Featured Story

MythBuster: Why Electric Vehicles Beat Gas in 5 Extreme Tests

Jamie Hyneman breaks down his team's most recent eye-popping experiment: rolling out a Ferrari, Harley, ATV, compact car and hand-built go-kart to the track, and pitting each against its electric-propulsion counterpart.

Previous Transportation Stories

World's Fastest Superliner Awaits Rebirth—or the Scrap Yard Out of service for 40 years, the SS United States still holds speed records. But what fate awaits this storied piece of naval history? (Published in the June 2008 issue)
Building Smarter Bridges, Thinking Beyond Hybrids and Flying With Gadgets: Podcast We discover at an NSF summit that Minnesota's new I-35W bridge may just as illustrative of good as its predecessor was of bad. Plus, proposing a micro-generator plug-in car, pitting in-flight Wi-Fi vs. cellphones and parachuting beyond Point Break.
Rebuilding America Special Report: How to Fix U.S. Infrastructure American infrastructure is in trouble, from collapsed bridges to leaking dams. In a yearlong investigation, Popular Mechanics uncovered the fresh ideas, smart engineering and new technology we need to fix it. Here’s the plan. (Published in the May 2008 issue)
The 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now No one can predict what bridge, levee or water main will fail next. But some problems are well known, and work is long overdue. As PM's special report makes clear, we need to begin rebuilding the nation's hardware somewhere. Here are 10 places to start. (Published in the May 2008 issue)
Wave-Powered Boat Goes Beyond Record With Green Design It didn't take long out of the gates for the Suntory Mermaid II to prove its maiden voyage a success, since the goal of the journey is to prove that a boat relying solely on eco-friendly wave power can operate outside the confines of a lab.
The Inside Story of When Jet Packs Really Are Coming News of a cheaper, lighter rocket belt gets the sci-fi geek in all of us excited. But as even the three main players in the human-flight business admit to PM, serious technical issues, delays and lawsuits stand between jet-propelled hype and practical liftoff.
New Minn. Bridge Plans Arise as Bad Plates Fingered in Collapse Fractured gusset plates on Interstate 35W were a main cause of the Minneapolis tragedy, the NTSB said. Meanwhile, construction continues at its replacement, with redundancy, monitoring tech and super concrete set to make it maybe the safest bridge ever.
Anatomy of Lost Luggage: How to Track Your Bags (and Save 'Em) Checking your luggage can seem playing like roulette. Here’s a breakdown of what happens to your luggage when it doesn’t land when you do.
10 Ways to Fix Air Travel Flying may be incredibly safe, but it's also unreliable, inefficient and stressful. Here's how to make the experience aloft easier on us—and the planet. (Published in the January 2008 issue)
Super Trains: Plans to Fix U.S. Rail Could End Road & Sky Gridlock With airports and highways more congested than ever, new steel-wheel and maglev lines that move millions in Europe and Japan have the potential to resurrect the age of American railroads. (Published in the December 2007 issue)
View Full Technology: Transportation Archive

Science

Alien Hoaxes: Inside the Cult

A new alien video reveals an alleged close encounter is of a new kind. Experts agree the digital invasion of UFO evidence has gone too far.

PLUS: Too Many Aliens in Indy 4

Worst-Case Scenarios

NYC Crain Collapse: Was It Predicted?

After a major collapse in March, causes of the new crash are more obscure. If the crane did meet all city safety regulations, what went wrong?

PLUS: How to Fix U.S. Infrastructure

Reviews

Mac vs. PC

PM crunches the numbers on new desktops and laptops in the ultimate lab test—with some surprising results.

PLUS: How to Buy a Laptop

Technology

iPhone 2.0 Countdown

On Monday morning, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will unveil a 3G-enabled iPhone. But are other functions more important?

Digital Hollywood

MythBuster on Lost Finale

In one of three expert analyses for PM, Lost geek Adam Savage explains why Thursday's episode changed his theories on the future of our favorite sci-fi show.

Drive Green

Algae's Big Moment

After years of hype as the mucky green grail of the oil crunch, algae is finally taking on its "impossible" hurdles to move from test tubes to barrels.

Robotics

Is Asimo Tuned Out?

Sure, Honda's robot conducted a symphony. But PM's resident geek wonders if this is a leader in our unmanned future—or just a hype machine.

Future of Space

NASA & Private Space

Officials and analysts say NASA has begun to shift its priorities (and cash) toward a dependence on the growing market for spacecraft.

Digital Hollywood

Speed Racer F/X

How 10 million robotic photos, Google Earth and simulators influenced by video games turned a green-screen dream into summer's best action scene.

Reviews

Ultimate GPS Test

700 miles, 5 new nav units, no manuals. We pick the best mapping devices for summer road trips on the road and in the lab.

PLUS: Gadget Reviews

Drive Green

Top 10 X Prize Cars

The most comprehensive, up-to-date scouting report on the field for the 100-mpg car of tomorrow.

Digital Hollywood

Debunking Lost's Science

As the show returns, its creators reveal the making of high-tech mythology—and let slip a few secrets about the island’s future.

Robotics

Robot Mania

We follow teenage DIY geeks at the 2008 FIRST Robotics Competition (with video).

Air & Space

Mobile Mile-High Club

Europe now allows in-flight cell calls, but the FAA and FCC tell PM they're not interested.

Automotive News

Best of N.Y. Auto Show

PM's auto team has first-look photos, video and analysis of the season's last big show.

Health & Medicine

10 High-Tech Health Breakthroughs Coming Soon to Your Body

Health care has come a long way since whole-body bloodletting. But medicine of the future will make even today's broad-based therapies obsolete. Breakthroughs such as cancer-hunting nanoparticles, virus-busting lasers and featherweight heart monitors have begun to usher in a new era of targeted treatment.

Technology

Turn Your PS3 Into a PC

With a little effort and expense, we turned a PS3 into a Linux computer—without losing any of its gaming goodness. And we're giving it away.

Election News

Geek the Vote '08

The presidential race hangs in the balance, and PM compiles the candidates' science and tech proposals.

SPACE: Obama vs. Clinton

Reviews

PM Gadget of the Week

Creative's Vado Video Cam
"I've been playing with the Vado for the last week, and I can honestly say that I love it..."

More Gadget Reviews

Election News

Primary Sci/Tech Issues

The Democratic race winds down as Hillary Clinton tries to hang on against Barack Obama. Get behind their policies—and John McCain's—with PM's Geek the Vote '08 guide.

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• Experience perfect air with Trane

• myBike, PM's New User-Powered Motorcycle Community, Brought to You by Kawasaki

Video

My Popular Mechanics

Join PM's User-Powered Motorcycle Community!

Rev up with myBike to upload rides from your garage, rate others, make biker buddies and chat on message boards!

• PLUS: How to Ride a Motorcycle
• VIDEO: Pick the Right Bike for You
• REVIEW: Test-Driving New Gear

Current Issue

Google X Prize, Mythbusters & More!

Want to take $20 million off Google's hands? Our DIY guide to building a lunar rover could make you the next X Prize winner—really.

Reviews

Future Warfare: New DVD

PM's four-hour, two-disc set deploys battle footage, CG animation, live-action weapons testing and expert interviews to examine everything from robot warriors to UAVs.