Popular Mechanics South Africa January - February 2022

WE ALWAYS WORK several months in advance to get a particular issue of Popular Mechanics to the printers, on to the shop shelves and into your hands. As I write this, I’m well into my stride for the run-up to the end of 2021. The last few weeks before a year wraps up always seem frantic. Everyone suddenly wakes up to the fact that a lot needs to get done before their summer holidays kick in (and, of course, this wake-up call is always perfectly synchronised). Because, let’s be honest, not much productivity happens from around the middle of December until the second week of January. So I’ve been attending launches and events (some virtual, others in real life), prepping for 2022’s magazine issues, liaising with clients and ad sales people,…

During the pandemic lockdown last year, wood-working and motorcycling came together in my work-shop. It’s always been my dream to build a roll-top desk and, as was the case for many other craftspeople, the extra time at home provided me with the ideal opportunity to tackle a big project like this. Over the years I had collected a fair amount of Cape beech (boekenhout) and kiaat (dolfhout) sourced from Namibia, and with plans drawn up and cutting lists completed, I started sawing and planing. With a finite amount of wood available, it was critical to select the wood in such a way that the beauty of Cape beech and kiaat were displayed at their finest. The cabinetry of the bottom half was relatively straightforward, as I opted for the rail and stile…

The story from several issues ago about ‘Mad Mike’ Hughes intrigued me. The lifelong drive that this man had to achieve his extreme goals is commendable, even if what he was aiming for was extremely dangerous. I guess you could argue that dying was always going to be the most likely outcome. But it’s people such as this, throughout history, who have been responsible for some of humankind’s greatest achievements and advancements. Just look at Benjamin Franklin risking life and limb flying a kite during a thunderstorm, as part of his research into harnessing the power of electricity. And there are countless other examples, too, such as the Wright brothers’ early attempts at flying. Perhaps Mad Mike’s ambitions were selfish, and a bit outlandish, but it’s hard to argue against that…

1 JANUARY 1985 Conquering Our Deepest Frontiers The beautiful, almost photorealistic illustration on the cover of this issue depicted a man in Deep Rover, a one-person submersible with tentacle-like robotic arms, exploring the ocean floor. The accompanying article detailed not only this craft, but several other deep-water explorer vehicles too, all with the ability to submerge to extreme ocean depths for scientific research work, salvage operations, or military reconnaissance tasks. 2 FEBRUARY 1976 10 Handsome Homebuilts You Can Make and Fly This short feature article running over only two pages presented ten full-colour images of light air-craft. Each pic had a comprehensive accompanying caption, highlighting the plane’s specs, including number of seats, engine power, top speed, dimensions, as well as the cost of the plans (in USD) if you hoped to build one yourself. 3 JANUARY…

WHEN ELON MUSK SAID THERE’S A ‘GOOD chance’ the first settlers on the Red Planet will die there, at an August 2020 conference, the outcome was easy to imagine. It’s a dangerous place, after all. But that obscures the ultimate goal of any colony: to have people comfortably die on Mars after a long life of work and play that, we hope, looks at least a little like life on Earth. Several necessities for achieving this feat are in use or development already. The long-term life-support technology aboard the International Space Station, for example, already recycles air and water. Mars, however, will require life support for the same group of people, not a group that rotates every few months with frequent short trips from Earth. The key to surviving the desperate conditions…

COLDEST PLACE ON EARTH Average daily temperatures in Oymyakon, Russia, the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world, hover around –45°C in the winter. The frigid town’s record low is –68°C. Only Antarctica’s Vostok Station has recorded a lower temperature. HIGHEST ELEVATION La Rinconada, Peru, a gold-mining town in the Andes Mountains, sits at more than 5 090 m above sea level, making it the highest settlement in the world. Scientists are working with locals to understand the effects of the thin air – half the oxygen of that at sea level – on their bodies. DRIEST INHABITED PLACE Chile’s Atacama Desert has long been heralded as the driest place on Earth. Quillagua, a town situated on the north-western outskirts of the desert, holds the record for driest inhabited location in the world, with an…