastic sidewall, then build the ski’s base, which contacts the snow, and attach extra-thick steel edges. Next, we layer in composites like carbon fiber and triaxial fiberglass, laminate our graphic to the textured nylon topsheet, and use a plant-based epoxy to lay-up the skis before applying heat and pressure in a press to achieve the right camber/rocker profile. We then cut away the excess material, rout and sand the sidewalls, apply wax, and tune.…
