Popular Mechanics - July 2014 ZA

www.popularmechanics.co.
za TECH SCI ENCE WHEELS HOME OUTSI DE

JULY 2014,
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SKILLS
GREAT
GADGETS
BUILD A STURDY WORKBENCH
ODE TO A CIRCULAR SAW
UPGRADE YOUR TOOLBOX
25 THINGS TO TEACH YOUR KIDS

THE NEXT DIGITAL
REVOLUTION
WHY FACEBOOK PAID $2 BILLION
FOR A VIRTUAL REALITY START-UP
UNTANGLING TIME
QUANTUM THEORY COULD BE THE ANSWER
TESTED: Activity tracking with new-wave ftbands
WIN
ROTARY PILOT
WATCHES,
EACH WORTH
R4 500
Dawn of the
ULTRA
CHOPPER
RADICAL DESIGNS WILL PUSH
SPEEDS OVER 675 KM/H
www.ford.co.za
Visit FordSouthAfrica
SMART TECHNOLOGY
800mm water wading
Traction Control
Advanced Shif-On-The-Fly
Model shown with optional sports bar.
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Contents
July 2014
Vol 12, no. 12
BE THE FIRST
TO KNOW
2 www.popularmechanics.co.za JULY 2014
SCI E NCE
16 Tech watch

A wind turbine that oats on air

Godzilla by the numbers

Console games at war

Looking afresh at Mars
56 Times tangled web
Quantum theory could explain the
ow of time
WHE E L S
30 Auto intel

Reinventing carbon bre

The rst truly connected car

From Tazz to Quest
94 Saturday mechanic
Six car sounds you shouldnt ignore
PM DI GI TAL
87
Electric avenue: battery-powered

vehicles that break the mould

WIN: CAT Big Twist watches and
Skil 1734 AA rotary hammers
TE STE D
44 Activity-tracking ftbands
Discreetly logging your lifestyle, 24/7
F E ATURE S
14 A brief history of ice
Fresh food and chilled beverages
werent always a given
52 The 25 skills you should
teach your kid
There are still some things to learn
from dear old dad
60 Total immersion
Why Facebook paid $2 billion for
a virtual reality start-up
70 Skills

Ice-cold beer

Toolbox upgrade

Car-wash tactics

Know your wall anchors
78 Lies and liars
How do we separate truth from
untruth? Poorly, it seems
84 Opinion

Why we x

The truth about 3D-printing piracy

In defence of jargon
UPGRADE
28

Prosthetic limb revolution

Re-imagining the Big Apple
TE CH
36 What your smartphone says
about you
Not all phone users are created
equal
46 Dawn of the ultra-chopper
Radical new designs will revolu-
tionise helicopter travel
HOME
88 DIY home
Build a workbench
93 Ode to the circular saw
After 60 years, time to retire an
old faithful?
MONTHLY
4 Contact us
6 Editors notes
10 Letters
12 Time machine
38 Great stuff
108 Do it your way
46 28
44
30
38
70
16
1 of 4 Dremel hampers, including:

4200 multi-tool

MS20-1/5 Moto Saw

940 glue gun

VersaFlame

Multi-Max oscillating
tool (see page 75)
WIN!
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On the cover: On its as-yet-unnamed helicopter
design, AVX uses compound-coaxial rotors and
ducted fans to help it reach 425 km/h.
Picture: AVX Aircraft Company.
This page: While still a teen, Palmer Luckey
created the virtual reality system that became
the Oculus Rift; barely two years later, Facebook
bought his company for $2 billion.
Picture: Robert Maxwell.
60
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Jeep with

elicopters are not what they used
to be. Our cover story this month
describes PMs visit to a secret facility
on the edge of the Florida Everglades,
where aerospace engineers are devis-
ing a radical new rotorcraft that prom-
ises to change military operations and
civilian skies forever. Its called Area 31,
and its the home of Sikorsky Aircrafts
compound coaxial helicopter, the S-97
Raider just one of a slew of formidably
capable machines that are faster, more
manoeuvrable and better equipped
than any rotorcraft in the sky today.
Dawn of the ultra chopper starts on
page 46.
Lamenting our inability to separate
truth from ction, we present a
thought-provoking piece titled Lies
and liars: can you catch them? As
writer David Tenenbaum says, its
awfully hard to catch a liar or even to
know if someone is telling the truth:
The best estimate, based on hundreds
of studies, is that people can spot a liar
54 per cent of the time a ratio that is
perilously close to pure chance.
By way of example, Tenenbaum cites
a couple of white lies that most of
us have probably told at some time or
another, such as I have read the terms
of service and Ill work on that ASAP.
Remember that British couple who
ripped off their insurers by pretending
that the husband had died in a canoe-
ing mishap? They were tried for fraud
and went to jail. Remember Jeffrey
Archer, millionaire novelist and mem-
ber of the House of Lords? He, too,
went to jail after being convicted of
perjury. Closer to home, we await the
courts verdict in the case of Oscar
Pistorius
Then its time for an update on the
remarkable story of Palmer Luckey and
the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality head-
set that caused a sensation. You probably
recall this young man from last year,
when he was judged a winner in the
annual POPULAR MECHANICS Breakthrough
Awards (USA). He pitched up for the
glittering awards ceremony wearing
jeans, a wrinkled shirt and ip-ops.
It wasnt calculated coolness, by the
way: he was just being himself and
he was, after all, just 19 years old.
A few months ago, Oculus VR, the
company he founded with a group of
nancial backers in the American sum-
mer of 2012, was sold to Facebook for
around R20 billion. Interestingly,
Oculus Rift fans immediately turned on
Luckey, accusing him of selling out
to a corporate giant. Even his Kick-
starter supporters were unhappy.
They were being unfair, and heres
why: the Oculus Rift needs big money
to realise its full potential, and Facebook
has lots of that. This VR headset and its
successors will not only transform the
multi-billion rand gaming industry, but
will change the way we interact with
our world the way we learn, the way
we relax, the way we escape. Virtual
reality headsets are already being used
to treat post-traumatic disorders and to
help cure phobias; many other applica-
tions remain to be explored.
As I write this, Im preparing to leave
for the annual World Science Festival
in New York. Co-founded by renowned
physicist and author Brian Greene (hes
also professor of mathematics and
physics at Columbia University) and
Emmy Award-winning journalist Tracy
Day, this amazing event brings together
thousands of people of all ages in a
week-long celebration of science. I
fully intend to bring back good ideas
for PMs FutureTech 2014 conference in
Cape Town on 10 October. Watch this
space and look out for our Altered
Realities programme updates online:
visit www.popularmechanics.co.za/
futuretech
aland@ramsaymedia.co.za
E DI TOR' S NOTE S
COMPETITION WINNERS...
Details online at www.popularmechanics.co.za
ARE YOU AN INVENTOR?
POPULAR MECHANICS is looking for genuinely fresh ideas
in its annual Inventor of the Year competition for 2014
and substantial cash prizes are up for grabs. For entry
forms and the rules of engagement, please visit
www.popularmechanics.co.za/futuretech
Brought to you by
inventor of the year
2014
IT'S CALLED AREA 31,
AND THERE ARE NO ALIENS
H
Page 60
Page 70
Page 46
Your trusty alarm clock has probably been responsible for
you making some of the most important engagements of
your life. And yet, who ever stops to think about just
how much you trust every second it keeps for you?
Truth is, the things you trust most never stop working
to earn it.
To nd out how Coronation can earn your trust, speak to
your nancial advisor or visit www.coronation.com
WHO REALLY
GETS YOU TO
THE CHURCH
ON TIME?
Coronation Asset Management (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider. Trust is Earned
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The best knows
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Introducing the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
The all-new C-Class has been engineered to be THE BEST in every way. Be amazed
by superior features such as the AIRMATIC suspension and head-up display. The new
Intelligent LED light system illuminates the road more radiantly than ever before.
Discover the new C-Class today. For more information visit
www.mercedes-benz.co.za/c-class #NoAlternative
Vehicle specifications may vary for the South African market.
Write to us, engage us in debate, and you could win an Oregon Scientic
Chameleon camera worth R2999. The worlds rst dual-view action camera
features dual lenses each with a 170-degree eld of view positioned at each
end, so you can lm forwards and backwards simultaneously. Playback automati-
cally syncs the footage from both lenses, giving you an immediate split image
(720p per lens) without any fancy editing. Record the trail ahead and behind,
the wave as it curls around you, the ground below and the plane above as you
dive into the blue sky share all the action and your reaction at the same time!
For more information, contact Oregon Scientic on 0861 123 555 or visit
www.oregonscientic.co.za
Send your letter to: POPULAR MECHANICS, PO Box 180, Howard Place 7450, or e-mail
popularmechanics@rsp.co.za Please keep it short and to the point. Regrettably,
prizes can be awarded only to South African residents.
L ETTE RS / WHAT S ON YOUR MI ND?
FORGOTTEN
TECHNOLOGY
When I was a teenager, 55 years ago,
my zits were cured swiftly and efciently
by Ayrtons Sulphur & Yeast tablets. Today,
not even pharmacists have heard of them, and I
drew a blank on Google.
During WW2, by far the best-performing aircraft was the
De Havilland Mosquito, its performance made possible by very
strong and light construction. It was a monocoque sandwich of balsa
within mahogany, pressed into shape against concrete plugs (one of which can
still be seen in the Mosquito Museum in London), and was far stronger and lighter
than conventional aluminium construction.
Production was cheap and simple and could be farmed out to small furniture
makers. Yet today, that technology is gone and almost forgotten. The same is true
of the geodetic construction of the Vickers Wellington, invented by Barnes Wallis
(better known as the inventor of the Dam Busters bouncing bomb).
On the other side, the German company Jumo developed a supercharged two-
stroke aircraft diesel that combined all the usual advantages of diesels with a
power-to-weight ratio approaching that of a Rolls-Royce Merlin. (One of them
can be seen in the RAF Museum at Cosford, near Birmingham.)
One really wonders why all modern diesels are not built this way, but the
technology has been forgotten by all but geeks like me. Even more striking is
the Stirling engine. In the late 19th century, every farm in the Midwest had one,
but today the only Stirlings I know of are the engines in Swedens AIP (Air-
Independent Propulsion) submarines.
Years ago, evaporative fridges were common. They burned water as their
fuel in reality, they depended on a phenomenon called Latent Heat of
Vaporisation. I seem to recall that back in the 1950s, somebody came up with a
car air-conditioner that worked on the same principle.
Evaporative coolers were cheap to build and, as there was almost nothing in
them that could go wrong, pretty much trouble-free. They would be ideal for the
worlds poor in general, and for South Africas shanty dwellers in particular. But
they, too, are forgotten.
I could go on for pages but I am sure you get my drift. I should like to see
POPULAR MECHANICS run a regular feature on such things with a view to rescuing
these useful old ideas from extinction.
BILL TOMLINSON
MUIZENBERG
Editors note: Oh, the memories! When I was very young, and living with my family
in a rural cottage without electricity (I still have no idea why), my father constructed
an evaporative cooler outside the kitchen, using chicken wire and charcoal. I
remember being impressed and proud.
Go cycling with junior
My young son wanted to go cycling with
me but cycle carriers for children are really
expensive, so I came up with a plan. I
welded together four pieces of at steel
bar (300 mm x 30 mm x 5 mm) to create
two angled shapes. Next, I welded on
two smaller pieces of at bar (50 mm
x 30 mm x 5 mm) to keep them together.
I drilled a couple of holes for bolts,
added round tubing for footrests, bolted
on a bicycle seat and even provided a pair
of mini-handlebars for my little passen-
ger, although it wasnt strictly necessary
(see details in the picture). It works very
well. My son sits in front of me, with his
feet well away from the chains. To restore
the bike to its original state, all you need
do is remove two bolts.
DAWIE DU PLESSIS
LUCKHOFF
Eco-friendly heating solution
A couple of years back, PM ran a story
about someone who won an eco-compe-
tition with a device that used warmed air
from the ceiling cavity to heat a room. I
work from home in a room on the south
side, so it stays fairly cool all year round
and is positively chilly in our Gauteng
winter. I happened to have an old blow-
heater lying around that didnt heat any
longer, so I cut a hole in my ceiling to
match its outlet and removed the heat-
ing coils.
Key to the operation was an outdoor
temperature sensor with wired readout,
bought from a motor spares shop and
W
in
n
in
g
le
t
t
e
r
PM
never tted. This sensor I positioned on
a roof beam, with the temperature read-
out in my ofce below along with the
switch for the heater fan (which is small,
consuming only a couple of watts). A
minor initial teething problem was that
cold air tended to sneak in under the eaves,
over my ceiling insulation and down into
my heater. The problem sorted by the
high-tech solution of a cardboard grocery
box shaped to t, which now draws heat-
ed air from the centre of the ceiling.
The result is virtually free heat after
about 10 or 11 in the morning, when the
in-ceiling temperature can rise higher than
26 C. Having dark roof tiles also helps.
To cover the ceiling hole when not in use,
I considered using complicated sliding or
venetian blind-type covers, but settled
instead for a simple hinged ap operated
by a string running over a hook in the
roof beam. In-ceiling temperature can
easily rise to well over 35 C even in July,
sometimes getting to 45 C (pity poor
plumbers!). Result: very eco-friendly room
heating at absolute minimal cost. Thanks,
POPULAR MECHANICS!
DOUG LAURIE
VIA E-MAIL
Why Armageddon?
I am an avid PM reader and nd your
articles very interesting. However, I have
noticed that you are publishing more
and more articles about new military
technology. I wonder if anyone realises
that these weapons are used to destroy
human beings. On receiving your April
issue, my eye was caught by the article
about the Armageddon club.
I cannot understand why people are so
enthralled by destruction. If you think that
your readers nd this fascinating, then you
have to ask yourself why. With all due
respect to the writer, dont you think it
would be more benecial for your readers
to learn about technology that can make
the world a better place? What this world
needs is not more bombs, but more love.
NEIL VAN DER MERWE
VIA E-MAIL
Where are the handymen?
I have a design and display manufacturing
business that I started from scratch 16
years ago. I studied interior design/archi-
tecture and am pretty handy, having lit-
erally built my company with my own
two hands. I still design everything we
make myself, but my design expertise has
outgrown my manufacturing knowledge
and capacity, and although I want to
bring more services in-house, I lack the
trade and hands-on experience.
It dawned on me recently that there
must be retired guys out there with enor-
mous knowledge that I could tap into
guys who want to keep themselves stim-
ulated and help me set up and operate
equipment such as atbed CNC cutters,
Perspex benders, vacuum formers, spray
booths and so on. I currently outsource
most of that work, but as we grow, I want
to bring certain capabilities in-house. Your
assistance would be greatly appreciated.
RICHARD NILSON
RICHARD@ROCKETCREATIVE.CO.ZA
Okay, so we asked for vigorous
debate
If Eva van Belle does not win Letter of
the Month (April 2014), you guys are a
bunch of idiots, and you should be placed
in stocks and pelted with plastic vuvuzuelas
that were made overseas. It is a pleasure
to read your magazine, and I wish you
many more years of success.
GW FISCHER
VIA E-MAIL
Editors note: The letter in question pro-
posed that participants in the motorcycle
Toy Run (an annual event in which bikers
contribute thousands of toys for distri-
bution to underprivileged children) for-
go cheap plastic imports and instead
devote their DIY skills to producing quality
wooden toys. Sadly, that months Winning
Letter prize went to another PM corre-
spondent.
Brewing up a storm
I enjoyed your article on home brew-
ing (Join the homebrew revolution,
May issue), particularly because I was
in the game for about 10 years, with
varying success (the results ranged
from delicious to utterly vile). I learnt
the basics from a book I bought in the
UK in 1999.
Some weeks ago, after a hiatus
of about ve years, I attended a craft
beer festival in the SA Breweries grounds
in Cape Town, where I chatted to
friendly people who rekindled my
enthusiasm for home brewing. What
impressed me was their lack of pre-
tension. No one was showing off and
everyone was happy to share their
knowledge (and beer). Mark my
words, this movement is about to
grow by leaps and bounds.
GEOFF BREWSTER
ORANJEZICHT
A touch of class
The new Brough Superior
SS100 (Class consciousness
May issue) is indeed a class
act, even if it does cost the
price of a modest apartment
in the suburbs. Unfortunately,
the same cannot be said for the
Ferrariland theme park outside
Barcelona, featured in the same
issue (Upgrade).
Its bizarre, garish and taste-
less, and what I nd most dis-
turbing is the fact that it will
probably make lots of money.
T JOUBERT
EAST LONDON
1947
TI ME MAC HI NE / I T MADE P E RF E CT S E NS E AT T HE T I ME
Recalling the celebrated Tunguska event of 30 June
1908, when a massive blast over the remote Tunguska
River basin in Siberia attened thousands of trees and
made seismographs decidedly agitated, we speculated about the
cause of the explosion. Could the culprit have been a lump of
antimatter? We spoke to the scientists, who said it was possible
that our Universe contained antistars, antiplanets and even anti-
people. They may have been on to something. PM
Some 43 years ago, we were quite excited about this design
for a 480 km/h monorail that was reportedly being explored
as a rapid transit system for US cities. Interestingly, the Tri-
Mono-Trans System was originally conceived as a toy by project engineer
Marty Trent, who imagined it running from room to room. The eld
coils are built into the train and the track becomes the armature.
In a refreshing departure from the
conventional lecture format, the US
Department of Labour introduced
this mechanical man with the ability to
deliver a canned (get it?) 4-minute speech at
the Texas Centennial Exposition. The subject:
men and machines.
Its not all about aesthetics, you know. As we told it, this
motor scooter provided perfectly adequate transport
when 71-year-old Mrs Mary Spoor of Danville, Illinois,
went shopping or visiting friends. Occasionally, we
revealed, her 74-year-old husband went along for the
ride, perched on the back seat.
1936
1965
1971
P7
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Call Centre Number: 0860 86 11 11
1806
1878
1925
1924
1931
1949
1963
1966
2014
ICE
A BRIEF HISTORY OF . . .
From icy world trade and chilled beef to magnets that fight
melting, we bring you the cold, hard truth about ice.
BY AMANDA GREEN
P
H
O
T
O
G
R
A
P
H
S

