Popular Mechanics May/June 2022

KARYN KING, 73 Aerial Photographer / Redmond, WA Passion, Creation, Inspiration FILM OR DIGITAL? I got my first camera, a Kodak Brownie, from my father when I was 7. It was a film camera, so it was costly, and I had to wait a week to get results. Now I exclusively use digital because I can see immediate results. MY PATH TO BEING A PRO I learned aerial photography by DOING it. I started out knowing nothing! I’ve been fortunate and persistent enough to gain the trust of pilots who want and need my photo services. And after years of shooting aerials from helicopters, I decided to try flying on my own. So I got my pilot’s license and became involved with the Washington Pilots Association and other flying clubs, learning and flying as much as…

NUBEQA is a prescription medicine for men with prostate cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body and no longer responds to hormone therapy* *Hormone therapy includes drug treatments or surgery that lowers testosterone. INDICATION NUBEQA® (darolutamide) is a prescription medicine used to treat men with prostate cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body and no longer responds to a medical or surgical treatment that lowers testosterone. It is not known if NUBEQA is safe and effective in women and children. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION NUBEQA can harm unborn babies and cause loss of pregnancy. Men with female partners who may become pregnant should use effective birth control (contraception) during treatment and for 1 week after the last dose of NUBEQA. Before taking NUBEQA, tell your healthcare provider about all your…

CAROLINE DELBERT IS A WRITER, AVID READER, AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR AT POPMECH. SHE’S AN ENTHUSIAST OF JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING. HER FAVORITE TOPICS INCLUDE NUCLEAR ENERGY, COSMOLOGY, THE MATH OF EVERYDAY THINGS, AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF IT ALL. ▶ My car’s exterior seems to always be dusted with dirt and other gross gunk, which makes me wishfully wonder: Could there be an aerodynamic upside to all that debris? Years ago, the MythBusters team examined whether a dirty car got better gas mileage as the result of a possible golf ball–like “dimpling” effect. Using the same vehicle for consistent results, their dirty car got 24 mpg, while the clean version made it to 26.4 mpg. Let’s say the average person drives 10,000 miles per year. Using the MythBusters results, the driver of the dirty car…

For a brief moment, the world came close to having an always-clean car. In 2014, Nissan covered what it called the world’s first selfcleaning car in Ultra-Ever Dry, a nano-paint technology that repels particles like mud, rain, and oil. The automaker applied the treatment to its ’14 Leaf model in North America, but a spokesperson confirms it wasn't used on other vehicles. While Nissan didn’t reveal why its experiment stalled out, experts say the tech isn’t quite there yet. “My experience with some coatings has shown they aren’t robust enough to handle long-term weathering, they can be scraped or wiped off over time, and they need to be reapplied,” says Julie Crockett, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University. But hope isn’t dead, she says. “As research improves, allowing…

POPMECH PRO It’s easy to lose track of all the perks that come with your PopMech Pro membership, like exclusive features, detailed plans for DIY projects, and a weekly members-only newsletter. Here are some of the best recent Pro stories you might have missed. (Not a member? Head to join.popularmechanics.com.) OUR WILD UNIVERSE A trippy study suggests the universe can bend the laws of physics all by itself. As the universe sought stability over time, the basic physics it relied on in the beginning evolved to become much more sophisticated, scientists believe. Think of it like this: Why are there still dogs today, but not dinosaurs? Because pups proved best-adapted to their environment and successfully passed on their genes to their progeny, and dinos didn’t. The same could be true for our cosmos. THE…

NASCAR DRIVERS FACE A GRUELING SCHEDULE, SPENDing more time at the track than they do at home; the 2022 NASCAR schedule will cover 39 weekends this year, with up to 19 consecutive weeks of racing. With such a demanding schedule, stock-car racing’s brightest stars aren’t put up in luxurious hotels. Instead, drivers turn their RVs into a slice of home that can be parked in a private area inside each race track—and they’re nothing like the ordinary motor coaches you’d find in RV parks around the country. Builds for some of the top stars in the sport—think Richard Petty, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Chase Elliot, and the Busch brothers—range from $800,000 to $2 million in total for the crème de la crème of mobile living, according to Kasey Hess, director of motorsports…