| January 2009 |
| Standing guard |
| America’s missile shield is designed to destroy incoming ballistic warheads with interceptors. PM heads to an Alaskan army base where vigilant soldiers keep defensive missiles locked and loaded in case a rogue nation makes its move. But will the system work? |
The sign next to the door is not an omen. It shows a bright red figure in a protective suit, the kind of full-body gear you might wear when handling dangerous pathogens. Or, in this case, when... |more| |
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| December 2008 |
| These little widgets went to matket |
| For your invention to succeed, you need to keep things real |
Hitting the invention jackpot is always possible, but it’s never going to be easy. To have any chance of success, you must keep your head firmly in reality, develop a clear strategy – and, on the odd... |more| |
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| The unluckiest ship in the Navy |
| Night after night, the USS Trayer takes enemy fire, exploding into burning, flooded wreckage. By confronting this mayhem recruits learn lessons that may one day save their lives. |
It’s impossible to see more than a couple of metres through the thick smoke, but what I can make out is bad enough. The deck has buckled upward, and fragments of tables and chairs lie piled among... |more| |
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| Face-off |
| I’m so totally, digitally close to you |
On 5 September 2006, Mark Zuckerberg changed the way that Facebook worked, and in the process he inspired a revolt.Zuckerberg, a doe-eyed 24-year-old CEO, founded Facebook in his dormitory room at... |more| |
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| 2008 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards |
| Inventions that will change our world |
The early 20th century produced a breathtaking succession of innovations – the Wright Flyer, the Model T, the Panama Canal. It was a golden age of engineering. A century hence, observers may well... |more| |
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| November 2008 |
| How do you build the world's biggest boat? |
| One piece at a time. The world's most impressive ships are not built for war or trade - they're made for pleasure. The largest cruiseliner ever constructed now sits in a Finnish shipyard, where it is being muscled together, part by colossal part. |
On the forested coast of southern Finland, in the town of Turku, a brass band plays to a festive crowd gathered along the lip of a 360-metre-long, 15-metre-deep hole. An antique cannon... |more| |
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| 75 Skills every man needs |
| Brains and charm are fine, but a real guy needs to know how to do real stuff – steer out of a blowout, cut down a tree, change a nappy. Here’s our line-up of essential skills for the competent man. How do you measure up? |
1. Get tech-savvy
As a PM reader, you probably regard yourself as technologically savvy and on track with the digital revolution – but are you really? When you finally upgraded from... |more| |
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| October 2008 |
| Thinking beyond levees |
| Floods will come back, in America’s hurricane-scarred Midwest and Gulf coast. Here’s how they’ll manage the risk. |
Memories of overtopped levees and submerged homes flashed back as a panicstricken New Orleans fled Hurricane Gustav in early September – fortunately, without the dire consequences that had been... |more| |
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| The coming digital war |
| Pentagon networks are under constant attack from forces that are stealthy, swift and difficult to trace. But the US military is gearing up to fight back. |
In the American Civil War, agents from both the Union and Confederate sides routinely climbed telegraph poles and cut enemy lines, then disguised their work so that it was undetectable from the... |more| |
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| Banish boring science! |
| get it. Most of my friends
who are grade school
teachers pay for their
own supplies. People say,
“You can’t just throw
money at the problem”.
By all means throw
money at the problem!
Learning science by
experimentation yields
innovation, inspiration,
intuition and fascination.
3. Celebrate mistakes.
A good scientist will tell
you that being wrong
can be just as interesting
as being right. The same
holds for our show. We
love hearing from fans
who challenge our conclusions
– especially kids.
We gave a talk at the
University of Florida, and
a 12-year-old girl asked
us why, when we tested
whether elephants are
afraid of mice, we only
used white mice. She
was right; we should
have tested differentcoloured
ones.
For our fuel-efficiency
myth, windows versus
aircon, we drove two
cars at 72 km/h until they
ran out of petrol; our
data showed that driving
with the windows open
was more efficient. But a
fan pointed out that over
a certain speed, open
windows create so much
drag that aircon is more
efficient. We repeated
the test at 88 km/h – and
the fan was right. Kids
need to know that
teachers and textbooks
don’t have all the
answers – and that’s
okay. Sometimes, even
a failed experiment can
be a good learning
experience. |
When Jamie Hyneman and I speak at teacher conventions, we always draw a grateful crowd. They tell us Thursday mornings are productive because students see us doing hands-on science on Wednesday... |more| |
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