B
Y

E
V
E
R
E
T
T

C
O
L
L
E
C
T
I
O
N

(
M
R

F
R
E
E
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E
)
,

G
E
T
T
Y

I
M
A
G
E
S

(
O
T
H
E
R

P
H
O
T
O
S
)
1806: Frederic Tudor sells river ice from
Massachusetts to people in Martinique and Cuba.
Tudor lands in debtors prison, later finding a
better way to harvest ice that wont melt en route.
1878: Gustavus Swift is the first to ship dressed
beef, not live cattle, by train from the US Midwest.
He keeps it fresh by hiring engineer Andrew
Chase to perfect the ice-chilled railcar.
1913: Fred Wolf Jr upgrades kitchens with the
DOMELRE (DOMestic ELectric REfrigerator), but
the device is just an electric fan atop an icebox.
1924: Although dry ice was known in 1835,
Thomas Slate is the first to sell it for railcar
refrigeration.
1925: Kelvinator named after Lord Kelvin, who
discovered absolute zero debuts the first self-
contained refrigerator with a compressor and
cooling system.
1928: Lloyd Groff Copeman patents the first
rubber ice-cube tray. Guy Tinkham makes his with
flexible stainless steel in 1933.
1931: Frigidaire uses Freon in fridges. Its safer
than previously used chemicals, but no one
realises until the 70s how damaging it is to the
ozone layer.
1934: Ernest Hansen makes a motorised ice-
shaving machine. Snowball, anyone?
1949: When a chill settles over their ice-block
factory, the Zamboni family builds an ice-skating
rink, then creates a surface-smoothing vehicle to
keep business running smoothly.
1953: Servels Automatic Ice-Maker Refrigerator
thinks outside the tray and cube (with round ice).
1963: In Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle, Manhattan
Project scientists develop ice-nine, a water poly-
morph intended to help US Marines walk over
mud. Later, it nearly wipes out life on Earth.
1966: Batman audiences meet Mr Freeze, a sci-
entist who fights the dynamic duo with an ice gun.
2013: Sochi, Russia, stockpiles snow for the
2014 Olympics. Sketchy weather turns it to slush
and ice.
2014: Magnets arent just for outside the fridge.
GE investigates the magnetocaloric effect, first
discovered in the 1880s, to create energy-efficient
refrigerators that replace compressors with metal
alloys and magnets. PM
ILLUSTRATION By SEAN MCCABE
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Ofcia| smartphone supp|ier to the Springboks
NEWS
TRENDS
BREAKTHROUGHS
I DEAS
VIDEO > Visit www.popularmechanics.co.za to see how the BAT operates.
A higher
power
BY SARAH FECHT
An 18-metre-wide foating wind turbine is
coming to Fairbanks, Alaska. From a height
of nearly 300 metres, the Buoyant Airborne
Turbine (BAT) will harness winds that are six
times more powerful than the winds at ground
level, supplying electricity to a dozen local
homes. An 18-month experiment targeted for
launch in 2015, BAT will y 80 metres higher
than the tallest stationary wind turbine could
eventually get up to 600 metres high.
At 30 kilowatts, BAT has a larger capacity than
the 20-kilowatt Makani Power airborne turbine
that received a 2011 POPULAR MECHANICS Break-
through Award. Whereas Makanis turbines are
supported by an autonomous aircrafts, BAT stays
aloft via a helium-lled shell. At its centre, three
turbine blades spin a shaft that turns a generator
to produce electricity. Tethers hold the turbine in
place and deliver the electricity to a portable
ground station that interfaces with a grid.
After the Fairbanks experiment, the company
plans to use BATs to supply power to small off-
grid villages in Alaska, where solar power isnt
an option and permafrost makes conventional
wind turbines expensive to install.
READY FOR TAKEOFF
BAT will harness high-altitude winds in regions where
other energy options are diffcult.
Liquid-air energy
storage
Compressed air has been around for decades as a
way of storing grid-scale amounts of energy and it
works best when theres a massive underground salt
cavern nearby to store the quantity of air required.
Otherwise, things get tricky. But Highview Power
Storage, a British company, has a solution: liqueed
air at -196 degrees, which can store four to six times
more energy than a similar volume of compressed air.
The liquid air is stored in off-the-shelf, vacuum-insulated
tanks. To retrieve energy, the air is re-evaporated,
causing it to expand by a factor of 700 and generat-
ing high-pressure gas to spin a turbine. Highview has
been running a 2,5-megawatt-hour demonstration
plant in London since 2011 has now received a
R140 million grant to build a 15-megawatt-hour
plant in the UK. The new project will take advantage
of waste heat from a gas plant on an adjacent land-
ll to help warm the liquid air when power is needed,
increasing efciency and reducing cost.
ALEX HUTCHINSON
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A centaur with rings
Only giant planets develop ring systems like Saturns.
Or at least thats what astronomers believed up until
March, when a team from Brazil discovered two
dense rings encircling a rock named Chariklo that
orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. (Half
asteroid and half comet, Chariklo is technically classi-
ed as a centaur.) With a diameter of 250 km, Chariklo
is about 1/500th the size of Saturn and is by far the
smallest object known to have rings. The rings are
thought to be composed of water ice that may have
formed from debris left over from a collision. SF
Highview Powers
liquid-air tanks
store about four
times more energy
than compressed-
air tanks.
MONITOR
BIOPRINTED
BLOOD VESSELS
The problem with bioprinting 3D slabs of living tissue is
that, without blood vessels to deliver oxygen and nutri-
ents the printed cells on the interior of the slab suffo-
cate and die.
To avoid this, researchers at Harvards Wyss Institute
for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed a
special bioprintable ink that melts into a liquid when its
cooled. This ink is used to trace blood vessels during the
layer-by-layer printing of a complex tissue; then the
structure is chilled and the ink is sucked out, leaving a
hollow tube that can function as a blood vessel. Human
endothelial cells are injected into the matrix to develop
the vessel lining. The researchers now hope to produce
bioprinted tissue viable enough to be used in drug test-
ing and eventually to replace damaged tissue in humans.
AH
One pole
to rule
them all
A magnetic north
pole without a corre-
sponding south pole
seems impossible
every magnet found
has two poles. But
ever since Nobel
winner Paul Dirac theorised its exist-
ence, weve looked for the monopole
in everything from Antarctic ice and
moon dust to rocks taken from ocean
beds and polar volcanoes. A naturally
occurring magnetic monopole has
not yet been observed. But now
physicists at Amherst College in
Massachusetts have constructed a
synthetic magnetic monopole in
a cloud of rubidium atoms that
behaves like a magnetic eld when
cooled to tenths of billionths of a
degree above absolute zero.
Researchers manipulated these atoms
to create a vortex, with the monopole
forming at its end point. This showed
that Diracs equations are correct and
monopoles are possible but whether
they exist in the universe remains to
be seen. The search is ongoing and
includes experiments at the Large
Hadron Collider in Switzerland. AH
Contagious, airborne
Wi-Fi virus
The Chameleon virus cant be detected by any
antivirus software program because it never actu-
ally infects your computer. Instead, it jumps from
Wi-Fi hotspot to hotspot, seeking the ones that
are least protected and eavesdropping on their
traffc. Computer-security researchers at the
University of Liverpool developed Chameleon to
test how a Wi-Fi-to-Wi-Fi virus would spread. Like
a human fu virus, it travels faster in dense areas,
such as London, where Wi-Fi spots are generally
less than 50 metres apart. The researchers also
pointed out that Wi-Fis biggest threat is the con-
tinued use of open (non-password-protected)
networks and outdated encryption (WEP instead
of WPA), rather than the technology itself. AH
Counting
whales from
space
For centuries scientists have tal-
lied creatures one by one in
order to determine population.
In the past ve years, though,
theyve turned to satellites and
counted penguins, savanna
animals, most recently, whales.
Peter Fretwell of the British
Antarctic Survey used an image
taken by the WorldView-2 satel-
lite to identify all the Southern
right whales in a region of
Argentinas Golfo Nuevo Bay.
Orbiting Earth at an altitude of
770 km, WorldView-2 detects
dark-blue light, which pierces
15 metres into the ocean and
reveals the submerged creatures.
Fretwells team also designed a
computer program that can scan
an image and calculate the pop-
ulation. The rst-gen algorithm
was 89 per cent accurate and is
expected to improve, helping
scientists understand how whale
populations are adapting to
climate change and recovering
from heavy whaling. FERRIS
JABR
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VIDEO > See how Wyss new 3D printing method works at
www.popularmechanics.co.za
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T
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When Teslas Model S sedan proved vulnerable to impact-
related battery fres last year, the company acted quickly.
Although only three cars caught fre, Tesla developed a
new aluminium and titanium underbody shield system to
further protect the battery, which is located under the
foor (existing models will be retroftted). With its fexible,
high-tech ModelS assembly plant, the company was able
to swiftly implement the safety modifcations.
ANDREW DEL-COLLE
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Scout
Tesla Motors Model S factory
VIDEO > Take a peek inside Teslas Model S robotic factory at www.popularmechanics.co.za
HEART SIZE
20 metres across
100 tons
BLOOD VOLUME
2 million litres
WEIGHT
146 000 tons
WEIGHT PROBLEMS
Godzilla would weigh 146 000
tons, according to our keen analy-
sis of the 2014 Godzilla toy and a
formula developed by paleontolo-
gists to work out the mass of
bipedal dinosaurs. We found out
he would surpass the theoretical
weight limit for land animals
100 to 1 000 tons. The heaviest
dinosaur, the 100-ton Argentino-
saurus, stood 21 metres tall, was
35 metres long, and had four
limbs to distribute its enormous
heft.
POWERHOUSE
At rest, Godzillas metabolism
would generate 1,4 megawatts,
or about as much power as that
of a large wind turbine. On a ram-
page smashing helicopters,
knocking over buildings, fghting
Mothra hed generate about 37
megawatts. Thats enough energy
to fuel a town of 3 000 people.
THICK SKIN
Godzillas exterior is tough.
(Soldiers with rifes, really?) His
crocodile-like hide would be
embedded with osteoderms, or
bony deposits akin to chain mail.
Protruding osteoderms on his
back and tail vent excess heat.
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LIFE SPAN
2 000 years
WALKING
(er, lumbering)
SPEED
2,9 km/h
MASS CALCULATOR
0,00016 x (circumference of femur in millimetres) 2,73 = mass in kilograms
0,00016 x (Godzillas femur: 24 200 mm) 2,73 = 148 571 645 kilograms, or nearly 150 000 tons
NERD OUT
Godzilla in real life
Godzilla is back in cinemas, and hes big. Since his rst awakening, the radioactive, re-spewing
kaiju has grown 60 metres and put on more than 150 000 tons. Godzilla is now 30 storeys tall
and weighs as much as a cruise ship. No actual animal could take the pressure of being so massive:
it would overheat, its organs would implode, it would need to mainline butter to get enough
calories. For fun, we surveyed scientists to help us break down the beasts biology. If Godzilla
were real, he would be an incredible specimen. BY DANIELLE VENTON
BAD TO THE BONE
The force on Godzillas bones is roughly 20 times greater than the
force on a T rexs, so his bones would need to be phenomenally
strong about twice as tough as some titanium alloys. Normal
bone has a tensile strength of 150 megapascals, but Godzillas
bones can handle 3 000 MPa the same pressure found at the
base of Earths lithosphere, 100 km below the surface. Godzillas
cartilage would be about 12 times stronger than a humans, pre-
venting his knees from exploding like overripe tomatoes and
making him the envy of basketball players everywhere.
VIDEO > Visit www.pmzone.co.za to watch the Godzilla movie trailer.
Speed read
BY JOSHUA A KRISCH
How did the video-game
industry get started?
In the late 1960s, Ralph Baer, an
engineer at defence contractor
Sanders Associates, invented
video games. But the company
didnt know how to monetise this
contraption, so it licensed the
idea to Magnavox, which created
the Odyssey, the rst commercial game
console. Odyssey had 12 available
games, each involving a ball and slightly
different gameplay. The games inspired
Ataris Pong a major hit. Home con-
soles became popular, arcade games
became popular, video games became a
billion-rand industry until 1983, when
the so-called Atari crash happened.
The culprit was a glut of bad games.
Because the early years had been so
successful, Atari and its competitors
seemed to think anything would sell.
Blake Harris, author of
Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo,
and the Battle That Defned a
Generation
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+
A
LOW TECH
HIGH TECH
Q When did Nintendo take over?
A While the rest of the industry was oundering, a tiny company
called Nintendo was soaring due to its 1981 hit, Donkey Kong,
which eventually became the most popular arcade game of all
time. Nintendo used these arcade earnings to resurrect the home-
console business (with its NES, or Nintendo Entertainment
System) when most people had written it off as a passing fad.
From 1985 on, it grew like crazy. By 1990, the video-game industry
was worth R30 billion and Nintendo controlled 90 per cent of it.
To avoid making the same mistakes as Atari, Nintendo set rigor-
ous quality-control measures. This led to things such as the
Nintendo Seal of Quality, as well as a strict third-party licensing
programme, where licensees could make only ve games per
year. Most consumers were oblivious to this, but theres no doubt
Nintendos rules angered many gamemakers, which set the stage
for a contender.
Q How did Sega take on the juggernaut?
A In 1991, Nintendos popularity started to give way. Part of
this was because it was facing anti-monopoly suits from the US
government. It made an effort to loosen its strict regulations, but
meanwhile, Sega was also beginning to nd edgling success
under new president Tom Kalinske.
Sega was really focused on clever and occasionally outrageous
marketing that went way beyond TV commercials. It emphasised
both character development and grassroots campaigns, such as
placing college reps on campuses to spread the Sega gospel. That
low-cost, high-reward strategy paid off. Segas unorthodox think-
ing is ultimately what gave it the edge over Nintendo.
Q Who won the console wars?
A I think both sides would say they won, and I think, in a way,
both are correct. If you take a snapshot of the early 1990s, Sega
won. Because Nintendo had 90 per cent of the market, the fact
that Sega could even compete with Nintendo was a victory, not
to mention that it did get up to 60 per cent of market share.
But if you expand that and look at the entire life cycle of 16-bit
systems, Id say Nintendo won. You could denitely say the battle
played out with Sega as the ashy and short-term-oriented con-
tender as underdogs often are while Nintendo played the
long game. And in the end, Nintendo came out on top.
LINGO
NINTENDO HARD: Retro arcade games
were made very difcult to keep people play-
ing. When these games transferred to the
home Nintendo Entertainment System, they
were called Nintendo Hard that is, unless a
player was familiar with the plot, routinely
dying was all but expected. At its most
extreme, today this kind of gameplay is also
called platform hell, or masocore.
The Guardian is a series of bright-orange plastic barriers
that ft on ships safety rails to thwart potential hijackers.
Designed by a British couple, the system uses a bullet-
resistant, high-density compound to form a slippery,
metre-wide overhang that renders ropes, hooks and
ladders ineffective they simply cant attach. Guardian
barriers are custom-made, and crews can install them
more safely than they can barbed wire. In May, 2013, a
container ship ftted with the barriers successfully fended
off an attack by Nigerian pirates.
MEANWHILE, IN SHIP ANTIPIRACY
New hands-free,
high-seas defences
BY JEREMY HSU
WatchStander uses patented software algorithms devel-
oped for the US Navy along with off-the-shelf hardware
parts to track and deter pirates. The systems radar can
spot small boats from up to 3 km away. If suspicious
vessels approach, a tracking spotlight becomes a dizzy-
ing strobe light. Manufacturers are also working on get-
ting other non-lethal defences such as blinding lasers,
chemical sprays and water cannons, deployed later this
year. Earlier in 2014, WatchStander staved off a swarm
of 12 Iranian wooden skiffs in the Strait of Hormuz during
a pilot test.
IDEAS
Mars is no stranger to life.
Seven US spacecraft have suc-
cessfully landed there and all
of them took microbes to the
planets surface (though the
bugs probably did not survive
for long). Yet the worlds space
agencies continue to maintain
strict spacecraft sterilisation
procedures in the hope of min-
imising the spread of Earth life
beyond our planet.
For decades this ethos
known as planetary protection
prevailed. Now, some scien-
tists say, these precautions are
undermining the search for life
beyond Earth by raising costs
and inhibiting innovative
missions without meaningful
benets.
Of all missions to Mars to
date, only the Vikings, the rst
trips to the Red Planet, were
intended explicitly to test for
life. Spacecraft that went later
did not have that ability. But a
future mission will, and, the
protectionist thinking goes, a
rover might not be able to dis-
tinguish between a life form
native to Mars and one with
origins on Earth. In July 2013,
astrobiologists Dirk Schulze-
Makuch and Alberto Fairn
disputed this in Nature
Geoscience.
If Earth micro-organisms can
thrive on Mars, they almost
certainly already do, the
authors write. If they cannot,
the transfer of Earth life to
Mars should be of no concern,
as it would simply not survive.
With clear evidence of a
watery history and some signs
of water present, Mars could
be where we nd life in our
solar system. And with the
development of Curiositys pre-
cise landing system, we can
nally reach the intriguing
parts of the planet. But its
these areas that require a craft
sterilisation process.
In the 1970s, Vikings 1 and
2 revealed what seemed like
a dead planet, so planetary-
protection requirements were
relaxed. Now, with a more
nuanced understanding of
Mars environment, missions
set to visit areas with evidence
of owing water below the
surface have to meet the rigor-
ous and more costly Vikings
standards. In practice, every-
one kind of avoids [these
areas] because it really increases
the price tag on the mission,
Schulze-Makuch says.
The cost increase is generally
said to be around 10 per cent,
but Cassie Conley, Nasas
planetary protection ofcer,
says this is not accurate; the
number is closer to 4 per cent
of Curiositys R25 billion bud-
get. Planetary protection is a
game of risk assessment, she
says, and it just makes good
sense.
Youd think theyd want to
protect their ability to do their
science without contamination,
Conley says. Itd be like trying
to study bacteria in the lab and
spitting on your petri dish.
But Conleys concerns over
false positives might just be
a red herring. According to
Schulze-Makuch, the dissimilar-
ities in the two planets envi-
ronments surely would have
led to the evolution of distin-
guishable differences.
Finally, theres the philo-
sophical conundrum of what
responsibility, if any, we have
to other planets and any life
we leave there. The truth is,
were never going to be able
to fully protect Mars if we
intend to explore it. And
spreading is simply what life
does.
If we want to survive for a
long time, we have to expand
beyond Earth, Schulze-Makuch
says. Theres no other way. PM
Is it time to stop babying Mars?
BY LAURA DATTARO
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BECAUSE
YOUR NEXT
GREAT IDEA
WONT BUILD
ITSELF
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NEW I DEAS THAT
COULD CHANGE
Compiled by
THE EDITORS
popularmechanics
@ramsaymedia.co.za
VIDEO > Catch the new i-Limb Ultra Revolution
in action at www.popularmechanics.co.za
ON THE OTHER HAND
i-Limb ultra revolution
Touch Bionics, a provider of world-leading prosthetic
technologies, has enhanced its already phenomenal
i-Limb Ultra Revolution prosthetic hand with a slew
of innovative technologies, including something
called Grip Chips (Bluetooth-enabled devices that
allow the user to assign a grip to an object) and
i-Limb Skin Active TS (patients wearing this covering
are able to use touchscreen devices such smartphones
or tablets with compatible i-Limb prostheses).
And theres more. The companys My Grips Biosim
and My i-Limb mobile apps have been enhanced by
12 additional custom grips, allowing patients to easily
program custom settings to produce up to 36 differ-
ent grip options.
The history of Touch Bionics began with a pro-
gramme of work conducted at the Princess Margaret
Rose Hospital in Edinburgh from 1963, starting with
comprehensive research into developing prosthetic
solutions for children affected by Thalidomide.
FUTURE SHOCK
Urban Alloy Towers
Late last year, Metropolismagazine
launched a design competition with
the theme Living Cities, challenging
architects and students to create solu-
tions for the housing crisis that would
soon face New York. The city was
expected to gain a million more resi-
dents by 2040, said the magazine, and
the initiative sought to address this
urban inux.
Participants were tasked with formu-
lating proposals for a residential tower
30-40 storeys tall, to be sited within the
ve boroughs of New York. All designs
were required to use and articulate an
innovative structural steel system.
Factors such as sustainability, multi-use
strategies, lifestyle amenities and multi-
generational design were critical ele-
ments for submissions.
This futuristic concept, titled Urban
Alloy Towers, is one of two winning
entries. Chad Kellogg,Matthew Bowles
and Nina Mahjoub of AMLGMLabs
imagined a massive transportation,
entertainment and residential hub with
outstretched tendrils that acted as tun-
nels for subway and railway trains.
How cool is this?
A
C
B D
Theres a temptation to grow nostalgic for a
time when cars needed regular lubrication
instead of app updates. But this misses what
cars have always been about connecting
people with other people and other places.
Its the same reason we love our phones,
computers, and tablets. Now available in
applicable markets the US, for instance
with a 4G LTE data connection and a wealth
of advanced tech, the 2015 Audi A3 takes
connecting to a new level by combining the
physical and digital worlds better and faster
than ever before. Just be ready to pony up:
an A3 with Audis full technology suite will
cost around at least R400 000 in the
consumer-friendly USA. The future
has, after all, never been cheap.
By John Pearley Huffman
A. CONTROLLER WHEEL
Instead of a separate touchpad like on larger
Audis, the one here is integrated into the
controller wheel. A separate volume knob
doubles as a seek button.
B. DI SPLAY
The 100 mm thick pop-up screen is dazzling.
Powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, its
175 mm display is a precise, 3D instrument
for monitoring everything about the car
or accessing the worlds accumulated
knowledge.
C. I NFOTAI NMENT
This is Audis rst use of the Modular
Infotainment Platform, which houses the
hardware in a standard-size box. Its modular
because the entire unit can be swapped out
and upgraded without affecting other systems.
In other words, the design is future-proof.
D. CONNECTI VI TY
Google point-of-interest search is built into the
navigation menu. It also uses that connectivity to
offer voice-dictation text messages. Finally, a car
that implements technology as well as your
phone without the embarrassing seles.
THE FIRST (REALLY)
CONNECTED CAR
2015 AUDI A3
I N T E L
HOT RI DES
TOP TECH
TEST DRI VES
Compiled by
ANTHONY DOMAN
anthony@ramsaymedia.co.za
Auto
ON THE WEB > Download wallpaper images of selected cars at www.popularmechanics.co.za
GRILLE TO GRILLE
PORSCHE AND MERCEDES WANT THEIR PIECE OF THE GROWING
LUXURY COMPACT SUV MARKET. BUT HOW DO THEIR NEW MODELS
STACK UP? FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK.
2014 TOYOTA YARIS
NOTE THE RESEMBLANCE
For 2014 the Yaris has been given a makeover
that brings it in line with current Toyota design.
The bold new front treatment features a full-
width upper grille, new-look triangular head-
lamps and a substantial trapezoidal lower intake.
Toyota says that these are all key elements of its
design theme that are being introduced progres-
sively across its range.
The restyling continues at the rear, though less
strikingly so, and there are also under-the-skin
changes. Engines continue as before, with a 1,0-
or 1,33-litre petrol engine. The hybrid drivetrain
will be retained, too.
2015 MERCEDES-BENZ GLA45 AMG
Economy 10,3 litres/100 km (est)
Output 265 kW, 450 N.m
AMG. Typically those three performance-packed letters are
enough to make us swoon over any model Mercedes. Not so
with the new GLA-Class. Hold on, hear us out. With its turbo-
charged 2,0-litre supplying 265 kW an extra 110 kW over
the standard GLA250s engine the 45 is certainly good fun.
Steering is precise, and acceleration is immediate. But heres
the catch: the standard GLA 250 is a superb small luxury SUV
for the price. It lacks the power of the AMG or MacanS, but
its no slouch and is easily the best deal in this segment. So
much so that we cant justify paying the AMG premium.
Andrew Del-Colle
2015 PORSCHE MACAN S
Economy 14 litres/100 km
Output 254 kW, 460 N.m
Physics has a way of limiting the driving dynamics of tall,
heavy SUVs. Dont expect the transcendent driving experi-
ence of the Boxster. But the Macan handles better than
other small SUVs. More important, it looks and feels like a
Porsche, right down to the seating position and steering.
The 254 kW Macan S is priced competitively (unlike the
300 KW Macan Turbo with its eye-watering price tag), yet
is less expensive than any other Porsche, save the base,
manual-transmission Cayenne. You get the cachet, perfor-
mance and quality of a Porsche crest at a bargain price,
which gives the Macan S the edge here.
Michael Austin
AUTO I NTEL
VOLKSWAGEN UPDATES
China is no longer just another place on the car show calendar. For many, it is
the place to be in what is possibly the worlds biggest market. At the Beijing
Show this year, long-standing Chinese automotive associate VW had plenty to
display, but four vehicles grabbed most of the attention.
NEW TOUAREG
Seemingly more of an evolution than anything else, the new Touareg has more
dynamic styling and tech updates that include, on the V6 TDI version, a coast
function. Available in Germany in the third quarter of 2014, it will be offered
with a turbodiesel or hybrid drivetrain.
MIDSIZE COUP CONCEPT
Volkswagen continues to take the ght to rivals even some within the greater
VW Group stable in its quest to prove that its more than just a maker of com-
pact cars. This four-door coup is said to combine the worlds of saloon and sports
cars. The roof features an integrated panoramic sunroof and alongside the strik-
ing grille are LED headlights with 3D optics. Wheels are 20-inch with 245/40 tyres.
GOLF EDITION CONCEPT
Celebrating 40 years of the Golf, the Golf Edition is anything but a peoples car.
Outtted like a limo and running on 19-inch alloy wheels, it features special
metallic paint with a gold shimmer that visible only from certain angles. The
interior is done out in quilted leather and wood.
GOLF R 400 CONCEPT
The number in the name refers to the engine output in
horsepower, which translates into 294 kW. Thats some
output from any engine, never mind a mere
2,0-litre petrol direct injection unit.
Performance? Breathtaking, with zero
to 100 km/h in 3,9 seconds and a
top speed of 280 km/h. Peak
torque is 450 N.m and the
drivetrain is permanent
4-wheel-drive
4MOTION.
SUZUKI V-STROM 1000 ABS
WELCOME BACK
A completely new 1 033 cm
3
V-twin engine in an all-new chassis headlines the
return of the Suzuki V-Strom 1000 after a six-year absence. The 1000 was
dropped in 2008 because of emissions regulations, leaving the 650 as the only
V-Strom in the adventure tourer category.
The 1000 engine is designed for optimum performance across a broad range
of applications. Efciency improvements on the original include new cylinders
and cylinder heads, redesigned pistons and con rods, a new crankshaft and
clutch, and twin coils and twin iridium spark plugs per cylinder. Thats all resulted
in an average fuel consumption gure of 4,8 litres/100 km an improvement
of 16 per cent over the previous 996 cm
3
V-twin.
The V-Strom 1000 is also the rst Suzuki motorcycle to feature three-way
adjustable traction control. According to Suzuki, 250 times a second the system
monitors the front and rear wheel speeds, as well as several other parameters.
Brakes have been beefed up, too. Price: R134 750.
A STALWART RE-IMAGINED
TOYOTA QUEST
SIMPLIFIED PARTS

Matt black exterior trim for the grille
and numberplate garnish

Relocation of the repeater lamps from
the side mirrors to the fenders

Carpeting and roof headlining derived
from the companys locally produced
IMV (innovative international multi-pur-
pose vehicle) LCV platform

Fixed, not split, rear seat

Revised, locally made trim

New-design headlights
ONLY ONE ENGINE
All-aluminium 1,6-litre in-line four
PARTS COMMON TO 2014
COROLLA

