Spring 2019 Popular Science

Citation preview

Spring 2019

H OW W E ’ L L M OV E y flying cars y robot cars y slow buses y fast planes y b i g p l a n e s y t h o s e f r i c k i n ’ s c o o t e r s (e v e r y w h e r e) y l i t t l e b i k e s y metro trains y vacuum tubes y space capsules & the bolt with a broken heart

The highly-anticipated Nikon mirrorless Z 6 has arrived. Inspired by your boundless creativity, the Nikon Z 6 is a versatile, compact full-frame camera that brings legendary Nikon optical excellence to both photography and videography. The revolutionary Z Mount unlocks the potential of NIKKOR Z lenses, while an innovative adapter allows you to shoot with approximately 360 F-Mount NIKKOR lenses.* All of which lets you capture spectacular photos and full-frame 4K UHD video with full pixel readout. Mirrorless, reinvented by Nikon, means a future full of creative possibility. 24 . 5 M P | U P TO 12 F P S | 4 K U H D ( F U L L- F R A M E + F U L L P I X E L R E A D OU T ) | IN-CA MERA 5-AXIS VR | 10-BIT OUTPUT + N-LOG N I KO N U S A .CO M /M I R RO R L E S S * For compatibility with the optional Mount Adapter FTZ, please visit nikonusa.com/mirrorless Images are for illustrative purposes only. Nikon is a registered trademark of Nikon Corporation. ©2019 Nikon Inc.

M I R R O R L E S S R E I N V E N T E D R E A D Y

F O R

A N Y T H I N G

3,000,000 people are not freaking out right now. If you read the headlines, the world can feel like a scary place. At SimpliSafe, we know it feels good to fear less. We blanket your home with award-winning 24/7 security that stands up to the unexpected, from power outages to uninvited guests. As more than 3 million customers already know, fear has no place in a place like home. Right now, get free shipping at SimpliSafe.com/sci

CONTENTS A bridge to the future p. 12

The mileage of our extraterrestrial autos p. 14

Earth’s quickest critters p. 16

The carbon cost of travel, in trees p. 18

Teleportation that’ll kill you p. 19

Our last sips of oil p. 20

Humankind’s most daring journeys p. 21

The health effects of extreme sports p. 22

How coffee and tea traveled the globe p. 24

One day, 125,798 flights p. 26

Snaking transit through ancient history p. 28

A delightful mini motorcycle p. 32

Sole-saving shoes for every terrain p. 34

A bomb car stereo louder than the car p. 35

Baggage to last a lifetime p. 36

The best headphones to block out the world p. 37

An engine that can twist a car frame p. 38

Top outfits to wear on an airplane p. 40

Analog navigation tools for wilderness treks p. 42

When will we trust robots to drive? p. 44

Designing the perfect sailboat p. 48

Will we ever commute by jetpack? p. 55

Minding the gaps in public transit p. 64

How we’ll endure long-haul flights p. 70

Sans this bolt, we can’t get to Mars p. 72

A brief history of road building p. 80

Supersonic travel’s second wave p. 86

Tiny trains on a big journey p. 94

The footprints of ancient humans p. 106

Mountain-lion crossing p. 108

I ran a marathon in space p. 108

Getting science past the TSA p. 110

A chicken that walks like a T. rex p. 112

Supercontinents of the future p. 112

The steps of a wandering toddler p. 114

Babysitting robot drivers p. 115

HOW TO READ THIS CHART

Movement that’s just an illusion p. 118 The icons represent what’s moving in each story in this issue

A head-scratching treadmill trick p. 120 how fast it’s going how big it is

cover photograph by The Voorhes / infographic by Sara Chodosh

Puzzles to take on the road p. 120

Why car trips feel so long p. 122

MODE OF TRANSPORT terrestrial aquatic aerial atomic geologic

Charted In Profile Goods The Big Q

Self-charging autos; time travel; faster airports p. 130 Features Tales Head Trip I Wish...

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

7

SPRING 2019 Editor-in-Chief Joe Brown Deputy Editor Corinne Iozzio Online Director Amy Schellenbaum Design Director Russ Smith EDITOR’S LETTER

ALL ABOARD, EVEN ME EARLY ONE MORNING THIS

past summer, I rode my motorcycle out of New York City for what I expect was the last time. In fact, I’ll probably never ride in my hometown again. That’s too bad, because motorbikes used to be the best way to get around this burg: fast, cheap, and able to squirm through gridlock. Why? The recent influx of ride-hailing services like Uber and Ly ft have made thes e streets way too mean. According to data from the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission, the city has added more than 70,000 for-hire vehicles between 2013 and 2018. And while it’s far easier to get a ride now—even if you’re in far-out Brooklyn or couldn’t historically flag down a cab based on the way you look—Ubers are making the city harder for folks trying to get around on two wheels. The trouble isn’t just the size of this ever-growing fleet. Apphailed drivers stare at their cellphones pretty much constantly. That’s literally their job, and I

used to watch them from my bike, poking at their screens, trying to find their next fare or figure a route around crowded streets. This tunnel vision means it’s easier for them to not notice the guy on the motorcycle. I’ve had more near-accidents on New York streets over the past two years than I had in my previous two decades of riding. While it’s fun to reminisce about city streets with room to ride, the Ubers and Lyfts are here to stay, and I’m happy about that. We have dreamed a world that is smaller, cleaner, less discriminatory, and easier to travel for all people. The same way the internet has democratized communication, transportation tech promises to break down the barriers that keep us apart. That’s the inspiration for this issue—from the ride-sharing and on-demand scooter services we already have, to the quiet supersonic jets and connected roadways that as yet exist only on paper. And if one cranky dude needs to park his motorcycle to clear the way, I’m all for it.

EDITORIAL Features Editor Susan Murcko Science Editor Rachel Feltman Technology Editor Stan Horaczek Senior Producer Tom McNamara Senior Editor Sophie Bushwick Associate Editor Claire Maldarelli Assistant Editors Sara Chodosh, Eleanor Cummins, Rob Verger Associate Producer Jason Lederman Engagement Editor Ryan Perry Commerce Editor Billy Cadden Copy Chief Cindy Martin Editorial Assistant Jessica Boddy Researchers Jake Bittle, Diane Kelly, Helina Selemon, Erika Villani Interns Jillian Mock, Charlie Wood ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY Photo Director Thomas Payne Consulting Production Manager Glenn Orzepowski Consulting Designer Robert Dominguez EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Group Managing Editor Jean McKenna Managing Editor Margaret Nussey CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Kate Baggaley, Brooke Borel, Tom Foster, Kevin Gray, William Gurstelle, Gregory Mone, Sarah Scoles, P.W. Singer, Chuck Squatriglia, Nick Stockton, James Vlahos, The Voorhes (photography) Executive Vice President Gregory D. Gatto Group Editorial Director Anthony Licata Group Creative Director Sean Johnston BONNIER MEDIA Senior Vice President, Managing Director John Graney Vice President, Sales Jeff Timm Digital Sales Manager Lee Verdecchia Corporate Sales Directors Kristine Bihm, Kelly Hediger, Doug Leipprandt, Matt Levy, Cyndi Ratcliff, Jeff Roberge Direct Response and Classifieds Sales Representatives Brian Luke, Chip Parham Marketing Vice President Brenda Oliveri Strategic Development Director Beth Hetrick Sales Development Director Charlotte Grima Integrated Marketing Manager Ed Raymond Research Manager Peter Chiacchiaro Associate Director Eshonda Caraway-Evans Brand Manager Vanessa Vazquez Associate Creative Director Steve Gianaca Business Operations Financial Director Tara Bisciello Advertising Coordinator Nicky Nedd Digital Content Production and Presentation Director Michellina Jones Producer Kayla Lockwood Bonnier Custom Insights Manager, Corporate Research Anna Levina Research Analyst Peter Chiacchiaro Production Group Director Rina V. Murray Associate Director Kelly Kramer Weekley Artist Rick Andrews Consumer Marketing Director Sally Murphy, ProCirc Public Relations Manager Cathy Hebert

Chairman Erik Haegerstrand Head of Business Area, Magazines Lars Dahmén Chief Executive Officer Eric Zinczenko Chief Financial Officer Joachim Jaginder Executive VP, Bonnier Media Gregory D. Gatto Executive VP, Bonnier Solutions David Ritchie Chief Digital Revenue Officer Sean Holzman Senior VP, Consumer Products Elise Contarsy Senior VP, Events Jonathan Moore Senior VP, Digital Operations David Butler Senior VP, Managing Director, Corporate Sales John Graney VP, Public Relations Perri Dorset VP, Data Science and Analytics Mark Crone VP, Enterprise Solutions Shawn Macey General Counsel Jeremy Thompson Human Resources Director Kim Putman This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources. FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS, such as renewals, address changes, email preferences, billing, and account status, go to popsci.com/cs. You can also call 800-289-9399 or 515-237-3697, or write to Popular Science, P.O. Box 6364, Harlan, IA 51593-1864. Occasionally, we make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services we think might be of interest to you. If you do not want to receive these offers, please advise us at 515-237-3697.

8

illustration by Kyle Hilton

PUT TWO & TWO

TOGETHER and you could save

Have GEICO car insurance? Get home insurance through the GEICO Insurance Agency and you could get a ѴঞŊoѴb1 7bv1om|

Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states, in all GEICO companies, or in all situations. Homeowners, renters and condo coverages are written through non-affiliated insurance companies and are secured through the GEICO Insurance Agency, Inc. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. © 201 GEICO

Are you feeling RED

CONTRIBUTORS

Andrew Blum

Specially Formulated with a Nitric Oxide Booster, to Help Optimize Performance in Fast-Acting liquid soft-gels.

As a youth in summer camp, Andrew Blum sailed Lasers: small, fast, wildly popular sailboats. On page 48, Blum, now the father of two young sailors, focuses on the history of this classic craft and the life of 90-year-old Bruce Kirby, the Canada-born designer who built the first Laser in 1970. The story—technical but deeply human—was a natural fit for Blum, whose first book, Tubes, told the tale of the physical structure of the internet and the people who constructed it. This June will mark the debut of his second book, The Weather Machine, which peers into the complex systems that bring the morning forecast to our phones, digital assistants, and radio DJs. While he sees technical explanations like these as a public service, he admits that a lot of journalism for him “is just fulfilling childhood fascination.”

Save $2.00 online at:

www.IrwinNaturals.com by entering coupon code: 013802



BRAIN AWAKE RED

SAVE $2 MANUFACTURERS COUPON

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Follow Us On...

Cristiana Couceiro

Cristiana Couceiro mixes shapes, streaks of color, and photographs to create something unexpected. The Portuguese artist’s passion for assembling collages began early. “Cutting pieces of paper from old newspapers and magazines and telling a brand-new story with glue was a joy while growing up,” she says; old copies of Popular Science have even provided fodder. Now, the designer’s works enhance glossy magazines. On page 19 she captures the perils of teleportation by inserting chaotic geometry onto a human image.

Russ Smith

Russ Smith’s favorite part of the magazine-making process is brainstorming. “We could do any story a million different ways,” he says, but every visual needs to be “fun and informative.” As the design director for Bonnier Corporation’s Popular Science, Saveur, Field & Stream, and Outdoor Life, he grapples with art decisions small and big, from identifying the right font for a fishing story to commissioning a creative illustration to represent carbon-emissions data—depicted on page 18 as a tall layer cake of trees. by Eleanor Cummins

COURTESY CONTRIBUTORS

EXPIRES: 06/30/19

Consumer: Redeemable at retail locations only. Not valid for online or mail-order purchases. Retailer: Irwin Naturals will reimburse you for the face value plus 8 (cents) handling provided it is redeemed by a consumer at the time of purchase on the brand specified. Coupons not properly redeemed will be void and held. Reproduction by any party by any means is expressly prohibited. Any other use constitutes fraud. Irwin Naturals reserves the right to deny reimbursement (due to misredemption activity) and/or request proof of purchase for coupon(s) submitted. Mail to: CMS Dept. 10363, Irwin Naturals, 1 Fawcett Drive, Del Rio, TX 78840. Cash value: .001 (cents). Void where taxed or restricted. ONE COUPON PER PURCHASE. Not valid for mail order/websites. Retail only.

CHARTED • Poor upkeep

Outdated materials •

• Too weak [2]

• Limited lanes [1]

THEN Limited lanes Designers of even the broadest 20thcentury bridges didn’t plan past the new millennium. Despite the number of cars per person more than doubling since the ’50s, most commuters still rely on undersize infrastructure. When rain, ice, low visibility, or rush hour strike, the result is a long line.

Too weak A new four-door in 1987 weighed 3,221 pounds; its 2016 equal topped 4,000. The extra tonnage per car means many passes can’t accommodate the autos that modern drivers increasingly prefer. The Brooklyn Bridge, for one, bans vehicles more than 3 tons; that’s lighter than many SUVs.

No backups In 1967, a single link in the chain suspending Ohio’s Silver Bridge snapped, bringing down the whole span and killing 46 people in the process. Doubling up on essentials, such as structural supports, would have provided crucial redundancy and avoided a single point of failure.

12

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

• No backups [3]

FRANKENBUILD

THERE ARE 614,000 BRIDGES IN THE U.S., AND NEARLY 1-IN-10 OF THEM IS FALLING

make bridges, not death traps

apart. When Eisenhower signed the 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act, establishing a 41,000-mile system of roads and bridges, there was roughly one car for every three people. Today, it’s almost 1-to-1. This influx of vehicles, plus shoddy maintenance, has taxed spans to the brink of collapse. This bridge is the sum of our worst missteps, and how to make them right.

NOW Car-free levels

• Regular maintenance

Getting commuters out of cars is key to avoiding overtaxed spans, but bridges aren’t exactly friendly to bikes or our own two feet. Contemporary designers advocate for lifting parklike promenades above traffic and filling them with public art, health-boosting greenery, ample shading, and even cafes for socializing.

Robot-only zones Humans hesitate when accelerating or changing lanes, but self-driving cars won’t have our delayed reactions: When the light turns green, they’ll move in unison. That’s why graduate students at UC Berkeley propose an autonomousonly 100 mph “hyperlane” to help traffic quickly clear overpasses. • Car-free levels [1]

Quake-resistant supports Bridges shake under normal conditions, giving a little to keep from shattering, and a quake is the ultimate test. To stay upright, engineers dig towers into the bedrock, install dampers throughout the structures to absorb tremors, and outfit spans with seismic and traffic sensors that alert authorities to any danger.

• Wider lanes

• Robot-only zones [2]

• Quake-resistant supports [3]

by Eleanor Cummins / illustration by Sinelab

13

Distance: 0.06 miles Destination: Mars Date: 1997 Origin: USA

OVERVIEW

rove if you want to O U R M O S T S TA LWA RT celestial explorers are hitchhikers. Autonomous rovers such as Sojourner, the bouncing robots of Minerva II, and the crewed Apollo moon buggies might not log as much mileage as the rockets they ride, but the relatively wee lengths they travel cover the final legs of journeys into the unknown. On the surface of Mars, asteroids, and the moon, these intrepid travelers look for water, gather samples, and capture photos that showcase alien worlds to the Earth-bound. These are the tracks of six off-world trotters.

