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Popular Science Australia PDF

84 Pages·2017·19.103 MB·English
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THE LAST SHIP: Shell’s first (and only?) floating LNG refinery E LONG NOW W A CLOCK IN UNTAIN WILL VE HISTORY LIFE: T RE THE Is Earth’s MAKERS just a re-r we still love clockwork C O XY E P S M P E T N IK S NILUSNI C O T NMU R EPS THE TI LORDS Who deci what time “Time Heals All Wounds” Don't Fight Your Body Clock - Control It! astron gps solar. the watch that keeps you on perfect time. worldwide. Using just the power of light, Astron adjusts to any time zone on earth at the touch of a button. With a precision of one second every 100,000 years, you will never be late again. *If there are changes in the region / time zone, manual time zone selection may be required. seiko.com.au ISSUE#106,SEPTEMBER2017 EDITORIAL Editor Anthony Fordham [email protected] Contributors Gemma Conroy, Dan Lander, Daniel Wilks Give Me Just DESIGN Group Art Director Malcolm Campbell Art Director Danny McGonigle 317 Seconds... ADVERTISING Group Advertising Manager Cameron Ferris [email protected] ph: 02 9901 6348 National Sales Executive Sean Fletcher [email protected] Ourabilitytocarveuptimeintotinypiecesandallagreewhich ph: 02 9901 6367 tinypieceithappenstoberightnow,keepsourcivilisation Production Manager Peter Ryman Circulation Director Carole Jones balancedonaknife-edgeofefficiencyandirrationality. US EDITION Editor in Chief Joe Brown Hours?Hoursaregreat.Hoursarereally abouttheDodgeChallengerDemon, Articles Editor Kevin Gray Managing Editor Jill C. Shomer useful,becausetheyhelpusknowwhen whichboaststhat-incertainconditions Senior Editor Sophie Bushwick Technology Editor Xavier Harding exactlytoturnupforwork,whento -itisthefastestproductioncarinthe Assistant Editors Dave Gershgorn, Matt Giles Editorial Assistant Grennan Milliken knockoff,whentopickupthekidsfrom worldforthe0-100km/hsprint. Copy Chief Cindy Martin school,athousandotherthings. Andhowmuchfasterisitthan,say, Researchers Ambrose Martos, Erika Villani Editorial Intern Annabel Edwards Minutes?Minutesaregood,used aPorsche918Spider?About0.3ofa ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY properly.Minuteshelpusbuildtransfer second.Secondsarestupid. Acting Design Director Chris Mueller Photo Director Thomas Payne buffersbetweenactivities.It’s1500h Yetsecondsareprobablyourultimate Digital Associate Art Director Michael Moreno Associate Art Director Russ Smith thatmarkstheendoftheday,butit’s future,whenitcomestomeasuring Acting Production Manager Paul Catalano minutesthathelpusknowwhento time.Alltheotherunitsarerelativeto POPSCI.COM exactlystartheadinguptotheschool. Earth’srotationandorbit,andsomeday Online Director Carl Franzen Senior Editor Paul Adams Butminutescanalsomakeuscrazy. someofuswillliveonotherworlds,with Assistant Editors Sarah Fecht, Claire Maldarelli Contributing Writers Kelsey D. Atherton, It’sminutesthatmakepeoplecram otherorbits,andotherday-lengths. Mary Beth Griggs,Alexandra Ossola intoanovercrowdedtrainwhenthere’s EvenlivingonneighbouringMars BONNIER’S TECHNOLOGY GROUP Group Editorial Director Anthony Licata anothertraincomingrightalong willrequirecoloniststocelebratetwo Group Publisher Gregory D Gatto behind.Becausetheyknowtheyneed differentkindsofanniversary.The BONNIER togetthe0847htobeatworkatexactly standard-andirritatinglyimprecise Chairman Tomas Franzen Chief Executive Officer Eric Zinczenko 0900h.Andthatmattersbecause -yearof365.2425days-per-400-year- Chief Content Officer David Ritchie Chief Operating Officer Lisa Earlywine thebosscaninturnuseminutesto leap-cycle,andthe1.8-Julian-year Senior Vice President, Digital Bruno Sousa Vice President, Consumer Marketing John Reese determinethattheemployeeis“late”. Martianyear.Orisitthe668.5991 Seconds,now.Secondsarestupid.Oh, Martian-day(orSol)year?Orwhat? notforscienceofcourse.Thesecond Yes,oncewehaveafewcolonies istheonlyscientificunitoftime,and upandrunning,someonewillhaveto it’svital-orrather,tinyfractionsofa tackletheproblemofuniversaltime. Chief Executive Officer David Gardiner Commercial Director Bruce Duncan secondarevital-fordoingscience. Today,thesecondnormallyonlygets Popular Science is published 12 times a year by Foreverydaylifethough?Seconds dividedintolittlebits.Inthefuture,it nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805 970 Building A, 207 Pacific Highway areresponsibleforturningatinylittle mightgetcombinedintobiggerones. St Leonards, NSW 2065 who-caresspanoftimeintoabigdeal. Ourancestorsmayspeaknotof Under license from Bonnier International Magazines. © 2014 Bonnier Corporation and