Popular Science (July 2004)

124 Pages·2004·17.755 MB·English

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PAGE 94
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JULY2004 popsci.com

CONTENTS
JULY 2004 VOLUME 265 #1
“So how do you actually do it? How do you ruin a machine that Porsche
Founded in 1872 will charge you $30,000 to replace? You take a deep breath and start.”
PROJECT PORSCHEp.76
tech
13What’s New
The MiniDisc revamped; digital music
storage showdown; hi-tech travel gear;
computerized crash-test dummy; garage
of the future; 20 hot new products
83How 2.0
BUILDPinky: cardboard robot that sees
GROKPerfecting your digital photos
EXPERIMENTCollecting magnetite
NETT; TECH SUPPORT Hacking LED flashlights 65 13
AR
C news
N B.
OH 31Headlines
DA; J NANOTECHPotential pollution hazard?
N
ALE GEOLOGYNationwide quake tracking
OR H ROBOTICSExoskeleton baby steps
GREG FLIGHTX-43A smashes speed record!
ATES; stories
CI
O
ASS 45POPULARSCIENCE’s 2004 Design
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ON THE COVER: JOHN MACKENN BROWN AND CHRIS de4g18pl2oLF0errtotytsL.me o.Br ostyhk2 eiS6n tEgeMd pBiathaonacr kna6 nWCdo Minlktairnicbhsuointnoer s94FYI 92 32
POPULAR SCIENCE JULY 2004 3
FROM THE EDITOR
Editor-in-Chief Scott Mowbray
CARE Packages— Deputy Editor Mark Jannot
Design Director Dirk Barnett
Features Editor Emily Laber-Warren
Science Editor Dawn Stover
And Our Big Win!
Senior Technology Editor Suzanne Kantra Kirschner
Senior Editor, What’s New Eric Hagerman
Aviation & Automotive Editor Eric Adams
Managing Editor Jill C. Shomer
Senior Associate Editors Nicole Dyer, Michael Moyer
Associate Editor Gregory Mone
Assistant Editors Mike Haney, Martha Harbison
MORE YEARS AGO THAN I CARE TO REVEAL—OK,IT WAS 1970, Assistant Editor, Best of What’s New Joe Brown
Deputy Art Director Hylah Hill
and I was 11—my family lived in Surakarta,a cultured city in the mid- Assistant Art Director Josh McKible
dle of the Indonesian island of Java. My father,a physician,worked DesignerApril Bell
Photo Editor Kristine LaManna
for the relief organization CARE. He taught medicine and helped Staff PhotographerJohn B. Carnett
administer three local hospitals. CARE was a low-cost operation Editorial Assistant Barbara Caraher
Web Producer Peter Noah
that relied in part on donations of medical equipment and drugs. Consulting EditorJeffrey Rothfeder
One day several large crates arrived from a major American hospi- Graphics ConsultantJohn Grimwade
Contributing Design EditorChee Pearlman
tal. Possessing a keen interest in the apparatus of medicine,I was Contributing Automotive EditorStephan Wilkinson
eager to help unpack the loot,which was vitally needed by the Far East Contributing Editor Dennis Normile
Contributing Editors Dan Carney, Rebecca Skloot,
under-equipped hospitals in my father’s charge. Bill Sweetman, Charles Wardell
Contributing FuturistAndrew Zolli
It was a farce. We uncrated medical textbooks so old they would
Contributing Artists Mika Grondahl, Jason Lee, John
have posed a hazard to patients tended to with their advice; some MacNeill, Garry Marshall, Stephen Rountree, Bob Sauls
Editorial Intern Christina Bryza
of the moldy clunkers predated the discovery of antibiotics. There Art Intern Peter Oumanski
were medical machines designed to deliver vibration or electro-
POPULAR SCIENCE PROPERTIES
magnetic therapy of the sort still advocated by quacks. There were PublisherGregg R. Hano
Advertising DirectorJohn Tebeau
long-expired medicines. There were ivory-handled optometry tools Vice President & General Manager Steve Belanger
of 19th-century vintage. It was as if we were rooting around in the Executive Assistant Chandra Dwhaj
Northeast Advertising Office: Manager Howard S.