Engine

Seats
TOOLING AMORTISED
The initial investment in tooling up for
the previous-generation car has long
since been recouped
Remember the Tazz? Of course you do. It sold like
crazy because it was cheap, cheerful and Chi no,
silly, it was Japanese. Back in the1990s Toyota
re-invented its previous-generation Conquest hatch-
back, slapped a funky name on its pert rear and
watched it simply y off the showroom oors.
Toyota wasnt alone, of course. Volkswagen had
pioneered this thinking with its Citi Golf and Mazda
was one of those that followed suit with its Sting.
South African buyers were certainly sold on the
price, if not the modest features package.
In 2014, the Tazz is long dead, but the Quest has
been created in the same spirit. Having launched the
new 11th-generation Corolla, Toyota began looking
enviously at the supercompact bracket. They
didnt have a competitor there. So they created one
on price, if not on size. As a result, the retreaded
previous-generation Corolla has gone on sale as the
Quest. Toyota describes it thus: a sensible, spacious
and, above all, affordable family car.
Built on the same production line to the same exacting standards as
latest-generation models, the Quest provides bigger-car values at smaller-
car prices. Speaking of which, prices start at R174 900, though we suspect
private buyers will be looking at the better-specced next model up,
which costs R20 000 more.
And no, it wasnt done by stripping out the features and conveniences
weve become used to. So how did they do it?
AUTO I NTEL
Lamborghini Huracn
Brakes that are high-tech, more power-
ful, lighter yet cheaper: this is just one
of the benets predicted to ow from a
project that, it is hoped, will revolution-
ise production of carbon bre and
make it more accessible to the mass
market. Thirteen leading global compa-
nies with top carbon bre expertise
among them supercar maker Lamborghini
are behind the project. They call it
Newspec (new cost-effective and sus-
tainable polyethylene-based carbon
bres for volume market applications).
Essentially, its about developing sus-
tainable carbon bre technology. The
process could be on stream as early
as 2017.
Currently, carbon bre is created
using Polyacrylonitrile (PAN). Thats a
process that is expensive and has mas-
sive environmental impact. Could new
materials retain existing carbon bres
combination of strength and lightness
while being more planet-friendly and
cheaper? If so, it could have huge impli-
cations for mass-market products that
use materials such as steel.
According to the consortium, they are
looking into promising, low-cost, sus-
tainable precursors. An example is poly-
ethylene (PE), which could be derived
from bioethanol or recycled.
Lamborghini will build and test car-
bon composite prototypes for the pro-
ject. The role of these prototypes will
be to ensure the functionality of the
PE-based (both virgin and recycled)
bres.
The company has two CFRP develop-
ment centres (the Advanced Composite
Research Centre at its headquarters and
the Advanced Composite Structures
Laboratory in Seattle in the US). It
brings more than three decades of
experience in carbon bre and has spe-
cic expertise in developing alternatives
to PAN.
A new, cost-cutting recipe
Newspecs main aim is to develop carbon
bre using through promising low-cost
polymers, such as polyethylene (PE). In
PEs favour are a high carbon yield of
around 70 per cent, high processability
and chemical exibility. Signicantly, its
relatively cheap, at about R30 per kg.
Compared with the PAN precursor cur-
rently used, it could save up to 70 per
cent in raw material costs. Production
cost of converting PE to carbon bre is
R150 per kg versus about R225 per kg
of PAN bres. Thats a 30 per cent cost
saving on similar production scales, says
Newspec.
Polyethylene (PE) precursors for car-
bon bre look like a promising avenue.
There are three main sources for PE:
bioethanol
synthetic oil
recycled plastics.
A pilot facility for continuous carbon
bre processing is the starting point. If
it proves workable this will be scaled up
to an industrial-sizeoperation.
For those interested in the technicali-
ties of it all, heres the inside story on
the PE-to-carbon process. Newspec says
that, for PE stabilisation, an original dry
oxidation method is proposed. This is
assisted by Electron Beam Curing (EBC),
which introducesheteroatoms at the
precursor stage. They say this has tech-
nical, economic and ecologicadvantages.
In addition to this, it can facilitate inno-
vative and exible development of new
CFs. To reduce the graphitisation tem-
perature, they are looking at the use of
nucleation agents such as cellulose
nanowhiskers,CNTs and ne graphite
powders.
WHERE WELL USE IT
BRAKE ROTORS AND PADS
Carbon ceramics materials will revolu-
tionise braking, says Newspec. Carbon
brake discs weigh about half as much
as grey cast iron brake discs. To start
with, thats a huge saving in unsprung
mass. But even better, the higher-tech
material has signicant mechanical and
thermal properties. Cheaper carbon
bre will open up the mass market to
ceramic brakes, especially where light
weight is crucial, such as with electric
cars.
REINVENTING CARBON FIBRE
CHEAP CARBON COMPOSITES, MANUFACTURED ALONG SUSTAINABLE PRINCIPLES FROM
LOWER-PRICED RAW MATERIALS, COULD REVOLUTIONISE EVERYTHING FROM BRAKES TO
BODYWORK
AUTOMOTIVE STRUCTURE, BODY
AND INTERIORS
Carbon bre reinforced composites and
plastics (CFRP) are become more and more
widely used in body and chassis compo-
nents. Forged CFRP is stiffer than glass
bres; carbon bres made from PE can
help save up to a quarter of costs, with
potential uses foreseen in high-end cars.
AEROSPACE LOW LOADED,
SECONDARY AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES
The aerospace industrys heavy hitters
Boeing and Airbus have recognised the
signicant advantage of composites in its
superjumbos such as the B787 and A380.
The proportion of composites in these air-
craft, which weigh over 250 tons, is almost
50 per cent by weight and 80 per cent by
volume.
WIND TURBINE BLADES OF MORE
THAN 50 M LENGTH
Carbon bres strength/rigidity combina-
tion will come in useful as wind turbine
blades stretch 50 metres and beyond,
massively increasing the enormous tensile
loads on rotors. The material can also be
used on smaller blades as a retrot.
OIL AND GAS PIPELINES, PRESSURE
VESSELS FOR OIL/GAS COMPONENTS
Harsh environments are common in the
fossil fuel industry. Think high pressures
and maritime zones with their corrosive
climates, for instance. Pressure vessels, oil
and gas pipelines can benet from using
low-cost CFRC instead of glass bres to
strengthen and retrot corrosion-dam-
aged and distressed structures. PM
Source: Newspec, Lamborghini

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craft beer
TED Talks
Lorde
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American Idol
yahoo.com
dry white
Coldplay
Facebook
Bloomberg
bdlive.co.za
latt
Bocelli
LinkedIn
cryptome.org
rainwater
neko.io
Rage Against
the Machine
What your smartphone says
about you
Be you pro-privacy or paranoid, you are now able to buy the rst secure smartphone if
you live in America, that is. Silent Circles Blackphone (costing about R6 300) uses a heavily
modied Android OS equipped with a 2 GHz quad-core processor and 16 GB of storage.
The only difference is that users can choose when they want to go off the grid. Ordering
Chinese food? No encryption necessary. Ordering Chinese M-80s? Turn on Silent Phone
mode although to be honest, its a bit more complicated than that. True encryption
works only with Silent Circle subscribers. We support the companys mission, but that
doesnt mean we havent formed opinions about the rst people who ordered it. In fact,
we have assumptions about every phone and its users. PM
BY JENNINGS BROWN
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PM TESTED
anime
reddit.com
Red Bull
Skrillex
Twitter
Homeland
#Where2next? Darling of the Dakar, polar conqueror and the poster
child for indestructability where to next for this motoring legend? How
about your very own driveway? A brand spanking new Toyota Hilux 3.0
D-4D 4x4 Raider Double Cab (with selected body kit and cabin accessories)
valued at over R470000 is up for grabs in the #Where2Next? competition.
A TOYOTA HILUX DOUBLE CAB
VALUED AT R470 000!
FULL HOUSE: The Hilux is a South African best-seller and is renowned for its quality and durability, not to mention exceptional off-
road capability. Its stonking 3,0-litre turbodiesel engine churns out 120kW at 3400r/min and 343N.m of torque at just 1400r/min.
Fuel effciency, however, is not compromised the 3,0 D-4D returns a laudable 8,6 L/100 km. The range-topping Hilux Double Cab
Raider comes with a full house of specifcations, including: remote central locking full-colour infotainment system with Bluetooth
and reverse monitor multifunction steering auto lights electronic climate control
The Raider pack boasts a rear styling bar and tonneau cover on top of the standard 17-inch alloys and stainless-steel side steps.
And, bear in mind that the prize vehicle will come with extra aesthetic enhancements! Watch this space for details.
Send us a story with
photographs of
your recent road trip to
popularmechanics@
ramsaymedia.co.za
(no longer than 300 words,
hi-res images no
bigger than 5MB)
T&Cs apply -
visit www.popularmechanics.co.za.
Competition closes
30 November 2014.
HOW TO
ENTER
Great
S T U F F
HERE S THE
NEWEST GEAR YOU LL
WANT TO OWN
Compiled by
SEAN WOODS
seanw@ramsaymedia.co.za
CANSONIC HD ACTION CAMERA
More than just an action cam
An action camera with all the bells and whistles,
but without the heavy price tag, sounds almost
unbelievable. Well, its true. Cansonics HD Action
Camera aside from capturing Full HD video and
stereo sound boasts so many features that youll
be spoilt for choice.
Motion detection, for instance: thats ideal for
setting up the camera at a watering hole to flm
wildlife that might be scared off by humans. And
impact detection, so you can record that parking-lot
fender-bender that happened while you were gone.
It also measures g-forces (x, y, z axes), features a
GPS so you can plot your position on Google Maps
and its a dashboard camera, too. Wi-Fi enables its
use as a baby monitor, via your smartphone. Another
neat feature: the time-lapse function, which allows
you to compress scenes such as sunsets into
1-minute video clips.
With a 3,8 cm colour screen, waterproof housing
(rated to 30 m), suction cup, bicycle attachment,
various helmet mounts (fexible and otherwise), 12 V
car charger and a 32 GB micro SD card, whats not
to like? Price: about R4 000. Contact Planetron on
0861 752 638 or visit www.planetron.co.za
DELL PRECISION M2800 MOBILE