Although Sojourner, the first rover on Mars, trundled only a s way, it managed nab more than 5 pics while study composition of a rocks and soil.

APOLLO 15 LRV Distance: 17.3 miles Destination: Moon Date: 1971 Origin: USA Three successive moon missions boasted versions of this buggy. In a three-hour t during Apollo 15 helped astronau collect 170 poun samples from a t of lunar regions.

MINERVA II 1A AND 1B Distance: 0.25 miles Destination: Ryugu Date: 2018–2019 Origin: Japan These twin hexagonal vers don’t roll; they p in their asteroid’s eak gravity. Leaps st around 15 mines and cover about 0 horizontal feet.

IOSITY ce: 12.3 miles Destination: Mars Date: 2012–present Origin: USA The nearly 2,000pound Curiosity hasn’t gotten too far. It was designed to aporize rocks and nap X-rays around he once-watery Gale rater—not to wander far afield.

LUNOKHOD 2 OPPORTUNITY Distance: 28+ miles Destination: Mars Date: 2004–? Origin: USA Opportunity’s three-month mission is in its 14th year. It fell silent in a 2018 dust storm, and as of ublication, NASA wa till attempting to ontact the little rove hat could.

14

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

Distance: 24 miles Destination: Moon Date: 1973 Origin: USSR After landing the first-ever lunar rover in 1970, the USSR sent this sequel. The robot deduced that ambient light in the moon’s actually hter than it .

by Sophie Bushwick / illustrations by Diego Patina

ARTWORK MADE OF WILDFIRE ASHES

DID YOU KNOW EMBERS FROM AN UNATTENDED BACKYARD BONFIRE CAN SPARK A WILDFIRE? SPARK A CHANGE, NOT A WILDFIRE.

ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT WILDFIRES

SMOKEYBEAR.COM

USUAL SUSPECTS

WHAT’S THE FASTEST ANIMAL ON EARTH? DEPENDS ON HOW YOU

define quickness. By simple miles per hour, classic megafauna like cheetahs dominate the leaderboard. But if we measure velocity by the body lengths an animal travels per second, those quick cats have some competition. This race of proportions allows contenders from all kingdoms to go for gold. Here’s how a cross-section of critters achieves top speeds.

body y clocks

Cheetah 2 22.67 Snowshoe hare 35.77 Yellow garden spider 14.96

Mite 192.4

BODY LENGTHS PER SECOND

Common squid 1 10

Anna’s hummingbird3 385

Copepod4 500 Gorilla 5.2

1. COMMON SQUID

2. CHEETAH

3. HUMMINGBIRD

4. COPEPOD

This cephalopod shoots through the ocean like a tentacled jet. It sucks water into a chamber in its 8-inch-long cone-shaped body, then contracts its muscles to push the liquid through a narrow funnel-shaped organ near its head. The flow blasts in one direction, launching the adult squid’s gelatinous form the opposite way at 10 body lengths per second.

Famous for sheer giddyup, these spotted cats’ flexible spines give their limbs a wide range of motion. The stretch maximizes stride and allows acceleration from zero to 60 mph in three seconds. Hind legs dense with fast-twitch fibers— a powerful type of muscle— enable 70 mph bursts. But factor in body size, and they fall behind: 23 lengths per second.

Hummingbirds pump their wings in a figure eight so quickly that humans see only a blur. To impress the ladies, 4-inch-long male Anna’s hummingbirds accelerate faster than any other vertebrate relative to body size—including fighter pilots. Suitors fly at 385 body lengths per second during their customary courtship dive, all powered by outsize pecs.

Where there is water, there are copepods serenely floating. In times of crisis, the torpedoshaped 1-millimeter crustaceans can accelerate to 500 body lengths per second. Two kinds of limbs—some vibrating oars for swimming and some stronger legs for jumping—allow the creature to blast over 20 inches, perfect for escaping a fish’s gaping jaws.

JET PROPULSION

16

SPEEDING SPINES

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

DIVE FOR LOVE

MIGHTY LEGS

by Jillian Mock / illustration by Goran Factory

Rechargeable Digital Hearing Aid Technology Only $ 229!* (*Each when you buy a pair)

The new more powerful HearClearTM hearing aid combines advanced technology with a low price to provide you with outstanding value.

A) Microphone WƌŽŐƌĂŵƵƩŽŶ C) Volume Control D) USB Charging Port & ZĞĐŚĂƌŐĞĂďůĞĂƩĞƌLJ E) EĞǁŝŐŝƚĂůWƌŽĐĞƐƐŽƌ &ZĞĐĞŝǀĞƌ;^ƉĞĂŬĞƌ G) Sound Tube

5 Star Reviews! Outstanding Product! “This product is outstanding. Dad loves it, my mom loves it, and I am grateful! Don’t believe that you have to spend a lot of money to get a quality hearing aid” 'ŝůŵŽƌĞ

HCR3 Features! Digital sound processing chip provides clear sound and makes speech easier to understand with less feedback than old analog technology Don’t worry about replacing ďĂƩĞƌŝĞƐ Full Charge Gives 16 Hours of Use! (Charger Included) Easy KŶKīƵƩŽŶ ƵƚŽŵĂƟĐEŽŝƐĞZĞĚƵĐƟŽŶĂŶĚ &ĞĞĚďĂĐŬĂŶĐĞůůĂƟŽŶ 100% Money Back Guarantee 4 ProgramsĨŽƌĚŝīĞƌĞŶƚůŝƐƚĞŶŝŶŐ ƐŝƚƵĂƟŽŶƐ

Even Better In Pairs! Your brain is designed to use both ears working together. In fact, studies show that you may be able to hear up to 3 ƟŵĞƐďĞƩĞƌ in noisy ƐŝƚƵĂƟŽŶƐǁŚĞŶ using two hearing aids. Buy a pair for the best results and maximum savings!

Simple. Affordable. Rechargeable Digital Hearing Aid - For Only $229!* The new HearClearTM HCR3 Rechargeable Digital Hearing Aids are now available to you for an unbelievably affordable price! The HCR3 is packed with the same key technologies that all high end digital hearing aids share while leaving out the extra bells and whistles that increase cost and require expensive adjustments. This helps you hear NOW ON SALE! better, while saving you a lot of money. Your new HearClear HCR3 hearing aids work at a fraction of the cost of name-brand hearing aids, and you don’t have to keep changing the batteries! You will love the discreet, comfortable, lightweight Open-fit design. The HCR3 is shipped directly to you and pre-programmed for most hearing losses. It will help you hear better right out of the box and does not require professional appointments to make costly adjustments. You can spend thousands for an expensive hearing aid, or you can spend just $249 for a hearing aid that is great for most hearing losses (only $229 each when you buy a pair – hear up to 3 times better than wearing just one). We are so sure you will love your hearing aids that we offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee - Risk Free if you are not satisfied for any reason.

MONEY SAVING OFFER! Use Coupon Code: P92

1-877-268-1170 *Only $229 Each When You Buy A Pair! (Coupon Code & Price Valid For A Limited Time Only) TM

īŽƌĚĂďůĞYƵĂůŝƚLJ^ŝŶĐĞϭϲ

US Company Owned And Operated

The HCR3

FDA

REGISTERED

Visit and Save: www.AdvancedHearing.com/P92

RANKED

forest for the

WHEN YOU ROAD-TRIP TO DISNEY OR JET FIRST CLASS ACROSS THE

country, you feel the sucker punch to your savings. Appreciating how it impacts the planet is more abstract. So we represented the carbon cost of a solo 1,700-mile trip from Chicago to LA

Car — Electric, power from wind 0 lb. of CO2

Coach Bus 289 lb. of CO2

Car — Electric, power from oil 549 lb. of CO2

Train 629 lb. of CO2

Plane — First class 1,286 lb. of CO2

Car — Gas-powered 1,836 lb. of CO2

Car — SUV 2,363 lb. of CO2

18

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

by Eleanor Cummins / illustration by Lucy Engelman

SOURCE: UCS GREEN TRAVEL REPORT, 2008; EUROPEAN COMMISSION WELL-TO-WHEELS REPORT

Plane — Economy class 643 lb. of CO 2

DEEPER CUT

a commute so quick, you could just die Photons and teensy bits of atfrom Tibet to a satellite passing more than oms are the most complex bodies we can send over long distances in 300 miles overhead. These particles jump- a flash. Each particle of the same ing through space evoked wide-eyed sci-fi type—photon, neutron, electron— fantasies back on Earth: Could Star Trek is largely the same as every other transporters be far behind? ¶ Sorry for the member of its subatomic species. Configurations known as quanbuzzkill, but this real-world trick, called tum states distinguish them. Two quantum teleportation, probably won’t photons spinning clockwise, for ever send your body from one place to example, are identical. You can’t one zip elsewhere with no another. It’s essentially a super-secure make lag time (sorry, that’s magic), data transfer, which is tough to do with but you can create its duplicate the jumble of code that makes a human. in another spot. Not so useful for moving people, but valuable for instantaneous, secure communication. Let’s say I’m on Earth and want to share a secret with you, an astronaut. I create a scrambled code—one impossible to decipher without its key—and use it to email you an inscrutable missive. But how do I send the key without risk of a spy intercepting it? I N 2 0 1 7, P H Y S I C I S T S B E A M E D P H O T O N S

by Matthew R. Francis / illustration by Cristiana Couceiro

I start by encoding it in binary using the states of a group of photons (I could say clockwise is 1, counter is 0). I can securely share the digits thanks to a trick that occurs when two particles of the same type interact: entanglement. If Photon 1 spins clockwise, Photon 2 whirls counter. If one changes, so does the other—no matter how far apart they are. I can break up such a pair—one stays with me, one beams to you in a ray of light—and know their states will always be complementary. This means you can infer the info stored on my Earthly particle by measuring your own. All I have to do is wait for my half of the couple to take on the same state as a third photon— one that I encoded with a digit of binary—and tell you to examine your own. In an instant, it’s turned into a precious passkey. Presto chango: You got the digit hidden on my secret particle without ever seeing it. Since the photon I beamed up to you didn’t actually contain the cipher until its entangled buddy switched to the right state, we never risked spilling our secrets to an interloper en route. Such transfers could become common in the next decade, but this process won’t translate well into human transport: One person contains around 1028 atoms. Copying all of that data would require breaking down the body to the atomic level (ouch!), which would almost certainly prove fatal. And then you’d have to perfectly reconstruct it from scratch out of particles waiting at the far end of the journey. And hey: Would that faxed version even be the same person as the original? Perhaps it’s best to leave teleportation— and all of its philosophical implications—to science-fiction stories, and focus on finding less deadly modes of futuristic travel. SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

19

PICTURED

how much oil is left?

TOP PROSPECTORS Though the U.S. became the top oil producer in 2018, our proven reserves (shown here in billions of barrels) didn’t crack the top five.

THE POCKETS OF OIL TRAPPED BETWEEN EARTH’S STRATA ARE

finite, at least on a human time scale. It takes millennia of immense pressure and heat to transform ancient remains into fossil fuels. Economists and geologists are still debating when, whether, and how we’ll run out—the answer is a moving target. In the meantime, here’s our best guess as to how much of Earth’s milkshake we’ve got left to drink.

PROVEN RESERVES

35.2 BN. BARRELS Oil companies measure reserves based on how likely they are to go get them. Proven reserves are those they already have the tech and infrastructure to extract. Though the rate at which they find new troves has slowed, modern tech allows for locating and tapping into hydrocarbons that were inaccessible decades ago.

301

VENEZUELA

UNPROVEN BUT PROBABLE RESERVES 266

SAUDI ARABIA

UP TO 249 BN. BARRELS These deposits could be in locations too remote or in rock too solid to drill. Corporations might get at them in the future if new tech (and barrel prices) allow. Much of the crude in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico was once “probable,” but moreprecise drilling techniques goosed it into the proven realm.

170

CANADA

UNPROVEN BUT POSSIBLE RESERVES

PORTION OF 249 BN. BARRELS This oil might be highly viscous and difficult to budge without thermal or chemical stimulation. Surveyors could also be eyeing a promising-looking patch of rock next to a trough that’s already been tapped, but not be sure how much useful oil is inside. Either way, it’s unlikely to see the surface anytime soon.

158

IRAN

143

IRAQ 20

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

by Jennifer Lu / photograph by The Voorhes

1522 1961

FARTHER f

SCATTERED

our biggest mile markers

1919

WIND, HORSE, AND PEOPLE POWER

enforced strict speed limits for most of human history, but that never stopped us from venturing. By A.D. 400, Polynesians had explored the Pacific so persistently that they’d reached and settled Hawaii—thousands of miles from points of origin in Asia. That wanderlust soon had us itching to pick up speed. Here are some important moments in our journey to go farther—and do it faster.

1904 1848

1903

FASTER f

1522

1848

1903

1904

1919

1961

Around the world

A mile a minute

The first flight

Speeding to triple digits

Trans-Atlantic triumph

Spin through space

43K miles/5 mph Ferdinand Magellan started the first trip around the globe but died en route. Juan Sebastián del Cano took charge, completing the circumnavigation— which tacked on mileage to curve around continents— in 37 months.

26 miles/60 mph Speed gains can be slow; sailboats, for one, top horses by only a mile or so per hour. But trains far outpaced every other mode of their era. “The Antelope” supposedly covered a mile in a minute chugging from Boston to Lawrence, Mass.

0.02 miles/7 mph Our aerial debut didn’t get us far: The Wright Flyer managed the pace of a brisk jog for just 12 seconds. But the trip set off a ferocious international race. By the ’20s, aviators were pushing into the 200 and 300 mph range.

0.62 miles/103 mph It took decades for jets to reach the masses. Cars got travelers off the rails in the meantime. Our species hit the century mark when driver Louis Rigolly screamed down a beach in Belgium in his signature French racer.

1,890 miles/118 mph British pilots John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the inaugural nonstop trans-Atlantic flight in a modified WWI bomber plane. They managed to beat the earliest rigid airship crossing (picture a Zeppelin) by a month.

25K miles/17K mph When Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history by visiting space, he swiftly orbited the planet—doing in 108 minutes what took del Cano three years by ship. Astronauts on ISS now do it 16 times a day.

by Charlie Wood / icons by Hubert Tereszkiewicz

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

21

Ultra running An elite endurance runner can log hundreds of miles on their feet. While they pound the pavement, their brain diverts blood away from the intestines to give heart, lungs, and muscles a boost. That means the risk of gastrointestinal distress [1] increases. Sleep deprivation— especially combined with lack of oxygen and glucose—triggers hallucinations [2] in most racers. And all the outdoor training means greater exposure to pollen, leading to an above-average incidence of allergies and asthma [3].

