Innehållsförteckning för March 2020 från Popular Mechanics

JENNIFER LEMAN News Editor Never met a volcano I didn’t like. Baking Hack To keep baked treats like cookies, brownies, or cake from going stale, I pop a piece of bread in the container. It works every time. Favorite App I just downloaded the Flyover Country app. You set your route and then download a geo-logic guide that explores the features you’ll see 35,000 feet below. CURRENT PASSION PROJECT This summer, I worked part-time as a fry cook at Fancy Nancy restaurant in Brooklyn. I absolutely loved it, and aim to bring that energy into my own kitchen. Lately, I’ve been toying with Ramen recipes. The Best Money I Ever Spent I attended a volcanology field camp in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula in 2017. Standing on the precipice of an active…

PHYSICISTS HAVE LONG struggled with a perplexing conundrum: Why do tiny particles such as atoms, photons, and electrons behave in ways that bacteria, bees, and bowling balls do not? In a phenomenon called quantum superposition, for example, individual units (say, of light) exist in two states at once. They are both waves and particles, only settling on one or the other if you specifically test for it. This is not something that will happen to an object like your desk. It won’t turn solid when you set your coffee cup on it, or liquid if you try to drink it. Superposition has only been observed in the smallest units of matter, which made physicist Markus Arndt of the University of Vienna curious about where the line is. Does quantum weirdness…

Sure, the Ohmic method saves energy—but just exactly how much? We tapped Sudhir Sastry, Ph.D., professor of food engineering at the Ohio State University, to crunch the numbers on how much energy Ohmic heating saves as opposed to using a conventional oven to bake a loaf of gluten-free bread. OHMIC HEATING ENERGY NEEDED PER LOAF: 280 KJ EQUIVALENT TO POWERING A 100W LIGHT BULB FOR 45 MIN VS HOME OVEN ENERGY NEEDED PERLOAF: 6,210 KJ EQUIVALENT TO POWERING A 100W LIGHT BULB FOR 17 HRS 15 MIN…

TIKTOK HAS YOUR children’s home addresses. The Face-App has your photo and the ability to predict what you’ll look like over the course of your life. Your hotel check-in app shows your travel destinations, room preferences, and upcoming stays. This might not seem like a big deal, but all of this data could be allowing other nations to attack the security of Americans through geotargeting, facial recognition, and pattern projection. A smartphone has the potential to be a more useful weapon than a missile. According to NPR, some foreign nations, such as Saudi Arabia, use information shared across apps to identify dissidents and potential spies or to hack into computers. Additionally, the data collected through apps can be used to create psychographic models—groupings of people based on their shared psychological…

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN fascinated with airplanes. I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, where there were barely any roads. The main road out of our area wasn’t paved, and during the rainy season it would become flooded and muddy. When my sisters and I walked along the flooded road to school, I’d see airplanes flying above us. I’d be envious of whoever was in the plane because we were down on the ground, walking in mud. My family moved to New York City when I was about 12. At that time, I never imagined I would be flying planes. None of my friends or family members encouraged my obsession with planes, and still when I fly, I don’t see many pilots who look like me. When I was in my twenties,…

Dremel began making its iconic rotary tool in the 1930s to create an alternative that was lighter, slimmer, quieter, and easier to handle than the only tool like it at the time, the industrial die grinder. It achieved this with a new form of collet mounted atop a slim high-speed, low-torque motor. Within 10 years or so, the company had refined that rotary tool, which hasn’t changed much since. Today’s product looks unmistakably like that older one, and its ability to drill small holes, sand, grind, and cut has withstood the test of time. It was the first power tool I used, in my dad’s basement workshop around 1973. It has an uncanny versatility suited to the many oddball jobs that crop up during small repairs around the house, particularly…