deepest cobwebbed corner of a hospital basement. Mittman [phone], Jill Schiffman (212) 779-
Actually,that’s likely not far off—the hospital had cleared out this 5007, Mike Schoenbrun [phone]
Ad Assistant Brenda Charles
stuff and donated it,possibly with good intentions,possibly as Midwest Advertising Office: Manager John Marquardt
a cynical tax break. It was the sort of thing you learned to laugh at, [phone], Megan Williams [phone]
Ad AssistantMickey Preston
because your father laughed at it. Tidak apa-apa,as we’d say in Los Angeles Advertising Office: Manager Dana Hess
Indonesian about a lot of things: It doesn’t matter. [phone], Ad AssistantMary Infantino
Detroit Advertising Office: ManagerDonna Christensen
But of course it did matter,and does. Giving technology to com- [phone], Ad Assistant Diane Pahl
San Francisco Advertising Office:Manager Amy Cacciatore
munities in need is fundamental to the modern idea of aid. Tech-
[phone],Ad Assistant Sarah Needleman
nology is both agent and symbol of the power of modernized nations. Southern Regional Advertising Office: ManagerDave
Hady [phone]
It can be administered wrongly in a million ways. Classified Advertising Sales Joan Orth [phone]
The idea of the transformative power of the technological gift Direct Response Sales Marie Isabelle [phone]
Business Manager Jacqueline L. Pappas
fueled our first design competition,the results of which are pub- Director of Brand & Business Development L. Dennett
lished in this issue (page 45). We asked internationally known de- Robertson
Sales Development Managers Mike Saperstein, Daniel
signers and thinkers to choose a community in need,then prescribe Vaughan
a fix in the form of a “technological CARE package for the 21st cen- Events and Promotion Manager Christy Chapin Ellinger
Creative Services Designer MaryMcGann
tury.”We also encouraged them,in the tradition of this magazine, Marketing Coordinator Eshonda Caraway
to look slightly beyond the technological horizon,and speculate Advertising Coordinator Evelyn Negron
Consumer Marketing Director Barbara Venturelli
about how emerging technologies might help. The range of solu- Senior Planning Manager Margerita Catwell
Consumer Marketing Managers James Cahn,
tions offered will surprise you. The range of communities in need
Erik Hass, Sara O’Connor
might,too—it includes you,it includes all of us. Senior Production Director Laurel Kurnides
Production Assistant Shawn Glenn
Prepress Director Lisa Szymanski
I’M DELIGHTED TO REPORT THAT AT THE 2004 NATIONAL MAGAZINE Prepress Manager José Medina
Publicity Manager Hallie Deaktor
Awards in May in New York,POPULARSCIENCEwon the General
Excellence award for magazines with circulations of 1 million to
2 million. The “Gen Ex”award is the highest honor a magazine can
receive. Our editorial team has been working for more than two
PresidentMark P. Ford
years to create the finest magazine of its type in the country. It’s Senior Vice Presidents James F. Else, Victor M.