3

2

Skydiving Air pressure decreases during the ascent but shoots up during the fall, a shift that can cause vertigo and ruptured eardrums [1]. A 10,000-foot drop lasts a minute or less, but fright can throw off the brain’s [2] stopwatch: Research suggests that fearful flyers will think they’ve fallen for longer. All divers see a spike in hormones [3] such as adrenaline, which tenses muscles and speeds up breathing and heartbeat. The rush is meant for fight-or-flight, but skydivers don’t have much of a choice.

1

1

2

3

ANATOMY

ready, set, go! THE HUMAN BODY EVOLVED EXPRESSLY TO MOVE. WE RUN, JUMP, AND CLIMB 

as soon as our tiny limbs allow it. But a select few thrill-seekers go much further, hungry to push beyond our species’ more-mundane corporeal capabilities. The most extreme among us fling, squeeze, and stretch their bodies in the name of guts, glory, and even entertainment. Here’s what all that abuse does to their agile-but-fragile frames.

Racecar driving Professional drivers go beyond 200 mph, and some races last 24 hours. Car interiors can top 130 degrees, which equals a lot of sweat [1]; racers typically lose around 5 pounds during a threeto four-hour event. Stress and G-force keep heart rates [2] high—comparable to a marathon run—so even though driving is sedentary, pros stay in shape with cardio workouts. They also strengthen their neck muscles [3], which support the equivalent of an extra 60 to 90 pounds at peak acceleration. 22

Freediving

1

3

2

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

Many land-dwelling species share a trick called the diving response: When we stop inhaling and get our nostrils wet (surefire signs of aquatic submersion), our heart rates drop [1] by up to 50 percent, and peripheral blood vessels constrict [2], conserving oxygen for tickers and brains. The Bajau—an indigenous population near Indonesia who freedive for fish—have spleens [3] twice the typical size. The organ regulates red-blood-cell circulation; a larger spleen delivers more oxygencarrying cells.

1

2

3

by Claire Maldarelli / illustrations by Moron Eel

AMAZING NEW GRASS SEED MIXTURE GUARANTEES YOU A LUSH, GREEN LAWN IN ALL FOUR SEASONS, IN EVERY CLIMATE! THE ORIGINAL tm

Sprouts And Covers Super-Fast... Just 10 Days! After: In just 10 days, a thick, green, beautiful lawn you’ll be proud of!

Before: Lawn is an eyesore! Grass is brown, dead or dying, with many bare spots and weeds.

Just Scatter!

QUICKLY CARPETS 1000 SQUARE FEET JUST $ 95

19

So Easy To Transform!

OR LESS! See coupon for special savings

Even Grows In Impossible Spots: Problem areas that are bare, shady, weedy or hilly!

No preparation. Just broadcast seed, water or let nature do it. Your grass starts growing in just 5 days!

Don’t Be Caught Without A Beautiful Green Lawn–Order Today!

Yours At Last! Beautiful Grass That Stays Green Year-Round, From Florida To Alaska! Yes! The incredibly hardy grass that’s proven itself on golf courses throughout the U.S.A. and Canada is now available to you! And it grows so quickly and easily: • Just scatter seed for a picture–perfect lawn starting in only 5 days! • Tolerates extremes from 120˚F to 40˚F below zero! • So hardy, it stays green thru heavy foot traffic, drought, scorching heat, freezing cold, even under heavy snow! • Saves you work by crowding out weeds. You probably know the abuse fairway grass must take: heavy foot and cart traffic, divots, every kind of weather condition! But through it all, greenskeepers have to maintain perfect grass. That’s why they love this grass that sprouts quickly and thrives through the worst abuse. Exclusive offer! This is your chance to see for yourself how this amazing new seed will beautify your lawn all year long, while saving you time, work and money! Order today with an unconditional money back guarantee! (less s&h) ©2019 Best Buys Direct Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery

CALL NOW! 1-800-535-6665

YES!

I would love to have a lush green lawn in all 4 seasons! Please send me enough grass seed to cover the following:

 1000 sq. ft. only $19.95 (2 lbs) plus $6.95 S&H. Total $26.90  3000 sq. ft. only $34.95 (6 lbs) plus $8.95 S&H. Total $43.90  SAVE! 6000 sq. ft. $59.95 (12 lbs) plus $10.95 S&H. Total $70.90  SUPER VALUE! 9000 sq. ft. $90.00 (18 lbs) FREE S&H. Total Enclosed $ (NJ residents please add 6.625% sales tax)  Check  Money Order  VISA  MasterCard  Discover  AmEx

OR MAIL IN THE ORDER FORM BELOW

Credit Card #

Exp. Date

Print Name Address City

Apt. # State

Zip

Send Your Payment Today To: BEST BUYS DIRECT

Dept. #CG4000, P.O. Box 450, Wayne, NJ 07474

FLOWED

words for each. That’s because humans have transported them, along with the potables they represent, for centuries. Ottoman Empire merchants brought coffee from Yemen to Turkey and on to Europe. Tea hitched a ride from China via the Middle East and along Dutch and Portuguese trade routes to the rest of the world. This is how, with each trip, locals adapted the verbiage.

E+/GETTY IMAGES

koffie or te?

COFFEE OR TEA? NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE, YOU’LL RECOGNIZE THE

*This is a reconstruction of what linguists think the ancestral root for tea was, rather than a term in a known language. 24

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

by Arika Okrent / illustration by Joel Holland

FDA Registered Hearing Aid ONLY

$299 EACH!

 100% Digital  100% Risk-FREE 45-day home trial  FREE shipping  Payment plans available 

We trust you...

SEND NO MONEY NOW! FOR QUALIFIED BUYERS

SAME HIGH-QUALITY DIGITAL HEARING AIDS OFFERED BY AUDIOLOGISTS AND ENT’S. The Apollo™-6205 is the perfect FDA registered digital hearing aid if you want the BEST technology for the BEST price. American Made electronics give you advanced technology in a durable, easy to maintain hearing aid. Includes four channel compression for crisp, clear sound and feedback cancellation that virtually eliminates squeal. Discreet slim-tube design gives you the most natural sound with total comfort.

R

D

STE EGI RE

The typical hearing aid costs at least $2,300 but your price is nowhere near that with this special offer! Try the Apollo™-6205 with NO MONEY DOWN completely Risk-FREE for 45 days in the comfort of your own home and see if it’s everything we’ve promised. Call now: 1-888-847-1189 and mention promo code 10-851. High-quality American Made electronics

Doctor Designed O Audiologist Approved

“I love being able to hear and understand my family and friends. It is much easier to watch TV with others as I don’t have the volume so loud anymore. This hearing aid is great and the price was right!” B.D. – Dubuque, Iowa

Try the Apollo™-6205 hearing aid risk-free for 45 days.

SEND NO MONEY NOW! If you like it then pay only $299 per aid or simply send it back. By phone (Mon-Fri • 8 am - 5 pm Central Standard Time)

Expires: 4/30/19

PROMO CODE 1-888-847-1189  10-851 Visit us online and SAVE! (Deposit required for online orders.)

Trusted Since 1979

• Hearing aids by mail for 39 years • Over 750,000 satisfied customers

www.HearingHelpExpress.com 45-DAY RISK-FREE HOME TRIAL

A+ Rating Better Business Bureau

100%

Satisfaction

GUARANTEED

THERE’S AN AERIAL EXPRESS LANE 100 MILES WIDE STRETCHING

highway in the sky

RUSSIA Prior to 1991, these paths connecting Europe and East Asia didn’t exist. The Soviet Union forbade foreign aircraft from flying directly over Siberia, so routes in that region went through Anchorage. Airlines now frequently pay Russia a steep premium so they can skip the detour and shave off precious flight time. 26

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

above the Atlantic, where more than a thousand planes crisscross the jet stream’s 150 mph winds. Spotty radar coverage over the ocean calls for predetermined routes, creating a consistent traffic pattern. Here’s the resulting skyway—which can shave an hour off a trip from North America to Europe— and the rest of the 125,798 flight paths blazed every night.

DUBAI The UAE’s position on the globe allows the Emirates’ airlines to fly from any number of Western nations and connect through to reach Australia and New Zealand. That placement between Europe and Oceania helps make Dubai’s airport the third busiest globally—and No. 1 in international traffic.

OCEANIA Even though nonstop flights don’t save on fuel costs—extra gas means more weight, which takes more fuel to carry—increased demand from passengers is making lengthy routes more and more common. Trips from Oceania to the Middle East and Europe are often sold out despite 17-plus-hour durations. text and infographic by Sara Chodosh

SOURCE: FLIGHTRADAR24.COM

ABSTRACTED

The smartest bed in the world for the best sleep of your life, from $999 Designed to keep you and your partner effortlessly comfortable, the Sleep Number 360® smart bed senses your movements then automatically adjusts. You can actually feel it contour to your head, neck, shoulders, back and hips, relieving pressure points.

Does your bed do that?®

AUTOMATICALLY RESPONDS TO YOU

ADJUSTABLE COMFORT ON EACH SIDE

CONTOURS TO YOU FOR MORE PROPER SPINAL ALIGNMENT *

SHOWS HOW WELL YOU’RE SLEEPING

25-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY†

100-NIGHT TRIAL ‡

Call or Click for Your Free Catalog • 1.877.716.6741 (ext. 404341) • www.sleepnumber.com/popsci Upholstered furniture and pillows available at additional cost. Prices higher in AK and HI. *For a summary of clinical studies, visit sleepnumber.com. †2-Year Limited Warranty on SleepIQ® technology. Warranties available at sleepnumber.com. ‡Restrictions and exclusions apply. Does not apply to adjustable bases, Upholstered Collection, closeout/clearance or demo/floor model purchases or mattresses already exchanged under another In-Home Trial period. You pay return shipping. Refunds will be made to the original method of payment less original shipping/delivery fees. Visit sleepnumber.com for complete details. SLEEP NUMBER, SLEEPIQ, SLEEP NUMBER 360, the Double Arrow Design and SELECT COMFORT are registered trademarks of Sleep Number Corporation. ©2019 Sleep Number Corporation

IN PROFILE / R O S S E L L A

R E A

HISTORY ON THE LINE T H E W O R L D B E N E AT H R O M E ’ S C O B B L E S T O N E S H A S A

rhythm. Under a freshly raised canopy of steel beams nearly 30 feet below the hum of Vespas and buses, Rossella Rea, in a hard hat and neon-orange safety vest, watches as her team brushes dirt off a medieval sauce pot. A few feet away, crews in identical uniforms go to work in an area they’ve already cleared, erecting the walls of a new subway station. Rea deconstructs; they construct. It’s a tempo they’ve perfected over the past decade. ¶ In a city that’s been layering on top of itself for nearly 3,000 years, there’s enough to keep someone like Rea, 64, busy around the clock. She’s the archaeological superintendent of the Colosseum, where she

SOME MOMENTS ARE FOR DIGGING, SOME ARE FOR BUILDING, SOME ARE FOR T E A M W O R K .” —ROSSELLA REA

28

oversees preservation and curates exhibits. And, as the scientific director of the Metro C project, an effort to extend Rome’s outdated subway, Rea safeguards treasures that might otherwise be lost. “Some moments are for digging, some are for building, some are for teamwork,” she says. As excavators go, Rea’s more fascinated by the landscapes of cities than with single artifacts. Childhood visits to Pompeii sparked her passion for the past. Since beginning her career in 1979, she’s become a local authority on everything from gladiators to ancient public works, serving first as an archaeologist at the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and eventually rising to direct the Colosseum. When Metro C first consulted her nearly 30 years ago, Rea immediately grasped the stakes. “It’s vital to take the time to understand the way the city evolved,” she says, “but it’s also true that Rome needs this subway up and running.” The City of Seven Hills is long overdue for a subterranean makeover. Until recently, there were only two routes, Metros A and B, forming a giant X. In the ’90s, officials started planning Metro C, which would intersect the two lines and reach the eastern suburbs. Construction began in 2007, and trains started running on the first stretch in late 2014; the last few stops should open in 2022. Some critics

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

blame the pace on Italy’s strict conservation laws: When you dig, you find important stuff, and then your site becomes Rea’s domain. But she doesn’t mind crews going deep to install stations, entrances, and ventilation shafts. In fact, she sees their efforts as “a great tool of knowledge.” Before the first bulldozer even showed up, she used a technology called electrical resistivity tomography to peer into the ground. Electrodes her team places in boreholes along the proposed route measure how easily current flows through the strata. The data tells scientists where they can find clay, stone, and tile. Using this technique and others, they’ve located dozens of sites, among them an Aeneolithic necropolis, an Imperial Age reservoir, and 2,000-year-old barracks. They struck pay dirt in 2007, while surveying for the station at Piazza Venezia in the middle of the city. The team found Hadrian’s Athenaeum, a well-documented but previously elusive arts school where poets, scholars, and politicians debuted literature and debated issues. In historical significance, only the Forum is its equal. “We couldn’t possibly move it,” Rea says, “so instead we worked with Metro C to move the station down the street.” While many of her finds end up in storage awaiting exhibition, some will remain in Metro C stations as functional museums. Fully automated trains will whiz past the base of the Aurelian city walls, as riders wait among 1,800-year-old mosaics. Rea hopes the stops will inspire other aging cities as they modernize. “This methodology, of archaeologists and engineers working together for the public good, is proof,” she says: “What’s ancient and what’s modern can belong together.” by Kate Morgan / photograph by Gianni Cipriano

BORN TO FUN

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

IN 1961, A JAPANESE AM USEMENT

park let kids cruise around on teensy Honda motorcycles in the awesomest attraction ever. People freaked, so Honda tweaked the miniature moto just enough to make it ready for the road, and released the CZ100 “monkey bike” in 1963. Though technically for by Joe Brown / photograph by Sam Kaplan

PROP STYLING BY JJ CHAN FOR HALLEY RESOURCES

GOODS 32

WANT

older kids, grown-up hooligans loved them, even after production ended in 1970. Now there’s a new Monkey in town. It measures just 47 inches from front to back and sports ’60s-style steel bodywork, but it’s a modern, street-legal machine. The 125cc engine is more than twice the size of the original, so a

not-too-heavy rider can push the 234-pound terror north of 60 miles per hour. The upgraded Monkey even boasts anti- lock brakes, but the system affects only the front wheel. That way, the rear tire can slide around on a dirt road, which is way more fun than any theme-park ride.

30.6 in. The Monkey’s seat sits high enough for grown-ups to ride without scrunching their legs.

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

33

CHOICE

S AV E YO U R SOLES

2

3

34

4

1 Rocky paths

2 Beach or riverbed

3 Pavement

4 Dirt trails

Stones and boulders threaten your feet with jammed and bruised toes. Salomon covered the fronts of the X Ultra 3 boots with molded rubber, creating an additional layer of protection between your tootsies and rocks or roots that come outta nowhere. The chevronshaped lugs on the soles give you plenty of grip for ascending and descending.