27. BEST CORDLESS DRILL-DRIVER Milwaukee Installer’s Tool $229 The Installer’s Tool gives you about as much versatility as can be packed into a soft-sided toolbox. It consists of a 12-volt drill body and four nimble heads: a keyless 3/8-inch chuck, an offset driver head, a 1/4-inch hex-head chuck, and a right-angle head that the other heads snap onto and off of. It’s fast and effective in both drilling and driving around corners, over obstacles, and in tight spots. Any repair or installation is guaranteed to go faster and easier with this little gem. 28 BEST MID-DUTY ROTARY HAMMER Skil Pwrcore RH170401 $118 Our test revealed that Skil’s 20-volt Pwrcore is ideal for heavy-duty use around the house. It takes European-style bits that slip-lock into the chuck automatically, easily drills wood…

46. BEST DUST COLLECTOR Oneida Supercell $2,395 Two things go into removing flying sawdust: air volume and suction. The Supercell has plenty of both. Oneida designed it to bring industrial-duty air movement to the small shop or garage. Its 230-volt, five-horsepower motor and fan assembly moves an astonishing amount of dust. It’s so powerful, the company warns that you should use only vacuum-rated flex hose and duct; the system’s suction is so great that it will crush lesser materials as flat as a pancake. The benefit to you: Dust and chips from your machines and power tools find their way into the Supercell’s collector, not into your lungs or onto the shop floor. 47. BEST HEAVY-DUTY TABLE SAW Metabo HPT $599 This is the only table saw we know of…

Cookbook author David Joachim conducted a series of five tests to judge 10 skillets’ heat conductivity, heat distribution, smoothness, stickiness, and ergonomics. He measured smoothness by scraping a metal spatula over their surfaces and recording the decibel levels (dBa). He judged factory seasoning (stickiness) by frying an egg with no oil at medium heat. Heat distribution was tested by observing burn patterns on paper circles. For heat conductivity, he seared boneless strip steaks to monitor the speed, evenness, and depth of browning. Finally, he poured one cup of water from each pan to consider the ergonomics of the handle, pouring spouts, and weight. After ranking each skillet from 1 to 10 (worst to best) in each test and considering its value, we determined that these five are the best skillets…

ICE MIGHT BE THE MOST OVER-looked ingredient of any cocktail recipe. It keeps a drink cold, ensures that it isn’t too stiff, and even alters taste perception. Ask a good bartender about ice, and they’ll tell you why a particular shape or size is best. These variables might sound like minutiae, but they matter to bartenders, who have to strike a balance between ice’s chilling and diluting effects. Ice cools a cocktail as it melts, but the meltwater also dilutes the drink’s flavors. Some dilution is good—it balances flavors and tames high-proof liquor—but too much makes concoctions taste watery. The ideal combination of meltwater and a drink’s other ingredients is called full dilution. “The dilution and the temperature are inextricably linked,” says Dave Arnold, author of Liquid Intelligence: The Art…

THIS IS A VERY GOOD year for sci-fi. With no major Avengers blockbusters (thanks to Thanos’s shenanigans last year) and Star Wars going on a cinematic hiatus, maybe, just maybe, other films will be able to have their own moment. FEBRUARY 28 // THE INVISIBLE MAN Any adaptation of an H.G. Wells classic is going to grab our attention. Starring Elizabeth Moss, The Invisible Man takes Wells’s work and modernizes it into something that seems to be speaking to today’s #MeToo movement. Whether the film succeeds with this update is hard to say, but we’ll be watching to find out. PRELIMINARY VERDICT: Looks Promising MAY 29 // ARTEMIS FOWL One of the bolder, more eclectic YA stories to emerge in the wake of Harry Potter. Based on a series of eight…

You’ve probably heard this before, but using unsecured wi-fi makes your data vulnerable. It may be tempting to log on to free public wi-fi, but try to refrain from using it. If you find yourself in a position where you absolutely need it, follow these tips for secure browsing: 1 / USE UNSECURED WI-FI SPARINGLY and refrain from accessing personal information such as bank and creditcard accounts. 2 / DON’T DO ANY ONLINE SHOPPING or purchasing where you’ll need to enter your credit card credentials or other sensitive information. 3 / TURN OFF AUTOMATIC CONNECTIVITY so you’re in control of when and where you log on. 4 / REMEMBER TO TURN YOUR BLUETOOTH OFF whenever you’re not using it. If you usually leave yours on, the data on your device…