nextmedia Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in Secondsarewhatmakeusangryabouta days,weeksandmonths,butrather whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Popular Science is personwhoisditheringabouttheirfast kiloseconds,half-megaseconds,oreven a trademark of Bonnier Corporation and is used under limited license. The Australian edition contains material originally published in the US foodorderinthequeueahead.Seconds the32-Earth-yeargigasecond. edition reprinted with permission of Bonnier Corporation. Articles express the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Publisher, arewhatmakepeoplerisktheirlives Worstofall,we’llprobablyhave Editor or nextmedia Pty Ltd. ISSN 1835-9876. aggressivelychanginglanesinmoderate AIpersonalassistants,badgeringus Privacy Notice We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal trafficonthehighway. intoputtingeverysingleoneofthose information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of Popular Science, this will be used to provide the Andspeakingofdriving,seconds secondstogooduse.Comeonmeatbag, products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of makepeoplespendcrazyamountsof time’swasting! our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our moneytobuycarsthataremerelytwoor readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services threesecondsfasteracceleratingfrom and events our company has to offer. We may also give your information to ANTHONY FORDHAM other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, 0to100km/h.Onpage12,youcanread [email protected] services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touch with our privacy officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia, Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590 ON THE COVER www.popsci.com.au Digitally manipulated image of Hoptroff No.10 To subscribe, call 1300 361 146 atomic timepiece. For more information, see page 81. or visit www.mymagazines.com.au POPSCI.COM.AU 3 SEPTEMBER 2017 Conten t s For daily updates: www.popsci.com.au 38 The Clock That Runs The Inner You We are all slaves to our inner timekeeper, yet few of us give our invisible master proper respect. Yet defying our body clocks isn’t an act of liberation, it’s a fate worse than death. 04 POPULAR SCIENCE 10 16 State of the Art 18 22 Your guide to everything 06 The Clock of the Long Now 08 What’s on your bedside table? 10 Obsessed returns! 12 A Demonic drive 14 Tools for treasure-hunters 16 Slow mo cameras... 17 ...and high speed cameras too! Insight Important stuff for futurists 28 18 Oversight: The biggest ship 22 Another brief history of time 24 Stars can be so retro 25 Can AIs learn social skills? 26 Do you dig time metaphors? 27 How long you do stuff and when 28 Time as perceived by an acorn 30 Op Ed: The LP 32 Op Ed: Rethink 34 Op Ed: amuse.bouche Features Many many words 60 46 Fighting over the “when” of life 54 Who to blame for what time it is 60 Blessed are the watchmakers How 2.0 Made for you, by you 70 You built a Dalek?! 73 Sleep your way to Mars 74 Please invent... 76 The little big robot arm The Other Stuff Bonus Extra Material! 03 Our Editor Rants 78 From the Archives 80 Retro Invention 82 Next Issue POPSCI.COM.AU 05 r o r n a r e e y Speed gov Dial - Five digit - Horizons- Sun- Moon- Stars me... Asforaccuracy,becausenatureismessy,there’snoidealsystemformeasuringtime.SotheClockisbuilttoa“phaselockedloop”whichisreliable,butwillalsoneedregularresets.Aningeniousoscillatorusesametalstripthatbucklesasthesunheatsitup.Thebucklingresetstheclocktonoon-andthestripispositionedsuchthatthesunonlyhitsitwhenitisdirectlyoverhead,atnoon.RightnowtheClockisunderconstruction.ButtheFoundation’sambitionisanythingbymodest.Quitesimply,itwantstheClockoftheLongNow(anamecoinedbymusicianBrianEno)tobecomeasimportantanAmericanculturaliconasMountRushmore.Giveittime. e y d h n Marking Till of Time HONY FORDHAM orminutes.Instead,itshowsthesiderealda(theamountoftimeittakestheplanettorotate,relativetothestars,notthesun),antheprecessionofthezodiac.Thenthere’sadisplayforthepositionoftSunandMoon,aswellastheMoon’sphase.AndaroundtheedgeisthecurrentGregoriayear-exceptshowninafive-digitalformat.Sorightnow,theyearis02017.Rartherthanusesolarpanelsorevena“radioactiveslug”,theclockwillregularhumanwinding.Thiswillensuretheclockremainsarelevantculturalobject.However,evenifitisabandonedforlongstretches,itkeepstimeusingchangesintemperaturebetweendayandnightonthemountain. A T Stateof the Artby AN HUMANLIVESARETOOSHORTTObotherwithreallylong-termplanning,yetalso longenoughtosufferfromearliergeneration’slackofforesight.TheLongNowFoundationwantstofixthisproblem.StartedinSanFranciscoin1996,theLongNow