WORKSTATION
Data cruncher
High-end laptops used for video processing and other data-heavy
applications usually cost a bomb. That said, budget-constrained
engineers, designers and video editors should check out Dells new
entry-level mobile workstation, the Precision M2800.
It can be confgured with fourth-generation Intel Core i5 and i7
processors, AMD FirePro W4170M graphics with 2 GB of dedicated
GDDR5 video memory, up to 16 GB of RAM and up to 1 TB of
storage. You can also choose between an HD or FHD (1920 x 1080)
40 cm UltraSharp display. Plus, you get external multi-monitor
support and docking capabilities to simplify your transition from
the road to your desk-based workspace.
To maximise the performance of CAD, digital content creation and
editing software, it comes ISV-certifed for leading applications such
as Autodesk Auto CAD, Dassault Systmes Solidworks and the like. It
also features Dells Precision Performance Optimiser, which automatically
adjusts system settings to give specifc applications a boost. Prices
start at around R22600. Visit www.dell.co.za
OREGON SCIENTIFIC BLUETOOTH-
ENABLED WEATHER STATION
Whatever the weather
Who needs the hassle of scouring TV and out-of-date news-
paper listings, or the Web, every time you need a reliable weather
forecast with pressure trends? Chic, space-saving home weather
stations are the answer. But theres more: Oregon Scientifcs new
Weather@Home adds the
convenience of an app for
smartphone or tablet.
This Bluetooth-enabled
device allows viewing of
weather updates via its main
unit or Bluetooth Low Energy
(BLE)-enabled smart device.
Best of all, its low-latency
rating and 30-metre trans-
mission range means you
can freely move around
your house while checking
out the latest updates and
planning your next big
outdoor excursion.
Price: about R900.
Contact Oregon Scientifc
on 021-508 4700 or visit
www.oregonscientifc.co.za
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POWERLINE WI-FI RANGE EXTENDER
Cover your zone
Homes werent designed for delivering Wi-Fi effciently; even
the lucky ones invariably have an inconvenient blind spot
somewhere. If this sounds familiar, then TP-Links AV500
Powerline Wi-Fi Range Extender could be for you. Heres the
kicker: it extends your Internet connection throughout your
home not wirelessly, but via the existing electrical circuitry.
Initial set-up is uncomplicated, involving nothing more
challenging than pressing the adaptors Wi-Fi clone button to
copy the wireless network name (SSID) and router password.
Then you simply place it anywhere around the home where
you would like wired or Wi-Fi network access. It boasts a
300-metre range over household power circuits and data
transmission speeds of up to 500 Mbps, making it suitable
for lag-free HD or 3D video streaming and online gaming.
Price: about R1 400. Contact Linkqage on 0860 538 869 or
visit www.linkqage.co.za
EVERKI CONCEPT
LAPTOP BACKPACK
Travel easy
Delays at security checkpoints, unwieldy
hand luggage and damaged gadgets can
put a damper on even the most exciting
trip. All too familiar with these annoyances,
Everki has designed its Concept laptop
backpack specifcally with frequent travel-
lers in mind. The checkpoint-friendly com-
puter compartment accommodates laptops
up to 44 cm in size and allows for quick
and easy pass-through at airport security
checkpoints without you having to
remove your computer.
Removable EVA foam covers protect
laptop corners, for example, if the bag
is dropped. Theres a hard-shell sun-
glasses/gadget case, positioned on top
of the bag, to prevent valuables from
getting damaged or forgotten on a plane.
A fve-point balance strap system takes the
pressure off your back, neck and shoulders.
Plus, theres a dedicated, felt-lined tablet/
e-reader pocket for those who travel with
more than one device. Price: about R3 000.
Contact Rectron on 021-555 8200 or
visit www.rectron.co.za
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PHILIPS WIRELESS SPLASHSPROOF SPEAKER
Flip it, wet it or bump it
With winter here, youre not going to be using Philips rugged SB2000B
wireless splashproof speaker around the pool anytime soon. But hey, you
can always take it outside and sing in the rain. Designed to go places and
push out big sound from its 7,62 driver, it can connect to smartphones,
tablets and music players via Bluetooth or an audio-in port, promising com-
patibility with a wide range of devices. Theres also a built-in microphone
for hands-free calls and a convenient auto-sensor for music on/off. Price:
about R1000. Contact Tarsus Technologies on 011 531 1000 or visit
www.woox.com/news
WD MY PASSPORT PRO
Safe and secure
Creative types looking for a safe, portable solution
for data storage should take a look at WDs My
Passport Pro. Comprising two 2,5-inch hard drives
housed in a sleek aluminium enclosure, it features a
user-selectable RAID function. You can choose data
stripping (RAID 0) for high-performance or mirroring
(RAID 1) for data redundancy.
Powered via its integrated Thunderbolt cable a
design unique to WD it clocks in at speeds of up to
233 Mbps, providing super-fast transfer, edit and
backup capabilities for data-heavy users such as
photographers, videographers, musicians, graphic
designers and architects. Price: about R3 300 for
the 2 TB model and about R4 800 for the 4 TB
version. Visit www.wd.com
MOTOROLA DIGITAL WIRELESS
VIDEO BABY MONITOR
Watch them dream
Keeping a watchful eye on your little one while he or she
sleeps has just become easier, thanks to Motorolas MBP36
Digital Wireless Video Baby Monitor. Its portable remote
control features an 8,9-cm colour LED screen and allows
you to adjust the cameras angle and zoom from up to
300 metres away. Darkened rooms are no problem thanks
to infrared night vision, activated automatically when light
levels drop below a certain threshold. A high-sensitivity
microphone facilitates two-way communication, too. The
device monitors babys room temperature and, to help coax
your familys new addition to sleep, has fve lullabies
programmed into it. Price: about R2 800. Contact Just
Fun on 011-405 3300 or visit www.justfun.co.za
ALCOSENSE ELITE
BREATHALYSER
Watch your limit
Having one too many, then getting
behind the wheel, is a recipe for disaster.
If youre in any doubt, keeping a quality
breathalyser in your cars glovebox could
be a good idea. AlcoSenses fagship
breathalyser, the Elite, does the
necessary with the minimum of fuss
and fts into the palm of your hand.
Its airfow sensor ensures you cant
blow too hard or too softly, which
would compromise the accuracy of
the reading. If you dont blow at the
correct pressure, it displays an error
message and asks you to retake the
test. For the record, it shows your blood-
alcohol level in either micrograms per litre of
blood or percentage of alcohol content, displaying
the readings in increments of 0,01. It even alerts you
when you are near or over the drink-drive limit. An auto-clean
feature helps keep the sensor accurate. Price: about R970.
Contact The Gadget Shop on 012-346 2726 or visit
www.thegadgetshop.co.za
BLACKFIRE CLAMPLIGHT LANTERN
Light up your life
Whether youre spending the night under the stars or your mains power is on the
blink again, being able to see what youre doing is always a huge help. Blackfres
Clamplight Lantern can be attached to tents, branches, backpacks and boats. In fact,
it will maintain a frm purchase on virtually anything that its clamp handle can grip
making it one of the smartest outdoor lanterns around. If you cant fnd anything to
attach it to, dont stress: its clamp can easily be converted into a stand by releasing a
sliding lock mechanism.
Two CREE brilliant white LEDs provide up to 230 lumens of light in high mode
and 95 lumens on the low setting. In fashlight mode, it delivers up to 100 lumens.
The head pivots to deliver the light exactly where you need it and high/low battery
indicators show the status of its 3 AA batteries. Manufactured from high-performance
plastics, and rubber coated, its lightweight, yet tough. Price: about R500. Contact
Cape Union Mart on 021-464 5808 or visit www.capeunionmart.co.za
SMS AUDIO STREET BY 50 OVER-EAR
HEADPHONES
Live the beat
It turns out rappers are more multi-dimensional than music
traditionalists might think. Curtis Jackson better known by
the moniker 50 Cent has lent his name to the audio head-
phone and accessories brand SMS Audio, which has launched
STREET by 50 Over-Ear ANC (active noise-cancelling) wired
headphones for those wanting to take their good vibes with
them while on the go.
Designed to eliminate unwanted ambient noise while
replicating professional, studio-mastered sound, these phones
feature enhanced bass and comfortable oval-ft earphones to
make them suitable for all music lovers, not just rappers. Other
features include a rechargeable battery said to be good for up
to 70 hours of play from a single charge, a compact foldable
design and removable cable with microphone. Price: about
R3 500. Contact distributors Gammatek on 011-201 0800
or visit www.gammatek.co.za
VICTORINOX CHRONO CLASSIC
Form meets function
Designed as a tribute to a 130-year knifemaking legacy, Victorinoxs
Swiss Army Chrono Classic watch features many of the companys
signature design elements.
Its dial is composed of two assemblies a guilloche top plate over
a sunray-fnished bottom plate creating an effect of depth and making
the three chronograph counters stand out.
Other features include a 41 mm-diameter stainless steel case with
screw-on back, stopwatch, protected crown, scratch-resistant sapphire
glass with triple anti-refective coating, and a 100-metre depth rating.
Most importantly, it comes with a precision, Swiss-made ETA G10.211
quartz movement. Price: around R8 000 (with leather strap) and
R9 000 (with bracelet). Contact Picot and Moss on 011-669 0500
or visit www.picotandmoss.co.za PM
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Altered Realities
2014
Brought to you by
Embrace your future!
POPULAR MECHANICS cordially invites you to sign up for its
second FutureTech conference, an exciting one-day
event that forms part of the offcial World Design Capital
Cape Town 2014 programme.
Attracting clever, information-hungry people from all
over South Africa, the conference aims to demystify our
world and introduce us to concepts and breakthroughs
that will restore our faith in the future. This years theme
is Altered Realities, a neat catch-all for an initiative
thats destined to become an institution.
As PM editor Alan Duggan explains it: To survive and
fourish, we need to embrace certain realities, some of
them deeply exciting and others a little scary. We set
the bar quite high in 2012 with a line-up of presenters
at the top of their game, ranging from a social media
entrepreneur to a wireless communications expert, from
a cyber-forensics specialist to a green-energy guru, from
a world-renowned cosmologist to an A-rated scientist
who shook up our ideas on nutrition and this years
offering promises to be just as good.
Integral to PMs 2014 plans is a series of smaller-scale
initiatives under the banner of Altered Realities, all of
them happening in Cape Town and designed to be
affordable. Be prepared to be entertained and impressed,
and perhaps have some of your preconceptions
challenged.
Autodesk, the multinational 3D CAD software company,
is underwriting the conference, PMs annual Inventor
of the Year competition (see details elsewhere in this
issue) and related events.
Meanwhile, POPULAR MECHANICS is calling for submissions
from technology leaders, scientists and innovators to
fll presenter slots. Synopses should be sent to popular
mechanics@ramsaymedia.co.za,with FutureTech
submission in the subject line, before 31 July.
GO ON, BOOK IT NOW!
TheFutureTechconference happens in Cape Town on 10 October
(venue to be announced later). To book your place at the all-inclusive
Early Bird rate of R500 a head, please visit www.popularmechanics.co.
za/futuretech If you would like to receive updates on the programme,
please e-mail Kate Simons atkate.simons@ramsaymedia.co.za with
FutureTech 2014 update in the subject line.
T E S T E D
HANDS ON, WI THOUT
FEAR OR FAVOUR
Compiled by
THE EDITORS
popularmechanics@
ramsaymedia.co.za
SPECIFICATIONS
GARMIN VIVOFIT FITBIT FLEX OREGON SCIENTIFIC DYNAMO
PRICE: R1 400 R1 400 R700
CONNECTIVITY: ANT, Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth
BATTERY: 1 year 5 days 14 days
APPS: PC, Mobile PC, Mobile Mobile
KEEP TRACK 24/7
ACTIVITY TRACKERS ARE THE HOTTEST NEW ITEM
IN THE FITNESS MARKET By ANTHONY DOMAN
EXERCISE IS GOOD FOR YOU. But just how good, really? In the absence of a coach or personal trainer
providing human feedback, active people are increasingly turning to devices that help monitor their
performance. The latest in a long list of these gadgets is tbands.
And theres lots to choose from. Pedometers and heart rate monitors were among the rst wave of
personal devices and are still popular. With the opening up of GPS transmissions to the public, soon wrist-
mounted combination sat-nav/heart rate monitors took hold. These sportwatches tended to be expensive,
bulky and geeky, though. The rise of wellness programmes that focused on lifestyle as opposed to just workouts
created a new need. What was needed was something uncomplicated that could still tell the exercise story.
Enter the tband, which uses miniature accelerometers to detect movement.
Instead of measuring workouts only, the new breed of band is designed to work 24/7. In short, its a
lifestyle tracker. So that not just exercise as we know it, but all physical activity, can be measured and
analysed. And yes, that includes sleep.
For the tband, that means it must be something youd be happy to wear all day long. It must be discreet
and light. And it must be easy to use. To try out the tband experience, we took a look at the Fitbit Flex,
Garmin Vivoex and Oregon Scientic Ssmart Dynamo. How do they stack up?
Fitbit Flex
Ive had the Flex for a few months now, having got it
as a gift. So, I am familiar with its method of operation.
To look at, its nothing more than a band (it comes
supplied with two sizes of band and is available in several
colours). A closer look reveals that the Flex consists of a
tiny capsule that slots into a recess in the band. The
band is a bit ddly to clip into position, but once
closed it is secure. The capsule itself is removed for
recharging.
A Bluetooth USB adaptor is supplied for connecting the
device to your computer. Although small, the Flex can
run for 5 days on a charge. It takes a couple of hours
to recharge via a supplied adaptor (also ddly
to operate).
It is easy to use, though. As you progress
through the day, a row of LEDs on the device
lights up to show your progress towards your
activity goal. It also has a useful vibration alert,
which can be programmed as an alarm or simply to
check on progress. Both the LED and vibration features
were useful, I found. Should you do an actual workout such as a
run, the Fitbit provides a fairly accurate estimate of distance
based on steps.
In use, tapping the Fitbit twice brings up the LED display.
Tapping it continuously for a few seconds puts it in or out of
sleep mode, indicated by a xed two-LED display.
Back home in front of the computer, with the Fitbit, if youre
not careful, you can become quite bogged down in the minutiae
of activity tracking. Inputting your meals (theres an online dataset
of foods and their calorie values, for instance) can become quite
time-consuming. The customisable dashboard is easy to use and
good for setting goals. There is also a smartphone app if youre
away from a computer, with motivational messages displayed
when you hit targets.
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Oregon Scientific Ssmart Dynamo
Garmin Vivofit
After its line of highly successful
GPS sportwatches it was natural
that Garmin would enter the tband
market as well. Mindful of the style
value of these items, like some other
makes the Garmin offers bands in
more vivid colours. Default colour is
black, and two bands of different
sizes are supplied. The bands water-
proong is excellent, so the Vivot is
happy to be used for swimming.
Unlike the other two on test here,
though, the Vivot has a display that
can be cycled through at the push of
a button. It displays data such as time,
steps and calories burnt. Instead of
just having a band on your wrist,
you actually have a wristwatch. One
drawback, though: the always-on
display doesnt have lighting.
A signicant advantage for the
Vivot is that its ANT connectivity
allows it to be used with a heart rate
strap, with which it is bundled. That
probably means it can be used with other non-Garmin ANT straps.
Also unlike the other two, the Garmin has the great asset of not needing
recharging. Its replaceable battery is said to be able to provide power for a year.
As with other tbands, the Garmin has its own dedicated software for both PC and
mobile device. The companys expertise in the tness eld shows, too. The software is
generally easy to use and intuitive. I did nd the supplied ANT interface stick to be
incredibly small and liable to be mislaid easily.
The Vivot is the rst Garmin device to use the companys new-look Connect
online exercise-logging platform, which now has a mobile app counterpart. Usefully,
Connect allows multiple devices to be added, so you can log workouts from, say, a
Garmin Forerunner sportwatch.
Information screens include steps, goal, distance, calories burned (estimated from
details such as weight and height), time, date and heart rate. The Vivot learns your
activity prole and is able to adapt your goals accordingly. In terms of analysing workout
data, the Garmin is the clear winner. However, it does need more user involvement.
The Oregon differs from the other two on test here in being the only one to be
matched solely to a smartphone app. That app is available for either Android or
iOS models. Charging is by means of a cradle-type adaptor that doesnt always
place the watch with its LED showing charge state clearly visible.
Of the three, the Dynamo shows the least information on the actual band. Its
4-colour display shows either red, blue, yellow or green depending on status (Bluetooth
pairing, low or high activity, for instance). That makes discerning your performance
from the band alone pretty confusing; you almost have to have a smartphone
handy. Standard wristband colour is black, though alternatives are available.
The band itself falls between the Fitbit and the Garmin in terms of discreetness,
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with a mild hump in the middle
concealing the gadgets works.
Operation is by means of a single
small pushbutton. The clasp is easier
to lock in position than the Fitbits
and the band is said to be good for
operation in water up to 10 metres,
so swimming in the Dynamo is
denitely an option. It can store
up to 14 days worth of data.
Overall, the Dynamo is a com-
petent product. However, it doesnt
offer anything overwhelmingly
superior to or different from the
other two reviewed here. PM
C H O P
D A W N
O F
T H E
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VIDEO > Take a closer look at the four JMR-TD competitors at www.popularmechanics.co.za
B Y J E F F WI S E
P H O T O G R A P H B Y N A T H A N I E L W E L C H
P E R
Sikorsky technicians at a hangar in Florida work on the S-97 Raider,
the rst production-ready prototype of a compound-coaxial helicopter.
AT A SECRET FACI LI TY, AEROSPACE
ENGI NEERS ARE PLOTTI NG TO END
THE HELI COPTER AS WE KNOW I T,
AND DEVI SI NG RADI CAL NEW ROTOR-
CRAFT TO REPLACE I T. THE RESULT
MAY CHANGE MI LI TARY OPERATI ONS
AND CI VI LI AN SKI ES FOREVER.
THE BUILDING
doesnt look like much one of several nondescript hangars
alongside an airstrip on the edge of the Everglades, baking
in the eternal monotony of the central Florida sun.
This is the home of Sikorsky Aircrafts Area 31, where
the company works on its most advanced rotorcraft pro-
jects. Like Area 51, the famously clandestine Air Force base
in the Nevada desert, this aireld is home to experimental
aircraft being built and tested. The mystery projects here
need to be kept not only from other nations, but from
other aviation companies, too.
Millions, possibly billions, of rand are
at stake. For that reason, Sikorsky is
hesitant to allow journalists on the
grounds and does so only if the tour
is restricted and the photography
limited.
Inside the hangar, bathed in uo-
rescent light from banks of industrial
lamps, is a molasses-dark fuselage with
unusual twin ns jutting vertically
from its tail. The n structures are
vertical stabilisers with rudders built
in. Even at a glimpse, the half-nished
airframe is something new.
This is the S-97 Raider. When it
takes to the air in 2015, it will be the
rst production-ready prototype for
a new kind of rotorcraft, the com-
pound-coaxial helicopter. The Raider
has two rotors that turn in opposite
directions on a central mast, enabling
it to y up to 440 km/h. Thats more
than 150 km/h faster than a conven-
tional helicopter, giving it twice the
range.
The S-97 is among an emerging
generation of advanced craft that
could redene the meaning of verti-
cal-lift aviation. In 2011, the US Army
funded the Joint MultiRole Rotorcraft
Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD)
programme. This is the rst step in an
effort to replace the US militarys
entire inventory of helicopters. Retired
rst will be the UH-60 Black Hawk, to
be replaced with the Future Vertical
Lift Medium, at the earliest in 2030.
The FVL Medium will have big
shoes to ll. The Black Hawk provides
the bulk of vertical-lift capability for
the US Army, Navy, Marines, Special
Operations Command and Coast
Guard. It rst entered service with the
army in 1979; over the next 30 years,
more than 2 300 aircraft saw service
at home and abroad. The Black Hawk
and its variants have proven track records, but are limited
by a maximum speed of 294 km/h.
Aside from the FVL Medium, it is envisaged that three
other classes of future ying machines will have roots in
this programme: the FVL Light, to replace the Kiowa scout
helicopter; the FVL Heavy, to replace the brawny twin-
rotor Chinook; and the FVL Ultra, a brand-new class of air-
craft that would combine the hauling capacity of a C-130
cargo plane with the ability to take off vertically. If the
Sikorskys X2 ew at 481 km/h in 2010, proving that compound-coaxial helos are viable.
When a helicopter is stationary, its rotor blades move
at the same speed relative to the air. However, when a
helicopter fies forward, the blades on the advancing
side move faster, relative to the wind and the blades
on the retreating side move slower.
As soon as the helicopters forward speed matches
the speed at the tip of the rotor, the retreating rotor tip
momentarily experiences zero airspeed. At that point
the rotor is generating no lift, a phenomenon known as
retreating-blade stall. With half the rotor disc no longer
holding the aircraft up, the helicopter tends to roll to
the side. This aerodynamic principle limits conventional
helicopters to about 320 km/h.
T H E C ON T E N D E R S
WHAT MAKES
HELI COPTERS
SO SLOW?
plan comes together, these machines will replace every US
military helicopter.
Changes on the battleeld are posing dangers for tradi-
tional helicopters. Longer-range missiles can target bases
and ships, putting helicopter staging areas at risk. Aircraft
that can y faster and travel farther can complete their
missions with less risk. And, since more capable rotorcraft
can cover more ground, fewer of them need to be bought.
Todays most advanced vertical-lift aircraft is the V-22
Osprey, used by the US Marine Corps and Special Operations
Command. The Osprey tilts its rotors 90 degrees to y like
an aeroplane and land like a helicopter. But theres a demand
for a smaller combat rotorcraft instead of an Osprey-size
heavy lifter. The JMR Technology Demonstrator will be
designed to carry 11 troops, compared with the Ospreys
carry capacity of 24.
The other type of vertical aircraft is the jump jet, which
can vector its engines towards the ground to hover.
The UH-60 Black Hawk, operated by US Customs and
Border Protection.
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Sikorsky
Coaxial rotors: Sikorskys
entry in the Black Hawk
replacement programme is
the SB-1 Defant. With a top
speed of more than 480 km/h,
the Defant will be faster than
the companys internally
funded S-97 Raider. The
Defant uses two rotor discs
that move in opposite direc-
tions to defeat retreating-
blade stall. Counter-rotating
rotors have an advancing
blade on each side of the air-
craft, giving balanced lift at all
speeds. Advanced com-
posites make the blades
extremely stiff, so they
can whir through the air in
proximity without hitting
each other.
Pusher prop: This rear-
mounted propeller provides
extra thrust. Its an incredible
sensation to realise that
youre at the cruise-power
setting of a normal helicopter,
but going [400 km/h],
Sikorsky chief test pilot
Kevin Bredenbeck says.
C B
Examples include the AV-8B Harrier and F-35B Lightning II,
both carrier-capable ghter airplanes. These are not well
suited as utility lifters and attack helos because they burn
too much fuel and are not light or manoeuvrable enough
to y missions close to the ground.
The goal of the JMR-TD programme is to create an air-
craft that is as nimble as todays Black Hawk while hovering,
but with a ferry range of 3 400 km and a cruise speed of
more than 425 km/h. Industry engineers declare that its
possible, but the military establishment launched the JMR-
TD programme to be convinced. Its an investment to
inform ourselves about the technology thats available,
says Dan Bailey, the Army programmes director. What we
are looking at is a leap ahead in capability.
Last year, the eld was narrowed to four JMR-TD
competitors, including two giants Sikorsky and Bell
Helicopter and two tiny rms, AVX Aircraft Company
and Karem Aircraft. Each was awarded nearly R70 million
to produce a design. By mid-year, two of the four will be
selected to turn that design into hardware, with ight
tests planned from 2017 to 2019.
It has been made clear that whoever survives the
Tiltrotors: Bell is building its
entrant, the V-280 Valor,
based on its experience with
the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. The
smaller, nimbler version will
be able to carry 11 soldiers
425 km, hover for 30 minutes
and return at 515 km/h. No
need to worry about retreat-
ing-blade stall: to go fast,
pilots toggle a thumb wheel
that tilts the twin rotors
T H E
C ON T E N D E R S
Optimum speed
tiltrotors: Karems
TR36TD concept uses
twin tiltrotors to achieve a
top speed in level fight of
more than 675 km/h. The
company developed a
technology, the Optimum
Speed Tiltrotor, that allows
the pilot to adjust the rev-
olutions per minute of the
rotor depending on the
phase of fight. The rotors
dont need extra power to
turn during
forward fight, so de-
creasing their revs
increases effciency.
90degrees, transforming
them into propellers. The
Valors two engines will be
fxed in a horizontal position,
with only the rotors pivoting
up and down. The Valor will
sport fexible rotor blades for
a new level of manoeuvrability
at low speeds, while still
providing the range and
effciency that no traditional
helicopter can match.
Side doors: The bread-
and-butter mission for the
Army is air assault, says
V-280 programme director
Keith Flail. When soldiers are
coming into a landing zone,
they need clear felds of view
and clear felds of fre out the
sides of the aircraft.
Bell Helicopter
Karem Aircraft
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Ducted fans: AVXs design
relies on a compound-coaxial
helicopter like Sikorskys, but
with rotors that are lighter and
more fexible, saving weight
and therefore reducing power
requirements. A pair of ducted
fans on the rear of the airframe
will give AVXs as-yet-unnamed
rotorcraft extra speed. The
rotors and the ducted fans
push the demonstrator up to
a maximum of 425 km/h.
downselect will not necessarily be the winner of a $100
billion production contract for building as many as 4 000
aircraft. But even losing companies stand to gain by ying
demonstration aircraft, since the JMR-TD designs will
inspire versions suitable for civilian markets.
In a few decades these futuristic rotorcraft could be as
common in the skies as conventional helicopters are today.
This is a step change, says Steve Weiner, Sikorskys director
of engineering sciences. Its going to be similar to when
xed-wing airplanes went from piston to jet engines.
If next-generation rotorcraft will be more capable
than todays eet, they are also going to be considerably
more expensive. It takes a lot of power to go fast; bigger
engines add both weight and cost. If you want to go
above 150 knots [about 270 km/h], youre going to have
to pay a premium of 50 to 100 per cent, says Richard
Aboulaa, an aviation analyst with the Teal Group. US
government-funded demonstrator programmes allow
manufacturers to work out the kinks of new designs
and bring down prices.
Looking downstream, its obvious
that theres certain commercial appli-
cations of this technology, says Bells
Keith Flail. Some niches will be easier
to exploit than others. Offshore oil
rigs could be a market, Aboulaa
says. With exploration moving into
ever-deeper waters, a vehicle that can
make twice as many trips ferrying rig
workers in the same amount of time
will be worth the steep price tag to
the big energy companies.
Another potential market, Aboulaa
says, is the VIP market. Corporate
executives and other wealthy indi-
viduals already take helicopters on
short-hop trips, but more advanced
rotorcraft could ferry passengers as far
as 800 km, avoiding airport hassles.
In a more critical application, med-
evac, speed can mean the difference
between life and death. Theres a
thing called golden hour, AVXs Troy
Gaffey says. If you can get someone
to a hospital within that time, theyre
a lot more likely to live.
If these early markets pan out for
tilt-rotors or compound-coaxial heli-
copters, theres no telling how many
other uses theyll have. Right now
vertical lift means a conventional heli-
copter, with niches occupied by the
jump jet and the tilt rotor. Some day
that relationship could reverse, if this
new generation of vertical-lift aircraft
becomes the norm, relegating conven-
tional helicopters to the fringe. Youll
see the ratio change in that direction,
Flail predicts condently. The evolu-
tion is coming. PM
Forward canards: In cruise
mode, much of the lift will
come from a pair of canard
wings near the nose. Based
on our analysis, the coaxial-
compound helicopter will
outperform a conventional
helicopter and the cost will
be essentially the same,
says AVX president Troy
Gaffey.
AVX
the
25
skills
you
should
teach
your
kid.
Because being a father today means more
than just following your son or daughter on
Instagram. And while they may think youre
an idiot when you cant jailbreak your
iPhone, there are still some things a kid can
learn from dear old dad.
By Walker Lamond
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Age 1: Youre new, I get it.
Just remember, if its hard or
shiny, youre still too tiny. If
it bounces or bends, its all
yours, my friend.
Age 2: Let sleeping dads lie.
Age 3: Youll learn some of
the best lessons when hold-
ing a torch for dad.
Age 4: Dont throw away
that empty jam jar. Marbles,
odd bits of LEGO, loose
change, milk teeth (from
those occasions when the
Tooth Fairy didnt play ball)
and broken crayons are just a
few things you can put in an
empty jam jar. You wanna
save the planet? Dont just
recycle. Reuse.
Age 5: When fshing, a frm
grip on the rod is as important
as a frm handshake. Move
your forearm forward and
down with a slight wrist
motion, gently sweeping the
rod forwards. As it passes
vertical, release. Be quiet, be
patient, and keep in mind
that fsh dont have eyelids,
so cast into the shade.
Age 6: You cant learn any-
thing with your hands in your
pockets. Grab that screw-
driver, bat or motherboard
kit and get to work (or play).
Tere are plenty of how-tos
on YouTube, but until you get
your hands dirty, youll have
no clue.
Age 7: You can do your homework
after youve fnished playing outside.
Age 8: You can learn a lot about a
person by how they coil a hose. Ditto
an extension cord, climbing rope or
strings of Christmas lights (which are
programmed in the factory to become
a hopeless tangle). If you have ever
struggled to unkink a garden hose or
unknot a giant ball of Christmas
lights, you know that the proper coil is
not just about tidiness, its an act of
courtesy to the next person that uses
it. Even if that person is you.
Age 9: Te key to building a tree
house is making sure that you secure
the structure without harming the
organism thats holding you up in the
air (that is, the tree). Its going to take
a lot of work, and youll learn that
physics sometimes gets in the way of
imagination. But when were done,
youll have a place of your own and
everyone needs a good hideout.
Age 10: Carry out your own bike
repairs. A bike is a great starter kit for
a young mechanic. And like a car, it
will probably break down anywhere
that is not your driveway. So, learning
to fx your own ride is as much about
survival as it is about saving money at
the bike shop. Dont get carried away,
though there is such a thing as too
tight and too much oil.
Age 11: When using a saw, patience,
not strength, is needed to make the
smoothest cut. Its not just where you
start the cut its where you fnish.
Age 12: Follow instructions youll
be done in half the time. You have to
earn the right to improvise. And
remember, sometimes the best tool is
a walk around the block. Sometimes
its a hammer.
Age 13: Build a good reputation,
online and of. Keep your word. Be
nice to the younger kids. And never
post a picture online you wouldnt
show your teacher, your mom or your
future boss.
Age
14:
Heres the
frst thing you
need to know
about using a
compass: put
it away if you
cant read a
map. If you
dont have
either, look
at the Sun,
which, as you
know, rises in
the east and
sets in the
west. If you
have a watch,
match the
12 oclock
mark with the
direction of
the Sun. The
direction that
is midway
between the
hour hand and
12 is north.
That reminds
me: you should
wear a watch.
When chopping frewood,
aim for the chopping block
beneath the log, not the top
of the log. Let the axe do
the work.
AGE
15:
Age 16: Okay, so this one sounds
quaintly old-fashioned, but give it a try:
its called Be Upstanding. In short, when
visitors arrive at the family home, whether
theyre relatives or friends of your folks,
wrench yourself away from that video
game or TV movie, stand up and greet
them politely. Your cred will be elevated
by several notches.
Age 17: Okay, so youre old enough to
earn a learners licence: now you need to
know a little about the nitty gritty of car
ownership. Learning how to change a
wheel is a no-brainer, but if youre the
prospective owner of a very second-hand
car, you might also like to know how to
change the engine oil an introductory
course towards learning how your car
works. Hint: warm up your vehicle a bit
beforehand it makes the oil fow faster. I
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Step 1
Step 3 Step 4 Step 2
Make yourself useful on a boat. Unless youre a
Somali pirate, you wont need to know how to com-
mandeer a large ship. But if you fnd yourself on
someones boat be it a dinghy or a 90-foot schooner
its best to know what youre doing so you dont sit
there like youre
riding the Jungle
Cruise at Disneyland.
Learn the cleat hitch
to ward off pilings
when the captain
is docking. And if
nothing else, fetch
the ice.
Age 18:
Age 19:
Learn another language, preferably an
indigenous one (and yes, this includes
Afrikaans). If you have already ticked this
box, feel free to have a go at French, which
will impress the ladies (and the occasional
waiter) but wont be especially useful in
your day-to-day activities.
Age 20:
If youre asked for help opening a jar, you
had damn well better open it. Make sure
your hands are dry so you can grip the lid
as tightly as possible. For extra traction,
wrap the lid in a kitchen glove. If the lid is
stubborn, run it under hot water. If youre
truly desperate, fashion a handle out of
duct tape. And if you give up (never give
up), dont claim that you loosened it frst.
Because you didnt. Hint: An unwritten
rule (that is, until now) of jam jar opening
requires males to display no change of
expression while they are unscrewing a lid.
Age 21:
Real men have green thumbs. A garden
can provide more than herbs or fowers for
mom. After spending hours staring at a
screen, time in the garden gives your mind
(and eyes) a chance to reset. Start with a
tomato plant. Clear a patch of dirt or build
a raised garden bed and try growing some
veggies from seeds. No matter where you
go in life or your career, you will seldom
get as much pride and joy as you do from a
successful harvest. Weve just re-read this
item: its not going to happen, is it?
AGE 22
(AND BEYOND):
AFTER
WRITING
AN ANGRY
E-MAIL,
READ IT
CAREFULLY,
THEN DELETE
IT.
AGE 23:
TAKE ON A WOOD-
WORKING HOBBY.
BUT NEVER USE A
CHISEL FOR ANY-
THING BUT ITS
INTENDED PURPOSE,
OR YOU WILL SOON
BE OUT OF CHISELS.
Age 24:
Be a regular at your local feamarket.
Youll fnd some of your favourite
tools, some of your weirdest neigh-
bours, and inspiration for some of
your best DIY projects.
Age 25:
Stay young (at heart). Accept a stu-
pid bet. Make things. Break things.
Eat something bigger than your
head. Jump fences. Go on a sponta-
neous road trip. Never turn down an
invitation to dance. Unplug, on occa-
sion. And lay of Facebook its all
old people now. PM
Walker Lamond is a father of three and the author of Rules for My Unborn Son.
TIMES
tangled
W
Cofee cools, buildings crumble, eggs break and
stars fzzle out in a Universe that seems destined
to degrade into a state of uniform drabness
known as thermal equilibrium. In 1927, the
astronomer-philosopher Sir Arthur Eddington
cited the gradual dispersal of energy as evidence
of an irreversible arrow of time.
But to the baement of generations of physicists, the arrow
of time does not seem to follow from the underlying laws of
physics, which work the same going forward in time as in
reverse. By those laws, it seemed that if someone knew the
paths of all the particles in the Universe and ipped them
around, energy would accumulate rather than disperse: tepid
coee would spontaneously heat up, buildings would rise from
their rubble and sunlight would slink back into the Sun.
In classical physics, we were struggling, says Sandu
Popescu, a professor of physics at the University of Bristol in
the UK. If I knew more, could I reverse the event, put together
all the molecules of the egg that broke? Why am I relevant?
Surely, he says, times arrow is not steered by human igno-
rance. And yet, since the birth of thermodynamics in the 1850s,
the only known approach for calculating the spread of energy
was to formulate statistical distributions of the unknown trajec-
tories of particles and show that, over time, the ignorance
smeared things out.
Now, physicists are unmasking a more fundamental source
for the arrow of time: energy disperses and objects equilibrate,
they say, because of the way elementary particles become inter-
twined when they interact a strange eect called quantum
entanglement.
Finally, we can understand why a cup of coee equilibrates
in a room, says Tony Short, a quantum physicist at Bristol.
Entanglement builds up between the state of the coee cup
and the state of the room.
Popescu, Short and their colleagues, Noah Linden and
Andreas Winter, reported the discovery in the journal Physical
Review E in 2009, arguing that objects reach equilibrium, or a
state of uniform energy distribution, within an innite amount
of time by becoming quantum mechanically entangled with
their surroundings. Similar results by Peter Reimann of the
University of Bielefeld in Germany appeared several months
earlier in Physical Review Letters.
Short and a collaborator strengthened the argument in 2012
by showing that entanglement causes equilibration within a
nite time. And, in work that was posted on the scientic pre-
print site arXiv.org in February this year, two separate groups
have taken the next step, calculating that most physical systems
equilibrate rapidly, on time scales proportional to their size. To
show that its relevant to our actual physical world, the processes
have to be happening on reasonable time scales, Short said.
Te tendency of coee and everything else to reach equi-
librium is very intuitive, saysNicolas Brunner, a quantum
physicist at the University of Geneva. But when it comes to
explaining why it happens, this is the rst time it has been
derived on rm grounds by considering a microscopic theory.
If the new line of research is correct, then the story of times
arrow begins with the quantum mechanical idea that, deep
down, Nature is inherently uncertain. An elementary particle
lacks denite physical properties and is dened only by proba-
bilities of being in various states. For example, at a particular
moment, a particle might have a 50 per cent chance of spinning
clockwise and a 50 per cent chance of spinning counterclock-
wise. An experimentally tested theorem by the Northern Irish
QUANTUM THEORY COULD
EXPLAIN THE FLOW OF TIME
Buildings crumble and
stars fzzle out, physi-
cists say, because of a
strange quantum effect
called entanglement. In
theory, anyway, there is
nothing in physics that
says this cup cannot
reassemble itself from
the shards, and its tepid
contents spontaneously
heat up.
BY NATALI E WOLCHOVER
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physicist John Bell says there is no true state of the particle;
the probabilities are the only reality that can be ascribed to it.
Quantum uncertainty then gives rise to entanglement, the
putative source of the arrow of time.
When two particles interact, they can no longer even be
described by their own, independently evolving probabilities,
called pure states. Instead, they become entangled compo-
nents of a more complicated probability distribution that
describes both particles together. It might dictate, for example,
that the particles spin in opposite directions. Te system as a
whole is in a pure state, but the state of each individual particle
is mixed with that of its acquaintance. Te two could travel
light-years apart, and the spin of each would remain correlated
with that of the other, a feature Albert Einstein famously
described as spooky action at a distance.
Entanglement is in some sense the essence of quantum
mechanics, or the laws governing interac-
tions on the subatomic scale, Brunner says.
Te phenomenon underlies quantum
computing, quantum cryptography and
quantum teleportation.
Te idea that entanglement might explain
the arrow of time rst occurred to Seth
Lloyd about 30 years ago, when he was a
23-year-old philosophy graduate student at
Cambridge University with a Harvard phys-
ics degree. Lloyd realised that quantum
uncertainty, and the way it spreads as
particles become increasingly entangled, could replace human
uncertainty in the old classical proofs as the true source of the
arrow of time.
Using an obscure approach to quantum mechanics that treat-
ed units of information as its basic building blocks, Lloyd spent
several years studying the evolution of particles in terms of
shuing 1s and 0s. He found that as the particles became
increasingly entangled with one another, the information that
originally described them (a 1 for clockwise spin and a 0 for
counterclockwise, for example) would shift to describe the
system of entangled particles as a whole.
It was as though the particles gradually lost their individual
autonomy and became pawns of the collective state. Eventually,
the correlations contained all the information, and the individual
particles contained none. At that point, Lloyd discovered, parti-
cles arrived at a state of equilibrium and their states stopped
changing, like coee that has cooled to room temperature.
Whats really going on is things are becoming more correlated
with each other, Lloyd recalls realising. Te arrow of time is an
arrow of increasing correlations.
Te idea, presented in his 1988 doctoral thesis, fell on deaf
ears. When he submitted it to a journal, he was told that there
was no physics in this paper. Quantum information theory
was profoundly unpopular at the time, Lloyd says, and ques-
tions about times arrow were for crackpots and Nobel laure-
ates who have gone soft in the head, he remembers one
physicist telling him.
I was darn close to driving a taxicab, Lloyd says.
Advances in quantum computing have since turned quantum
information theory into one of the most active branches of
physics. Lloyd is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), recognised as one of the founders of the
discipline, and his overlooked idea has resurfaced in a stronger
form in the hands of the Bristol physicists. Te newer proofs are
more general, researchers say, and hold for virtually any quantum
system.
When Lloyd proposed the idea in his thesis, the world was
not ready, says Renato Renner, head of the Institute for
Teoretical Physics at ETH Zurich. No one understood it.
Sometimes you have to have the idea at the right time.
In 2009, the Bristol groups proof resonated with quantum
information theorists, opening up new uses for their techniques.
It showed that as objects interact with their surroundings as
the particles in a cup of coee collide with the air, for example
information about their properties leaks out and becomes
smeared over the entire environment, Popescu explains. Tis
local information loss causes the state of the coee to stagnate
even as the pure state of the entire room continues to evolve.
Except for rare, random uctuations, he says, its state stops
changing in time.
Consequently, a tepid cup of coee does not spontaneously
warm up. In principle, as the pure state of the room evolves, the
coee could suddenly become unmixed from the air and enter a
pure state of its own. But there are so many more mixed states
than pure states available to the coee that this practically
never happens one would have to outlive the Universe to wit-
ness it. Tis statistical unlikelihood gives times arrow the
appearance of irreversibility. Essentially, entanglement opens a
very large space for you, Popescu says. Its like you are at the
park and you start next to the gate, far from equilibrium. Ten
you enter and you have this enormous place and you get lost in
it. And you never come back to the gate.
In the new story of the arrow of time, it is the loss of infor-
mation through quantum entanglement, rather than a subjective
lack of human knowledge, that drives a cup of coee into equi-
librium with the surrounding room. Te room eventually equilib-
rates with the outside environment, and the environment drifts
even more slowly towards equilibrium with the rest of the
Universe. Te giants of 19th century thermodynamics viewed
this process as a gradual dispersal of energy that increases the
overall entropy, or disorder, of the Universe.
Today, Lloyd, Popescu and others in their eld see the arrow
of time dierently. In their view, information becomes increas-
ingly diuse, but it never disappears completely. So, they assert,
Right: Last year, the European Space
Agencys Planck satellite delivered its
frst all-sky image of the Cosmic Microwave
Background (CMB), bringing with it new challenges about
our understanding of the origin and evolution of the cosmos.
The image provided the most precise picture of the early Universe,
capturing light emitted just 380 000 years after the Big Bang.
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although entropy increases locally, the overall entropy of the
Universe stays constant at zero.
Te Universe as a whole is in a pure state, Lloyd says. But
individual pieces of it, because they are entangled with the rest
of the Universe, are in mixtures.
One aspect of times arrow remains unsolved. Tere is nothing
in these works to say why you started at the gate, Popescu says,
referring to the park analogy. In other words, they dont explain
why the initial state of the Universe was far from equilibrium.
He says this is a question about the nature of the Big Bang.
Despite the recent progress in calculating equilibration time
scales, the new approach has yet to make headway as a tool for
parsing the thermodynamic properties of specic things, such as
coee, glass or exotic states of matter. (Several traditional ther-
modynamicists reported being only vaguely aware of the new
approach.) Te thing is to nd the criteria for which things
behave like window glass and which things behave like a cup of
tea, Renner says. I would see the new papers as a step in this
direction, but much more needs to be done.
Some researchers expressed doubt that this abstract approach
to thermodynamics will ever be up to the task of addressing the
hard nitty-gritty of how specic observables behave, as Lloyd
puts it. But the conceptual advance and new mathematical for-
malism is already helping researchers address theoretical ques-
tions about thermodynamics, such as the fundamental limits of
quantum computers and even the ultimate fate of the Universe.
Weve been thinking more and more about what we can do
with quantum machines, says Paul Skrzypczyk of the Institute
of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona. Given that a system is not
yet at equilibrium, we want to get work out of it. How much
useful work can we extract? How can I intervene to do some-
thing interesting?
Sean Carroll, a theoretical cosmologist at the California
Institute of Technology, is employing the new formalism in his
latest work on times arrow in cosmology. Im interested in the
ultra-long-term fate of cosmological space-times,
says Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here: Te
Quest for the Ultimate Teory of Time. Tats a situ-
ation where we dont really know all of the rele-
vant laws of physics, so it makes sense to think on
a very abstract level, which is why I found this
basic quantum-mechanical treatment useful.
Twenty-six years after Lloyds big idea about
times arrow fell at, he is pleased to be witness-
ing its rise and has been applying the ideas in
recent work on the black hole information para-
dox. I think now the consensus would be that
there is physics in this, he says.
Not to mention a bit of philosophy.
According to the scientists, our ability to
remember the past but not the future, another
historically confounding manifestation of times
arrow, can also be understood as a build-up of cor-
relations between interacting particles. When you
read a message on a piece of paper, your brain
becomes correlated with it through the photons
that reach your eyes. Only from that moment on
will you be capable of remembering what the message says. As
Lloyd puts it: Te present can be dened by the process of
becoming correlated with our surroundings.
Te backdrop for the steady growth of entanglement through-
out the Universe is, of course, time itself. Te physicists stress
that despite great advances in understanding how changes in
time occur, they have made no progress in uncovering the
nature of time itself or why it seems dierent (both perceptually
and in the equations of quantum mechanics) from the three
dimensions of space. Popescu calls this one of the greatest
unknowns in physics.
We can discuss the fact that an hour ago, our brains were in
a state that was correlated with fewer things, he says. But our
perception that time is owing that is a dierent matter alto-
gether. Most probably, we will need a further revolution in
physics that will tell us about that.
Reproduced with permission from Quanta Magazine, an edito-
rially independent division of SimonsFoundation.org whose mis-
sion is to enhance public understanding of science by covering
research developments and trends in mathematics and the
physical and life sciences. PM I
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A watershed paper by Noah Linden, left, Sandu Popescu, Tony Short
and Andreas Winter (not pictured) in 2009 showed that entangle-
ment causes objects to evolve toward equilibrium. The generality of
the proof is extraordinarily surprising, Popescu says. The paper
triggered further research on the role of entanglement in directing
the arrow of time.
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As a teenager, Palmer Luckey
was obsessed with building an
unparalleled virtual-reality
headset for gaming.
The Oculus Rift won support from
an army of Kickstarter backers,
attracted big-money venture capital
and turned Luckey into a rising rock
star in the tech world.
And then
Facebook
came
calling
At the age of 19, he succeeded,
unveiling the rst affordable system
that would allow users to explore
three-dimensional digital worlds.
VIDEO > Visit www.popularmechanics.co.za to watch a video highlighting how the recently
announced DK2 promises to be even better than the original Oculus Rift development kit.
hors doeuvres, suits and
cocktail dresses, and dis-
plays of robots and autono-
mous UAVs. There was a
queue to try out the Oculus
Rift demo.
Luckey walked in alone.
He was wearing jeans, a
wrinkled grey shirt and
ip-ops. There are tech
celebrities who deliberate
over which ripped jeans
and hoodie to wear to a
formal event. Palmer Luckey
is not one of those people.
He is not pretentious.
Arrogant, perhaps, if you
consider it arrogant for a
19-year-old to build some-
thing that upends an indus-
try. Mainly, though, he is
enthusiastic. He listens well.
He is smart. He likes other
people to feel smart, too.
Virtual reality is perva-
sive throughout our culture, Luckey told me.
Since weve had video games, people have
dreamed of stepping into games. Movies like
Tron and The Matrix and The Lawnmower Man
are all based on this idea. But an affordable
virtual-reality system wouldnt just benet gamers.
Architects are already using VR to step inside
buildings that havent yet been constructed.
Doctors can perform virtual surgery before
cutting a patient open.
Were focused on gaming to start because
its very demanding and its a large market,
Luckey said. If we can make it good enough
for gamers, then its going to be good enough
for a lot of other markets.
The rst virtual-reality device, the Sensorama,
was built in the 1950s. It included a 3D display,
fans to create the sensation of wind, stereo
speakers, a vibrating chair and even a module
for emitting odours. Head-mounted displays and
ight simulators appeared over the following 20
years. Motion-capture gloves and body suits were developed
in the 1980s by pioneers that included Jaron Lanier, a com-
puter scientist, musician and writer. (It was Lanier who
popularised the term virtual reality.)
Today, car designers wear HMDs and motion-capture
gloves to test ergonomics and sight lines inside virtual
prototypes. And VR systems are common in medical and
military settings. Virtual reality is not even glamorous any
more, Lanier told me recently. In some applications, its
almost commoditised. But for ordinary people, the dream
of virtual reality has been slow to materialise.