SLING TSI KIT The Sling TSi is a four-person, single-engine plane from The Airplane Factory, complete with glass cockpit and gull wing doors. It’s modern, easy to fly, and packed with as many cool toys as you’re willing to install (the more, the better). ROTAX 915 IS Even at max takeoff weight, with four adults and a load of fuel, the Rotes 915 iS can lift the plane into the sky at 1,000 feet per minute and cruise at 155 knots. Computerization keeps the engine running at maximum efficiency. AIRMASTER CONSTANT SPEED PROP A constant-speed propeller adjusts the pitch angle of the blades to maintain speed regardless of engine rpm. This allows the plane’s engine to create different amounts of thrust depending on what stage of flight you’re in. GARMIN…

Getting started Knife making can be complex, but it doesn’t have to be. You can create some incredible pieces using things you either already have lying around or that are available for cheap at your local hardware store. While there are lots of companies out there that specialize in selling high-quality steel forged specifically for knife making, a more affordable place to start is at the bottom of your toolbox, says Paul Brach, a knifemaker for more than 30 years. Old tool files, in particular, make for great knives because they tend to be made out of higher-quality steel and are already formed in a workable shape. Plus, there’s something special about working with what you have. “There is a certain satisfaction that comes from giving new life to these…

Beer is a catalyst for community building. At our brewery, Dogfish Head, my wife Mariah and I have tried to show our kids that we make fun, creative, off-centered ales that connect us to awesome people such as the Grateful Dead and our coworkers. We hoped one of them might be interested in carrying on this tradition, but we didn’t want to put that weight on their shoulders. We expected our kids to get summer jobs by the time they were 14. Our daughter, Grier, has chosen not to work at Dogfish Head, whereas Sammy started running food at our pub in 2015. After he told us he loved biology and chemistry, we arranged for him to brew a nonalcoholic birch beer at Boothbay Craft Brewery, which is near Dogfish…

1 THE OFFICIAL ROUTE: LEGO IDEAS. Launched in 2008, this is where fans pitch new sets for commercial production. If you have an idea for a set (must be 2,000 pieces or less), build it, take photos, and post it on the LEGO Ideas website. If it’s popular and receives “support” from 10,000 fans, the LEGO Group will consider it for production. If the bigwigs approve, you’ll work with the LEGO design team in Denmark on final tweaks. “It’s one thing for a model to be complex and beautiful, but you have to make sure that building it is a fun experience,” says Johnny Castrup, head of LEGO Ideas. After tweaks, your set will hit stores worldwide, and you’ll receive 1 percent of the royalties in perpetuity. It’s tough going,…

19. BEST TILE SAW Craftsman CMCS4000M1 $300 Any small tile job can benefit from this 20-volt wet saw, powered by the same battery used in Craftsman’s other cordless tools. Our test on ceramic floor tiles was conclusive: The 30-pound machine is a clean cutter and highly portable, drawing water from an onboard tank without the need for a hose attachment. 20. BEST SMALL CIRCULAR SAW DeWalt DCS571B $129 DeWalt’s 4.5-inch circular saw is a spunky little character powered by a 20-volt battery. Its hefty gears, remarkably large for such a small tool, translate motor torque into some serious wood-cutting output. We used it to crosscut 2x4 framing lumber and 3/4-inch plywood, and found that it handled both easily and efficiently. 21. BEST CORDLESS BANDSAW Ryobi P590 $179 Put down your…

32. BEST EVERYDAY BIT SET Bosch DDMS40 $21 Unlike with most other kits, the bits in this one go in and out of their holders easily. Everything in the DDMS40 is rated, and tough enough, for you to use with an impact driver. Among its 40 pieces are many common sizes of Phillips head, square drive, and Torx, and eight twist drills (1/16-inch to 1/4-inch), seven 2-inch bits, and a bit holder. 33. BEST BOLT EXTRACTOR GearWrench Bolt Biter $152 The Bolt Biter socket is a substantial improvement over products like it that have come and gone before. Formed out of tough, chrome-molybdenum steel, each socket has a tapered, clover-shaped cavity to help it better grip rounded bolt heads. Plus, they work with any tool: ratchet wrench, air tool, or…

