Popular Science (June 2004)

151 Pages·2004·16.171 MB·English

by  Scott Mowbray

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CONTENTS
JUNE 2004 VOLUME 264 #6
The Acura came roaring out of the gate hard left and knocked over a
Founded in 1872 two-and-a-half-foot-high concrete guard before DARPA could hit stop.
DARPA’S DEBACLE IN THE DESERT p.86
tech
15What’s New
Toyota’s prescient concept car; 1MP
camera phones; portable PlayStation;
geek campsite; remote-control lawn-
ALL; mower; 20 products in 2 pages
H
S
AR
M 101How 2.0
Y
ARR ACQUIRE Digital SLRs vs. all-in-ones
G
A; INTEGRATE Trekking Tajikistan with GPS
K
NU HACK Unlocking your cellphone
A
MER H BUILD Eight steps to a classic arcade 15 101
ORP.; TO news
C 43Headlines
OTOR RESEARCH Bacterial microbots
A M DEFENSE Gaps in the new missile shield
YOT GREEN TECH 2,000 miles on one charge
O
Y T PHYSICS Tabletop fusion reconsidered
S
URTE
O stories
C
OP LEFT: 56Hollywood,Science,and the
M T End of the WorldThe Day After
SE FRO HToomwo’sr riotsw s icsi ean sceev?e rBey w Meaathttheer ww aTrenaignuge. 38 44
WI
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GE, To? Five strange weapons systems
A
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ON TMICH 112FYI 144 Looking Back 94 62
POPULAR SCIENCE JUNE 2004 5
FROM THE EDITOR
Editor-in-Chief Scott Mowbray
Bad Weather Bids Deputy Editor Mark Jannot
Design Director Dirk Barnett
Features Editor Emily Laber-Warren
For Boffo Box Office Science Editor Dawn Stover
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 Greg Mone
Assistant Editors Mike Haney, Martha Harbison
JUDGING FROM THE EARLY-CUT PREVIEW WE SAW A FEW MONTHS Assistant Editor, Best of What’s New Joe Brown
ago,Roland Emmerich’s latest movie,The Day After Tomorrow, Deputy Art Director Hylah Hill
Assistant Art Director Josh McKible
will be a hell of a ride—at least if you like to see favorite cities
Designer April Bell
laid waste by tidal waves,plagues of giant hail and gangs of ram- Photo Editor Kristine LaManna
Staff PhotographerJohn B. Carnett
paging tornadoes (which we do,certainly). At the very least,it
Editorial Assistant Barbara Caraher
looks to be another step forward for computer-generated special Web Producer Peter Noah
Consulting EditorJeffrey Rothfeder
effects. Pixel-processing power is now such that when a virtual
Graphics ConsultantJohn Grimwade
tsunami charges down a Manhattan street,the virtual camera can Contributing Design EditorChee Pearlman
Contributing Automotive EditorStephan Wilkinson
shoot from multiple angles and even surf the wave. You have to
Far East Contributing Editor Dennis Normile
believe that filmmaking is moving,as inexorably as high water,to- Contributing Editors Dan Carney, Rebecca Skloot,
ward the day when computer special effects will be indistin- Bill Sweetman, Charles Wardell
Contributing FuturistAndrew Zolli
guishable from filmed reality. After that will come a virtual guild Contributing Artists Mika Grondahl, Jason Lee, John
of CG actors,powered by AI,reading from scripts written by PCs MacNeill, Garry Marshall, Stephen Rountree, Bob Sauls
Art Intern Peter Oumanski
and shot by robo-helmers,at which point an “independent”film will
POPULAR SCIENCE PROPERTIES
be one produced on a PDA. But that’s a different nightmare scenario Publisher Gregg R. Hano
from the one raised by The Day After Tomorrow. Advertising DirectorJohn Tebeau
Vice President & General Manager Steve Belanger
Forget global warming: This movie is about global gasket-blowing, Executive Assistant Chandra Dwhaj
Mother Nature on a binge. Emmerich naturally says he shot the Northeast Advertising Office: Manager Howard S.
Mittman [phone], Jill Schiffman (212) 779-
film as a warning,not merely as an entertainment. This is at least 5007, Mike Schoenbrun [phone]
good marketing,and nicely timed after a recent Pentagon-funded Ad Assistant Brenda Charles
Midwest Advertising Office: Manager John Marquardt
what-if/worst-case report sparked headlines when it speculated that
[phone], Megan Williams [phone]
rapid cooling in the northern hemisphere—a hangover effect of Ad AssistantMickey Preston
Los Angeles Advertising Office: Manager Dana Hess
rapid warming—could begin as early as 2010.
[phone], Ad AssistantDeena Hancock
But does the film have anything to do with reality,or is it just Detroit Advertising Office: ManagerDonna Christensen
[phone], Ad Assistant Diane Pahl
a bucket-of-popcorn apocalypse? With the Fox studio’s coopera-
San Francisco Advertising Office:Manager Amy Cacciatore
tion we took the script and some clips to three respected experts: a [phone],Ad Assistant Sarah Needleman
Southern Regional Advertising Office: Manager Dave
paleoclimatologist,a paleontologist and the futurist who co-wrote
Hady [phone]
the Pentagon’s report (see page 56). Frankly,we expected the same Classified Advertising Sales Joan Orth [phone]
Direct Response Sales Marie Isabelle [phone]
sort of pure-hokum dismissal that scientists offered last year
Business Manager Jacqueline L. Pappas
regarding the silly magnetic-field disaster flick The Core. But that Director of Brand & Business Development L. Dennett
Robertson
wasn’t quite what we got. Certainly,the movie depicts a crazily
Sales Development Managers Mike Saperstein, Daniel
accelerated,climate-on-crack-cocaine scenario that,compared to Vaughan
Events and Promotion Manager Christy Chapin Ellinger
historical examples of rapid climate change,is unbelievable. Rapid
Creative Services Designer MaryMcGann
climate change means different things in Earth years and in Holly- Marketing Coordinator Eshonda Caraway
wood minutes. But,our experts warned,the consequences of rapid Advertising Coordinator Evelyn Negron
Associate Circulation Director Barbara Venturelli
climate change would feel mighty apocalyptic to those who expe- Senior Planning Manager Margerita Catwell
rienced them. The effects would overcome nations. Senior Production Director Laurel Kurnides
Production Assistant Shawn Glenn
When it comes to summer blockbusters,we take the popcorn Prepress Director Lisa Szymanski
andthe movies with a good deal of salt. But disaster flicks are,if noth- Prepress Manager José Medina
Publicity Manager Hallie Deaktor
ing else,a measure of the temperature of the time. Film historians
may look back at a movie like this,as they look back at On the Beach
and Dr. Strangelovein light of the atomic age,and note that our cul-
ture was beginning to sweat in 2004. Let’s hope the historians are not President Mark P. Ford
doing it from waterfront property in Beverly Hills. Senior Vice Presidents James F. Else, Victor M.
Sauerhoff, Steven Shure
Director, Editorial Development Scott Mowbray
Director, Corporate Communications Samara Farber
SCOTT MOWBRAY
Mormar
[email protected] JA
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6 POPULAR SCIENCE JUNE 2004