Popular Science - October 2014.pdf

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CHASING
EVEL KNIEVEL
DAREDEVILS, ROCKETS, AND A CANYON.
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
W
I
TH
ARTIFIC
I
A
N
DEF END
YO U R
HO ME
TE
S
O
C
IA
L
S
E
LF
-A
W
A
R
E
L
O CTOBER
2014
E
DRIVERLESS
HOW THE AUTOMOBILE IS BECOMING MORE THAN JUST A VEHICLE
PEOPLE ARE
GULLIBLE.
MACHINES
ARE SMART.
THAT’S A
PROBLEM.
BLASTING
SPACE ROCKS
WITH A
WARHEAD —
IT’S SCIENCE!
I
LLIGEN
C
THE
FUTURE
OF THE
EFFICIENT
CAR
The new McLaren
P1 is a hybrid
supercar.
C
O
N
N
E
C
T
E
D
13TH ANNUAL
BR IL LIA NT
TE N
AWARDS
Meet the brightest young
minds shaping tomorrow
PROMOTION
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POPULAR SCIENCE
FEED
Volume 285 No.4
CONTENTS
10.2014
FE AT UR ES
THE DEVILS
AND THE DEEP
BLUE SKY
PAG E
Forty years after Evel
Knievel’s failed attempt
to jump the Snake River Canyon,
a handful of stuntmen are aiming
to re-create the daredevil’s
legendary feat.
JA M E S VLA H O S
62
38
THE CAR DISRUPTED
The 10 technologies, people, and
ideas that are transforming the
automobile.
M AT TH E W D E PAULA
48
LAB AT THE BOTTOM OF
THE WORLD
Some of the planet’s most
important science happens during
the short Antarctic summer. These
six experiments could change our
view of the world.
E LBE R T CH U
50
DE PA RTMENTS
FEE D
06
From the Editor
08
Peer Review
10
A Bit About Us
SP ORTS IL LU ST RATE D / G E TTY IM AG ES
N OW
13
A simple, smart
home security
device
17
Ten things
we love this month
18
Tracing the his-
tory of innovation—
through sneakers
20
Lighter hockey gear
for faster sprints
22
A user’s guide to
fitness trackers
24
A maintenance-free
bike for the masses
25
The fastest
high-speed camera
money can buy
N EX T
27
An icebreaker for
polar research
28
Surgeries that put
basketball players
back on the court
30
Unsavory news for
trick-or-treaters
32
How tweets save
lives
34
An asteroid-
blasting space
mission
36
Artificial
intelligence needs
smarter standards
M A NUAL
71
Make your jack-o’-
lantern extra spooky
with a tiny smoke
machine
75
Turn
household items
into hurricane-
survival tools
76
How duct tape
saved the Apollo 13
astronauts
77
A shoebox projector
for a shoestring
budget
END MATTER
78
Ask Us Anything:
Can you get PTSD
from a virtual ex-
perience?
90
From
the Archives
UP IN THE AIR
High-altitude wind contains enough
energy to power the planet. Boston
start-up Altaeros plans to be the
first to harness it.
E R IK S O FG E
54
THE BRILLIANT TEN
For the 13th year running,
Popular
Science
honors the brightest minds
in science and engineering.
VE RO N I QU E G RE E N WO O D A N D
CA S SA N D RA W ILLYA RD
For daily
updates:
facebook.com/
popsci
+
+
++
+
ON THE COVER
The McLaren P1 is a hybrid high-performance supercar.
Photo courtesy McLaren Automotive
P O P U L AR S CI ENC E
/
0 05
F E E D
/
O C TOB E R 2 01 4
From the Editor
Disruption
Comes in Cycles
In the spring of 1893,
the city of Chicago hosted the
World’s Columbian Exposition, better known as the
Chicago World’s Fair. For a young nation, the event
served as a coming out party, proof that American
innovation was equal to any. Tesla, Westinghouse,
and Edison were there, demonstrating the virtues of
electricity. The Ferris wheel made its debut, as did the
motorized walkway, the dishwasher, and even Cracker
Jacks (for better or worse).
Popular Science,
which was
there, called the exposition “the utmost achievement of
the kind the world has beheld. ”
Admittedly, that was probably
an overstatement. Nonetheless,
among the many marvels that
caused us to gush was a funny
little contraption called the Mor-
rison Electric. Patented just two
years before, it was one of the
first American electric cars. It
topped out at about 20 mph and
had limited range, but it would
have unforeseen consequences.
