Popular Mechanics South Africa

THE PROCESS OF PUTTING together this issue of POPULAR MECHANICS and sending it off to the printer has been bittersweet. Since being appointed editor of this fine publication, back in 2018, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed creating every single issue. I’ve lea

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the most recent November/December issue. I was particularly impressed with the diverse mix of features, from the ‘How your world works’ short articles up front (the report on autonomous drones felt all too relevant, with

21 Exciting New Sports Planes You Can Build The cover of this issue, a little more than 40 years ago, showed an eye-catching half-size replica of a WWII P-47 Thunderbolt. In addition to describing the build project of this plane, the accompanying art

THE FUTURE IS nothing like we predicted… If we’re honest with ourselves, science fiction has given us a lot of baggage. Just consider for a moment Arthur C Clarke’s brilliant novel (and the movie adaptation), 2001: A Space Odyssey. There we read abou

SCIENTISTS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY have created the world’s smallest microchip, which can be implanted into the body and may eventually be able to detect medical conditions such as strokes. The chips, called motes, are the size of dust mites, measurin

TIDAL FLOODS CAN SHUT DOWN HIGHWAYS, turn parking lots into lakes, and spread runoff from overwhelmed sewage systems. And while they’ve been more common to low-lying US East Coast cities like Miami or Charleston, South Carolina, coastal towns that ha

ENCRYPTION – THE PROCESS OF SENDING A scrambled message that only the intended recipient’s device can decode – allows private and public sectors alike to safeguard information. Traditional encryption uses schemes based on complex mathematics such as

SAVE UP TO 33% 12 ISSUES FOR ONLY R399 SIMPLY CONTACT US AND QUOTE 22/12/GEN/GTA hmshop.co.za subscribe@hsm.co.za 087 550 0329 TERMS AND CONDITIONS: This offer is valid until 30 December 2022 and applies to print subscribers with a South African addr

FOURTEEN YEARS AFTER DUBBING ITS most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever developed ‘the Mother of All Bombs’ (MOAB), the US military finally found an opportunity to test the ordnance on the battlefield. In April 2017, intelligence officials had located

ADECADES-LONG QUEST TO FIND quasicrystals – a crystal-like material with a seemingly impossible structure – has led researchers to an unlikely location: the site of the Trinity test, the first atomic bomb blast. When the US military detonated a pluto

FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE’VE OBSERVED A 50-YEAR-OLD theorem from Stephen Hawking in the natural world. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and Stony Brook University an

THE WORLD’S LARGEST AND MOST POWERFUL magnet, the ‘Central Solenoid’, is finally here – or at least, the first piece of it is. Fully assembled, it will be 18 m tall, 4 m wide, and weigh about 910 metric tons, meaning the decade-in-the-making magnet w

AS A FAN OF MOTORSPORT, I’M ALWAYS fascinated with the finer details that go into Formula One racing. Piloting the fastest racing cars on the planet subjects drivers to savage forces – up to 6 G’s under braking – which has led to an almost endless pu

WHEN IT COMES to camping in comfort, Thule has created stylish roof-top tent products in the shape of the Basin and the Basin Wedge. Not only are these tents extremely easy to set up, and functional, but they also look very good, not at all detractin

Eric Lindner’s book Tiger in the Sea: The Ditching of Flying Tiger 923 and the Desperate Struggle for Survival tells the story of pilot John Murray’s 1962 lifesaving ‘ditch’ of an L-1049H Super Constellation in the North Atlantic Ocean. The barely co

IN 2018, BRENT UNDERWOOD SUBMITTED A WINNING $1.4 MILLION BID on a network of dried-up silver mines in Southern California. The property includes 336 acres (136 ha) of high-desert terrain and the remains of a mining boomtown called Cerro Gordo, or ‘F

THE RICH REBUILDS TEAM HAD A DEAD MODELS. THEY FIXED IT WITH A CAMARO ENGINE. SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME, WE’VE WANTED TO DISPLAY A FEATURED CAR AT SEMA. THE SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT Market Association trade show in Las Vegas is extravagant, it is inspiring,

THE HEART OF NASA’S SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM ARRIVED AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER LAST APRIL AS THE AGENCY’S FIRST HUMAN-RATED DEEP SPACE ROCKET IN 50 YEARS. The 65 m core stage rocket, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, and the Orion crew module larg

THE HUMBLE BENCH GRINDER IS A STAPLE of the handyworker’s home shop, largely due to its versatility. But, while you can employ one to remove metal from just about anything, the traditional kind may not provide the precision you need for every grindin

AS NEW TECH SHRINKS EACH YEAR, essential ports such as USB-A, HDMI, and ethernet are being replaced by the slimmer USB-C. A hub (often referred to as a dongle) is a small, port-laden gadget that plugs into a single USB-C slot on devices such as lapto

Many backyard gardeners start their plants indoors in late winter or early spring, before the weather is warm. But the best way to jump-start plants for spring gardening and also extend the growing season into winter is with a backyard greenhouse. Ou

I’VE SAID IT before and I’ll say it again – there’s something special about the look of all Mazda models in recent years. And the CX-5 is no different. Nothing is out of place – from the bullnose grille through to the rear fender, it’s well balanced,

VOLKSWAGEN’S NEW TAIGO is a handsome car if ever we’ve seen one. Exterior aesthetics is certainly something this German carmaker gets right more often than not, and this compact SUV is sure to garner a lot of attention with its sleek curves and well-

A FEW MONTHS ago a $2 billion lottery jackpot was won in the United States. It’s fun to sometimes ponder outrageous winnings like that, and how I’d spend it, even if it’s completely detached from reality. Well, this Discovery would be on my shopping

In the last six decades, more than 600 astronauts have travelled into SPACE. Surgical equipment is one of the top exports of Sialkot, Pakistan, but that’s not the only thing the city mass-produces. Sialkot alone manufactures 70 per cent of the world’

TEXT: MARK SAMUEL; PHOTOGRAPHY: NASA, NOAA PHOTO LIBRARY, PUBLIC DOMAIN, UNSPLASH, US NAVY ■