been gratifying,to say the least,to have that work honored. Sauerhoff, Steven Shure
Director, Editorial Development Scott Mowbray
Director, Corporate Communications Samara Farber
SscCoOtt.TmT oMwObrWayB@RAtiYm e4.com MCFoUorS r2TmO4a/Mr7E RseSrvEiRcVe,I CpEleAaNseD uSseU BoSuCr RWIPeTbIO sNiteS: JAKE C
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popsci.com/customerservice E
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4 POPULAR SCIENCE JULY 2004

CONTRIBUTORS FROM “ADAPTIVE
CAMOUFLAGE” TO “ZIPS”
Your guide to this month’s POPSCI
ADAPTIVE CAMOUFLAGE PAGE 94
BONEYARD 61
BRONZE-AGE FACTORY 26
CASSINI-HUYGENS 66
CRASH-TEST DUMMY 18
CULTURAL ASSIMILATION 54
ELECTRIC SOCKS 120
ELECTROLUMINESCENT STRIPS 48
ELEGANT LITTLE FIGHTER 62
Inspired by the containers filled with Spam and other surplus food items that ELVISH MAGIC 94
were sent to Europe at the end of World War II, POPSCIasked prominent architects, ETCH A SKETCH 90
designers and artists to identify a community in need and design a solution in the
form of a high-tech, 21st-century CARE package (page 45). On the whole, the FAT-FANNIED BUREAUCRAT 80
proposals offer smart and imaginative solutions; we’ve featured a few of our FREEZERATOR 18
favorites. Projects ran the gamut from the earnest (providing safe drinking water)
to the inventive (protecting whales from high-intensity sonar tests) to the bitingly GREAT TRAGEDY 78
satirical (a pop-culture bomb dropped on people “about to be liberated by
HUMBLE OFFICE WORKER 49
the United States”). The POPSCIDesign Challenge was spearheaded by CHEE
PEARLMAN(left), design journalist and director of the design consultancy Chee HYPERION 66
Company, and STEVEN HENRY MADOFF(right), a contributing editor of ARTnews
KATHMANDU 16
and a managing partner of the consulting group 5ive. Most of the entries feature
cutting-edge technology—the only spam involved is the kind that arrives digitally MAGNETITE 90
over the Internet—but are informed by an ethical lens. Says Pearlman, “Design
MANY LONG NIGHTS 83
humanizes technology.”
MARITAL BLISS 76
MONGOLIAN DAZZLERS 80
If POPSCIscience editor DAWN STOVERseems a tad space- NANO-POLLUTION 31
obsessed (her latest story about NASA ran in April), it might
OCEANS OF GASOLINE 72
be because she works from a log cabin in rural Washington
and, unlike her New York colleagues, can actually see the OVERPRESSURE 59
stars. This month, Stover describes the Cassini mission (page
PAL OF THE USA 54
65), due to arrive at Saturn on July1. “Scientists don’t know
much about Saturn,” she says, “not even enough to argue.” PINK-OBSESSED ROBOT 83
QUIET SUPERSONIC PLATFORM 60
IllustratorJAMESON SIMPSONdrew a water-purification,
remote-communications unit (page 46) conceived for the REPTILE REAR 58
POPSCIDesign Challenge as a cure-all of sorts for people REVERSE OSMOSIS 55
living in third-world poverty. Simpson knows firsthand the ROYAL LAND BARGE 28 LU
perils of poor sanitation: During a recent stint in India he fell IS
B
desperately ill from tainted water. “Bacteria were jumping RUSTICLES 42 RU
N
out of the woodwork,” he says. “I had to leave—or die.” SILICON JUNKYARDS 50 O A
N
TOMER HANUKA’s jittery, color-soaked, graphic-novel style SMOG 72 D C
is informed by a childhood obsession with DC comics. SOLID CHUNK OF BRASS 13 HEE
On page 92, he illustrates an ultrabright flashlight with PE
STIRLING ENGINE 46 A
a humorously gruesome, comic-book-worthy image. Hanuka, R
LM
whose work has appeared in the New Yorker, is SYNTHETIC STAR 48 A
N
co-creator—with his twin brother and fellow illustrator THUNDEROUS DOUBLE BANG 58 PH
Asaf—of the comic book Bipolar. ÜBERINVESTOR 60 OTOG
R
LUIS BRUNO, who shot the crash-test dummy on page18, A
VERSATILE F-5 120 PH
uses minimal lighting and props to create naturalistic still E
D
lifes. “It’s not like I wing it,” he says. “But I want to keep it WHALE BEHAVIOR 53 BY
simple.” Bruno,whose work has appeared in Fortune, uses WOODY ALLEN OF RODENTS 96 JOH
a digital camera, but his heart is in the past. “I really love the N
old processes, the sharpness that glass plates give,” says YODA 94 B. C
Bruno, “but I use digital because it is so much faster.” ZIPS 68 AR
N
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6 POPULAR SCIENCE JULY 2004