Go wading with socks and shoes on, and the wet stuff will make your feet alltoo hospitable for blisters and bacteria. The Merrell Choprocks can take submergence. Eight circular holes in the midsole allow moisture to efficiently drain, while ventilated polyester mesh uppers let your skin dry off in a hurry after you’re done forging streams.

The springy, thermoplastic foam in the midsole of the 6.6-ounce Reebok Floatride Run Fast sneakers bounces back quicker from the squish of your strides than the EVA padding you’ll find in most trainers. This increased energy return reduces your overall workload, while the extra cushioning protects your joints from impacts.

Hoka designed the tread on the Challenger ATR 5s with broad rubber lugs that bite into turf precisely how you need them to. The teeth are spaced farther apart near the toe, which gives the kicks more grip, and clustered closer together at the back, making for smoother heel strikes that protect your knees over the course of tens of thousands of strides.

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

by Rob Verger / photograph by Sam Kaplan

PROP STYLING BY JJ CHAN FOR HALLEY RESOURCES

1

YOU PROBABLY DON’T WANT TO WEAR THAT PAIR OF BLOWNout Converse All Stars to amble anywhere farther than the corner store. For long treks, the proper footwear will support your dogs and grip the ground to prevent sore soles, painful blisters, and mangled ankles. These four choices will carry you for many miles over different types of terra firma.

OVERKILL

TEMPLE OF B O OM

AN AGGRESSIVELY POWERFUL CAR STEREO CAN LITERALLY blow your hair back if you feed it a tune with enough thumping bass. But cranking the volume on a cheap set of Craigslist subwoofers risks eardrum-assaulting distortion. A custom setup based on these components will shake the ground under your tires while preserving the essence of the new Post Malone (or the old Public Enemy).

1 Subwoofer To push out bone-rattling bass, the cone on the front of the 12-inch Alpine X-W12D4 subwoofer moves as much as 2 inches back and forth, displacing enough air to blow out a candle.

GOODS

2 Receiver Audio from MP3s will never sound incredible because compression sacrifices some data to keep files small. The Kenwood DNX695S receiver supports high-res formats such as DSD.

1

2

3

3 Absorption Apply some thin Dynamat Xtreme matting in key places in your ride, like under the door panels. Its aluminum-alloy skin and rubber base will reduce noises from the road and tamp down vibrations.

4 Speakers

PROP STYLING BY JJ CHAN FOR HALLEY RESOURCES

Handmade in France, the Focal Utopia M 6.5-inch woofers and 1-inch tweeters handle the mids and highs. Weighted rings around each speaker hold edges firmly in place and fight buzzing distortion.

4

5

5 Amplifier Subwoofers need more oomph than the receiver can produce solo, so install an amp. The Rockford Fosgate Power T2500 unit can pump thousands of watts to a pair of synchronized subs. by Stan Horaczek / photograph by Sam Kaplan

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

35

FOR LIFE

HANDLED B AG G AG E

S OME BAG S HAVE BEEN AROUND THE WORLD, and it shows. These well-worn cases—sourced from the PopSci network—bear the scuffs and dings of adventures logged since the luggage first left the store. Start your own globe-trotting with a brand-new one, and its lifetime warranty will help it last from a gap year all the way through an Alaskan retirement cruise.

Copilot Roller

Filson Field Bag Wax treatments over the course of 11 years made this satchel supple and waterresistant; they’ve also turned the cotton twill a darker brown than an off-the-shelf carry-all. Under the heft of cameras, the leather straps softened but are still sturdy.

36

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

by Stan Horaczek / photographs by Sam Kaplan

PROP STYLING BY JJ CHAN FOR HALLEY RESOURCES

The tight weave of this 7.6pounder’s nylon exterior may show the scars of many trips Down Under, but it won’t rip. Inside, a rubbery neoprene lining protects souvenirs, and an expandable pocket sequesters those dirty socks.

3

1

2

THE RELENTLESS HUM OF BUS TIRES AND AIRPLANE ENGINES

SOUND BARRIERS

will make you yearn for silence. Noise-canceling headphones use built-in mics to listen to your environment, then generate audio waves that nuke background clamor. These ’phones offer increasing levels of control over what reaches your eardrums.

1 GOOD

2 BETTER

3 BEST

The Panasonic RP-HD605N headphones tap two sets of mics to power three tiers of noise canceling. Tap a button on the right ear cup to choose what you block (or hear) in a given scene. Use the lowest setting to catch both your podcast and a gate announcement, the middle to zap train engines, and the top for sweet, total solitude.

The rotating dial on the right ear cup of the Microsoft Surface Headphones lets you toggle through 13 noise-altering modes. On the lightest, four microphones amplify ambient sound to help you hear crucial notices, such as subway delays. At the highest, a second set of four mics works to eliminate hubbub across the entire audible spectrum.

Onboard microphones, plus the GPS in your smartphone, allow the Sony WH-1000XM3 to determine your current activity and environment, then automatically select the level of sound control. The pair cranks to the topmost of 20 settings when you’re on a plane, but it has a lighter touch when you’re walking and need to be aware of a speeding bus.

RANKED

PROP STYLING BY JJ CHAN FOR HALLEY RESOURCES

by Stan Horaczek / photograph by Sam Kaplan

POPSCI.COM •SPRING 2019

37

1. Cylinders Combustion needs room to boom. This V-8 has 426 cubic inches of cylinder space (a metric known as displacement). It’s not the biggest engine in the world—or even in Dodge’s lineup—but it’s strong, which is crucial when supercharging.

2. Supercharger More oxygen in the engine equals more explosive power. A massive 3-liter supercharger forces more air into the belly of the monstrous beast. It generates 15 pounds per square inch of boost, providing extra giddyup the second you tap the gas.

3. Fuel

BEAST MODE

38

Y O U C A N S T E A D I LY U P T H E performance of an old muscle car with tuning tricks and bolt-on parts. Or you could jump straight to 1,000 horsepower by dropping a crate engine like the supercharged Hellephant 426 Hemi from Dodge under the hood. It comes as a kit with what you need to plug into a car with the right stuff to handle its size and massive power. Getting a block like this to generate roughly five Toyota Camrys-worth of ponies wasn’t easy though. Here’s how they did it.

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

4. Torque Stand on the gas, and this powerplant can generate up to 950 foot-pounds of torque. That’s enough rotational force on the transmission to obliterate a regular gearbox or even twist a car’s frame—so don’t try and squeeze it into your old Ford Focus, OK?

by Jordan Golson

COURTESY FCA GROUP

HOW IT WORKS

Many performance motors require ultrahigh-octane racing fuel to generate all those ponies. But because Dodge also aimed the Hellephant at pre-1976 road cars, it tweaked the engine so it will still hit its peak on 93-octane fuel from the corner gas station.

Live Life without pain

Plantar Fasciitis • Arthritis • Joint Pain • Heel Spurs • Back & Knee Pain

PATENTED VERSOSHOCK® SOLE SHOCK ABSORPTION SYSTEM

I‘ve had lower back pain for years. Walking in these shoes was life changing for me. I feel like I’m walking on air. – Bill F.

Enjoy the benefits of exercise with proven pain relief.

85 91 92 75 %

LESS KNEE PAIN

%

LESS BACK PAIN

%

LESS ANKLE PAIN

%

LESS FOOT PAIN

Ultimate Comfort Renewed Energy Maximum Protection Improve Posture

*Results of a double-blind study conducted by Olive View UCLA Medical Center.

G-DEFY MIGHTY WALK $150 Men Sizes 7.5-15 M/W/XW - Gray TB9024MGS - Black/Blue TB9024MLU

$ 30 OFF AVAILABLE

Women Sizes 6-11 M/W/XW - Gray TB9024FGS - Gray/Salmon TB9024FGP

YOUR ORDER

Promo Code MC9CLJ7 www.gravitydefyer.com Expires June 30, 2019

Free Exchanges • Free Returns

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed Call 1(800) 429-0039 Gravity Defyer Corp. 10643 Glenoaks Blvd. Pacoima, CA 91331 VersoShock® U.S Patent #US8,555,526 B2. This product has not been evaluated by the FDA. Not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease. $30 off applies to orders of $100 or more for this limited time offer. 9% CA sales tax applies to orders in California. Shoes must be returned within 30 days in like-new condition for full refund or exchange. Credit card authorization required. See website for complete details.

ESSENTIALS

FLIGHT SUITS 1

2

3

4

Eddie Bauer Voyager 2.0 Jacket A durable water-repellent finish protects this garment and everything you put into its six pockets. Two-way stretch fabric gives when you reach to turn on an overhead light.

Lululemon Commission Pants  Lycra in these slimcut cotton slacks leave room for pre-flight stretches without fear of a split seat. A zippered fifth pocket on the front left snugly holds a smartphone.

EMS Women’s Techwick Essence This polyester knit pullover moves moisture away from the skin as you sweat. An outer antimicrobial coating minimizes your odds of getting ripe, even if onboard ventilation fails.

Scottevest Hoodie Cotton Can’t stand being separated from every gadget you brought? The 21 hidden pockets in this cotton and polyester sweatshirt will let you keep them all on you—even an iPad.

2

4

3 1

40

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

5

IT ’S TIME TO DITCH THE SWEATS AND BAG GY T- SHIRT THAT MAKE UP YOUR

default travel outfit. Instead, opt for better-fitting garments that will endure the delays, cramped quarters, and poor ventilation of a long haul. You’ll also want clothing that you could rock even for a few days if your luggage goes on its own vacation. These items are comfy and, thanks to smart fabric and construction choices, will keep you chill and smelling fresh.

5

6

Smartwool Merino Boxers These briefs are woven from nylon and merino wool fibers, which will wick sweat, reduce smells, and dry quickly after a wash in a hotel sink. Flat seams prevent chafing.

L.L.Bean StretchTek Travel Pants Thanks to a waterresistant layer, errant ginger ale will roll off these nylon and spandex slacks. A flexible, low-riding waist keeps them from creeping up when you sit down.

7 Orvis Tech Chambray Shirt Three small circular vents in the armpits of this stretchy linen and gingham button-down let in cool air to stop you from getting swampy. Triple-stitched seams resist tearing.

8 Exofficio Travel Bra and Bikini A thick band around the bottom of this bra prevents it from rolling and digging in. Sheer mesh panels on the hips of the briefs give them more flex than bunch if you wiggle.

7

PROP STYLING BY JJ CHAN FOR HALLEY RESOURCES

6

8

by Stan Horaczek / photograph by Sam Kaplan

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

41

2

1

3

4

DON’T BE DIRECTIONLESS

42

GPS WILL LEAD YOU AROUND THE PAVED PARTS OF THE WORLD, but tapping on a smartphone screen won’t always work in the wilderness. For backcountry adventures, you’ll need to be comfortable going analog. These tools won’t give you turn-by-turn directions out of the woods, but taking them along could save you from shacking up with a bear for the rest of your days.

1 Maps

2 Sleeve

3 Pencil

4 Compass

Regional outfits like Outdoor Trail Maps in Colorado or the Appalachian Mountain Club in the Northeast provide local details, such as trail routes. They also have standard cartographic info like elevation, GPS coordinates, and the topographical lines that show terrain contours.

Thanks to a zip closure with heat-welded seams, the Sea to Summit TPU translucent envelope will protect your precious chart in water up to 33 feet deep. The 12-by8.3-inch thermoplastic urethane case is also freeze-proof, so it won’t crack. Eyelets provide a way to lash it down.

Savvy wanderers annotate their guide—say, by adding an X to mark their destination for the day— to make it even more useful. A mechanical pencil such as the Zebra M-701 stays sharp, its stainless-steel case won’t corrode in moisture, and textured knurling helps you grip it.

Use the transparent Suunto A-30 compass to orient the map so it’s lined up with magnetic north. Then, measurements on its side will help you interpret the scale so you can figure out that the 1 inch of paper between you and a lake is a really freakin’ long walk in the real world.

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

by Stan Horaczek / photograph by Sam Kaplan

PROP STYLING BY JJ CHAN FOR HALLEY RESOURCES

TOOLBOX

Call Toll-Free 1-800-876-8060 Ext. 35426 Visit us atZZZVXQVHWWHUFRP

The coolest spot in the neighborhood is under a SunSetter retractable awning!

ALL THESE BENEFITS! Cool Shade in Seconds! Keeps Deck up to 20° Cooler Shades Indoor Rooms, Too

A SunSetter retractable awning doesn’t just create shade. At the push of a button, it creates a cool and comfortable outdoor space that quickly becomes the center of family life, whether you’re sharing a casual outdoor breakfast, playing a board game, throwing a party, or just relaxing with a book or tablet (without the annoying sun glare). More than 800,000 families nationwide have become SunSetter families. We invite you to join them. Call now, and save $200!

Call Toll-Free 1-800-876-8060 Ext. 35426

Saves Energy, Cuts A/C Bills Protects from Passing Showers Wide Range of Sizes & Colors Quality Built in the USA 5-Year Limited Warranty America’s Best Awning Value

/RZ)DFWRU\'LUHFW3ULFHV

 YES! Please send my FREE Info Kit & DVD + $6DYLQJV&HUWLoFDWH ... TODAY! NAME: ___________________________________________________________ ADDRESS: ________________________________________________________ CITY: ________________________ STATE: __________ ZIP: ______________ EMAIL: ___________________________________________________________

FREE

Info Kit & DVD

MAIL TO: SunSetter Products, 184 Charles Street, Dept. 35426, Malden, MA 02148 © 2019 SunSetter® Products

T H E B I G

44

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

typography by Glenn Orzepowski

ON MARCH 18, 2018, ELAINE HERZBERG, 49, WAS

AUTONOMOUS CAR BY PROSYMBOLS FROM THE NOUN PROJECT

crossing a road in Tempe, Arizona, when a Volvo SUV traveling at 39 miles per hour hit and killed her. Although she was one of thousands of U.S. pedestrians killed by vehicles every year, one distinctive—and highly modern—aspect set her death apart: Nobody was driving that Volvo. A computer was. A fatality caused by a self-driving car might not be more tragic than another, but it does encourage the wariness many of us feel about technology making life-and-death decisions. Just a couple of months later, a survey by AAA revealed that 73 percent of Americans were too scared to zip around in a totally autonomous ride—a 10 percent increase from a similar poll taken before Herzberg’s death. Self-driving cars are already cruising our streets, their spinning lasers and other sensors scanning the world around them. Some are from big companies such as Waymo—part of Google’s parent conglomerate Alphabet—or General Motors, while others are the work of outfits you might not have heard of, including Drive.ai or Aptiv. (Uber operated the Volvo involved in Arizona’s fatal crash and took its self- driving cars off the roads for about nine months afterward.) But what makes some of us so wary of these robotic chauffeurs, and how can they earn our trust? To understand these questions, it first helps to consider what psychologists call the theory of mind. Put simply, it’s the recognition that other people have brains in their heads that are busy thinking, just like ours (usually) are. The theory comes in handy on the road. Before we venture into a crosswalk, we might first make eye contact with a driver and then think, He sees me, so I’m safe, or He doesn’t, so I’m not. It’s a technique we likely use more than we realize, both behind the wheel and on our feet. “We know how other people are going to act because we know how we would act,” explains Azim Shariff, an associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, who has written about this issue in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. But you can’t make eye contact with an algorithm. Autonomous cars generally have backup humans ready to take control if necessary, but when the car is in self-driving mode, the computer’s in charge. “We’re going to have to learn a theory of the machine mind,” Shariff says. What that means in practice is that self-driving cars will need to provide clear signals—and not just turn signals—to let the public know what that machine mind is planning. One solution comes from Drive.ai, a company running self-driving vans in Texas. The bright-orangeand-blue vehicles have LED signs on all four sides that respond to the environment with messages.

