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WORTH OVER R239 000

TESTED: Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 ● Belkin Bluetooth receiver

MICROMANUFACTURING

Some good reasons for doing it yourself

5WE PICK THE COOLEST TIMEKEEPERS

WHERE FORM AND FUNCTION MEET

PROSTHETICSDesigner

DIY ● Erect a split-rail fence● Build a kitchen trolley

● Easy electroplating

12 GREATgadgets

A NEW KIND OF UNIVERSITY

EXCLUSIVE

WHY AMERICA NEEDS A NEW

STEALTH JETPLUS: We pilot a B-2 Spirit

Can a heart stop and a pulse race at the same time?

TJD

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C O N T E N T SBE THE FIRST TO KNOW JUNE 2013 VOLUME 11, NO. 11

F E AT U R E S26 Why America needs a new stealth jet Plus… we pilot a B-2 Spirit (Cover story)

44 Out on a limb Designer prosthetics are changing lives

64 Micromanufacturing revolution Entrepreneurs turn little ideas into the next Big Things

74 Revving the creativity engine Software makes it all happen

88 A brief history of the rollercoaster Every thrill has its ups and downs

92 Watching brief Meet our pick of seriously cool timepieces

S C I E N C E14 Tech watch ● Disaster engineering: how bridges stay up ● They came from outer space ● Tools of the nuke sleuths ● Signs of life on Mars? ● How it works: double arm transplant

100 DIY electroplating You can do it in your kitchen!

T E C H94 Digital clinic Q&A ● Untangling headphones ● Social searching ● Check yourself

P M D I G I TA L90 ● Nano drone ● Win Cotton Candy micro-PC

W H E E L S40 Jay Leno’s garage A spot of luxury: the 1955 Bristol 403

48 New on the block ● Into the mainstream: Mercedes-Benz A-Class ● Not just skin deep: Kia Sorento ● Streetwise charmer: Toyota RAV4 ● Fundamentally different: Lexus LS 460

106 Saturday mechanic Springclean your car

T E S T E D42 ● Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 ● Belkin Bluetooth music receiver

U P G R A D E60 ● Blended Wind Body aircraft shows promise ● Algae-powered building ● Tapping into the ocean’s power ● Rethinking the wind turbine

H O M E96 Build a kitchen trolley Useful storage, with castors for mobility

102 How to erect a split-rail fence The good news: you can do it in a weekend

79 ● Singularity University embraces the future ● Game reviews: Don’t Starve and Monaco ● YouTube weirdness: try this at home ● Making music with junk, changing lives

M O N T H LY4 Contact us6 Editor’s notes8 Letters12 Time machine34 Great stuff120 Do it your way

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Subscribe now and you could drive off in a Ford Focus worth over R239 300 (see page 78)

8 Oregon Scientifi c weather kits worth R3 000 each (see page 53)

Cover: Viktoria Modesta Moskalova, a performing artist and self-confessed fashionista, wears her designer prosthesis with huge confi dence. Picture: Jon Enoch. This page: A B-2 Spirit bomber from the 509th Bomb Wing fl ies over Kansas. Picture: US Department of Defence

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EDITOR: Alan Duggan PUBLISHER: Neil Piper

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FROM ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PRACTICALITY TO 21st CENTURY STYLEWhile researching this month’s

cover story on designer pros-thetics (“Out on a limb”, page 44), we stumbled upon a fascinating study

may be the world’s oldest prosthetic

part wood and leather toe made some

found on a female mummy buried

sort of papier maché mixture made

features suggesting they may have been more than cosmetic additions,

they could be used as practical tools

out, she recruited two volunteers,

Replicas of the ancient toes were

out in the Gait Laboratory at Salford

wearing their own shoes and then the replicas, with and without the

pressure of their footsteps was

It was surprising how well both

the camera footage revealed that when wearing the sandals with the cartonnage replica, one of the volun-

flexion achieved by their normal left

for the three-part wood and leather

ed no overly high pressure points, indicating that the false toes were not causing any undue discomfort

tells us that it would have been very

could, of course, have remained barefoot or perhaps have worn some

toe, but our research suggests that -

woman named Sophie de Oliveira

Limb Project, a specialist consultancy

-

not only to delight the eye, but also

and encourage a positive dialogue about the human body, and differ-

limbs that combine art with cutting-edge design and functionality, help-ing and inspiring people from all

