Popular Mechanics November/December 2022

MICHELLE MONTGOMERY, 27 Senior R&D Scientist / Pittsburgh, PA “Let us cultivate our garden” —Voltaire TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE I ran a small pet portrait painting business for several years online. I’m fluent in German. (Meine Großmutter wurde in Berlin geboren.) I’m currently in graduate school for polymer engineering. * Answer: I’m not fluent in German—but boy do I wish I was! VIRTUALLY OBSESSED My boyfriend and I have an Oculus Rift that we love. I’ve become a pro at Beat Saber, which always brings me back to my Dance Dance Revolution days. Some VR experiences feel like they transport you to new places. I can’t wait to see how the graphics and immersion improves as the tech develops. Lesson From a New Homeowner Take it slow! I still struggle with wanting everything to be perfect by next week. There…

CAN I PICK YOUR BRAIN? As PopMech staffers, we consider ourselves to be knowledgeable and capable enthusiasts, if not part-time pros, in our respective fields. But we’d be foolish to think we have all the answers, which is why if we had the chance, we’d fire off endless questions to these long-gone experts who first primed our passions and continue to pique our curiosities. Here are some of the editors’ intellectual idols. Who are yours? George Washington Carver Born a slave in 1864, George Washington Carver eventually became the most renowned Black scientist of the 20th century. He developed techniques to prevent soil depletion, encouraging crop rotation by planting sweet potatoes and peanuts. He’s often mistakenly attributed for inventing peanut butter. (It was pharmacist Marcellus Gilmore Edson, who patented it in 1884; Ted…

WOOD TRIM IS SUPPOSED TO PROVIDE A FINISHING touch to a room. But it doesn’t always work out so neatly. And if you’ve ever tried to install trim and been frustrated by a poor fit where two pieces meet, say in an open miter or open cope, you’re not alone. With 40-plus years of experience cutting trim, I can name at least a couple dozen reasons why those pieces won’t join up so nicely. And I’ve developed these solutions—for joints that are mitered and coped—to solve most of your problems. Now, before you commit to cutting the wood trim itself, make a trial run and adjust the saw, change the blade, or simply practice your technique. You need to get your head and your eye into the job first. A warmup…

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 popularmechanics.com/join.) BUILD THE PERFECT PIZZA OVEN Pizza ovens have exploded in popularity in recent years. We’ve tested a bunch of them and can see why. “A good pizza oven can cook a fantastic artisan pizza in less than two minutes—and you can make it any way you like,” says gear editor Brad Ford. Want to add your own flair? Check out our step-by-step instructions for building the best DIY pizza oven: popularmechanics.com/diy-pizza. INSIDE THE AIR FORCE’S “PROJECT MAYHEM” Today, stealth is the leading strategy for bypassing…

WHILE FIRE MAY BE AMONG humankind’s oldest technologies, building a bonfire—and arranging your fuel source for optimal burn—isn’t always a simple task. According to Adrian Bejan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University, there’s only one surefire way: Stack your fuel as high as it is wide, like a pyramid. It’s no coincidence, Bejan says, that a pyre and a pyramid are so linguistically similar. Bejan first laid out the mathematical formula in a 2015 paper in Scientific Reports. “Thermodynamics is the science of power, [in this case] power from fire,” Bejan says. “Which then is used to move things [like air]… This airflow is feeding the combustion reaction and then the generated heat is convected away by the airflow.” You can think of the perfect pyramid fire kind of like a…

Japan is dropping a massive 330-ton turbine power generator onto the ocean floor just off the country’s coast in a bid to source theoretically limitless renewable energy. Over the past decade, IHI Corporation has been developing “Kairyu,” a 100-kilowatt-class generator that can utilize the power of ocean currents. In February, the Tokyo-based engineering firm successfully completed a 3½-year-long test of the subsea turbine in the waters of southwestern Japan. You can expect to see it up and running sometime in the 2030s. To make it all work, IHI devised an airplane-like structure, complete with a main fuselage, as part of an array of three cylindrical float pods. Both the right- and left-side pods feature a 36-foot-long turbine blade; each blade rotates in the opposite direction from each other to cancel out rotary…