Palmer Luckey was home-schooled. This gave him time to
Palmer Luckey likes to go barefoot. However,
when he met the men who would become his
business partners in Oculus VR, a company that
was recently sold to Facebook for $2 billion
(about R20 billion), he decided to wear ip-
ops. It was an important meeting.
This was in 2012, and he was just 19 years old.
Luckey was also wearing shorts and a T-shirt,
and he was carrying a plastic bin. Inside were
a tangle of wires, a small monitor mounted in
a frame with a pair of inexpensive glass lenses attached,
and a computer. It was a prototype for a head-
mounted display, or HMD.
The men he was meeting Brendan Iribe, Nate
Mitchell and Michael Antonov were older than
Luckey. They were gaming industry veterans who had
worked together at Scaleform, a company that Iribe
and Antonov founded, then sold. Once Luckey got his
equipment working, the men took turns peering into it.
What they saw was a bare-bones room with a short
set of stairs. It appeared in 3D, and they could explore
it by turning their heads to the right or left and by
looking up or down. As they turned their heads, the
picture moved, too. This was not the rst head-mounted
display for virtual reality, and it was not the best.
For one thing, the image wasnt very clear. Users
could see the individual pixels on the screen. If they
moved their heads quickly, the image blurred. How-
ever, sophisticated virtual-reality systems were restricted
to university, military and industrial settings. They
cost tens of thousands of dollars. Luckey believed he
could sell his HMD to the public for under R5 000 and he
was planning to run a Kickstarter campaign to fund the
launch. He already had a name for the device. He called it
the Oculus Rift.

Last October, Palmer Luckey travelled to New York from
his home in California as a winner in the annual POPULAR
MECHANICS Breakthrough Awards. Luckey was now famous,
and his company had received millions in venture capital
funding. By the time he arrived, night had fallen. The
cocktail party was being held on the 44th oor of the
Hearst Tower, overlooking Central Park and the pixellated
lights of midtown. Inside the room was champagne and
break things. As a young
teenager, he cannibalised
DVD burners for their laser
diodes. He used them to
build etching equipment.
He got into a hobby called
portablising, rebuilding
old video-game consoles
to produce handheld
gaming devices.
His family lived in Long
Beach, in Southern California.
His father sold cars; his
mother stayed home with
Palmer and his three
younger siblings. Palmer
had a workshop in the
garage and a part-time
job at the US Sailing Centre
of Long Beach, scrubbing
decks, repairing boats and
doing grounds keeping. He
raced dinghies. He briey
trained for a job rowing
Venice-style gondolas for a
company that provides canal tours.
By the time he was 16, Luckey was an adept junkyard
engineer, sifting through the detritus of electronics that
languished in online auctions and liquidation sites. He
launched a Web forum, ModRetro, devoted to portablising,
where he posted under the name PalmerTech. The members
described their projects and traded tips on hardware hacks
and where to source parts. In those old posts, Luckey comes
across as an open-hearted and enthusiastic site manager.
He had a passion for the exchange of ideas that forums
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The Oculus Rift enables users to explore
virtual worlds in stereoscopic 3D. Rift
inventor Palmer Luckey sketched the
system for POPULAR MECHANICS over lunch
at Oculus headquarters in Irvine, California.
The head-
mounted display
(HMD), straps on
like ski goggles.
The users feld of
view is entirely
taken up by an
OLED screen (1)
that is divided in
half, displaying a
unique image for
each eye. As in
other 3D displays,
the images appear
to be offset from
each other, creat-
ing the illusion of
depth. To track the
movements of the
users head, the
system employs a
camera (2) that
scans the position
image seems to
stutter as users
turn their heads.
To address the
problem, they are
using a screen
with a high refresh
rate and low per-
sistence each
pixel fashes its
image and then
instantly turns to
black.
of 38 infrared
LEDs (3) fxed on
the headset. The
systems computer
(4) continually
adjusts the
onscreen image
accordingly. A
major challenge
for Rift engineers
has been to cut
motion blur and
judder, in which an
encourage. He showed a talent for organising and moti-
vating people, most of whom hed never met face to face.
Some of the threads are highly technical. Others are
charmingly adolescent. A few weeks after the site launched,
Luckey was faced with a growing to-do list of functionality
problems on the site. He wrote: I try, I try! IRL (in real life)
can come down hard sometimes, and my current list of IRL
stuff that needs to be done is:
Extra Credit Math
Finish cleaning garage/workshop
Get all my materials for debate camp together
Finish Gondolier training
HOW IT
WORKS
Luckeys other emerging passion was virtual reality.
In August 2009, he joined an online forum called
MTBS3D. The letters stand for Meant To Be Seen, and
the site had been founded by 3D gaming enthusiast Neil
Schneider, who also started a non-prot organisation
that is now called the Immersive Technology Alliance.
Schneider hoped that if MTBS3D were successful, the
gaming industry would be motivated to meet the
unlled demand.
This was not a practical thought. At the time, the
worldwide community of VR enthusiasts numbered in
the low hundreds. Among the vocal people, there
were maybe 150, Schneider says. And Im being
aggressive with that number. Many of the members
were engineers, 3D lmmakers or software developers.
Online, they shared their frustrations over the poor
quality of LCD displays and the fact that game devel-
opers were turning away from 3D.
With Schneiders permission, Luckey started a section
of the site devoted to DIY projects. He was always very
enthusiastic, very excited, like a big ball of energy, Schneider
says. The forum became a hub for people trying to Franken-
stein together HMDs from spare parts.
There is no precise denition of virtual reality. At
the bare minimum, Luckey says, theres some threshold
you cross into a sense of presence, being in a space and
forgetting that it is not a real space but a virtual one. In
2011, Luckey got a dream job working as a technician at
the Mixed Reality Lab (MxR) at the University of Southern
Californias Institute for Creative Technologies
(ICT). There, he had a chance to cross deep into
VR territory. On 25 September, he posted the
following on MTBS3D. (These excerpts are con-
densed and lightly edited.)
I told you guys I would give a writeup on
what it feels like to use the Wide5/body tracking/
Unity based engine setup we have at my work
It sounds crazy, I know, but The Matrix is so
much closer than we all think These are life-
changing experiences we are talking about,
keeping it all to high-end government research
labs is a travesty!... as a gamer, as a DIYer, and
as a person who dreams I want these every-
where.
He described the experience in a 1 500-word
narrative titled Truly immersive (AKA Holy
crap, this is real) VR simulation.
You stand in the middle of a brightly lit warehouse.
Cameras, blinking lights and expensive simulation gear
litter the walls and rafters. Your focus is concentrated on
the backpack being tightened around your waist and the
headpiece that you are adjusting. You hear a mechanical
click as the backpack is switched on, and the cooling fans
carry a slight vibration into your body. Seconds later, your
eld of view is engulfed in an enormous scene. You seem to
be standing on a post-apocalyptic bridge.
In the distance, Luckey could see a forest and mountains.
He felt the wind. He walked most of the length of the
bridge, which was rusty and scarred by battle.
You try to convince yourself that you are looking at a
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FROM VIRTUAL TO REALITY BY WILL DIETRICH-EGENSTEINER
1956
The Sensorama
augments short
flms of motorcy-
cle and helicopter
rides with a
vibrating chair,
odour emitters,
stereo speakers,
and fans to simu-
late wind.
1968
The frst digital
head-mounted
display shows 3D
images that shift
with the users
head movements.
A mechanical arm
is needed to sup-
port the heavy
headset.
1984
Neuromancer, a
novel by William
Gibson, launches
the cyberpunk
genre and intro-
duces the con-
cept of a
cyberspace that
humans can plug
into.
1989
The frst surgery
simulators model
the lower leg,
allowing doctors
to practise tendon
transfers and pre-
dict a patients
post-surgery
walking ability.
1999
Two movies,
eXistenZ and The
Matrix, highlight
VRs potential to
blur the line
between reality
and the digital
world and to be
exploited for
nefarious ends.
screen, but staring into the blue sky, focusing into the vast
distance, it is hard to believe that is the case.

Luckey heard someone calling his name, and he sprinted
back along the bridge to meet an avatar who had appeared,
wearing full desert gear. They shook hands. So, pretty
cool, eh? the soldier said.
And then as quick as he came, the soldier thanks you for
the help, and blips out of existence. Luckey stayed in the
virtual environment for 20 minutes, and then it was time
to unplug.
You take a look around, and marvel at how real
the warehouse seems. Wow, the shadow effects on
the bright lights are amazing, and the tracking is
awless! In the next moment, you remember: this IS
the real world. The bridge that you were on? That
was just a simulation.