They can tell a pedestrian who wants to cross in front of the car, “Waiting for You.” Or they can warn them: “Going Now/Don’t Cross.” A related strategy is intended for passengers, not pedestrians: Screens in Waymo vehicles show car occupants a simple, animated version of what the autonomous vehicle is seeing. Those displays can also show what the car is doing, like if it’s pausing to allow a human to cross. “Trust is the willingness to make yourself vulnerable to somebody else,” Shariff says. “We engage in it because we can pretty easily predict what the other person will do.” All of which means that if the cars are predictable and do what they say they will do, people will be more likely to trust them. Sound familiar? Communicating with the machine mind is important, but that doesn’t mean we want it to mimic exactly how humans think and act while driving. In fact, the promise of traveling by autonomous car is that silicon brains won’t do dumb things such as text and drive, or drink and drive, or rocket down the highway while upset after a breakup. (Cars don’t date.) “I believe that they have the potential to be safer” than regular cars, says Marjory S. Blumenthal, a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation think tank who has researched the vehicles. But she says there’s not enough good data yet to know for sure. One practical way to create a reputation for safety is to start slow. The University of Michigan’s pair of self-driving shuttles go just 12 miles per hour. Huei Peng, a professor of mechanical engineering who oversees the little buses, says the research team behind the project is building trust by not asking too much: The predetermined route is just about a mile long, so they’re not exactly speeding down a highway in the snow. “We’re trying to push the envelope but in a very cautious way,” Peng says. If all goes well, they’ll expand the route. Like other experts, Peng compares self- driving cars to elevators: an initially frightening technology that people eventually got used to. Ultimately, not everyone will have to trust driverless cars enough to go for a ride, and especially not at first. Indeed, the public isn’t homogeneous, says Raj Rajkumar, who directs the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. He notices three categories of potential users: tech skeptics, who know that their computer crashes and worry about getting into a vehicle controlled by one; early adopters, who are delighted by the promise of new tech; and people who are stressed by driving and would rather not do it if they don’t have to. The early adopters will buy in first, followed by the folks who just dislike driving, and then finally the skeptics, he argues. “So it’s a long process.” Trust grows like a self-driving shuttle drives: slowly.

What Kind of Hearing Aids Do Doctors Use? The same ones they recommend to their patients! Doctors love MDHearingAids® for the same reasons patients do. These FDA-registered, medical-grade hearing aids have the same high-tech features found in more expensive hearing aids yet cost one-fifth the price.

Advanced Hearing Aid Technology

Nearly invisible!

For Less Than $200 “MDHearingAids are better than expensive clinic hearing aids, which cost thousands more,” says retired physician Dr. Robert A. “I have had five pairs of expensive hearing aids and MDHearingAids are just as good,” adds retired neurosurgeon Dr. Brian L.

So Strong Even Doctors Can’t Break Them MDHearingAids are made to last, backed by a world-class support team. Says one forgetful neurologist: “My MDHearingAids went through a complete washer and dryer cycle. I placed them on my ears and — ay caramba! — they were working fine! Can you believe that I did it again? I found them at the bottom of the washer… still working!”

Big Sound. Tiny Price.

CRISP, CLEAR SOUND

STATE-OF-THE-ART FEATURES

NO AUDIOLOGIST NEEDED

MDHearingAids were created by

Automatic dual-directional microphones, adaptive noise suppression, speech enhancement technology, and dynamic range compression are just a few of the features that help you focus on the conversation, not the noise around you.

Save time and money, cancel those audiologist appointments! Advanced hearing aid technology lets you easily program and adjust your MDHearingAid at home. Set-up is fast and easy, too, going from box to ear in just five minutes.

a board-certified otolaryngologist frustrated that patients couldn’t afford the high price of hearing aids. So, he did the only logical thing…he created a low-cost, feature-packed hearing aid that costs one-fifth the price of a comparable hearing aid.

Try it RISK FREE for 45 Days

Try MDHearingAids risk-free with a 100% money-back guarantee for 45 days. Just call toll-free or visit the website shown below. Call now and get free shipping plus a free, one-year supply of batteries.

Call Toll-Free 1-800-674-5380

Visit www.GetMDHearingAid200.com Free 1-Year Supply of Batteries with Offer Code JC46

The Doctor’s Choice for Affordable Hearing Aids

S P R I N G

2 0 1 9

48

55

64

70

72

80

86

94

THE UNBEATABLE SAILBOAT

THE FATE OF FLYING CARS AND JETPACKS

PERFECTING PUBLIC TRANSIT

HOW TO SURVIVE A 22HOUR FLIGHT

THE BOLT THAT WILL GET US TO MARS

THE ROADS WE TRAVEL, THEN AND NOW

CAN WE REVIVE SUPERSONIC TRAVEL?

EIGHT MILES OF MODEL TRAINS

photograph by The Voorhes

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

47

B Y A N D R E W B L U M

THE POP 48 SCI

I N

1 9 7 0 ,

B R U C E

K I R B Y

C R E AT E D

T H E

P E R F E C T SINGLE-PERSON S A I L B O AT. W H AT M A D E T H E L A S E R

S O

U N B E ATA B L E ?

MASTERPIECE PHOTOGRAPHS B Y M A R I U S B U G G E

P O P S C I . C O M •typography S P R I N G 2 0by 1 9 Eric

Heintz 49

ON A

SLATE-

G R AY

September, 89-year-old Bruce Kirby leans against the pinstriped first-mate’s seat of Lulu as it motors in slow circles on Long Island Sound. Just outside the elegantly varnished cockpit, a fleet of small sailboats races by, its formation loose and shifting. Kirby follows the boats through a pair of binoculars. One, Jack, belongs to him; he’d be out there competing if it weren’t for his ailing back. But all of the boats are Kirby’s design. Known as Sonars, Kirby drew their shape in 1979 with a day just like this in mind. The Noroton Yacht Club, Kirby’s home port in the suburban town of Darien, Connecticut, wanted a craft for its members to race—something nimble and fast, but also sturdy and well-behaved. The Sonar is a “one-design boat,” meaning its specifications and equipment are governed by strict rules to ensure that competing in one is a test of skill, not money. Sailing remains a sport of the wealthy, and left unchecked, they can take things to extremes. The superyachts of the America’s Cup have nine-figure R&D budgets, and crews who wear crash helmets and body armor to protect themselves at new limits of speed and performance. In contrast, a used Sonar can be had for under $10,000, and is stable enough that it’s been used by Paralympians since the 50

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

2000 games. Out on the sound that afternoon, 37 boats are vying for the Sonar North American Championship, with a few former Olympians among the skippers. The whole event is buoyed by Kirby’s presence. Kirby is a world-class sailor and Olympian himself—he represented Canada in ’56, ’64, and ’68—but he is most famous as the designer of a slew of boats known for their swiftness, and also their clarity and simplicity. The epitome of his ethos was a blockbuster, one that defined his career and the course of sailing more broadly: the singleperson racing dinghy known as the Laser. BACK ON LAND, KIRBY LOOKS ON AS THE competitors come off the water, windblown and skipping toward the toilets. A collision left one Sonar with a dinnerplate-size hole in its stern, and Kirby leans in for a closer look. The regatta’s press person asks him to do it again for the camera. During the awards ceremony, organizers call Kirby up to the stage for pictures with the winners, and the photographer makes everyone take off their shades, “except the rock star; he can leave his on.” The teasing is apt; among sailors, there are few bigger celebrities than Bruce Kirby. He comes by their affection honestly. His

OPENING SPREAD: MIKE EHRMANN/GETTY IMAGES

DAY I N

THE MASTERPIECE

boats are a blast. “Who wants to design a slow boat?” Kirby likes to ask. “Or own one, for that matter.” The wheel was a Neolithic invention. It appeared on the scene 5,000 or so years ago, part of a suite of advancements in agriculture. Sailboats came earlier. Australia was settled at least 50,000 years ago, and the first humans didn’t arrive on the continent by foot. Three thousand years ago, Odysseus himself was “sailing the winedark sea for ports of call on alien shores.” Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic, by sail, in 1492—marking the start of several hundred eventful years of wind-powered global travel. Only in the past 200 years have the steamship, internal- combustion engine, and jetliner erased the sailing ship’s primacy as a means of transportation. Sailboats themselves, however, have held on, not as necessity but as sport. No surprise then that in 1969, when Bruce Kirby got a call from his friend, the Montreal-based industrial designer Ian Bruce, about drafting a new sailboat, the brief was for a piece of recreational equipment—a “car-topper” to go along with a line of outdoor gear (tents, cots, camping chairs) for the Hudson’s Bay Company retail chain. “I didn’t even know what a car-topper was,” Kirby recalls. The craft had to be easy to transport and rig in order to

Home Port Bruce Kirby, Olympian and sailboat designer, on the shores of Long Island Sound.

make it as painless as possible to get out on the water. The dinghy wasn’t the first boat Kirby had dreamed up, but he wasn’t designing them full time. He was working as an editor at a sailing magazine, living (like now) on the Connecticut shore. As a designer, he was self-taught, nicking a copy of Skene’s Elements of Yacht Design, originally published in 1904, from a family friend and understanding, he estimates, about a third of it. But Kirby had “threedimensional eyeballs,” as he describes it; he had no trouble envisioning the shape of a hull. And as a world-class racer of small boats, he knew what a fast one should feel like. Kirby sketched on ruled paper as they talked. When they hung up, he brought it to his 7-foot drawing board and began to tinker. He knew he had to “get the numbers right.” His first consideration was what’s known as the prismatic coefficient, which defines the shape of the vessel. Is it a tub or a knife? Or, in the language of yacht design, is the hull “full” or “fine”? A rectangular barge has a prismatic coefficient of 1 because its hull entirely fills the prism made by its length, beam (or width), and draft (its depth). Most sailboats have a coefficient between 0.5 and 0.6, meaning about half that volume. If the prismatic coefficient is too high—if the boat is too fat—it will be slow, especially in light wind. But if the coefficient is too low—if the boat is too skinny—it will slice through the waves rather than ride up on top of them, or “plane.” A sailboat that planes well is fast, but more important, it’s fun. High up out of the water, wind and sail become more than the sum of their parts. Kirby settled on 0.55, a just-right number to make a well-balanced boat: fast but stable, neither too tippy nor too tubby. But only if the sailor worked for it. Dinghies depend on “live ballast,” i.e., a person leaning, or “hiking,” out over the side. A big sail makes a boat zip, if its sailor can keep it flat. Basic physics says that their ability to do so depends on their weight, which of course varies from person to person. So, Kirby had a second number to choose: the ratio of sail size to the hull’s displacement, which depends on the weight of the boat plus its human. Kirby dialed in his dinghy to perform best with 180 pounds of flesh—in his words, “a good-size guy working like hell to go fast.” The decision was in part selfish; it described Kirby at the time. Within a couple of weeks, Kirby had a sketch for Bruce. “He was in a bit of a hurry,” Kirby says. When Hudson’s Bay decided against selling a boat at all, Kirby told Bruce to hold on to the design: “I put a little more oomph in the boat than you asked for. It’s going to be a pretty hot little boat if we ever have a chance to build it.” T H E C H A N C E C A M E S O ON E N OUG H. I N October 1970, Kirby’s magazine planned a promotional regatta for sailboats that cost less than $1,000, to be held at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Kirby and Bruce built a prototype of the car-topper and rigged it for the first time the day of the race. They came in second place. The bend of the mast didn’t match the shape of POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

51

THE MASTERPIECE

the sail, so they recut the cloth that night and won the next day’s contest. The little boat was fast and looked it, with a low profile that kept sailors close to the water. Spectators tried to buy it right off the beach. Back home, the friends began work on a second prototype, mailing plans back and forth across the border. They built it with an adjustable mast so they could play with different configurations. By December, it was ready for final testing. Doing laps on Lake Saint-Louis near Montreal, they moved the mast forward a few inches, cut its height, and took a foot off the end of the boom, looking for just the right feel. By the end of the cold weekend, they decided their hot little dinghy—13 feet, 10½ inches long—was ready for market. All it needed was a name. At a celebratory dinner, a sailing friend—a McGill University student—suggested it should be something youthful and international. “Why don’t you call it something like ‘Laser’?” he asked. Ian Bruce had a small boatbuilding shop, and the men decided that he would manufacture the dinghy, while Kirby would receive royalties for the design. Bruce priced it at $695. At the New York Boat Show the next month, they collected orders for 144 Lasers. “We didn’t know what the hell was happening,” Kirby recalls.