At the time, automobiles were
relatively new. Carl Benz had
just introduced his internal
combustion–powered car eight
years before. But electric vehicles
were quieter, cleaner, and in many
ways superior. Within four years,
electric taxis were competing
with horse-drawn carriages in
New York and London. By 1900,
38 percent of the cars on the road
were battery-powered (40 percent
were steam and only 22 percent
gasoline). The future of the car, it
seemed, was electric.
Then everything changed. In
1908, Henry Ford launched the
Model T and a few years later,
Charles Kettering invented the
electric starter, so drivers no
longer had to crank-start gasoline
engines. Roads improved, fuel
became easier to find, and people
discovered the joy of motoring
long distances. Within a decade,
electric all but disappeared.
For more than 70 years, the
internal combustion–powered
car reigned supreme. Efficiency,
horsepower, braking, and aero-
dynamics all improved, but the
car, in essence, remained the
same: a gasoline- or diesel-
propelled vehicle meant to deliver
people from point A to point B.
If history teaches us anything,
it’s that dominant technologies
only persist for so long. Even-
tually, disruptive ones arise to
challenge them. Such is the state
of the car. Unlike at anytime in
the past century, automakers
are questioning the very nature
of vehicles. They are launching
unprecedented numbers of alter-
native powertrains. They are giv-
ing automobiles intelligence and
social aptitude. They are training
cars to drive themselves.
Our mission at
Popular
Science—as
it’s been since the
Columbian Exposition and
before—is to identify and explain
disruptive technologies. That
makes us particularly well posi-
tioned to talk about automobiles
right now. Our cover story, “The
Car Disrupted,” highlights the
technologies, people, and ideas
transforming vehicles today.
Just as in the era of the Morrison
Electric, some of those ideas will
endure. Most will disappear. But
the car will never be the same.
Enjoy the issue.
Cliff Ransom
Editor in Chief
Contributors
MATTHEW DE PAULA
“The car has been taking baby
steps for decades, basically
since its invention,” says our auto
columnist Matthew de Paula. “And
now we’re on the cusp of really
big changes.” He would know:
de Paula travels the world to test
the latest models. In “The Car
Disrupted” (page 38), de Paula
explored the worlds of engineer-
ing, information design, software
development, and manufacturing
to identify the forces shaping the
future of the automobile.
VERONIQUE GREENWOOD
For the second year, Veronique
Greenwood was asked to identify
the year’s most influential young
scientists and engineers for “The
Brilliant Ten” (page 54). For four
months, Greenwood and her
co-author, Cassandra Willyard,
vetted candidates in fields as
disparate as palentology and
nanophysics to arrive at the final
honorees. Despite their tender
ages, Greenwood says, “everyone
in their field is looking at them to
see what’s coming next.”
JAMES VLAHOS
As a kid, contributing editor James
Vlahos used to scream down hills
on his dirt bike, pretending he was
Evel Knievel. But it wasn’t until
reporting “The Devils and the
Deep Blue Sky” (page 62), that
he came to understand the dare-
devil’s true impact. Vlahos tagged
along with stuntmen determined
to successfully jump over Idaho’s
Snake River Canyon. “It’s a crazy
and dangerous thing to do—which
makes the stunt perfectly in the
spirit of Knievel,” he says.
SOPHIE BUSHWICK
This month, projects editor Sophie
Bushwick transformed an elec-
tronic cigarette into a miniature
smoke machine. “It’s really satis-
fying when an object ends up doing
something so far from its intended
purpose,” she says. Granted, it
takes some work to make that
happen. Bushwick had to visit a
local vape shop and improvise
with hot glue and a needle.
To try it yourself, read “Create
a Smoking Pumpkin with an
E-Cigarette” (page 71).
006
/
PO PUL A R S C IE NC E
RA NSO M : M AR I US B U GG E ; CO URTESY C ON TR IB UTORS ; BUSH W ICK : DAN BR ACAG L IA
Out-cleans
the 5 big boys.
In independent floorcare tests, the new
DC59 Motorhead vacuum out-cleans
the top five best-selling full-size vacuums
across carpets and hard floors. Without
the hassle of a cord.*
dyson.com/nocord
* Tested against upright market, dust loaded, using ASTM F608, ASTM F2607,
IEC 60312-1 5.2, 5.9. Using competitor NPD sales volume data, MAT April 2014.

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