Popular Mechanics South Africa

WHEN I’M asked to summarise the types of articles we run in Popular Mechanics, my face usually assumes a bit of a glazed stare, my mouth hangs slightly open, and I doubt I appear too intelligent to the question asker or any bystanders. It’s not becau

The Concorde: First of the SSTs Completion of the Concorde aircraft was expected to happen in 1968. It was due to take its maiden flight, so there was much excitement in the aviation world, as well as questions circulating about this powerful machine

HAVE YOU EVER wondered how NASA gets its rocket-ship parts transported? In a really big aeroplane built especially for the task. When a component in a rocket or part of the International Space Station takes flight, it’s not for the first time… The fi

IT’S 1987 in Soviet Moscow. On this snowy November evening, Dimitry Davidoff, a psychology student at Moscow State University, exits his train off of Red Square. He cuts behind the looming Intourist Hotel, climbs to the third floor of his university’

HAVE YOU ever wondered what it might feel like to wear a shoe that’s been tested in space? Well, adidas has got you covered. The clothing and sports-goods manufacturing giant is collaborating with the International Space Station (ISS) US National Lab

MALARIA faces its toughest adversary yet in the form of drones designed to eliminate the disease using a revolutionary new technique. Drone manufacturer DJI joined a team of entomologists in Zanzibar to conduct a pilot project with the use of a modif

IF YOU’VE DRIVEN through Botswana in recent months, you might’ve chuckled at the ‘donkey cart’ crossing on the busy A1 highway. No, this unusual traffic management set-up doesn’t mean that the country is primitive. Quite the opposite, in fact. As an

HERE ARE some things you probably didn’t know about Netflix: Marc Randolph – Netflix’s co-founder and first CEO – had to pitch the idea to his mom so she would become an early investor. The company’s first conference room was in a motel. On the day t

WITH ITS bullet shape and stubby wings, the US Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle looks like the little brother of NASA’s classic Space Shuttle orbiter. But the comparisons end there: The X-37B is built to spend months and even years in orbit, ca

ONCE EVERY few months, I take my iPhone and go to ‘Settings’ -> ‘General’ -> ‘Reset’ -> ‘Erase All Content and Settings’. I skip the offer to use a backup, or transfer data, and build from the factory settings. My friends think I’m masochistic. But h

FLYING DRONES used to be complicated, but the tech has come a long way since they were first deployed for commercial and military purposes. Developments in technology have made drones smaller and easier to operate, with DJI a leader in this field. Th

IN THE WORLD of 15” laptops, many are way too chunky and heavy to be considered convenient to use and easy to transport. With their larger screens, only a handful of them can legitimately claim to be comfortable to operate and simple to carry around

ON THE AFTERNOON of Tuesday, 25 September 2018, Marc Benioff, founder and co-CEO of Salesforce, stepped on stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to deliver the keynote speech at Dreamforce, his company’s annual conference. The event – a combin

NOWHERE IS Scrabble taken more seriously than in Africa, where many countries now recognise the game as an official sport. We spoke to Kenya’s Jared Omolo, a professional player (and CDC epidemiologist) who earns his title with deep preparation and t

THE FOUR-LETTER word that spells your… A direct sequel to 2016’s DOOM and the next instalment in the 27-year-old franchise, DOOM Eternal plonks you back into the boots of the unbeatable Doom Slayer. You have returned to Earth only to discover it has

As with many ancient inventions, we’ll never know who figured out that, when a piece of magnetite (a naturally occurring magnetic ore) is struck by lightning, it becomes highly magnetised. The first device using one of these lodestones to indicate no

NO MATTER your perceptions of it, the business of beauty is a massive industry. From make-up to skincare, haircare and DIY gadgets, the market is saturated with big brands competing for consumer attention. Technological innovation is truly changing a

FOR THE MOST PART, THE FILM IS three and a half minutes of grainy horseback riders and jerky pans, but it’s been scrutinised for decades amid every major Bigfoot debate. Because, two and a half minutes in, the lens of the 16 mm Cine- Kodak catches so

AT THEIR BEST, headlamps can make you feel as powerful as Cyborg – that three-eyed superhero who possesses otherworldly vision. The latest options, packed with brilliant LEDs, can crank out up to 1 000 lumens, light up a trail sign from many metres a

Really, who doesn’t love bananas? They’re easy to peal, yummy to eat, and healthy as well. Thought by some scientists to be the first fruit on Earth, bananas are now one of the most important fruit crops. Grown mainly in tropical and subtropical area

With its origins in Central Asia, the domesticated apple tree is now one of the most widely cultivated fruit trees. It’s a deciduous (sheds its leaves annually) perennial (lives for several years), which produces fruit varying in size from 5–10 cm in

Can you really call yourself South African if you don’t love a good naartjie? They’re part of a subdivision of citrus that’s easy to peel, and easy (not to mention yummy) to eat. While the exact origins are debated, it’s generally agreed they origina

IF YOU MISSED the spring planting season, this is your last chance to get some trees in. March through May is good because a freshly planted tree can put its energy into growing roots instead of foliage, and will establish itself before winter. While

NO MATTER the type of woodworking you do, whether it’s pallet-wood plant boxes or mid-century modern reproductions, there is one unwavering constant – something that will give you true pleasure in your planing, joinery and finished pieces: This is th

DRIVE AN unfamiliar car on a racetrack shod with cheap tyres and try to stay on the tarmac … go! It’s a simple enough task, but for someone not accustomed to driving a manual car (yes, that’s me), never mind on a track, there’s nothing quite like a b

CARS ARE changing and the way we use them is changing as well. Enthusiasts with high-performance cars are keener than ever to exploit them to the full in the safe environment of a racetrack. Hence the boom of track days in recent years and the wealth