Most of us would rarely use the word “graceful” to describe an anvil, the hulking block of steel or iron used to pound hot metal into shape. Not so professional and amateur blacksmiths, especially when they refer to a Hay-Budden anvil, the prototypical implement of the late 1800s and early 1900s. A Hay-Budden—from petite foot-size models weighing 10 pounds to 800-pound behemoths—has an unusually beautiful sweep and an incredible strength achieved by the manufacturer’s working knowledge of metallurgy that was quite sophisticated for its day. Today, these anvils are as sought after as they were back then. Sadly, Hay-Budden as a brand came to an end in the 1920s. But it’s a testament to its peerless design that, in this digital era, a host of companies, like JHM and McLellan…

MOWER TESTING HERE IS nearly a year-round affair. For this review, we began on a cold and windy March day, searching out south-facing hillsides devoid of snow; from that skimpy start, we mowed on through the first full growth in early spring, the high and wet grass of early summer, and the dusty conditions a couple of months later when there was hardly anything to cut. We kept right on mowing when the grass bounced back in late summer and into the fall, bagging clippings and leaves. We called it quits on a cold and gray November afternoon that was much like the day we started. Our test areas were a mixed lot—a golf course, an office building lawn, and the turf at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The…

“How can I secure my cubicle from prying intruders—in a covert way?” —PRO MEMBER MARTIN STEVEN* We called up Vince Houghton, historian and curator at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., for tips on locking down your workspace, James Bond style. 1. PROTECT YOUR PASSWORD // Houghton says this is the easiest way to protect your information. Keep desk tchotchkes (especially sticky notes) to a minimum. “Make sure your security questions aren’t plastered all over,” he says. “Social engineering is the term we use for trying to learn as much as we can about somebody in order to guess their password and get inside their system without hacking it.” 2. LEAVE A “TELLTALE” // There’s a scene in D r. No where James Bond plucks a strand of hair…

SOLVING THOSE PESKY quadratic equations from high school algebra just became a lot easier. Dr. Po-Shen Loh, a mathematician at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, has derived an easier way to solve the classic sequence of squares, roots, and variables. Quadratic equations are often used in business to forecast profits, find minimum and maximum points, or determine the trajectory of a moving object. They include an x2, and teachers use the equations to show students how to find two solutions at once. Loh’s new process, outlined in a video on his personal website, circumvents traditional methods like “completing the square” and makes it simpler to find the solutions in fewer, more intuitive steps. Loh, founder of a math-and-science-focused learning startup called Expii, said he came up with the new process…

It’s a big ol’ myth that trapped gases and impurities from cloudy ice negatively impact a drink’s flavor. (Unless that ice is from a deep freezer that hasn’t been cleaned in ages, of course.) But to wow a crowd, there’s nothing like serving a Negroni over a crystal-clear rock. “Anything that looks that awesome, I think, is going to make it taste a little more awesome,” author Dave Arnold says. Bartenders use professionally produced clear ice, but at home, you have to put in a little extra elbow grease. (1) Fill a small hard-sided cooler with hot water from a faucet. Let the water cool, then place the cooler in your freezer with its lid open or off. Allow the water to freeze almost completely, which takes one to three…

WITH THE RISING POPUlarity of gluten-free bread, there is more demand. The catch? It takes longer to make. But scientists from the Institute of Food Technology of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna, Austria, may have come up with an energy-saving fix: using electric shocks to cook it from the inside out. They believe a concept called Ohmic heating could save energy and time during the manufacturing process, according to a paper published in the journal Food and Bioprocess Technology. Ohmic heating passes an electric current through food to generate heat and cook it. This is possible through what’s known as Ohm’s Law, where electrical energy is dissipated into heat “The heat is generated instantaneously within the complete dough,” Henry Jäger, Ph.D., professor of food…

