26 January 2012

The secret war: digital spies

Foreign spies hack computers to bleed billions from industry and steal military secrets. PM explores the dark, relentless scourge of digital espionage. 

24 November 2011

A trick of the mind

Looking for patterns in life and then infusing them with meaning, from alien intervention to government conspiracies. 

01 November 2011

Great South African Inventions Part 2

As the countdown starts for the PM Inventors Conference on 24 November, we present the second batch of Great South African Inventions, most of them drawn from the eponymous book by Mike Bruton. 

01 November 2011

Super storms

Hurricane Irene’s destructive trail re-opened the still fresh wounds of 2005’s Katrina – and brought home the realisation that it’s time to face the new high-hazard reality and get prepared. 

27 October 2011

DIY flight

It’s good to be an amateur aircraft designer in the United States. Engineering software is sold on the shelves, American airspace is the most permissive in the world, and hordes of fellow tinkerers are on hand to help build. There’s no greater thrill than constructing your own plane – except flying it safely. 

03 October 2011

Backyard genius 2011

The most animatronic, ecological, microscopic, hydraulic, rhythmic, jet-powered, home-brewed, jury-rigged, highly flammable, robotic, oddball creations of the year.  

03 October 2011

Great South African Inventions

As we approach the third annual Inventors Conference, part of PM’s groundbreaking INVENT 2011 initiative, we have pleasure in introducing some of the many inventions to emerge from South Africa over the years. The items featured here are extracted from the book Great South African Inventions, by Mike Bruton. 

03 October 2011

Drilling down: Fact vs Fiction in the great
Fracking debate

Deep beneath rural Pennsylvania and its freshwater aquifers, dogleg drilling and hydraulic pressure combine to fracture the Marcellus Shale and siphon its vast natural gas reserves. But the techniques raise environmental concerns. 

21 September 2011

Area 51: what really happened?

America’s notoriously secretive military compound returns to the limelight, thanks to a new book that makes fantastic claims about its purported UFO and alien past. By Earl Swift 

01 September 2011

Secrets of the Navy Seals

Beyond Bin Laden: how they train, how they work, how they think