“ I L O O K AT I T N O W,” K I R B Y S AYS O F H I S C R E AT I O N , “A N D I T H I N K , I WOULDN’ T CHANGE A DAMN THING.” There were societal factors at play. Postwar prosperity and the construction of new highways led to a boom in second-home ownership in the 1960s and ’70s. Many of those new residences were along lakes and reservoirs, and there were more of those too: Between 1933 and 1968, the Tennessee Valley Authority created more than 10,000 miles of new shoreline, while the Bureau of Land Management created 200 reservoirs. A new swath of the middle class could afford a lake house and, apparently, were ready for an inexpensive sailboat to go with it. As intended, the Laser was cheap and easy to transport, rig, and bang into a dock. “From a technology standpoint, it’s a very simple boat, and just a great, great boat to learn how to sail fast,” says Scott MacLeod, a sailor at the Noroton Yacht Club who twice won the North American 52

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

collegiate Singlehanded Championship in a Laser—1983 and 1985—and topped out at seventh place in the Worlds. Laser sailors first organized themselves into an international class in 1974, codifying Kirby’s design into strictly defined specs, and setting the craft on a path toward the Olympics, where it debuted in Atlanta in 1996. In the ’80s, the introduction of a smaller sail, known as the Radial, allowed lighter sailors to be competitive in heavy winds, and became the standard for women’s Laser racing. The sport of sailing is said to be in perpetual decline, but Laser racing has persisted. The 2018 Laser Masters World Championships, held in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, had 302 entries from 25 countries. (The apogee was the 1980 Laser Worlds, in Kingston, Ontario, a legendary event with 350 entries.) But there are also thousands of smaller weekend regattas, held everywhere from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York, to the Victoria Nyanza Sailing Club in Kampala, Uganda. All told, more than 220,000 Lasers have been built by licensed manufacturers on five continents. (Ian Bruce sold his boatbuilding business in the 1980s. He died in 2016.) With the exception of alternative rigs with smaller sails, like the Radial, the Laser has hardly changed. There have been slight upgrades, each one documented and approved in a “construction manual” maintained by the International Laser Class Association, a kind of worldwide club of Laser sailors. Each Laser factory is audited for conformity. “Because it’s such a one-design boat, it really comes down to the sailor,” says Sarah Douglas, a contender for the Canadian 2020 Olympic sailing team who recently came in sixth at the Laser Worlds. “It’s not equipment differences or sail differences; it comes down to what the sailor is able to do out on the water,” she says. “At the end of the day, you can’t blame your boat. It’s just you. It is all you.” F O R D E C A D E S , K I R BY A N D H I S W I F E , Margo, lived in a house on Connecticut’s little Five Mile River, just upstream from where it empties into Long Island

THE LASER IN FIVE E A SY P I E C E S 1

SAIL Laser sails come in three sizes—standard, Radial, and 4.7—so sailors of lighter weights can better manage to keep the boat flat, and therefore, fast. 2

1

MAST The Laser always had an aluminum mast. But in 2016, the International Laser Class Association announced a race-legal carbon-composite option; it lasts longer. 2

3

DAGGERB0ARD The Laser’s removable daggerboard makes the boat easy to transport on top of a car or launch from a beach. On water, it keeps the craft from going sideways. 4

VANG The vang holds down the boom, the horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail. Serious racers know that properly adjusting the vang can mean victory in a race. 4 5 5

3

Sound. It had a deepwater dock out the back, and Kirby’s Laser—sail number 0—was laid out on the lawn. (It’s now at the Mystic Seaport Museum.) But recently they moved a few blocks away, to a more modest Colonial with a twocar garage. There are still moving boxes to unpack, yet the walls are already hung with old photos of Kirby sailing his designs, and boat models known as half hulls mounted on plaques. The Laser gets pride of place. Next to the front door, there’s a framed action shot of the “hot little boat” at its best: in the sail position known as a reach, with spray skirting off the bow as if it had a jet engine underneath. The Laser’s simplicity makes it something like the platonic ideal of a sailboat, like a child’s drawing with a line and a triangle—but enabled by the postwar innovations of fiberglass (for its hull), aluminum (for its mast), and Dacron illustration by Brown Bird Design

HULL A flat bottom helps the Laser ride up on waves. To keep from capsizing in heavy wind, sailors lean, or “hike,” way out over the side to help keep the boat level. —AB

(for its sail). It is the sort of definitive and lasting design that comes around only rarely, such as the iPhone or five-pocket bluejeans. Except bluejeans and iPhones are constantly being tweaked, evolving along with human taste or ingenuity. Each change widens the aperture of possibility. The object does a new thing, looks a new way, or serves a new purpose. But a Laser is a sailboat. It moves by the power of the wind along the surface of the water, a function that hasn’t changed in millennia. Granted, Lasers rarely go anywhere, except in circles. They satisfy a basic human desire for speed and competition, each high on the hierarchy of pleasures. It’s all the more remarkable, then, that among innumerable variations of small sailboats over all time, the precise design of the Laser has ridden up on the wave of history, and stayed there, for 50 years—and counting. POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

53

54

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

1

2 3

Racing the Wind (1) The women’s Laser Radial class at the 2016 Olympics; (2) Kirby’s first Laser sketch; (3) Kirby circa 1959, sailing the MK.1 International 14 dinghy, the first boat he ever designed.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PAUL GILHAM/GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY BRUCE KIRBY (2)

“There’s a lot of bullshit luck involved with the Laser, you know,” Kirby says, sitting at his dining room table, a half hull of the Laser between us. “It came out right. I look at it now and I think, I wouldn’t change a damn thing in the shape. I’d just leave it alone. If somebody said, ‘Redo it,’ I’d say, ‘Go to hell.’ We hit it right in the first place.” Kirby’s decision to license the design rather than build it himself was for a long time a boon to both him and the class. Lasers could be made all over the world, and Kirby could keep designing new boats without the hassle of overseeing production. But the most recent company to make the Laser in America ended up in a legal tangle with him over royalties. The resulting litigation has been a source of frustration to Laser fans for years. At present, new American Lasers come from Australia, England, or Japan. There would seem to be an opening for a “Laser killer.” A freshly imagined car-topper might take advantage of new materials such as carbon fiber. “In the past, to make sure a structure didn’t fail, you just threw more material at it,” says Rick Royce, a professor of naval architecture at the Webb Institute on Long Island. But new computer-modeling techniques allow designers to slim everything, in crafts of all sizes. “Everywhere you look,

weight is coming off.” But more than engineering makes a perfect boat. It takes a confluence of need, design, and timing. The lesson applies to all modes of transportation at this moment of technological transition. Are we content with driverless cars as the new horseless carriage? Or will we imagine a different matrix of mobility? What catches on isn’t always the fastest or the most advanced, but something that combines sophistication of function with ease of manufacturing and broad appeal. That’s why, a half-century on, there are still tens of thousands of Lasers all over the world. The boat that replaces the Laser will have to be something different. “If you’re doing close to the same thing, you might as well do the same thing,” says Dave Clark, the 27-year-old founder of boatbuilding company Fulcrum Speedworks. “It’s only if you fundamentally reconsider the recreational activity itself, and completely modify it, will you actually make a dent.” Clark makes a singlehanded “foiler”—a hydrofoil sailing dinghy—that flies out of the water on a small wing. Free from the drag of the water, the UFO, as it’s called, is wildly fast. Its hull is a simple fiberglass catamaran, but the two T-shaped foils require a system of struts and wands to control their flight. The boats are clickbait on YouTube, flying above the water like herons. But they’re ungainly at rest. The learning curve is steep, and the sailing status quo is hard to shift. For now, UFOs remain a novelty, with just some small, local fleets to race—though who wouldn’t want their boat to attain Laser levels of success? Ironically, Clark’s biggest challenge is stasis: He can’t change his creation if he hopes for it to attain mega-class status one day. You can’t sell a thousand boats and then inform your customers they are no longer competitive. You get one shot. Which makes the Laser’s persistence all the more remarkable. An original buyer could easily be teaching their grandchild to sail. MacLeod mulls racing in the Masters competition. “You know, I still have a Laser,” he says. Kirby is too frail to sail, but he thinks about it constantly. “The Laser Worlds is going on in Ireland, and there are hundreds of boats,” he says, looking at the model. “There’s so goddamn many of them. Everywhere.”

the

flying cars BY

Andrew Zaleski

POP 55

ILLUSTRATIONS BY

Tavis Coburn

we

SCI

hyperloop

jetpacks

jetpacks and flying cars might seem more at home parked in the pages of sci-fi novels (and, uh, some magazines) than in your garage. In 1924, PopSci predicted that airborne autos were just 20 years away, but that wide-eyed optimism wasn’t without reason: Inventors have been tinkering their way toward revolutionary transit for more than a century. The Hyperloop’s ancestry starts in the 1870s. Cruise control debuted in the 1950s. The first air-car prototypes took flight in the same decade. And, in the ’60s, Bell Labs prototyped jetpowered backpacks. These modes of future commuting are still navigating mass-market expectations: Is it safe? Reliable? Cheap? Here’s a realistic assessment of our people-moving dreams.

promised self-driving cars

flying c ars 56

YEARS AWAY

WHAT’S THE HOLDUP?

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

0

5

10

15

20

25

the point of flying cars is convenience: to go up and over traffic instead of sitting in it. That means the craft’s propulsion technology must be powerful enough to soar, but also safe, quiet, and nimble enough to land in a suburban driveway. While startups have developed clever flight schemes, none has found the happy medium between auto and airplane. Silicon Valley company Opener has a singleseater that takes off vertically using eight rotors, but the contraption has no wheels, which means it is more like a personal helicopter than a road-ready rover. Boston-area startup Terrafugia makes the Transition, a two-seat vehicle with folding wings. With its fins deployed, it can fly up to 400 miles at altitudes of 9,000 feet. But there’s a catch: In order to take off, you need a runway. Even when the tech comes together, red tape could keep cars grounded. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration have to clear flying autos. Michael Hirschberg, of the Vertical Flight Society engineering consortium, says approval is at least a decade away. Terrafugia is the closest to finishing its paperwork, and Opener has clearance in Canada only.

CONCEPTS & PROTOTYPES We may not have mass-market flying cars yet, but we’ve been working out the kinks for decades.

1949

2000

2018

Although the precursor to the FAA certified Moulton Taylor’s Aerocar as safe to fly, it never entered production. Makes sense: The driver had to affix a propeller and 15foot wings before taking flight.

Paul Moller’s M400 Skycar figured prominently in our March 2000 magazine. The singleseat machine flew on the strength of four fans and could “take off from your backyard.” It still hasn’t landed.

The Uber Air multirotor flyer vertically takes off and lands. The company aims to deploy fleets of air taxis in LA and Dallas in 2020, but the vehicles will be restricted to specific launch zones in the cities.

PROMISING TECHNOLOGIES

PHOTO CREDITS ON P. 122

1

BETTER BATTERIES Flying cars need to run on electricity, lest their engine noise rattle suburbanites. But today’s best cells—such as the lithium-ion phosphate ones Terrafugia uses— have just 2 percent of the energy density of fuel. Most startups add more packs, but that loads weight onto things that need to hover. The leap for air sedans will be a battery tech called solid-state. Solids can take higher temps, and hotter batteries tote more energy. Trouble is, nobody’s made one that can hold a charge.

2

MORE POWER Vertical takeoff makes the most sense for airborne autos cars. However, using a single motor or engine to hoist a chassis plus passengers would devour energy. For its upcoming Nexus hybrid craft, Bell Aerosystems is borrowing an efficient liftoff scheme popularized by drones: quadrotors. In the setup, multiple props both share the load and help stabilize the craft. A planned air taxi from Uber will take off the same way, then cruise aloft fixed wings.

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

57

hyperloop YEARS AWAY

WHAT’S THE HOLDUP?

58

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

0

5

10

15

20

25

hyperloop capsules zoom at the speed of sound along magnetic rails through underground pneumatic tubes. Or as Elon Musk tweeted during his 2013 unveiling: “A cross between a Concorde and a rail gun.” Musk anticipated his ambitious idea would have a greater chance at success if several groups worked on it concurrently, so he made the project open-source. Also helpful: Versions of the requisite hardware were already out there. Electric motors will send the

PROMISING TECHNOLOGIES

1 2

CRAFTY LEVITATION Hyperloops will float above the tracks via levitation schemes like Inductrack rails. Rather than relying on two sets of repelling magnets to lift a capsule, the setup arranges one group on the bottom of the train at right angles—a matrix called a Halbach array—and places wire coils in the rails. At low speeds, motors slide capsules along the track. At about 45 mph, an electromagnetic field between the car and coils forms, raising the train.

REAL VIBRANIUM Regularly traveling at Mach 1 would cause many materials to buckle or crack. Instead, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies covers its capsules in a patented composite it calls Vibranium. (Yes, just like the fictional ore that powers Wakanda in Black Panther.) Not only is the carbon-fiberbased compound 10 times stronger than steel, it’s also one-fifth the weight. Plus, sensors laced throughout check structural integrity.

CONCEPTS & PROTOTYPES The dream of zippy commutes through underground vacuum tubes is nearly 150 years old.

1 8 70

1970

2010

capsules down aluminum tracks, magnets will provide levitation, and bunches of conventional vacuum pumps will suck all the air out of Hyperloop tunnels to create a nigh-frictionless atmosphere. The biggest physical challenge is digging the passageways, though it’s more a financial woe than a technical one. Musk’s venture for this grunt work, the Boring Company, quotes each mile of tunnel at $1 billion, but that might be a lowball: Consider that New York City

Inventor Alfred Ely Beach earned a patent for his Pneumatic Transitt tech, which got power from large fans at opposite ends of buried vacuum tubes. He secretly built a demo tunnel in New York City.

The Tracked Hovercraftt was supposed to cut the trip from London to Edinburgh to 90 minutes. Oscillating magnetic fields would have allowed the abandoned concept to zip at 100 mph or more.

Max Schlienger’s Vectorr rr train floats along magnetic tracks, powered by air pressure from vacuum pumps. He’s got a onesixth-scale model running through his Napa, California, vineyard.

spent $2.5 billion per mile to build its Second Avenue subway line. Hyerloop projects have also had false starts. The Boring Company scrapped plans in West LA rather than chew through a legal dispute with locals. Yet some companies are optimistic. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies will break ground in China and the United Arab Emirates this year, and CEO Dirk Ahlborn is already talking launch dates. Ebullience is good, but we still haven’t seen so much as a test run. POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

59

j e t p a c k s 60

YEARS AWAY

WHAT’S THE HOLDUP?

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

0

5

10

15

20

25

in 1958, popular science predicted humankind’s “age-old dream of flying like a bird...may be nearer than we think.” Within three decades, jetpack test pilot William Suitor hovered over the opening ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Even so, our prediction was a bit overblown: Suitor’s moment of glory—bogged down by inefficiency and 120 pounds of kit—lasted 20 seconds. Jetpacks have inched toward liftoff since Suitor’s stunt. His model used pressurized hydrogen peroxide for fuel, while today’s rocket suits rely on more-efficient kerosene or diesel to fly for 10 to 20 minutes. But modern crafts have made only marginal leaps on other issues. Being literal rockets, the packs are noisy; Suitor’s belt screeched at 130 decibels, and Jetpack Aviation’s current model is a slightly muffled 120 decibels. They’re heavy too. The machine Jetpack Aviation CEO David Mayman used to buzz the Statue of Liberty in 2015 is 85 pounds—better, but still crushingly large. And, even if your body can carry the weight, your wallet might collapse under the cost. Entry-level packs run around $250,000.

CONCEPTS & PROTOTYPES Getting jetpacks off the ground was the easy part. Keeping them aloft takes some work.

1958

1961

2009

The U.S. Army commissioned Project Grasshopper—a crude rocket belt— from Utah-based Thiokol Chemical Corporation. The device got one minute of flight from five canisters of nitrogen gas.

Pilot Harold Graham zoomed to 112 feet wearing the Small Rocket Lift Device. Developed at Bell Aerosystems, the device’s propellant was stored in off-the-shelf air canisters.

Raymond Li’s Jetlev-Flyer was the first waterpowered pack to go on sale. The catch: The 30-pound rig was tethered via hose to a boat, which housed an engine to pump the water for thrust.