1 WHAT DATA IS COLLECTED? Allow as little data as possible to be collected. The safest amount is none. 2 HOW IS IT USED? Many apps sell data to third-party companies, who use it for advertising purposes. The best scenario is one where the data is used only by the app company. 3 HOW LONG IS IT KEPT? Data more than a year old serves little purpose to outside parties since the most up-to-date info is the most valuable. Seek shorter timelines. 4 DOES THE APP NEED YOUR LOCATION DATA? A number of apps automatically collect this, but very few actually need it. You can generally turn this off in your OS settings. 5 DOES THE APP NEED ACCESS TO YOUR CONTACTS, CAMERA, OR MICROPHONE? Most of these features aren’t necessary, but many…

1 PIPISTREL PANTHERA The Panthera has retractable landing gear and a sexy, aerodynamic shape. A glass cockpit and extra-comfy seats make long journeys feel luxurious. panthera-aircraft.com 2 SABERWING The manufacturer notes that this plane is such a quick build, you’ll “be sitting in the fuselage within a few hours of opening the kit.” For those who can’t wait to play with their new toy. azaleaaviation.com 3 JUSTAIRCRAFT SUPERSTOL The SuperSTOL has low-speed capabilities that allow it to land on short runways or small clearings. It just needs 150 feet of runway to take off. justaircraft.com 4 DARKAERO Darkaero claims this is the longest-range aircraft you can build—1,700 statute (land) miles at 275 mph cruising speed. That can fly you from Boston to Houston. Production begins in 2020. darkaero.com…

In 1989, my father-in-law taught me to smoke meats and cheeses. I was a timber frame builder—I have my own company, called OakBridge Timber Framing—and I wanted a home project to help me unwind in the evenings and on weekends. I combined my passion for building with the skills my father-in-law had given me and I built my family an old-fashioned timber-frame smokehouse. My design is strong but simple. A timber-frame structure isn’t just slapped up. Compared to a stick-built home, it uses more substantial cuts of wood and is fitted together with unique joinery like mortises, tenons, and wooden pegs as opposed to studs. The latter might not be able to withstand heavy winds or storms, but I’ve seen timber frames survive tornado hits. They just won’t fall. My…

THESE 48 EXCEPTIONAL TOOLS—THE BEST WE’VE TESTED THAT ARE ON THE MARKET NOW—WILL UNLEASH YOUR CAPABILITY AND HELP YOU TAKE ANY PROJECT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. At Popular Mechanics, we’ve been evaluating such equipment for more than 100 years. We test nearly 1,000 different tools each year—out in the field, in our shop, and on projects throughout our homes. The ones on these pages are models that we’ve found deliver reliable performance, quality craftsmanship, and often a strong value, excelling in our use and earning our admiration. Most are new, but a few have been kicking around for a while because better options have yet to arrive. No matter their age, we’re confident these will help you get any job done.…

14. BEST CORDLESS NAILER Metabo NT1850DE $271 The heavy-duty NT1850DE has a permanently sealed air cylinder for rapid-fire capability; Metabo estimates that it can punch three nails a second. Even professional carpenters would be hard pressed to make use of that, but what we can say is that it rapidly sank every nail we fired in softwoods and oak. 15. BEST GLUE GUN Arrow GT 300 $50 The Arrow’s 300 watts delivers rapid and sustained glue-melting power. Use it to gob on an adhesive or apply a thin line—both are afforded by a simple-to-adjust trigger mechanism. This was the only gun in our recent test with an on/off pilot light, which is important for safety and saving energy. 16. BEST ANGLE GRINDER Bosch GWX10-45DE $89 Changing an angle grinder’s wheel has…

THE POWERHOUSE OF all kitchen equipment, the cast-iron skillet is the only cookware that improves with use—each time you cook with it, polymerized oil builds up to form a nonstick, water-repelling surface. Compared with aluminum or stainless steel, cast iron has low thermal conductivity but offers superior heat retention, making it ideal for high-temperature cooking such as searing steak and caramelizing vegetables. However, not all cast iron is created equal. The pans from brands like Griswold and Wagner that you might find in your grandmother’s kitchen or at flea markets got their smooth surface through hand-polishing. Most of today’s manufacturers forgo this time-consuming and expensive process, and instead preseason the cast iron to reduce stickiness (although a few are going back to time-tested polishing methods). With the right skillet and…