I visited the Mixed Reality Lab in February. It was hard
to nd. There is no signage outside and it is located
on an industrial side street in the Playa Vista neigh-
bourhood of Los Angeles. I arrived at about 4:30 on a
rainy afternoon. Mark Bolas, the labs director, has an
ofce just inside the front door. The facility is a joint
effort between the ICT and USCs School of Cinematic
Arts, he explained, developed to train art and engi-
neering students in virtual-reality design. His team
also works on a number of military systems.
Bolas showed me the warehouse that Luckey had
described in his post. A copy of the Wide5 HMD that
Luckey wore was hanging there, clipped to a metal
stand. Bolas and a business partner started developing
the Wide5 in 2005.
It has a horizontal eld of view of about 150 degrees
and it is studded with light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In
the rafters of the room were 80 cameras, which track
a users movements by picking up on those LEDs. (The
Oculus Rift works in much the same way, using a
single camera.)
When Luckey rst showed up at the lab, Bolas says,
he had a passion in his eye that is rare to nd. Bolas,
too, dreams of developing low-cost virtual-reality systems
for consumers. He assigned Luckey to a team already
at work on some of these projects. Bolas showed me
tabletops littered with several generations of inexpen-
sive, immersive head-mounted displays. They combined
foam or 3D-printed head mounts with monitors, smart-
phones and tablets. The lenses came from cheap,
handheld magniers.
Throughout his time at MxR, Luckey continued to
tinker on his own head-mounted-display project at
home. By the American spring of 2012, he was ready
to make it public. He wanted to get it into the hands
of tinkerers and programmers. Like Schneider several years
before, he was hoping the gaming industry would take
notice and start designing wide-eld-of-view, immersive
displays. On 15 April, he wrote on MTBS3D: Hey guys,
I am making great progress on my HMD kit! All of the
hardest stuff (optics, display panels, and interface hard-
ware) is done. The goal is to start a Kickstarter project I
wont make a penny of prot off this project, the goal is
to pay for the cost of parts, manufacturing, shipping and
credit card/Kickstarter fees with about $10 left over for a
celebratory pizza and beer.
Things turned out differently. John Carmack, one of the
most respected game developers in the world, had joined
MTBS3D, and Luckey sent him a prototype. In June, Carmack
showed off the Oculus Rift at E3, a gaming convention
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2014
Facebook buys
the company that
Palmer Luckey
co-founded,
Oculus VR, for
R20 billion. Con-
sumer versions of
the headset are
expected to go on
sale by early 2015.
2016
The US Air Force
plans to fight-test
a new generation
of F-35 helmets
that integrate
video and infrared
images, giving
pilots a 360-degree
view around the
aircraft.
Up until now, the most
immersive medium on
the planet has been a
fve-storey IMAX screen.
Now its a phone-size,
head-mounted screen.
DJ ROLLER, 3D FILMMAKER

You are a f***ing sellout. We had ONE CHANCE AND you
f***ed it up. a Reddit poster, 26 March.
On 25 March, in a conference call with reporters, Facebook
announced that it was buying Oculus VR for $2billion
(about R20 billion), including R4 billion in cash and the
rest in Facebook stock. The gaming-industry rollout would
come rst, the company said in a Facebook post under
CEO Mark Zuckerbergs name.
But, the statement said, that was just the beginning.
Imagine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying
in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world
or consulting with a doctor
face to face just by putting
on goggles in your home.
This is really a new communi-
cation platform.
Within hours, many virtual-
reality and gaming enthusiasts
turned on Palmer Luckey. Fans
were simply outraged that
Oculus would sell to a corpo-
rate giant. And Facebook
wasnt even cool. One poster
on Reddit wrote: I honestly
thought Palmer had a chance
to be the next Steve Jobs. Now
hell most likely be relegated
to a footnote in VR history.
Another replied, Hell be
loathed. He is going to go
from the man who resurrected
VR with his vision, to the
hated sellout who killed his
own baby.
Kickstarter supporters,
in particular, felt betrayed.
Those donors had helped
launch the company in 2012,
but to build the consumer
product Oculus VR had decided it needed
much more money. It took R160 million from
venture capital rms in June 2013 and another
R750 million in December 2013. Now, just four
months later, those Silicon Valley VCs were
cashing out with huge returns before Oculus
ever released a consumer product.
Joel Johnson, the editorial director of Gawker
Media and a longtime tech journalist, had
contributed to the Rift Kickstarter project and
publicly hailed the technology. He doesnt
accuse Oculus VR of wrongdoing, but, he says, ultimately,
I think this and (the controversy surrounding) the Veronica
Mars movie will be the rst steps in a movement away
from pure crowdfunding.
Luckey spent the early morning hours of 26 March
explaining the sale on Reddit and other forums. He argued
that the acquisition would provide the capital Oculus needed
to hire more engineers and release the best possible product.
A couple of days later, he texted me: The big picture will
become clear in the long run. I dont blame the criticisers.
But he found few supporters that night. Around dawn, he
held in Los Angeles each year. The Rift was a sensation.
That summer, Luckey combined forces with Brendan Iribe,
Nate Mitchell, Michael Antonov and Andrew Scott Reisse
to form Oculus VR and launch a Kickstarter campaign fea-
turing a slickly produced video. (Carmack eventually
joined the company as chief technology ofcer.)
By 1 September, the campaign had raised over R24 million.
Many contributors donated small sums to promote the
technology and get a T-shirt or poster. But more than 7 000
paid at least R3 000, which entitled them to Rift headsets
and access to the software developers tools needed to
write code for the platform. (They also received a copy of
the game Doom 3 BFG, optimised for the Rift.) The
developers kits started shipping the following March.
Oculus began showing a new version of the Rift a
few months ago under the name Crystal Cove. The
resolution was sharp and the motion blur (technically,
judder) was largely gone. Anticipation built as the
Game Developers Conference the worlds biggest
gathering of video-game creators approached in
mid-March. It was rumoured that Oculus would be
releasing a commercial headset before Christmas,
and people were speculating about which gaming
titles would be Rift-ready by then. Gamers and developers
were rooting for Palmer Luckey. He was the garage-hack-
er kid with a dream and the passion to make VR happen.
If the company did make a big announcement at GDC, it
would be electrifying.
Palmer Luckey worked as a technician at USCs Mixed Reality Lab from August 2011 until June 2012, on a
team that was designing low-cost head-mounted displays. Some of the headsets have been used in research
on how to employ virtual reality to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
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went back to the old neighbourhood, the MTBS3D forum
where his VR obsession had begun.
Some members were worried or angry, others were
hopeful that Facebook would help the technology scale
up quickly. The vitriol of the Reddit thread was largely
absent. Finally, Luckey logged on to ModRetro, the port-
ablising site he had begun as a 16-year-old. There, a user
named Zero was defending him: This is a good thing,
even in the long term. Everyone here especially should
know that Palmer wouldnt publicly support this if it
wasnt.
Besides, Zero pointed out, anyone worried that Facebook
would now be calling the shots was ignoring the obvious:
Luckey had already lost the freedom to do whatever he
liked with the Rift. PalmerTech thanked his old friends for
their support. Then he wrote:
Zero is right about stakes in the company. We did not
sell out control to FB, we did it a long time ago when we
had to raise money to keep going.

A few weeks before the Facebook announcement, I met
Palmer Luckey for lunch. We were at the Oculus VR head-
quarters in Irvine, California. The company is housed in a
dark glass-and-marble ofce building. It has short escalators,
empty lobbies and skylights. Luckey and I walked to a
parking lot next door and bought hamburgers and sh
tacos from a pair of food trucks.
As we ate, I asked whether he would have succeeded
in building the Rift if he hadnt found MTBS3D. Not a
chance, he said. One guy can only go so far. Without
Internet communities, youd just have a few people scat-
tered across the country who were still interested in VR
but didnt know where to go with it.
Thats not a problem any longer. The company shipped
about 75 000 of the original developers kits and plans to
sell even more of the DK2s. Gaming companies are hustling
to create Rift-ready versions of many titles. Motion-capture
gloves, competitive headsets and other VR peripherals are
being announced. And the innovation doesnt stop at
gaming. D J Roller, one of the worlds premier 3D lm-
makers, is planning to supply VR capabilities for sporting
events, news and movies through Next3D, a company he
co-founded. Up until now, the most immersive medium
on the planet has been a ve-storey IMAX screen, he
says. Now its a phone-size head-mounted screen.
Luckey feels certain the Rift will succeed in the video-
game market. But he also has expansive ideas of what
virtual reality might do some day. If you look at sci-,
virtual reality is almost always a plot device that leads to
this broken dystopian world. But I think that virtual reality
is going to end up being a huge positive for humanity.
In the near term, he sees students taking virtual eld
trips to ancient Rome. People will manipulate data les
with their hands. Users will be able to see in the infrared
spectrum, bend the laws of physics and squeeze into
impossibly small spaces. Decades from now, he thinks,
many people will choose to spend their days in virtual
environments, enjoying luxuries they could never afford in
the real world.
Luckey does not claim to have invented these visions.
If you want to know about optics and low-persistence
OLEDs, Im a good person to talk to, he said. For the
future of VR, there are smarter people. Jaron Lanier is
one of these. He has seen repeated cycles of expectation
and disappointment over the past three decades. Every
two or three years theres another wave of interest in VR,
he said in a phone interview. What happens typically is
that there is insane speculation that reality will be tran-
scended or something like that. He laughed. I started
that, so I apologise. Its my fault.
Yet this time could be different. The global boom in
mobile phones has made display technology inexpensive
and lightweight. Ordinary PCs can now run processor-
heavy graphics programs. The software and skills to build
complex 3D worlds are well-established. These conditions
have been in place for several years. Theyve just been
waiting for a catalyst to come along and get the whole
thing moving. The Rift, or rather Palmer Luckey himself,
may prove to be that catalyst.
Media reports have tended to portray Luckey as a soli-
tary genius. But rarely, if ever, does someone invent any-
thing in isolation. Even as a precocious 16-year-old, Luckey
excelled at recruiting people to his passions. He had col-
laborators on the MTBS3D forums and, especially, at the
Mixed Reality Lab. That doesnt diminish his accomplish-
ment. No one else combined Luckeys talent for tinkering
and his obsession with making an affordable headset for
gaming. Someone had to stay up all night, soldering iron
in hand.
When he was nishing up one of his prototypes in
September 2011, Palmer-Tech wrote on MTBS3D: Sorry
for the long ramble, been up for more than 30 hours
without any sleep, hopefully I make some sense. Thanks
for the support! I would never have been able to do any
of this without the knowledge and inspiration of the
members here.
Luckey had to get back upstairs to the ofce. Our lunch
had run long and he was a half-hour late for a meeting.
Id never asked him the most obvious question: Hey,
Palmer, whats your favourite game?
Chrono Trigger, he said. Its awesome. Now theres
a game that will never be played on the Rift. It has blocky
graphics and the same synthesised, 16-bit music from
when it was introduced for Super Nintendo in 1995. The
narrative is rich, though. You and your companions travel
through time, overcoming danger, misunderstandings and
rejection. (Theres a great essay online titled Everything I
Know About Love I Learned from Chrono Trigger.)
Its hard to imagine when the founder of a R20 billion
peripherals company nds time to play Chrono Trigger. But
I hope he does. Because its Palmer Luckeys kind of game.
It isnt about action or richly rendered graphics. Its about
building a virtual universe thats actually worth living in. PM
Noseweek is South Africas hardest
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with a reputation for tenacity, integrity and wit
Experience Noseweek for yourself
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Ofer expires on 23 July 2014
Boom!
Ice-cold beer
What youll need
Can of air duster
Can of beer
Pliers
Nail or screw
Cigarette lighter
Plastic container with lid
Duct tape
Kitchen gloves
Directions
STEP 1
Scrounge a spare nail or screw
from your toolbox; make sure
its long enough for you to
grip it with pliers. Heat it up
with a lighter, and while the
screw is still piping hot, melt
a tiny hole through the plastic
container, making it just wide
enough for the straw on your
can of air duster (visit Price-
Check for local suppliers) to
t snugly through the gap.
STEP 2
Place your beer inside the
plastic container and tape the
lid closed so it doesnt y off.
Make sure to wear your
gloves they protect against
frostbite. Turn the can of air
duster upside down and poke
its straw through the hole,
making sure it doesnt touch
the beer. Pump for about 1
minute. (One can of air duster
can chill a six-pack of beer.)
STEP 3
If the air duster contains a
nasty-tasting bitterant, which
is sometimes added to dis-
courage deliberate inhaling,
pour the beer into a clean
glass. Job done! Now sit back
and enjoy your ice-cold brew.
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PROJECTS TIPS ADVICE
No one likes warm beer.
And no one likes waiting
around for cold beer.
Thankfully, you can chill a
brew instantly using
household products.
BY DAVEY ALBA
K N OW YOUR S T UF F
Split-ribbed anchors open up
as you install the screw, so
they hold better than sleeves.
They dont endure daily
abuse, though, so use some-
thing else for the towel bar.
Plastic sleeves provide enough
friction within drywall to hold
small picture frames and mir-
rors. Back in the day, DIYers
made their own sleeves from
scrap wire insulation.
Self-drilling anchors save you the hassle
of nding a bit, but they shred if they
hit a stud. Dont know whats beneath
the rock? Use the metal version.
A renters dream: once removed, hammer-
in anchors leave a small slit thats easy to
patch. Your landlords walls and your
security deposit remain intact.
These anchors hold up to 72 kg,
but Toggler recommends no
more than a quarter of that
load. Thats real talk and wise
advice for using any wall
anchor.
If you must hang a 40-inch at-
screen TV without a stud, use
beefy toggle-style anchors like
these. Our advice? Dont risk it.
Find a stud, and rearrange your
furniture.
Generic toggle-style anchors
dont work loose, so use them
to hang lightweight bathroom
xtures. Install in walls of any
thickness; the only limitation is
the screw length.
Anchors array
Studs? Forget those guys. Theyre never around when you
need them most, like when youre hanging stuff on drywall.
Instead, use hollow-wall anchors.
BY DAVI D AGRELL
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MA K E T H I S
Recognise this toolbox kind of? Carpenters have
been using the A-frame form for over a century
and thats exactly why were updating it now.
BY PAUL STEI NER
Classic upgrade
What youll need
Recommended tools
Table saw with sliding mitre gauge
or custom-made sled, and a dado
set
Mitre saw
Band saw or jigsaw
Cordless drill
Pocket-hole jig
No 8 countersink drill bit
Router table with round-over bit
Basic supplies
1/2 sheet of plywood
38 mm No 8 pocket screws
38 mm No 8 stainless-steel wood
screws
PVA wood glue
Open-top toolboxes
trump lidded boxes
because they provide
easy access to the
tools I use most.
Best of all, theyre
customisable. As a
high school workshop
teacher, I have my
students customise
the design and build
something to suit
their own needs. But
they always start with
the same A-frame
template.
Here are ve examples I created for
PM, which I made primarily out of ply-
wood and screws. Rough and ready? Sure,
but these boxes are workhorses, not
works of art.
I build each box more or less the same
way, regardless of its features. First, I rip
THE CARPENTER
I cut a 50 mm x 6 mm slot in one side and installed spacers for
storing chisels. Hold-down clamps can be repositioned. Dividers
keep tools organised.
THE MECHANIC
The diamond-plate exterior catches leaky uids. I can remove
the steel pipe handle and slip it on to a spanner for extra
leverage.
279
343
610
152
The maker
I used aluminium-faced plywood, which resists
soldering-iron burn marks. Dont be intimidated
by this material: you can cut it with carbide-
tipped woodworking blades.
Parts
Qty Part Dimensions Material
2 End blanks 279 mm x 343 mm 6 mm plywood
2 Shelves 267 mm x 597 mm 6 mm plywood
1 Bottom 279 mm x 610 mm 6 mm plywood
2 Sides 152 mm x 610 mm 6 mm plywood
2 Handle 38 mm x 610 mm 6 mm plywood
2 Spacers 63 mm x 254 mm 3 mm plywood
and crosscut all the parts to size. I cut
the tapered side blanks on a sliding
table-saw sled set at 10 degrees. I could
also cut them carefully with a jigsaw or
circular saw, but Id never use a mitre
saw. The workpiece wouldnt be suf-
ciently supported by the saws fence,
and the blade could easily grab the
piece and pull my hand into its path.
I cut rebates for the sides and a tenon
for the handle in both end pieces at the
same time by doubling them up with
double-sided tape. That saves time and
ensures I fabricate both pieces to exactly
the same shape.
The rest of the joinery is straightfor-
ward: I cut dadoes into the side and end
pieces to accept shelves. The box is
assembled mostly with pocket screws. I
use a Kreg jig to bore holes no more
than 10 cm apart, and I glue the joints
before driving the screws.
Finally, I laminate two pieces of ply-
wood for the handle, but I could imag-
ine using a thick dowel instead. To make
the handle more comfortable, I shape
its corners with a round-over bit
installed in a router table.
THE HANDYMAN
This houses all I need for my next maintenance project. I
kept the main compartment divider-free for unhindered
storage of everyday tools.
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THE GARDENER
An expanded metal bottom lets me rinse my harvest and tools.
Marine-grade plywood ensures years of longevity in damp
conditions.
Keep
the
cord
clear
Slicing through a power
cord? A fail. Slicing it
again? A systemic break-
down. But on good days,
carelessness breeds
ingenuity.
BY JAMES B MEI GS
I was having way too much fun
trimming a large shrub recently,
and I think I got a little over-
enthusiastic. As I swung the bar
of the trimmer up and down
one of the bushs sides, the cord
swung too right into the
slashing jaws of the trimmer.
Thunk. Trimmer silent. Breaker
blown. Pride dented.
I just spliced the cord I
wasnt going to throw away a
12 m extension cord and kept
working. (Yes, Im fully aware
that my actions probably violat-
ed multiple standards, warran-
ties and safety codes.) Twenty
minutes later, it happened
again. I really needed a better
system. Or more electrical tape.
D ON T B E A N I D I OT
PM THROWBACK
Shed upgrades
Youll often fnd us mining
tips from the yellowed
pages of issues past. Yes,
some advice is outdated
and some is downright
dangerous. But among the
cigarette lighters fashioned
from spent shotgun shells
are solid tips, like these
from a 1967 special edition,
that deserve a second look.
MOVABLE SHELF sits on a
pair of nails driven into the
gap between uprights in
your tool shed. Make the
shelf 5 mm narrower than
the smallest gap. Drive nails
in various places through-
out the shed for quick
installation of the shelf.

COAT HOOKS attached to
uprights cradle hoes, rakes,
shovels or even a light-
weight, straight-shaft string
trimmer. See? PM readers
were repurposing stuff long
before it was cool.
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S
)
THE FIX: I hang a carabiner (a spring-loaded
clip that climbers use) off my back belt loop and
run the cord through that to keep it from
swinging in front of the trimmer. I look dorky
with my yellow power-cord tail dangling behind
me, but at least I dont have to keep splicing it
back together.
Its one of lifes great frustrations: drilling a
hole perfectly perpendicular to the workpiece.
A drill press is ideal, but it wont help you
install hardware on a cabinet or a deadbolt on
a door. Instead, try one of these solutions.
BY DAVI D AGRELL
Make boring
less galling
1 2
T OOL H AC K
1. Straight
Got an old CD
lying around? Of
course you do
(thanks, iTunes).
Place it label side
down on the work-
piece and centred
over where you
want the hole. Set
the drill bit into the
discs hole, and
position the drill
until the bit is in a
straight line with
its refection.
2. Straighter
Nail together a
couple of scrap
pieces of wood to
form a right angle.
Its important to
make everything
true and square or
youre wasting
your time. Position
the drill bit tight
into the corner of
the jig and bore
your hole.
3. Straightest
A guide attach-
ment turns your
hand drill into a
portable drill
press. Like a drill
press, you can set
the depth of the
hole and change
the angle of
attack. Unlike a
drill press, you can
pack this attach-
ment in your tool-
box.
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3
JULY 2014 www.popularmechanics.co.za
READER COMPETI TI ON READER COMPETI TI ON
WIN
1 of 4 Dremel hampers
worth R6 495 each
Each Dremel hamper includes a 4200 multi-tool, a MS20-1/5 Moto
Saw, a 940 glue gun, a VersaFlame and a Multi-Max oscillating
tool, all designed to enhance your home DIY projects with a compelling
combination of superior quality and effcient operation. The Dremel
4200 multi-tools high-performance motor delivers optimum perfor-
mance at all speeds, offering precise and controlled cuts in addition
to sanding and fast material removal, and is ideal for polishing, cutting,
sanding, grinding and carving tasks. Electronic feedback automatically
adjusts the tools speed and power, and the variable speed switch
offers the user increased versatility. The compact Dremel Multi-Max
oscillating tool is suited to a variety of tasks around the home, and
comes with a Quick Fit function for projects that require multiple
accessories. An integrated fuel gauge indicates the remaining
battery charge.

To enter, answer the following question:
Does the Dremel 4200 multi-tool feature electronic
feedback?

SMS the word DREMEL, followed by the answer, your name and
e-mail address to 32697 (R1,50 per SMS; this service does not allow
for 8ta numbers), or visit our Web site at www.popularmechanics.co.za.
Competition closes 31 July 2014, and winners will be drawn on
8 August 2014. For the competition rules, visit www.popularmechanics.
co.za
For more information, contact Dremel on 011-651 9858
or visit www.dremel.com
D ON T B E A N I D I OT
Its all
in the
detailing
Before he ever laid a
microbre towel on
Jerry Seinfelds eet,
Ammo NYC founder
Larry Kosilla had mas-
tered the perfect car
wash. Theres more to it
than rinsing grime off
your ride, but it still
shouldnt take all
Sunday.
BY MI KE SPI NELLI
For starters, never even touch
your car without a lubricant
such as water, spray wax,
waterless wash or soap.
These lift contaminants from
the surface, so you wont
grind soil into the paint and
spend the rest of the day buff-
ing out the scratches, Kosilla
says. Try to be methodical and
work in this order: wheels,
paint, interior and glass.
Otherwise, youll waste pre-
cious time fumbling around
washing and rewashing. Doing
the wheels rst, before you
wet the rest of the car, pre-
vents water spots from form-
ing on the paint. Wash the
glass last in case you smudge
the windows while cleaning
the interior. Dirty wheels often
contain brake dust, which can
scratch paint, so designate one
bucket and mitt or rag for
painted areas only, and keep
another wash mitt in a sepa-
rate bucket for the wheels.
Also use a Grit Guard Insert in
your bucket to keep soiled
mitts clean and prevent them
from picking up dirt that set-
tles at the bottom. Scrub
wheels with Wheel Woolies.
These brushes are engineered
to quickly get into intricate
spokes and lug-nut crevices.
On paint, always use microfbre
towels (not sponges), which
are ideal for both washing
and drying because of their
ability to pick up and release
dirt. Microbre has replaced
the traditional chamois leather,
Kosilla says. He uses a heavy
300- to 400-gsm (gram-per-
square-metre) cloth, which is
gentler on paint. You can skip
water altogether and clean
your car with a waterless
wash product. Apply it with a
clean microbre towel folded
into quarters. Use a scooping
motion while applying the
least amount of pressure nec-
essary for the cloth to make
contact and pick up the dirt,
Kosilla says. This will require
ve to 10 towels and 10 to 20
ounces of waterless wash. For
waxing, his pro tip is to apply
a light-mist spray wax or a
hydrophobic drying agent to
the wet painted surfaces and
wipe dry with a damp towel.
P
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The microbre towel will
pick up any remaining dirt
that was missed during the
wash and apply a thin layer
of protection during the dry-
ing process. Shoot air into
tight spots such as mirrors,
taillights and emblems with
a portable vacuum blower.
The point is to release
trapped water that will ulti-
mately spill out as you drive
away. And, of course, use
the vacuums attachments to
clean every gap, crevice and
air vent in your cars interior.
Now, get cleaning! PM
READER COMPETI TI ON READER COMPETI TI ON READER COMPETI TI ON READER COMPETI TI ON READER COMPETI TI ON
For stockist enquiries, contact LUXCO on 011-448 2210 or visit www.luxco.co.za
WIN
1 of 10 Rotary Pilot watches,
each worth R4 500
Heres your chance to wear a desirable watch from the latest collection of stunning Rotary designs.
Blending the old with the new and the contemporary with the classic, they create a distinctive look for the
modern man and woman. For over a century, this 4th-generation Swiss rm has ensured that every watch it
creates can withstand the rigours of everyday life, beneting from an innovative Rotary waterproof standard
and the reassurance of a lifetime guarantee on the movement.
To enter, answer the following question:
Do Rotary watches come with a lifetime
guarantee on the movement?