PROMISING TECHNOLOGIES

1

FLY-BY-WIRE CONTROL Winged vehicles steer via adjustable flaps. In the past, the systems used mechanical hardware such as pulleys and cables, but newer “fly-by-wire” tech replaces that with electric switches and motors. Crafts are lighter and nimbler, and pilots no longer need to yank cables to maneuver. Go left? Turn a stick or push a button. Martin Aircraft’s packs use the tech. “When I’m hovering, I can almost completely let go of the controls,” test pilot Paco Uybarreta says.

2

MINI MOTORS Propelling human flight for longer than 20 seconds requires something better than pressurized fuel. Turbojets are miniaturized gas- or diesel-powered engines that generate thrust by compressing air through a turbine. Their power-to-weight ratios help trim down packs. Those on Jetpack Aviation’s suits weigh 20 pounds and generate 180 pounds of thrust—enough to put the engine, plus the added heft of fuel, flight systems, and a pilot, into the air.

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

61

self-driving cars YEARS AWAY

WHAT’S THE HOLDUP?

62

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

0

5

10

15

20

25

in early 2018, it seemed like autonomous cars were ready to hit public roads. Then a self-driving Uber struck and killed a woman one night in Tempe, Arizona. The incident got folks worried (more on p. 44) and also highlighted this tech’s big flaw: It cannot reliably recognize hazards in all conditions. Even an untimely glare can mess with a car’s perception. All-the-time autonomy relies on a suite of tech. GPS tells the car the best route, while sensors—radar, lidar, and cameras—spy obstacles. An

PROMISING TECHNOLOGIES

1 2

CONCEPTS & PROTOTYPES Robots have been in driver’s ed since the midcentury, but they’re still not ready to graduate to public roads.

CHEAPER SENSORS Electronic eyes provide a full picture of the road, but the combined cost of high-res cameras, radar, lidar, and other sensors totals (conservatively) $75,000. Optics engineers are working on lessspendy versions. Waymo, for one, has claimed it’s made a rooftop spinning lidar for just $7,500. Autonomous vehicle companies keep in-house development hush-hush, but, as engineers keep tinkering, the costs will drop further. BRAINIER MOBILE BRAINS Driverless cars parse sensor data into navigational cues with a type of AI called a neural network. The brainlike system must ID every view of a jaywalker amid every combination of weather and lighting, and then—within milliseconds— swerve, brake, or plow ahead. Programmers have been training networks to drive since the ‘80s, but on old, slow chips. Today, thanks in part to video games, graphics processors are speedy enough to read the road.

1958

1989

2007

artificially intelligent computer processes those inputs to make rapid decisions: slam the brakes for a person, or go through a leaf. Vehicles must train for hundreds of thousands of hours to learn every hazard in every condition. Automakers can log that time more quickly by putting prototypes on the road. This was Uber’s approach, but after the 2018 accident, it hit the brakes. It’s rolling out a more conservative relaunch in Pittsburgh sometime this year. Cars will drive only

Engineers measure autonomy from zero (full human control) to five (total robo driver). The first step is taking your feet off the pedals, as drivers did when cruise control debuted on late-’50s Chryslers.

As autos reach level 2, they learn to see the world and recognize basic hazards. Sensors and a computer brain on Carnegie Mellon’s ALVINN, a retrofitted ambulance, let it navigate the campus.

To reach levels 3 and up, cars must handle routes without much (if any) help. The Carnegie Mellon Boss mastered a 55-mile course filled with traffic signals—and other vehicles.

during the day, in clear weather, and below 25 mph. While Uber reboots, Waymo—the Google spinoff—might win the race: It’s testing in 25 cities, and launched a robo-taxi service this past December in greater Phoenix. Still, run-anytime models are decades away. “For a car that can drive up to 65 mph in rain and snow, it will be a long time,” says Huei Peng, director of autonomous vehicle testing at the University of Michigan. Waymo’s CEO recently made a bleaker forecast: It may never happen. POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

63

GETTING THERE

64

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

B Y S A R A H S C O L E S

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IS GREAT—IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO IT. NOW CITIES ARE STARTING TO THINK ABOUT HOW TO HELP PEOPLE WITH THE FIRST AND LAST MILES OF THEIR TRAVELS.

POP 65 SCI

P H O T O G R A P H S B Y C O DY P I C K E N S

ST. STEPHEN’S COMMUNITY HOUSE sits among single-family homes, recycling plants, wrecking yards, shipping centers, and parks, all occupying the Linden neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. Begun as a Catholic social center in 1919, it has morphed into a gathering place that helps local residents connect with jobs, medical care, supermarkets, and transportation. And just as in its early days, the center also helps them connect with one another. So it is that at 5:30 p.m. on a Tuesday in October, about 150 people gather to hear city officials present a reinvention scheme. Even the standing-room section is crowded. A screen displays a slide deck for a 10-point strategy—called the One Linden Plan—to improve this historically underserved lowincome area. Onstage, hip-high cubes show photos of happy kids clinging to smiling parents. While Linden is just a few miles from the city center, transportation options from here—to jobs, doctors, even grocery stores— remain mostly limited, slow, inaccessible, unreliable, or a combination of those factors. One Linden aims to change that. In Columbus, as in many cities, the people who would benefit most from public-transit improvements—people with lower incomes, minorities, residents with disabilities, the elderly—often have difficulty accessing it. The world might be stuffed with bike-shares and scooters, but trendy wheeled devices serve primarily the young, solo, and able-bodied. Meanwhile, as urban areas get more expensive, poorer residents are often pushed even farther out. Cities struggle to get everyone from place to place without clogging freeways, spewing air pollution, consuming fossil fuels, or further disenfranchising anyone. 66

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

In places like Linden, the biggest problem is often getting to or from a transit station in the first place. Urban planners call this the “first-mile/last-mile problem.” Here, remedies will include a trip-planning app that incorporates all available modes of transportation, whether scooters, bikes, or ride-shares. Most of these options typically require smartphones linked to credit-card accounts, leaving out portions of the population that have neither. But several of the proposals detailed in One Linden don’t require a bank account or phone plan. Officials also promise transportation hubs that link the different transport modes, and offer extra help for pregnant women and people with cognitive disabilities. In the auditorium, the residents are attentive, hopeful— and dubious. It’s not the first time they’ve heard great- on-paper strategies. Many stay on the page.

GETTING THERE

Some worry that if the improvements actually happen, it will just catalyze gentrification, destabilizing the very people whose lives should improve. Knowing these doubts like the potholes on a familiar street, Lawrence Calloway, a South Linden commissioner, turns the meeting into something of a pep rally. “Can you all say, ‘Linden’?” he asks from the stage. “Linden!” the crowd yells. “LINDEN!” Calloway calls, louder. “LINDEN!” they respond, louder still. He smiles. “This is what we’re talking about,” he says to them. “Our community.” Calloway asks the crowd to raise their hands if they provided input or helped shape the plan. Most of the hands go up. He nods. “It is an instruction on how to use

Rolling Blunder You have to go solo and sans cargo on a scooter. That leaves out parents and shoppers.

every last nut and bolt and piece of wood and metal and brick and mortar to make sure this thing works,” he says of the plan. “So if you didn’t see yourself in it, maybe you need to mention how you can be in it.” Cue murmurs of approval. Calloway ends by once again saying the community’s name. A cheer of “Linden! Linden! Linden!” rises like an approaching train. Afterward, people disperse to knotty circles of conversation. Nicole Williams is hanging out near glossy, novella-length copies of the plan. Two-tone eye shadow applied in vertical patches gives her a tiger-like aspect. A friend asks after her son, and Williams turns her POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

67

IN AN URBAN-UTOPIA VISION OF THE FUTURE,

everything is made for everyone—and involves fewer personal cars, which pollute the air, contribute to climate change, keep us sedentary, and create cortisol-boosting gridlock. Multiple studies suggest that switching to alternatives—walking, biking, public transit—increases physical and psychological well-being, and even reduces mortality. 68

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

Reinventing the Ride Clockwise from left: Columbus recently launched an autonomous shuttle downtown; the Smart Columbus Experience Center demos tech and electric cars; Lyft hypes its scooter service in Denver.

The main challenge to getting around without your own car remains the gap between home and public transit, and between a transit station and an office, factory, store, or friend’s place. Depending on where you live, that could make getting around difficult to impossible. In Franklin County, where Columbus is, it contributes to an infant mortality rate about 1.3 times the national average. According to city data, 7.1 infants died per 1,000 births between January and October 2018 in the county, and the rate is 2.3 times higher for black infants compared with other ethnic groups. The problem arises in part because mothers can’t make it to medical appointments—a first-mile/last-mile issue if there ever was one. Cities and companies are slowly chipping away at the obstacles. In many urban areas, you can now rent a bike to begin or complete your journey. Some places, like New York City, subsidize them for lower-income residents. On-demand services like Uber and Lyft come when you call, and sometimes cost less than traditional taxis. And then, of course, there is the Great Scooter Invasion of 2018. Across the U.S., electricity-jolted Razor-style scooters have sprung up rapidly. After registering, you can pick them up and drop them off around town. But these modes usually require credit cards, bank accounts, smartphones, the ability to stand or pedal, and confidence riding in traffic. And you have to go it alone, without company or cargo. That leaves out much of the population much of the time. It amounts to discrimination, witting or not. That’s something Sarah Kaufman, associate director of the Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University, has examined empirically. Her research found

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: COURTESY SMART COLUMBUS; COURTESY IBM; RAYMOND BOYD/GETTY IMAGES

wheelchair to look around the room. He’s here somewhere, she says, smiling. But Williams and her son almost didn’t make it tonight. She had scheduled a ride for 5 p.m. with a van service for people with disabilities. It didn’t show up till 6 or so, well after the meeting had started. While she waited, her friends started texting her. “They’re talking about you!” they said. Williams has been active in the transportation initiatives, and she missed her onstage mention—all because of a way-late ride. This, of course, is part of the whole thing. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, cities must provide transportation for people with physical or cognitive impairments. But such specialized services are often less reliable than buses, which Williams can and does sometimes ride. But the fare box next to the driver blocks her access. The maneuvering makes her nervous. Once, avoiding the box, she broke the glass on the bus door. “I was just so embarrassed,” she says. “You know? I was just so embarrassed.” Her solution is simple: “Everything should be made for everyone.” She says it with the same conviction that the community just chanted, “Linden!”

GETTING THERE

that almost 75 percent of New York’s Citi Bike riders are men. A 2017 review of 54 research studies suggested that women want more separation between their bikes and traffic. Moreover, women are often on daisy chains of errands and caretaking trips shuttling the kids or buying food; many studies show that even in relationships based on egalitarian ideals, women do more of the housework and childcare. So while scooters and bikes might be great for riding home from happy hour, they’re subpar with kids or cargo. “These new modes are hard for people who have responsibilities other than themselves,” Kaufman says. Creating systems that work for everyone is the basis of an approach called universal design. In 1997, a group of engineers and designers at North Carolina State University established its seven basic principles: that facilities and services should be equitable; flexible; simple and intuitive; include easily perceived information; tolerate errors; require low physical effort; and provide size and space for all users. When transportation engineers implement accessible ways for more people to get around, they are embracing the spirit of that philosophy. Some cities have begun to make accommodations. In Hangzhou, China, you can rent bicycles with kid seats. Fortaleza, Brazil, has child-size bikes. In 2018, Detroit offered ones with hand pedals or cargo carriers in a pilot program. But pointing to individual examples at all means that the distribution of last-mile wealth still has a long way to go. The U.S. Department of Transportation is trying to help midsize cities with these disparities. In late 2015, it launched the Smart City Challenge, offering a competitive $40 million grant to municipalities that want to modernize and data-drive their transportation. Out of 78 applicants, Columbus won the money with a proposal that focused on Linden and its last-mile problems.

TWO YEARS ON, MUCH OF WHAT SMART COLUMBUS HAS

achieved, including in its work with One Linden, remains invisible from the outside: PowerPoint presentations, meetings, back-end app development, building permits. But over the next two years, the city—using federal money and $10 million from Vulcan, the late Microsoft co- founder Paul Allen’s investment and philanthropic arm—promises to build better, more-accessible transit hubs, user-friendly software to help everyone get around, and smart systems to collect data on how people use it all in order to make ongoing improvements. Right now, the Smart Columbus staff is trying to get both buy-in and input from residents. Part of that happens inside a very visible building called the Smart Columbus Experience Center. Located downtown next to the winding Scioto River (about a 15-minute drive, an 18-minute walk plus a 17-minute bus ride, or a $14 Lyft trip from St. Stephen’s), it’s a sleek-looking black beast of a building, curved at one end. Inside, there’s a showroom

with demo technology and electric cars that people can take out and test-drive. Behind this display space, the Smart Columbus team toils in an open office. A glassed-in conference room says “Connected” on its door. There are many bagels. Brandi Braun, the city’s deputy innovation officer, sits in the Green Room, so called because of its vivid chlorophyll- colored wall. She explains that a lott of people are expected to move to the area by 2050—up to 600,000, based on data from a regional planning commission. Braun looks excited and afraid, like someone locking in the harness of a roller coaster. “We can’t build our way out of that,” she says. Car lanes, she means. What to do about it? “It can be easy to immediately think of the tools—like the sensors, the data, the internet of things, the whiz-bang,” she says. And she does tick off those toys: ad hoc devices that can give older cars intelligent features such as collisionavoidance, or traffic signals networked to buses, and an operating system that collects anonymized data for researchers who will use it to keep the inevitable traffic flowing. But more important to neighborhoods like Linden are Smart Mobility Hubs, everymode gathering places where a person can grab a bike or a scooter or a bus or a ride-share or a pay-by-the-hour rental car. In the hub at St. Stephen’s, residents will be able to charge devices at USB ports while using free Wi-Fi. Or peruse job boards and community events at kiosks not unlike those interactive guides in fancy malls. They’ll be able to load cash onto transit cards—all without a bank account or data plan. An app will let users map out multileg trips using every service the city has to offer. So, if you want to ride a scooter to a bus and then walk to the pharmacy and ride-share to pick up your kid from school, the app will let you organize and pay for all of that, no credit card required. Six such hubs across Columbus will link Linden, specifically, to loci of education, jobs, and commerce. It’s a start. But it’s not going to equalize areas of the city overnight—or ever, necessarily. Which is hard, when expectations are so high. “There is this perception that we’re going to have flying cars and light rail, and we won’t have traffic in four years,” Braun says. That’s not true, of course. But the goal is to help people who’ve been left behind in the past, whether (CONTINUED ON P. 124) POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

69

POPULAR

PAGE

SCIENCE

POP

SCI

70

FOR THE LONG HAUL BY

LAURA PARKER

ILLUSTRATION BY RODRIGO DAMATI

1

2

3 f in

2018, qantas introduced the first nonstop link between Europe and Australia. Clocking in at 17 hours, an extended flight like this is possible only because airplane makers such as Boeing and Airbus have spent decades on innovations, including fuel-friendly wing shapes and stronger, lighter materials. But keeping a plane in the air all day is useless if you can’t keep customers happy in cramped, sterile cabins for the duration. Plans include wider seats, lights that reprogram circadian rhythms, and cabin air that’s more pleasant to breathe. Also, they might finally speed up the Wi-Fi. But they’d better hurry: Qantas plans to schedule 22-hour flights by 2022. 1. EASING THE SQUEEZE