Foundationhasamissionthat’sfairlyeasy toexplain:itwantshumanstothinkabout notthenextdecade,centuryorevenmillennium.Itwantsustoconsiderafutureasfar outas10,000years.To dothat,it’susinga$42milliondonationfrom JeffBezostobuildahuge“ClockoftheLong Now”deepinsideaTexasmountain(thepicturebelowisasmall-scaleprototype).The unusualfacedoesn’tbotherwithhours Drive rewind spirals 6 POPULAR SCIENCE dial nical dulum ck ha en o c p Normal cl Binary mecomputer Torsional f m s o t ation me ca weigh Equti rive D 3 1 2 4 5 S RI U O B M A K N WHEN WE THINK OF TIME TRAVEL WE PICTURE SOMETHING O H Beside Yourself out of an H.G. Wells novel, but in a way, your bed is a time machine. NAT State At NIght Lthaey Cdoenwtnre,cslo fsoer Dyoisuera esyee sC,o anntdro wl aanked uPpre inve tnhtei ofnu teusrteim. Uantfeosr ttuhnaat taetl y, H BY JO of the least 50 million adults in the U.S. have trouble getting shut-eye. This AP R Art gathering of gadgets can’t cure a full-fledged sleep disorder, but it OG by MALLORYJOHNS T will appeal to your five senses and make it easier to drift peacefully HO P S / E C R U SMELL SOUND SIGHT TASTE TOUCH SO E 1. Essential oils aren’t 2. Looping white noise 3. Switching between 4. For centuries, 5. Under Armour’s R Y a bedtime panacea, from an app or digital machine-fed light of purveyors of Ayurvedic Performance LE L but it’s easier to rest in sound machine can be our devices and total medicine have praised Pajamas feel like a A H a room that smells inconsistent and darkness can confuse various spices for mixture of silk R O more like peppermint, annoying. The Marpac our brains about the general relaxation. jammies and athletic F H lemon, or cedarwood Dohm, however, time of day. The Philips Yogi’s Bedtime Tea gear. A bioceramic A H than your dirty gym uses a two-speed Wake-Up Light contains two: coating reflects far C S clothes. The Homedics asymmetrical fan to changes colour and cardamom and infrared rays from DY Ellia Aspire Ultrasonic generate constant, brightness to simulate cinnamon. Chamomile body heat back to the EN W Diffuser uses a rapidly soothing sound. The natural sunrise and in the mix adds skin, which preliminary Y vibrating transducer pitch and volume are sunset. Its LED shifts apigenin, a flavonoid, studies show might G B to transform and adjustable up to among yellow, red, and which binds to help muscle recovery. N LI disperse a water- 75 decibels to drown orange to aid benzodiazepine brain The science isn’t TY and-oil mix into a cool, out street noise or a transitions into and receptors to help settled, but the PJs P S fragrant mist. snoring partner. out of sleep. chill you out. sure are cosy. RO P 8 POPULAR SCIENCE 3 Obsessed State of the Art Each month, hundreds (if not thousands) of tasty nuggets of tech hit the market. Here are 10 that pass the PopSci pub-test. by DAN LANDER 4 2 1 10 1 2 3 4 5 Porsche 911 Azio Retro Avionics V1 ORII Mighty Spotify Bluetooth Speakers Classic Keyboard Electric Bike Smart Ring Player €499 US$120 $TBA $TBA US$85.99 www.porsche-design.com www.aziocorp.com www.avionics.bike www.orii.io www. bemighty.com Inspired by the famous Keyboards are too practical. Only the prototype of this Want the convenience of a Want to take Spotify with twin-exhaust of the Porsche Too usable. Here’s some super-stylish electric Bluetooth earpiece without you, but don’t want to listen 911 (a $12,000 option - relief: a leather and zinc pushbike exists at the the wankery of sticking it on to it via your phone for some kidding!), these speakers are alloy classic typewriter moment - but 80 hand- your ear? The ORII Smart reason? The Mighty Player all about full-throttle sound. design, with round key caps, made units will follow. A Ring is an earpiece you wear allows offline storage of up And like the 911, they punch and adjustable pillar feet. 5kW motor delivers a top on your finger. Simply touch to 1000 songs, but has no above their weight, with a Since this is 2017, there’s full speed of 58km/h and a 120 a fingertip to the side of the built-in speaker, so BYO claimed 60-watts. They’re backlighting of course, and kilometre range from a head (as per the instruc- Bluetooth. So why bother? not cheap, but then, “cheap” the Bluetooth version has 3-hour charge. That should tions), and bone-conduction Because it’s cheap, isn’t really what Porsche is swappable keys to make it make the V1 as easy to ride provides tinny - or should shock-proof and water-re- all about, is it? Mac or Windows specific. as it is to look at. that be boney? - sound. sistant, unlike many phones. 10 POPULAR SCIENCE

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