SMS the word ROTARY, followed by the answer,
your name and e-mail address to 32697 (R1,50 per
SMS; this service does not allow for 8ta numbers),
or visit our Web site at www.popularmechanics.
co.za Competition closes 31 July 2014, and
winners will be drawn on 8 August 2014.
Competition rules: 1. Entry is open to anyone except employees (and their immediate families)
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LIES and LIARS:
As sprinter Oscar Pistorius stands trial on charges of murdering his girlfriend
on Valentines Day last year, were forced once again to do the near-impossible:
separate truth from untruth. Is he lying, as he describes shooting Reeva
Steenkamp through a closed bathroom door? Or was he, as he says,
legitimately frightened, and protecting her from an intruder?
TO TELL THE TRUTH, its awfully hard to catch a liar,
or to even know if someone is telling the truth. The
best estimate, based on hundreds of studies, is that
people can spot a liar 54 per cent of the time a ratio
that is perilously close to pure chance. But with lies
being told every day to abet nancial skullduggery,
everyday politics and, of course, everyday crime the
business of truth-telling ought to be booming.
Have you ever told these lies?
Im ne.
I have read the terms of service.
You look great in that dress.
Your table will be ready in ve minutes.
She is only a friend.
Ill work on that ASAP.
After all, researchers say, Deception is a major
aspect of social interaction; people admit to using it
in 14 per-cent of e-mails, 27 per cent of face-to-face
interactions and 37 per cent of phone calls.
Were not worried about white lies, the grease of
the gears of human relationships. Were worried about
lies like the cascade of chicanery uttered by Bernie
Madoff, the prince of Ponzi, who was convicted of a
decades-long fraud that fried investors for an estimated
R200 billion. Were worried about bigwigs like former
president Bill Clinton, who lied when he said, I did
not have sex with that woman, and his predecessor
Richard Nixon, who lamely (and laughably) proclaimed
I am not a crook as the Watergate scandal closed in.
And were worried about athletes like Lance
Armstrong, the erstwhile king of the Tour de France.
After years of denials, he nally admitted that he, like
many fellow bike racers, had been chemically
enhanced.
DETECTION INFLECTION
Truth is, after decades of work, the lie detection busi-
ness is oundering. Reliable techniques come and
go. For decades, the instrument called the lie detector
has been a mainstay of cop shows and station houses, but its
fallen from favour with the recognition that it can be beaten.
Meanwhile, other supposed tells of untruth, such as avoiding
eye contact or scratching certain parts of the face, are easily
avoided by practised liars.
There is a huge literature of studies suggesting that we are very
poor at lie detection, says Leanne ten Brinke, a post-doctoral fellow
at the University of California-Berkeley school of business. If I
show you 10 videos, and ve show people lying and ve show
them telling the truth, your accuracy will be 50 per cent. Flip a
coin; dont bother watching the video. Its discouraging.
Professionals dont necessarily do much better, according to
Ten Brinke and colleague Stephen Porter who commented:
Even trained professional lie catchers often fail in detecting
high-stakes lies.
Ten Brinke and Porter say that when researchers showed
police ofcers clips of people who, like the Canadian Michael
White, had pleaded for help locating a spouse who had disap-
peared, the ofcers could have ipped a coin and performed as
well. Courts later ruled that White and many of the other
pleaders had murdered the vanished person.
LYING: WHY SO CONVINCING?
Deception is a very complex human behaviour and in spite of
years of pondering over how to spot a lie, we humans are not
very good at this task, according to Victoria Rubin, assistant
professor of information and media studies at the University of
Western Ontario in London, Canada.
Her e-mail continues: Computer programs can bring systematic
ways of looking for what might give away a lie, but there is no
simple solution. There is no real consensus among researchers in
the eld about what these best predictors of deception might be.
One reason for the difculty, Aldert Vrij wrote in an e-mail, is
that people are good liars because they have a lot of practice,
and practice makes skill. Vrij, a professor of applied social psy-
chology at the University of Portsmouth in the UK, added that,
people lie every day (many white lies but also more serious lies)
and children are instructed to lie (white lies) by their parents
from a very early age (pretend you like the present grandma
gave you). Liars notice if listeners swallow their spiel, and
people can learn from accurate feedback, says Vrij.

CAN YOU CATCH THEM?
So what do we know about deception detection? What seems to work, and when? As we survey the
human quest to ferret out lies, well focus on psychological tests, computer analysis of text and video,
and advanced interrogation techniques.
NATURALLY SELECTED?
You might think we humans have an advantage, since the ability to detect lies would seem essential
enough to be favoured by evolution. We thought natural selection would promote this ability, Ten
Brink says, and we also thought that for lie detection to be accurate and adaptive, it did not neces-
sarily need to be conscious; you dont need alarm bells going off in your head. It could be subtle, so
when you hear someone speak, you dont really trust them, dont feel like you want to lend them
money or go on a second date.
To test that premise, Ten Brinke and colleagues looked for implicit associations concepts that are
By DAVID J TENENBAUM
Liar, liar: economising with the truth hastened the downfall of, main picture, Bill
Clinton and above, from top, Bernie Madoff, Lance Armstrong and Richard Nixon.
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triggered by exposure to something in the environment. For exam-
ple, if you harbour stereotypical feelings about green people, after
seeing a photo of a green person, you would be more likely to
understand, choose or recognise words such as bad, nasty
or untrustworthy that express your discriminatory feelings.
In two studies, the conscious ability to distinguish truth from
ction was no better than chance, Ten Brinke says, but people
responded faster to truth words after they saw a truthful video,
and to lie words after they saw a lying video. This suggests that
the unconscious mind does discriminate.
The moral is that we might be better lie detectors than we
thought, but the ability does not live in our conscious mind,
Ten Brinke said. The study might support a tactic of going with
your gut, but the false confessions uncovered by DNA tests show
that this attitude among police investigators has put innocent
people in prison. Im very unclear about the implication, says
Ten Brinke. This does create a new interesting perspective on
humans as lie detectors and opens a bunch of potential avenues.
Can we look at the behavioural reaction of the receiver of a
message to determine something about the veracity of the sender?
HOW HIGH ARE THE STAKES?
Many studies of lie detection are criticised because the subjects
are, too often, university students who are asked to lie about
trivialities. Critics question the realism of that set-up and argue
that, lacking sufcient emotional stress, subjects fail to reveal
the tells that often accompany high-stakes, real-world lies.
The behavioural cues to deception tend to be quite subtle,
especially when the lie is not high-stakes, Ten Brinke told us.
When students come to the lab and tell a lie about their summer
vacation, thats not high stakes. Unless it means a lot to you, you are
not worried about being caught and might not leak any clues.
To deception researchers, leak means to unintentionally
reveal a telltale sign of lying.
While researching her dissertation, Ten Brinke focused on
high-stakes liars by studying videos of people who had issued a
televised plea for help nding a loved one. Half of the 78 cases
were genuine. In the other half, the pleader was later found to
have murdered the disappeared person.
The pleader videos contained pretty clear cues to deception,
Ten Brinke told us.
Deceivers smiled more; thats a very unlikely emotion for
someone whos genuinely disturbed. They were unable to repli-
cate genuine sadness in the face. There are muscles that are very
difcult to control, so they were not able to pull off that look of
sadness, particularly in the forehead.
Still, the tells were difcult to catch in real time, she adds. My
study was frame by frame; a very exhaustive, expensive analysis.
Working in real time is a very difcult task so videotaping is always
recommended. The cognitive load (mental work) for the lie
detector is incredibly high, especially if you are in conversation,
and looking for an appropriate question, and examining the
speech pattern and body language all at once.
The face, she says, is an incredibly valuable cue to deception
if you know what to look for; it can tell you a ton of interesting
information.
Some people get away with lying for years (and sometimes, they
seek redemption). Take the case of Briton Anne Darwin, who served
half of a six-year sentence for her part in an insurance scam after
pretending that her husband, John, had drowned when he paddled
out to sea in his canoe. Five years after his disappearance, he turned
Oscar Pistorius at a bail hearing on 20 February 2013, in Pretoria,
South Africa. Pistorius is accused of murdering his girlfriend,
Reeva Steenkamp, on 14 February last year.
Above left: People have got to know whether or not their president is a
crook. Well, Im not a crook. Ive earned everything Ive got. President
Nixon, with edited transcripts of Nixon White House Tape conversations
during broadcast of his address to the nation, 29 April 1974. Nixon
resigned in disgrace after the US House of Representatives impeached
him for multiple crimes, including obstruction of justice.
Above right: Sprinter Marion Jones won ve medals at the 2000 Olympics,
then gave them all back after her 2007 confession for doping.
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up alive and they both went to jail. Last year, a UK newspaper
reported that Anne was spending ve days a week working at
an RSPCA second-hand shop.
THE INTERVIEW
Much of the focus in criminal deception detection today con-
cerns the interrogator, not the subject. One goal is to increase
the subjects cognitive load (need to think fast) during interro-
gation. One way to do this, Vrij says, is to ask people to recall
the event in reverse order. You said you went for lunch with
your friend. Tell me in detail what happened in the restaurant
(working backwards) from when you and your friend left the
restaurant.
With co-operative witnesses, Vrij says, reverse order recall
often results in new information, but liars will attempt to say
again what they said when asked in normal order. This is difcult
to do and may lead to contradictions. Also, because liars focus
on repetition, it is unlikely to result in new information.
Indeed, Vrij says, nding lies is all in the questioning. Through
good interview techniques, deception may become apparent,
but poor interview techniques are unlikely to elicit cues.
For example:
Passive or general questions, such as Tell me in detail all
that happened give liars the opportunity to report their
planned lie, Vrij says.
Leading or suggestive questions, such as Did you take the
money? can cause symptoms of nervousness among liars and
innocents alike.
(Scientists interested in interrogations have tried to evaluate
the ability of various techniques to uncover lies. More recently,
sparked by capital-case confessions that were later proven false
by DNA evidence, researchers have tried to identify techniques
that coerce the innocent to confess. One key offender: interro-
gators who falsely claim to have incriminating evidence.)
COMPUTER VISION?
Its the computer age. So what can our digital slaves add to the
enigma that is deception detection? Computers may lend a hand
in analysing the highly expressive human face, which nonetheless
bafes most human efforts to detect lies. Aware that slackers
seeking disability benets often lie to doctors about pain, Kang
Lee, at the Institute of Child Study at the University of Toronto,
asked subjects to show real or faked pain.
Lee elaborates: The question was, when humans express a
genuine emotion, do they use one group of muscles, and when
they express fake emotions, do they use a different group of
muscles? (The experimenters immersed subjects hands in cold
water, which Lee says is very painful, but safe.)
Because pain is a universal experience, says Lee, We are very
well versed in faking pain, which makes the task tough for
deception detectors. When Lee trained people to analyse the
videos, their accuracy rose from chance to 56 per cent. It was
very poor, and thats been found before, he says.
The old-fashioned lie detectors measure sweating, respiration
and heart rate, which indicate heightened arousal caused by the
state of deception or something else. Critics say the detectors
are far from foolproof. By using machine learning, Lee, working
with Marnie Bartlett of the University of California, San Diego,
taught computers to detect deception with 82 per cent accuracy.
Thats a big leap forward, and it tells us there are signs in the
facial expression that can indicate if they faking or are experiencing
In October 2012, Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de
France titles and banned from competitive cycling for life by the Union
Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for doping offences following a report from
the US Anti-Doping Agency.
Above left: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss
Lewinsky, said Bill Clinton, straying seriously from the truth.
Above right: Bernie Madoff is an American convicted of fraud in 2009. A
former stockbroker, investment adviser and nancier, he admitted to
running a Ponzi scheme that is considered the largest nancial fraud in
US history.
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pain for real, Lee says.
Frame-by-frame video analysis revealed that real and faked
pain have different expressions. When faking, the mouth opens
with a very regular, rhythmic dynamic, Lee says, which does not
appear with real pain. That subtle distinction shows the advan-
tages of computer vision, he says. The computer can remember
frame by frame; our cognitive system has a low capacity, so we
cant remember these dynamics, and the mouth is only one part;
we also have to look at the eyes, the nose, the cheeks and the
words. That is lot of information to compute concurrently.
THE WORDS HAVE IT!
In a recent study, Lynn van Swol, an associate professor of com-
munications arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found
that lies were easier to detect by computer chat than from
watching a video.
Why? There may be just too much to analyse in a video, says
Van Swol, and that takes away from probably one of the best
indications what the person is saying, and putting it in context.
The context includes common sense and knowledge of the
world. Say, while trying to decide if someone were truthful, you
asked about favourite pastimes and were told, I like to write
poetry. You might think, how many people could truthfully
give that response? says Van Swol, rather than looking at
whether his eye is twitching or hes scratching his chin. Poetry
is a scarce avocation, so that answer is a possible but hardly
conclusive tell of deception.
TRUST A COMPUTER?
Computers can also analyse text, looking for a pattern of objec-
tively observed predictors of deception, as Rubin wrote to us.
For example, if its true that liars try to avoid the rst-person
pronouns I and we, a computer can quickly examine text to
look for an abnormally low number of rst-person pronouns.
The pronoun theory is debated, and Rubin agrees that any one
indicator is not denitive, but rather should contribute towards
the overall decision-making is this given text truth or a lie?
Computers, she notes, are fast, consistent and obedient. They
have a certain type of objectivity, assuming the programmer
instructs the program based on scientic consensus, and not his
or her personal opinions. Computer programs can be trained to
look through large volumes of data, observe patterns and make
certain conclusions on which to base their further decisions.
Using this so-called machine learning, Rubin and colleagues
created software that detected 65 per cent of lies somewhat
better than the 50 to 63 per cent performance from people in
the same study.
What might account for the slight advantage for computers?
People, Rubin wrote, are not necessarily objective, nor systematic,
nor do we know what exactly to look for to spot a lie. He
added: We quite often rely on intuition. We are subjective and
have emotions; for instance, liking an idea might help us validate
it. We might misinterpret cues. We multi-task as we read we
need to understand what is said and perhaps think how its
phrased, make connections to what we already know, remember
what weve read in order to evaluate its veracity. Ultimately, the
task is cognitively taxing, and we are just human.
But being human has advantages, Rubin adds. We have the
powers of true comprehension of the situation in a life context
and the ability to see the big picture, to reason and be self-aware.
Say that someone is stating the opposite of whats obviously
true. A human knows to interpret it as sarcasm and how to react
to it, and what it actually means.
Between crime, sports and politics, the need to detect deception
is not fading away. And Rubin reminds us of another playground
for deceit. We communicate and get our information via computer
and mobile devices. We are unsuspecting, truth-biased (tending
to believe what we read, in other words), and potentially vulner-
able to online predators, spammers, scammers and opportunists
with malevolent deceptive intentions. PM
Source: University of Wisconsin, Board of Regents.
Left: Anne Darwin, the wife of back-from-the-dead Briton John Darwin,
leaves Manchester Airport police station in 2007. Anne was detained on
her return from Panama, where she was tracked down after her husband
walked into a London police station, claiming to remember nothing since
he disappeared ve years earlier after an apparent canoeing accident.

Below left: Acclaimed British author and former politician Sir Jeffrey
Archer in 2012 during his South African book tour for Sins of the Father.
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@kwiens
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Opinion
There are certain sounds that I feel in my bone marrow: the
scraping of metal on metal, the death grind of misaligned gears,
the low clanking of an engine on the verge of failure. These are
the noises that have dened my life.
Im a tinkerer by inclination and a xer by profession. Ten years
ago, my university roommate and I founded iFixit, a free online
repair manual. We teach people how to repair the stuff they own,
in part because most of them have lost both the skill and the
inclination to repair. Fixing things is a dying art. This cultural lapse
is reinforced by societys celebration of ending over-mending. But
heres the thing: broken isnt a permanent state. Its a challenge,
as if entropy were issuing us a personal ultimatum: Fix this, or
its mine.
Challenge accepted. Just the other day, my Ridgid air
compressor started making an unfriendly racket. A bolt had
worked loose and was rattling around inside. I took the
compressor apart, shed out the renegade bolt and worked
it back into position. But I got a little too enthusiastic during
reassembly: I over-tightened a screw and snapped it in two.
It was only after I broke the air compressor that I bothered
to wonder if Ridgid provided service manuals or spare parts.
My experience in the repair industry has taught me to expect
neither. Thats because I specialise in repairing electronic
devices things like smartphones and laptops. I started out
repairing products made by Apple, a company that doesnt
exactly encourage customers to take their gadgets apart. In
fact, Apple uses proprietary screws to keep tinkerers out.
And where Apple leads, others follow. With the exception
of companies like Dell and Lenovo, most computer brands
have stopped releasing repair information or replacement
parts to the public.
Its the same story in the wider market. Twenty years ago,
replacement parts for things such as televisions and refriger-
ators were easy to come by. The corner mom-and-pop repair
shop could replace a capacitor or nd the replacement motor
you needed. Now those repair stores are almost all gone.
Many manufacturers have stopped supporting repair-minded
consumers.
When my air compressor broke, I just assumed that the
growing repair black hole had already swallowed up the
power-tool industry. I was wrong. Nearly all the major brands
of power tools have diagrams and replacement parts available
on their Web sites. I found the part I needed, and Ridgid
shipped it to me. My out-of-pocket expense: R130. I popped
the piece into place, ipped the switch and red up my air
compressor. Good as new.
I live for moments like that. I fought a battle and won. I
hear similar victory stories every day from people who used
iFixit guides to repair something they didnt think they could
university students who salvage coffee-soaked laptops,
mothers who rescue a broken iPod for their kids, soldiers
overseas who patch up their phones and can call home
again. Fixing something helps them reclaim their power
over technology, over consumerism, over helplessness.
Repairing our possessions is starting to make inroads
into popular culture again. In 2012, 86 per cent of voters
in Massachusetts, USA, passed a Right to Repair law that
requires motor manufacturers to give owners access to the
same diagnostic and repair information that authorised
repair facilities have. Last year, 114 322 Americans signed a
petition demanding that the White House legalise cellphone
unlocking. Legislation is now creaking through Congress,
and if our voices are loud enough, Americans just might
earn the right to tinker with their phones.
Making something whole again expresses what it means
to be human: a demonstration of our capacity to be resource-
ful, meet challenges and solve problems. Speaking of prob-
lems: that repaired air compressor? My brother loaded it
into the back of his truck and took off up a hill. The air
compressor rolled down the truck bed, through the tailgate
and on to the road. Its broken. Challenge accepted.
WHY WE FIX
By KYLE WIENS
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Kurman and Lipson
coauthored Fabricated:
The New World of 3D
Printing.
While browsing thingiverse.com, a
popular site for sharing design les
for 3D printing, youll see more than
50 downloadable digital blueprints for
everything Yoda, including cufinks, custom
key chains and plastic gurines. Perhaps
because the threat of revenue loss is so
minimal on a Star Wars cultural icon thats
been around for more than 35 years, Disney
(Yodas new master) has not yet tried to
prevent fans from 3D-printing their own
plastic versions of the companys copy-
righted, pointy-eared gnome.
Other media companies have not
been so pragmatic. When the Belgian
company Moulinsart discovered 3D printing designs
on thingiverse.com for the cartoon rocket of their
beloved character, Tintin, it asked the site owners to
take down the offending les. Last year, HBO sent
designer Fernando Sosa a Digital Millennium Copyright
Act takedown notice, insisting that Sosa stop selling
his 3D-printed Game of Thrones iPhone dock.
Tech-savvy people know that a 3D printer is a man-
ufacturing machine that creates physical objects by
layering raw material according to instructions from a
digital blueprint. The technology has been around for
decades, but in the past ve years, consumer 3D printers
have vaulted the process into the mainstream. Amid
the excitement, however, lurks concern over intellectual-
property rights as users gain the ability to produce
unauthorised copies of copyrighted, patented or
trademarked products.
The market research rm Gartner predicts that by 2018,
@melbakurman
@hodlipson
businesses will lose more than R1 trillion a year to 3D
printing-enabled IP theft. Weve covered the eld since
its inception, and we believe its highly unlikely that in the
next few years, markets will be ooded with counterfeit
3D-printed products. Heres why.
BITS VS ATOMS
Fifteen years ago, the music and media industries became
targets for IP disruption when digital media les replaced
compact discs and paper books. Unlike a CD, DVD or book,
digital les are easy to copy, and once consumers began
sharing content over the Internet, big-media companies
began bleeding revenue. Theres a world of difference,
however, between making a copy of an MP3 le and
making a copy of an object.
Despite ever-improving software, scanners and 3D printers,
its still challenging to print high-quality replicas of cheap,
mass-produced physical things. The process is ruled by the
laws of physics. Raw materials come into play. Tyrannies of
time and distance introduce cost and complexity to the process.
ITS A MULTI-MATERIAL WORLD
If you look around your home or ofce, youll notice most
of the things that surround you are made
of several kinds of materials. Even the
humble pencil consists of wood, metal,
rubber and a graphite-clay compound. It
will be years before a consumer-priced 3D
printer is capable of fabricating an object
composed of such different substances.
Because of this, materials limitations will
continue to have a dampening effect on
widespread 3D-printed counterfeiting.
SLOW MANUFACTURING
Even if multimaterial 3D printing becomes
affordable, theres another challenge: time.
3D printing is slow. It takes seconds, at
most, to copy a song, but hours to copy
even a simple plastic cup. Imagine a
counterfeiter from the future who buys
a multi-material 3D printer and sets up
a shadow factory.
She painstakingly prints copies of name-
brand products, puts her wares up for sale,
and learns a hard economic lesson: 3D-
printed items do not benet from econ-
omies of scale, which makes the process
an unattractive method for brazen piracy.
Few customers would opt to pay more for
a higher-priced, 3D-printed counterfeit
than for an identical name-brand original.
WHO WILL BE AFFECTED?
The companies that will struggle to com-
pete with 3D-printed knock-offs share
THE TRUTH
ABOUT
3D-PRINTING
PIRACY
BY MELBA KURMAN and
HOD LIPSON
3D-printed
items do not
beneft from
economies of
scale, which
make the
process an
unatractive
method for
brazen piracy.
Few consum-
ers opt to pay
more for a
counterfeit.
Melba Kurman is an author and
the founder of the technology con-
sulting frm Triple Helix Innovation.
Hod Lipson is a Cornell University
roboticist who won a 2007 PM
Breakthrough Award for Fab@Home,
a tabletop 3D-printer kit designed
for consumers.
two characteristics: their product
lines could be described as over-
priced plastic, and their prot
margins rely on vigorous IP enforce-
ment. In addition to the toy indus-
try, another such market segment
is the replacement car-part industry.
Big motor manufacturers control
that market by using design pat-
ents to block competitors from
making lower-cost generic versions
of bumpers and other parts.
Once 3D-printed generics be-
come available, its going to be
difcult for rights-owning com-
panies to convince customers to
pay their steeply marked-up pric-
es. Why spend R1 000 for a oor
mat when you could download
the design le and print out the
object on a home machine, or
pay a professional 3D-printing
service to do it for you for a
fraction of the price?
EMBRACE, DONT FIGHT IT
We predict that 3D-printing tech-
nologies will create new markets,
not gut prots from existing ones.
The toy company Hasbro recently
signed a partnership with 3D
Systems to co-develop a website
where children can design and
print their own custom plastic
Hasbro toys. Smart companies will
add value to existing products or
entice customers to pay a premium
to purchase authentic products that
come with a quality guarantee.
Wise companies will embrace
3D printing to enrich the users
experience, not embark on
quixotic IP battles against
their own customers.
James B Meigs is
the former editor-
in-chief of POPULAR
MECHANICS.
IN DEFENCE
OF JARGON
BY JAMES B MEIGS
Sticklers, grammarians and high school English teachers concur: jargon is the sworn enemy
of good communication. I disagree.
Some of the most interesting words in the English language started out as jargon. Take
scuttlebutt. Today it means gossip. But the roots of the word go back to the days of wooden
sailing ships, when the scuttlebutt was a barrel, or butt, with a hole, or scuttle, in the top.
One of these was located on deck and lled with water so sailors could stop and take a drink.
Like the water cooler in a modern ofce, the scuttlebutt became the place where the crew
loitered to grumble and gossip; hence the word.
Mariners in the days of sail used thousands of words and phrases that were specic to the
nautical world words such as bight, bobstay, bower, bunt (and those are just a few of the
bs). You could call those words jargon since most landlubbers would have found them
unintelligible but they were crucial to seafaring. If you were a jack tar heading up the
mizzen to reef a topgallant in a squall, your shipmates lives depended on your knowing
the name of every scrap of sail and rigging.
Some phrases loose cannon, even keel, ying colours eventually crossed over into every-
day speech, but most did not. The enemies of jargon would admonish those sailors not to
use their specialised vocabulary when talking to the rest of us. Its far better to use common-
place words that everyone will understand, advises Richard Branson, the Virgin Atlantic
airlines founder and erce critic of business jargon.
Hes right that some vernacular obfuscates more than it enlightens. But would a conversa-
tion with a 19th century mariner be more informative if he simply called every sort of ship a
boat, rather than its precise name: schooner, barque, frigate? The key to intelligibility isnt
avoiding a term, but explaining it. Who wouldnt enjoy learning that an East Indiaman was
a massive merchant ship plying the trade routes to Asia and armed just enough to ght off
the occasional pirate?
Almost every specialised eld develops this sort of private language. When pilots talk to
air trafc control or engineers confer over a CAD le, the acronyms and technical shorthand
are usually too thick for civilians to follow. But this lingo helps get difcult jobs done quickly
and precisely. The jargon of any eld engineering, aviation, business can be fascinating
once you understand it. Those words are windows into a complex and demanding world.
Part of the appeal of reading a magazine like POPULAR MECHANICS is learning the vocabulary
involved in all the elds we cover. Im not a pilot, but I love knowing that VFR means Visual
Flight Rules (in other words, clear weather and no navigation instruments required) and that a
ight designated heavy is a wide-body aircraft likely to leave dangerous turbulence in its wake.
You dont really know any eld well until youve mastered its shoptalk. Take woodworking.
Some words, like dovetail and veneer, long ago passed into common usage. Others might seem
obscure to the general public but are steeped in history to initiates in the sawdust cult. A kerf
(the gap made by a saw) comes from the Old English cyrf, or cutting. A dado (a rectangular
slot used in joinery) derives from the Latin word datum, or starting point.
Those Romans were great builders of infrastructure and vocabulary. Our word plumbing
comes from the Latin plumbum, or lead, the malleable metal Romans used to create the rst
pipes. And we can check that something weve built is plumb vertical by using a plumb line,
a small chunk of lead tied to a string.
Technology, from the earliest stone tool to the latest microchip, has demanded that we
invent new words, forcing us to expand the capabilities of our language. The vocabulary of
our digital age terms like bandwidth, download and open source will no doubt enrich
our language into the future. Rather than banish these words, I say embrace them. Humans
are a technological species. These words help make us who we are. PM
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JULY 2014
YOUR TWEETS
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Weve seen the electric bicycle in many shapes
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COMPETITIONS
diy Home
BY PETER ALKEMA / / PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUG PLACE, PETER ALKEMA
left and installed a drawer on the right to
hold a socket spanner set, but these are
optional and can be omitted if preferred.
WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY
NEXT TIME
I used solid pine for the bottom shelves,
but thick plywood also works and is
much cheaper, which helps if you are on
a tight budget. The illustrations in this
chapter show a version with a plywood
bottom shelf while the photos show the
solid pine version that I actually built.
You should fasten the back of the work
surface to the wall, but for extra rigidity
you can also fasten the lower portions of
the three back legs. This will require simple
right-angle brackets mounted with wood
screws to the legs, and masonry screws
and plugs to fasten on to the wall. A sec-
ond storage shelf would also be useful;
place it halfway down and make it half
the width of the bottom shelf.
STEP BY STEP
MAKE THE LEG ASSEMBLIES
1 Lay out three of the legs (E x 3) in the
conguration of the leg assembly and
mark the position of the bottom shelf
support (C).
TIP: As shown in the photograph, use a
try square to measure accurately from
the base of the legs.
A RUGGED, VERSATILE YET EASY-TO-BUILD
WORKSHOP UPGRADE

