Posts Tagged ‘Popular Mechanics’

How To Make Your Computer Boot Faster

(Photograph by Kyoko Hamada)From Popular Mechanics:Why can’t a computers start up like a television? In short, it is all about the operating system. And contrary to common sense, the newer the operating system the longer it can take. But you can do something about it.

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Top 10 Ig Nobels: The Best of Science’s Strangest Prize

From Popular Mechanics:A large portion of scientific research remains forever off the public radar. A select few studies deliver results that reverberate in the scientific community and make their way to textbooks. Then there are those research efforts that, as one group puts it, represent “achievements that cannot or should not be reproduced.” Every year the Annals of Improbable Research highlights this last group with the Ig Nobel, an award for the top engineering solutions, science products and peer-reviewed papers that, according to the editors, “make you laugh, then make you think.” We looked back at 18 years of the prizes to bring you our 10 favorite Ig Nobels of all time.Read more ….

On the Trail of Osama bin Laden: Scientists Use Biological Tracking Models to Pursue America’s Most Wanted

Regional analysis of city islands within a 20-km radiusof bin Laden’s last known location (red dot).From Popular Mechanics:The United States military’s attempts to track down Osama bin Laden in the seven-plus years since the World Trade Center attacks have been notoriously fruitless. But a new study suggests the way to find America’s most wanted criminal is to treat him like an endangered species.

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Top 10 Science Fiction Books, Movies And TV Shows

The 10 Most Influential UFO-Inspired Books, Movies and TV Shows — Popular MechanicsUFO culture began in the late 40’s, when a pilot’s account of a midair encounter with mysterious aircraft triggered similar reports across the United States. Authors, movie producers and a few hack journalists were quick to respond.

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2009 Oscars: PM Predicts Winners for Sci/Tech Categories

From Popular Mechanics:PM takes to the red carpet to find out who movie industry experts expect to win for audio and visual achievement at the 81st annual Academy Awards, airing Feb. 22 at 8 pm on ABC. Check back Feb. 23 to see how our experts fared—and to get their assessment of why they might have been wrong.Read more ….

Inside FIRST Robotics 2009: Robots Are Now Ready To Rumble

From Popular Mechanics:On Tuesday, high school robotics teams from around the country concluded the six-week build period ahead of next month’s regional FIRST Robotics Competitions. Popular Mechanics dropped in on the Pirates of George Westinghouse High, in Brooklyn, as they made their final pre-shipment adjustments.The tension brimmed outside Room 254, the home base of George Westinghouse High School’s FIRST robotics team, the Pirates.

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Blacksmithing 101: How To Make A Forge And Start Hammering Metal

PM editors Roy Berendsohn (left) and Mike Allen (right) have framed houses and built race cars—but forge steel in the garage? That was something new. From Popular Mechanics:PM’s home and auto editors took a weekend out to teach themselves how to heat and hammer metal the old-fashioned way.

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Could Someone Really Teleport Out of Jail?: Fringe Fact vs. Fiction

From Popular Mechanics:David Robert Jones is back causing mayhem. In last night’s episode of Fringe, “Ability,” the villainous mystery man tries to kill with an affliction that causes hyperactive scar tissue, which closes all the victim’s orifices, so they can’t breathe. But to execute his murderous plan, he needs to first spring himself from a German prison using a fantastically sci-fi weapon (a stolen design from our mad scientist, Walter Bishop): a disintegration-reintegration ray.

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