So much for one of the more counter-intuitive articles to appear in POPULAR MECHANICS (surely you weren’t

a thoroughly researched perspective

account of his time aboard the legen-

-end, play with all manner of desirable gadgets, and introduce you to the micromanufacturing revolution – in essence, an array of success stories that may prompt you to transform

If this article inspires you to go out there and become rich and famous, don’t forget where you read it…

aland@ramsaymedia.co.za

EDITOR'S NOTES

Page 34

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C O M P I L E D B Y S E A N W O O D S seanw@ramsaymedia .co . zaGREAT STUFFH E R E ’ S T H E N E W E S T G E A R Y O U ’ L L W A N T T O O W N

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Editor’s

choice

Work, play… what’s the difference? PM Zone contributor Rogan Louwrens pilots a Reynard single-seater race car at the Killarney circuit in Cape Town, courtesy of a shampoo company (read his report at www.pmzone.co.za).

Something old, something new (and deliciously glitzy). The image above shows an ancient Egyptian prosthetic wood-and-leather toe dating back to at least 2700 BC; on the left is Sophie’s “Crystallized Leg”, featuring Swarovski crystals and made for Viktoria Modesta’s Ice Queen role at the London 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony.

LETTERS

Write to us, engage us in debate, and you could win a cool prize. This month’s best letter wins a desirable Luminox 0201 (Sentry 0200 series) watch worth R3 550. The Swiss-made Sentry Series is a vintage-inspired, cushion-shaped watch that’s perfect for sporting and outdoor enthusiasts as well as real-life sentries on duty around the world. Among its key features: bold, oversized numbers on the even hours, Luminox Light Technology, reinforced polymer compound case, rotating bezel, water-resistant to 10 atmospheres. The Luminox watch is avail-able through Sutherland & Goodman. For more information, call 011 483 0102. Send your letter to: Popular Mechanics, PO Box 180, Howard Place 7450 or e-mail popularmechanics@ramsay media.co.za Please keep it short and to the point. Regrettably, prizes can be awarded only to South African residents.

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More cerebral stuff I read your article on the simulated human brain project from beginning to end and found it absolutely fascinating. Of course, this research leads one to all manner of questions, most of them probably unan-swerable. For example, where does our consciousness reside? If we assembled a computer with all the processing power of the human brain and exposed it to the world via visual, audio and haptic feeds, could it conceivably become self-aware? Please keep feeding your readers with this kind of thought-provoking material.

Sharing a few thoughts deptI have just read your excellent May issue (as usual, from front to back) and would like to compliment you for delivering yet another fascinating mixture of science

me as I make a few comments on this month’s magazine.

First, I loved the cellphone article.

it, the essential information was all there and I learned what I needed to know about the latest crop of smartphones.

Xperia Z, mostly because it’s built to take the knocks that will inevitably come its way. I have had painful experience of cellphones that lack this facility, including

I dropped it, the resulting repair bill did ugly things to my bank account – and of course I wasn’t insured.

PM Zone. It looks like a cool product, to be sure, but for a couple of grand more I

and ride it on public roads! Okay, I can’t fold a scooter and put it in my car’s boot, or ride on the pavement, or store it under my bed. Maybe it’s a generation thing?

Okay, you may pass-

lem”, was a good read. I have been an

I’m amazed that most of the people I meet simply try to remember their (often insecure) passwords.

-

your passwords across all your devices.

on all computer and mobile platforms, it is quite easy to have an up-to-date version of all your passwords stored on all relevant devices.

In memory of gifted heroinesI’m not a fan of computer games and I must admit that I don’t see any point to them.

pie-eating contests, “Likes” on Facebook

OF BRAINS AND THE UNIVERSE

In humans, our intellectual capacity is limited in that our higher brain functions are overruled by instinct and emotion.

will never fully develop your maximum brain capacity.

-dy this. (Professor Markram’s) brain simulation will be identical to the real thing, but it will be sustained by electrical energy, which makes

therefore be unaffected by greed, addiction and sexual desire (that is, so long as nobody programs in these features), making it purely cerebral.

may very well become the most intelligent entity we will ever encounter, assum-

ceases to exist.

Winning

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