Cutting list and materials
Part Quantity Thickness Width Length
A Work surface 3 45 mm 220 mm 2080 mm
B Bottom shelves 2 20 mm 660 mm 935 mm
C Bottom shelf supports 4 35 mm 35 mm 660 mm
D Work surface supports 3 45 mm 70 mm 660 mm
E Legs 9 70 mm 70 mm 900 mm

Project information
Overall dimensions 2 080 mm long x
660 mm wide x
990 mm high
Number of parts 21
Special equipment None
Techniques Basic assembly
Difculty Easy
Duration 4 hours
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
An important aspect of any work surface
is ergonomics, and how you will be posi-
tioned when you use it. As a rule, work-
benches are for standing next to while
desks are lower because we sit at them in
one position for longer periods. To get
the right height for my requirements, I
built this workbench with a higher work
surface than I needed and trimmed off
the legs until it was comfortable to stand
at for long periods of time.
However, there are some tasks that will
require sitting at the workbench, such as
using the scroll saw, soldering and model
work, in which case an ordinary stool will
be useful to sit on while working. If you
are sitting, you can rest your feet on the
lower surface of the workbench, which is
also useful for storage of larger tools and
materials. I mounted a bench vice on the
Every home needs a DIY area, no matter
how much is done around the house or
what size projects are tackled. Whether
youre an expert craftsman, a weekend
hobbyist or a busy dad with some hand
tools, a suitable work surface and basic
storage will be needed. The dining room
table isnt a good idea as the jigsaw blades
tend to get mixed up in the childrens
cornakes, and jars of nails just dont go
with the dcor.
In a previous workshop, I had limited
space, so I designed this workbench to
take up the full width of the small room
I was using. Later, when I had a larger
workshop, I set it up as a freestanding
bench and again it proved useful for all
types of DIY requirements. You will nd
this workbench a welcome addition to
your garage or workshop and you can
make it in just a few hours.
Build a
WORKBENCH
Workbench design used with kind permission of Handyman Club of America, owned by North American Membership Group, Inc (www.handymanclub.com)
2 Fasten the bottom shelf support (C)
to the bottom of the legs (E x 3) in the
marked position, using a power drill and
two cut screws for each joint, as shown
in the photograph. Repeat these two
steps for all three leg assemblies.
3 Take one of the leg assemblies and fas-
ten another bottom shelf support (C) to
the opposite side using cut screws and a
power drill, as shown in the photograph.
This will be the leg assembly in the mid-
dle of the length of the bench, which has
a bottom shelf support on both sides.
4 On the underside of one of the work
surface supports (D), measure and mark
off the position of the top of the middle
leg (E) using a steel ruler and carpenters
pencil.
TIP: The outer legs of each assembly will
be positioned at the ends of the work
surface support so their position does not
need to be marked off.
DI Y HOME / BUI L D A WORKBE NC H

ASSEMBLY
DIAGRAM

SIDE VIEW OF COMPLETED
WORKBENCH
10 Move the assembly away
from the wall and clamp the
work surface boards (A x 3)
to each other along the
width of the assembled work
surface, using sash clamps.
This will ensure a tight t
and improve the integrity
and strength of the work sur-
face. In the clamped position,
fasten the work surface
boards (A x 3) with cut
screws using a power drill to
fasten along the top of the
three leg assemblies, as
shown in the photograph.
9 Starting at the back, successively posi-
tion the work surface boards (A x 3) on
the top of the work surface supports
(D x 3), as shown in the photograph.
TIP: Ensure that major knots in the
surface or corners of the wood are on
the underside as they will weaken and
erode the top surface after prolonged
usage.
660 mm
9
9
0

m
m
7
4
5

m
m
8 Place each of the bottom shelves (B x
2) on the bottom shelf supports (C x 4)
and fasten down with cut screws along
all adjoining sides.
TIP: Accuracy and aesthetics are not
important for constructing the work-
bench, but its still good practice to use
pilot holes and space the cut screws
evenly as this strengthens the joint.
ASSEMBLE THE
WORKBENCH
7 Choose the desired
position of the work-
bench and place the three
leg assemblies against the
wall, as shown. The spac-
ing between them must
be equivalent to that of
the length of the bottom
shelves (B).
TIP: Ensure that the back
legs are ush against the
wall and compensate for
an uneven oor with
wedges under any of the
legs (E), as needed.
5 Position, clamp and fasten the outer
legs (E x 2) to complete the rst leg
assembly. Repeat the whole process for
the other two leg assemblies.
6 The three leg assemblies, as shown in
the photograph, are now complete. Line
them up and check that they are the
same height, width and construction
since they form the main structure of the
workbench and need to be well built.
2080 mm
935 mm
70 mm
6
6
0

m
m
2
2
5

m
m
DI Y HOME / BUI L D A WORKBE NC H
OPTIONAL: mount a bench vice
11 Drill the required holes in the workbench to accommodate
the mounting bolts for the bench vice you wish to install. The
position and size of the bolts will vary depending on the size and
make of your bench vice. For this vice, I chose to countersink the
holes so that the head of the bolt does not protrude above the
work surface.
TIP: Generally, the vice goes on the side of the workbench which
corresponds to your strongest hand, which would have been the
right-hand side for me. The reason for this is that you would use
this hand to tighten the vice; however, I prefer to use my strong-
est hand to position the work piece in the vice, which means the
vice must be mounted on the left-hand side. Your needs may vary
and you can always move the vice later on if required.
12 The bench vice in the photograph required four bolts in the
positions shown. Mount it using a spanner and socket wrench and
ensure the nuts and bolts are tightened well to withstand strenuous
clamping. If the vice is new, you will need to mount small boards
on each of the inside clamping faces of the vice. Use small bolts in
the holes provided and ensure that these bolts are countersunk.

BOTTOM VIEW OF WORKBENCH
OPTIONAL: install a drawer
13 I also mounted a drawer underneath the work
surface on the right-hand side of the workbench.
This photograph is taken from underneath the
work surface and shows the back of the drawer, as
well as one of the wooden side brackets on which
the drawer railings were mounted.
14 I tted a socket spanner set inside the drawer
for handy access when using the workbench.
Although the set is good quality, the case in which
it is packed does not keep the different compo-
nents in place when it is moved around. Now that
the case is xed in place and conveniently located,
I can quickly access any component I need. PM
In the photograph above, note the two small boards mounted on each of
the inside clamping faces.
Extracted from
Woodworking for
Everyone, by Peter
Alkema. Published
by Struik Lifestyle
and available from all
good booksellers.
Visit www.woodwork
ingbook.co.za PM
BY ROY BERENDSOHN
The circular saw
increasing torque output. The
design also puts the blade to
the left of the saw body,
improving the right-handed
users visibility of the cut line.
For Pete, the Skil was
breakthrough technology.
He had already built a house,
sold it, and used the proceeds
to build a larger one. He sawed
every stick of timber in that
rst house by hand. But the
second time around, the build-
ing department required that
the end of every oor joist be
cut at a sloping angle. Called
a re cut, this prevents burn-
ing and collapsing oor joists
from pulling down outer brick
walls. My father-in-law hung
up his handsaw, tied on his
canvas nail apron, picked up
the Skil, and never looked
back. Recalling that house,
Pete said, That was a lot of
cuts. If ever there was an
understatement in the annals
of owner-built housing, that
was it.
Despite the revelation
that the old Skil turned out
to be, it was no picnic to use.
Think about this: the fact
that a slippery, uncomforta-
ble, loud and heavy tool
its about 8 kilograms of
motor and steel was still
a labour-saving device tells
you how difcult it is to cut
a houses worth of timber
with a handsaw.
The worm-gear Skil saw
that I own is essentially the
same version as Petes. Not
to outdo my late father-in-
law, but my Skil is somewhat
smaller and has a higher pow-
er-to-weight ratio than his
because its over 1,3 kg lighter.
This also makes it less tiring to
operate. With it, Ive cut timber
for construction projects and
made forms for pouring con-
crete. Ive even used it to
build a boat.
Skil still produces a Chinese-
made version of its grand old
saw, and a few years ago, the
company celebrated the 75th
anniversary of the tool. Ironic-
ally, the marketing campaign
hinged on the catchphrase
The Saw That Built America.
As for Petes saw, my brother-
in-law Dave now owns it. He
reports that in the midst of a
recent project, its trigger switch
went kaput. Maybe 60 years
on one power tool is enough.
Maybe. On the other hand, I
dont think the saw is ready
to retire. Well look around
for a new switch and get back
to you in another 40 years or
so. Pete Peterson would
approve. PM
ood man. You dont hear people say
that much any more. On the rare
occasions when they do, its as if they
are deliberately being old-fashioned.
It seems we cant speak from the
heart the way we once did.
At the centre of Petes
projects was a gigantic 1950s
Skil circular saw, the very
embodiment of the American
power tool. Introduced by the
company in 1924, the saw is
known as a worm-gear type.
It makes use of a heavy, spiral
steel worm on the end of
its motor shaft, which spins a
worm gear below it. The out-
put from that gear drives the
blade. The bulky arrangement
does a remarkably good job
of reducing motor speed and
Which brings me to Louis
Peterson, a man for whom
that was a particularly apt
description. An industrial
engineer, Navy man and World
War II veteran, he was also a
self-taught carpenter, and a
ne one at that. Pete, as he
was called, built the house
where he and his wife, Beatrice,
raised their seven children,
whom they had in orderly
boy-girl-boy-girl fashion.
No 6 grew up and married
me. Thats how I met Pete.
I
L
L
U
S
T
R
A
T
I
O
N

B
Y

R
Y
A
N

I
N
Z
A
N
A
ODE TO . . .
HOME
SATURDAY ME C HANI C
A whine like an empty ice machine when you
turn the steering wheel, especially at low speed.
Worst-case scenario: Failing power-steering pump.
SIX CAR
SOUNDS YOU
SHOULDNT
IGNORE
DONT JUST TURN UP THE RADIO
TO DROWN OUT THE NOISE. HERE
ARE THE HOWLS, SCREECHES
AND GROANS THAT DEMAND
PROMPT ATTENTION.
BY MURI LEE MARTI N
1
I
L
L
U
S
T
R
A
T
I
O
N
S

B
Y

R
U
I

R
I
C
A
R
D
O
A diesel-like
clattering in your
petrol-powered car.
Worst-case scenario:
Detonation, also known as
pinging or knock.
Bad stuff that can happen:
Damage to spark plug elec-
trode, pistons/piston rings,
and/or knock sensor. Why:
Things such as contaminat-
ed petrol or incorrect igni-
tion timing cause the fuel
to go boom too early. If left
unchecked, you risk serious engine damage. What to do:
Switch to higher-octane fuel, which resists detonation,
and check the timing.
2
Questlove drumming underneath
your rear-drive car when its moving,
increasing with vehicle (not engine)
speed.
Worst-case scenario: Failing universal joint or
driveshaft bushing. Bad stuff that can happen:
U-joint fails completely, driveshaft digs into
pavement, and the car pole-vaults and crashes.
Why: Both the U-joint and bushings simply
wear out. The noise comes from the driveshaft
opping around like an ailing sh. What to
do: Inspect the driveshaft for worn or broken
parts, replace them, or get to a mechanic.
4
A million ngernails scraping on a chalkboard
when you start up the engine or accelerate from a
stop, often during winter.
Worst-case scenario: Loose accessory drive belt. Bad stuff that
can happen: Your enraged neighbours will kill you. Why: The
belt is slipping on the pulleys, either due to age and wear, or
improper tension. What to do: Inspect the belt for minor
cracks or fraying. Replace as needed.
Sharp tapping like
a clunky washing
machine, increasing with
engine revs.
Connecting-rod knock.
Broken rod blasts hole
through the engine block;
metal parts and aming oil
shoot out. Why: Usually a
failure of a rod bearing due
to oil starvation. What to
do: Stop driving immediately.
If caught early, the bearing
can be replaced.
Grinding metal
think train going
around a bend or brak-
ing to slow down as it
pulls into a station.
Brake pad or shoe material
completely gone.
Destroyed brake rotors or
drums. Car may pull to one
side under braking and pos-
sibly crash. Why: Brake pads
should make a squeal when
the pad has worn down to
the danger zone. But some-
times we dont notice this
sound. What to do: Fix the
brakes.
Loss of steering assistance.
Why: Low power-steering
uid or a pump groaning
to death. What to do:
Check the uid level, top
off as needed, and get
ready to buy a new pump.
PM
3
6
5
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011 449 1100 or email: popbuyersguide@ramsaymedia.co.za
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RESERVATION OF COPYRIGHT
The publishers of POPULAR MECHANICS reserve all rights of reproduction or broadcasting of feature articles and factual data appearing in this journal under Section 12 (7) of the Copyright
Act, 1978. Such reproduction or broadcasting may be authorised only by the publishers of POPULAR MECHANICS. Published by RamsayMedia Pty Ltd for the Proprietors, POPULAR MECHANICS (SA)
Pty Ltd, Uitvlugt, Howard Drive, Pinelands, Western Cape. Distributed by RNA, 12 Nobel St, Industria West, Johannesburg, and printed by CTP Gravure, 19-21 Joyner Road, Prospecton,
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SEND US
YOUR HINT
AND SCORE!
Vacuum design 101
Recently, the vacuum hose broke on my
old wet and dry vacuum cleaner. After
struggling to nd a replacement hose, I
decided to try something else. I cut out
the old tting and took it to my local
hardware shop, which stocks a range of
Send us your best home, garage, work-
shop and general DIY hints and win!
This months best tip wins a Makita
compact router/trimmer kit worth
R3 569. Powered by a 710 W motor
that delivers 10 000 to 30 000 r/min,
this an awesome tool to add to your
woodworking arsenal. Light and com-
pact, it features variable speed control,
three bases, and accessories that allow
you to match the tool to your applica-
tion. For further information on Makita
power tools, visit www.makita.co.za
Send your tips to:
PM Do It Your Way, Box 180, Howard
Place 7450, or e-mail popularmechanics
@ramsaymedia.co.za Please include your
name, address and contact number.
Regrettably, only South African residents
are eligible for the prize. Prizes not
claimed within 60 days will be forfeited.
Unused phone chargers?
Most of us have those unused mobile
phone chargers lying about the house,
and they should be put to work. Rather
than toss them, recycle the chargers and
save on the cost of batteries by using
them to power mini-whisks and other
small kitchen appliances.
HERMAN COETZEE
PORT ELIZABETH
DO I T YOUR WAY / US E F UL , C L EVE R T I P S F OR YOUR HOME
WINNING TIP
A BETTER MOUSETRAP?
Im not sure if this falls into the category of
DIY hints, but it was an interesting project
and could be of use to your readers. My
wife and I live on the edge of a wetland
and have some unusual creatures that nd
their way into our house. We are reluctant
to kill them as we can return them to the
wetland, and this is normally easy to do,
but when the mice arrived, I decided to
make a humane trap.
The box is constructed from melamine
offcuts nailed together, with a spring-
loaded door and very basic electronics
running off a 12-volt DC supply. The mouse smells the peanut butter and bread
bait at the back of the trap and walks in. Near the back of the trap, he interrupts
an infrared beam that energises a solenoid, releasing the spring-loaded door.
Over one week, we caught nine mice in the trap.
RODGER DALTON
FISH HOEK
W
I
N
Make your mark
The ability to drill holes is a common
requirement of modern relationships.
Marking the desired spot is easy when
you can use a pen or pencil on a
light-coloured wall, but darker sur-
faces require different treatment.
My tip: use correction uid to paint
a dot through the hole of the item
to be hung.
DRIES CORNELIUS
CENTURION
good-quality pool cleaner hoses. I found
that most types of pool cleaner hoses are
just the right size, and bought a brand
with a twist and lock system.
Back home, I cut the female section off
the new hose and glued it to the vacuum
cleaner attachment. It tted securely and
I did not need the pipe tting for extra
support. Using a carpet knife, I carefully
removed the broken piece of pipe from
the socket that screws on to the vacuum
cleaner drum; then screwed the pool hose
into the socket. To be safe, I also glued
the pipe to the socket. I then had a short
hose that could be attached to the attach-
ment holder, so I am now in a position to
decide how long a hose I want to use. It
works beautifully, and my vacuum cleaner
is now working as it should have been in
the rst place.
CHARLES CLASSEN
RANDBURG
* Recommended retail price. SA only. E & OE. R75 for your country specific monthly fee applicable.
HD channels and DStv Catch Up only available to DStv Premium subscribers. BoxOffice only
available to DStv Extra & DStv Premium subscribers. Terms & Conditions apply.
A Good Day to Die Hard, M-Net Action + Channel 106
The bigger Catch Up selection on the DStv Explora means
I never have to miss my favourite shows.
I can catch up on not only Movies, but also Series, Sports Highlights
and Documentaries. It even has shows for the kids too. All these amazing
features help me make sure that my little girl always comes first.
Now we'll never have to put life on hold.
DStv Explora R2499*
(Excludes dish and installation)
www.dstv.com/Explora
J
H
B

4
6
3
4
4
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O
J
A
s

s
e
e
n

o
n

D
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t
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Bruce Willis can wait.
This moment belongs to my daughter
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Popular Mechanics - July 2014 ZA

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