The most coveted inches on any plane are the ones we sit on—the economics of air travel forces most of us to cram 70

into seats averaging just 17 inches across. But slightly wider seats might have to make a comeback for drawn-out journeys. Research from the London Sleep Centre shows

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

4 that increasing width to 18 inches improves passenger sleep quality by 53 percent. Airlines are also looking at ways to provide more legroom. One option: padding seatbacks with thinner material. 2. BETTER AERIAL EDIBLES

Qantas worked with nutritionists to design an anti-malaise menu for 17-hour jaunts from Perth to London. Meals emphasize fresh ingredients with high water content— such as cucumbers, strawberries, celery, and leafy greens— so passengers don’t get too dehydrated. This helps cut down

on fatigue and headaches. Singapore Airlines is rewriting the menu for its 18-hour New York-bound routes too. Foods low in salt keep diners hydrated, while those with minimal carbs stave off spikes in blood sugar. The company is currently considering swapping out potatoes for cauliflower, which does both. 3. THE AIR UP THERE

Ever wonder why you feel exhausted after a long flight? It might be because most aircraft cabins

re-create Earth’s atmosphere at 8,000 feet, where thin air makes our hearts and lungs work extra hard to supply our bodies with oxygen. Pumping most planes’ air pressure higher would stress weak points such as windows and doors, but Boeing reinforced the 777X’s fuselage to withstand cabin pressures at 6,000 feet. That also means more humidity, which should

alleviate the transcontinental scourges of dry eyes and itchy nasal passages. 4. TAKE OFF AND TUNE OUT

Perhaps the easiest way to improve a lengthy trip is to help passengers forget they’re even flying. Unfortunately, in-flight Wi-Fi tops out at a Netflix-throttling

5

6

7

15 mbps. Airbus aims to speed that up, pending upgraded telecom satellites and transmission stations. But even if onboard internet never supports binge watching, future flyers could enjoy superior entertainment options. Airbus is also experimenting with immersive OLED displays and even virtual-reality headsets. What better way to soothe your nerves during a 22-hour flight than

pretending you’re somewhere else? 5. UP AFTER MIDNIGHT

Our bodies set their circadian clocks according to cycles of light and dark. Many airlines already use full-color LED lighting strategically on longhaul flights to beat fatigue, with brighter hues simulating daylight, and warm pinks to tell your body it’s time for sleep. Airbus has developed 17 million light and color combinations that go beyond simulating night and day: These light-therapy

techniques mimic various outdoor environments and can help sync passengers’ internal clocks with their destination’s time zone. 6. ASLEEP ON THE JOB

Protracted routes require multiple sets of crews working alternating shifts. Off-duty pilots recharge in racks right below the cockpit or above business class. The cabin attendants typically slumber in bunkhouses hidden above the last few rows in economy. However, this space is cramped, so crewmembers forced to tuck in for several sessions of shut-eye aren’t getting the

most restful sleep. Both Boeing and Airbus have made upgrades: wider, longer bunks with increased overhead space, closed off with thick, noisemuffling curtains. 7. TRADING SPACES

Most planes hide extra cargo compartments in their bellies. But few airlines actually fill the space with freight pallets as intended. On the Airbus A330 aircraft, that unused space is 111 square feet—about the size of a Manhattan living room. The company has all sorts of remodeling ideas, from the practical—think infirmaries and business centers—to fanciful amenities such as playrooms, swanky lounges, yoga and cycling studios, or even nap areas full of cozy bunks for travelers to enjoy.

POP 72 SCI

by

72

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

R y a n B ra d l e y

photographs by

Ray Lego

P O P S C I . C O M typography • S P R I N G 2 0by 1 9 Eric

Heintz 73

FROM THE NEXT ROOM, THROUGH A FR t thick granite wall, comes a chug-a-chuga-chug-a , like an old steam m train closing in. Rounding the corner,, I see s the source of the racket: a table, shakiing. The long, metal slab jerks quickly back ba and forth. On it, in two neat rows, aree a half-dozen rectangular l prisms isms packed with ssensors measuring pressure and motion. Each one holds a titanium-alloy bolt the size of a hold grown wn man’s man forearm and weighing about 10 pound unds. As the elaborate assemblage might hint, these bolts are special. Eventually entually, this remarkable hardware will go to sp space. The bolts, or ones like them, will hold ttogether sections of the Orion spacecraft,, a new n vehicle that, sometime in the next decad ade, will carry humans out of low-Earth orbit ffor the first time since 1972—initially to o the moon mo and later on trips to Mars. But beforee that, the fasteners must survive a mock version of their journey. Only worse. The shaking they’re enduring is merely the beginning, intended to simulate the violence of a launch. The parts also brave hammering, baking, and freezing—24 tests in total. All this before any metal even reaches the launchpad. The abuse ensures not only that the bolts will hold together massive space-faring machines, but that, at the exact right moment, they’ll break neatly apart. More specifically, they’ll explode, strategically jettisoning segments of Orion’s rocketry as they do. The design, manufacture, and most of the testing of this combustible hardware happens in an old stone factory in Eastern Connecticut, where engineers have crammed various items full of pyrotechnic material for well over a century. The 200-acre campus of 19th-century brownstone, granite, and brick—a look that’s part factory town, part college—is the home of the Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company (or EBAD, because what’s a defense contractor without a vaguely sinister acronym?). EBAD is one of more than 2,000 companies making Orion’s 74

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

1

History of Abuse (1) A 19thcentury mill on the EBAD campus once powered the shop; (2) an industrial oven broils parts to test their mettle.

nuts and bolts (and ceramics, fabrics, and springs) for Lockheed Martin, NASA’s main contractor on the project. EBAD’s components are a bit player in this space epic, but the firm’s mission-critical role gives it an outsize gravitational pull. Of the 5.5 million pounds of rocketry (collectively known as NASA’s Space Launch System) and other equipment that will hurtle Orion out of the atmosphere, only 20,500—less than 0.38 percent—will come back to Earth. “The last thing we want to do is take all the stuff at launch to the moon and back,” explains Carolyn Overmyer, Lockheed’s deputy manager for the Orion crew capsule (where the astronauts ride). “We don’t need the blast system at the moon. So where does it go? It separates. It’s a ‘sep event.’” In plain English: Stuff falls off. The exploding bolts are the catalyst in that process, “central to our mission,” Overmyer says. There are eight separations in a complete Orion journey to the moon and back. One of the first occurs three minutes after launch: The bolts split alongside explosivepowder- laced zippering fissures called frangible joints to discard the loads that get Orion off the ground. Three nearly-two-story panels, called fairings, that protected the craft from the heat of liftoff simply drop. “A 15-foot-tall

2

coffee can goes boom! and just flies away,” Overmyer says, recalling the first time she watched the panels split from the craft during a test flight. “I know it sounds silly to say it, but I found it very, very beautiful.” As the mission progresses, more systems become irrelevant and break off. The final thing to go is the service module, a trash-can-shaped pod that houses all the liquids and gases for the mission; it holds on to the Orion capsule throughout the 1.3-million-mile journey on the strength of four fasteners made for this exact task. When the crewcarrying vessel begins its dive back to Earth, the fasteners split and release the pod, which then burns up. Preparing these bolts for their pivotal moment—their perfect failure—presents as a kind of Zen koan. How to fully test a thing that works exactly once? How do you design something that, in order to do its job, must fail? Part of the answer is revealed in the threaded fasteners, called release and retention bolts, shaking and rattling on the table. Of all the variations of hardware EBAD builds for Orion, these must suffer the most intense torture, both here on Earth and in space. “We beat the hell out of ’em,” says Steve Thurston, EBAD’s manager of test services, as he watches the heroic fixtures rumble angrily against the

table’s motion. Thurston turns and walks toward a quieter spot and says softly, almost solemnly: “It’s really not fair to the parts. But that’s the point—to find their limits, to push the envelope.” Outside, a morning rain gives way to the bright-green beginning of a fall day. A river, which once powered EBAD’s works, winds through the campus; a family of otters has taken up residence. It’s hard to square the setting with what goes on behind the aged stone walls: spaceage bolts getting stretched (and mashed and bashed and rattled) to their limits.

S I M S B U RY, C O N N E C T I C U T, H A S been een home to EB EBAD since well before the Civil War. ar.. Back Bac then, then, ther there were iron and copper mines and granite anite quarrie q ies throughout the region, which meant a lot off digging and an awful me a lot of booms. The methods meth th d were crude: Dig a hole, fill it with gunpowder, plug it except for a small space to run a fuse (usually string or cloth), light, run. Men died by the hundreds, often because things blew when POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

75

1

2

they weren’t supposed to—mostly too soon. In 1831, these techniques began to change— become more refined, predictable, safe. In the city of Cornwall in Old England, where there was even more mining than in New England, an inventor named William Bickford patented the first safety fuse. Bickford packed gunpowder into a hollow jute rope, which then fizzled at a predictable clip of roughly 30 seconds per foot. In 1839, he partnered with a Connecticut mining company to manufacture and sell his burners stateside. Ralph Hart Ensign joined on in 1870. His heirs would later expand the firm’s explosives business beyond fuses, developing products such as a banker’s bag that smoked when a crook tampered with it. Dave Novotney, head of business development, quickly walks me through this century-plus of history as he winds up to a crucial point. He pushes back from his desk and lays it out: “We blow things up here. We are very good at it. We’ve been doing it for a 76

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

3

Built to Outlast (1) Entering an EBAD test lab; (2) a vibrating table rattles test hardwares’ cages; (3) a cross-sectioned bolt, preexplosion; (4) a platform for hammer strikes; (5) a sensor-laden box tracks a bolt’s progress.

long, long time.” But the key, even in Bickford’s day, is timing. Timing was—and still is—everything. For no one is this truer than the astronauts inside a small hunk of metal hurtling through space at 20,000 miles an hour. Which is why, almost paradoxically, in missions with humans, there’s explosive powder planted in dozens of spots throughout the craft. It does what you want it to do when you need it to. NASA doesn’t call these propellants “explosives.” Instead, they’re pyrotechnical systems, or pyro, in which so-called separation bolts are a central part. An electronic switch called an actuator delivers a charge to a threaded incendiary cord that leads to the fastener. The event is over in a fraction of a millisecond—about onemillionth of a blink of a human eye. The space agency has relied on this type of fast action, also common in ejector seats and weapons deployment, from its beginnings. The Mercury missions of the late 1950s and early 1960s experimented with pyro, though not always with stellar results; an escape-hatch misfire at splashdown during the Mercury 4 flight flooded the capsule and nearly drowned an astronaut. NASA got better at controlling booms by the Gemini program of the

S E PA R AT I O N A N X I E T Y

4

5

mid-’60s, which added new structures such as pyrotechnically deployed landing gear. By the Apollo missions of the late ’60s and early ’70s, 210 bits of explosive tech took on 24 mechanical functions—from separating the lunar lander to releasing parachutes for descent—on the crafts that first brought humans to the moon. EBAD provided pyro for many of these small-but-mighty ignitions. The explosions, however, took a backseat during the shuttle program. The space planes relied more on motorized, reusable systems—ones that dock and undock attachments, including spacewalking astronauts. Motors, however, aren’t perfect, Stu McClung, a NASA engineer who works on Orion’s pyro and spent nearly two decades on the shuttle, later explains to me. They’re several seconds slower than pyro, can be pounds heavier, and worst, they can also break down. So he still favors detonations as a failsafe. “If something ever went wrong, we could just fracture it, and head on home.” Today, electric action is increasingly in demand for satellites and unmanned systems, such as the James Webb telescope and the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampler, which have solar arrays that need to gently unfurl. “The good news is pyro systems act really quick,” Novotney quips. “The bad news is they act really quick.” Also sad for our lug- headed

friends: SpaceX founder Elon Musk, whose ethos centers on reusability, is not a fan of the bang. EBAD had very little kit on the shuttle, and years ago, Novotney noticed most space business was moving away from pyro altogether. Orion, though, is a throwback to the pre-shuttle era—a time reliant on controlled detonation—and a chance for the company to leverage its explosive bona fides. So Novotney bid, eager to catch a once-in-a-generation craft before it flew by. Now he and a team of engineers are somewhat obsessed with the trial and error of bolt-making. The end result of their work occasionally winds up in Novotney’s office, in a yellow bucket deep with shards of spent fasteners he likes to show off to visitors. Peering down at this refuse, it looks more like discarded lengths of filled-in pipe than hyperengineered and endlessly tested exploding space stuff. Their task is dead simple yet takes years to perfect: Stay together, break apart, help deliver the crew back to Earth. “It’s not like you can suddenly change your mind and send Bruce Willis out on a rescue mission,” Novotney says. “You’re coming oming home, and that’s it.”

E B A D H A S B E E N A LT E R N AT E LY making and breaking br Orion hardware since 2009 9. When it began, Lockheed delivered reams of documents cuments w with specs, first a few hundred pages, then sever eral thousand more. Still, EBAD wasn’t ’t starting from fr scratch. The company established a Space Ordnance Division to make specialized fuses in 1965, and a handful of other companies—even NASA—had been crafting separation bolts since the ’50s. So, the broad strokes were, by the early aughts, already out there. To perfect a bolt that also must, when called upon, be decidedly unboltlike, EBAD engineers spend an outsize amount of time worrying the hardware’s weakest point: the fracture plane, the epicenter of the eventual break. Lockheed’s Overmyer likens it to folded paper: “When you bend it, you make the crease really strong so it breaks at that line,” she explains. If the hardware was going to split too soon, like during launch, it’d happen here. On a bolt, the plane is a razor-thin notch circumnavigating the titanium surface, about two-thirds from one end. In EBAD’s early testing days for Orion, the designers fiddled with the placement, the depth. Most important, they carefully paired it with the internal structures and explosives that would ensure a clean break at the right time, every time. As they work on their refinements, the rules POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

77

B O LT TO M A R S

P Y R O M A N I AC During 2020’s Exploration Mission 1, Orion’s first journey to the moon and back, 31 pieces of explosive hardware will strategically jettison parts of the vessel along the way. This is when, why, and how each bit breaks loose. —Penelope Stark

2

5

4

3

1

1 Once Orion clears the atmosphere, it drops the shields, called fairings, that protected the service module from the heat of blastoff. Six gunpowderlaced zippers, called frangible joints, on the bottom and sides of each panel as well as six exploding bolts fire in rapid succession.

78

aggage The conical top of the craft has motors that could turn the ship around if ascent goes awry. Once Orion reaches orbit, four pyro nuts holding it to the top of the capsule fracture. A motor on the spire of the cone then creates enough thrust to push the assembly clear of the craft.

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

The vessel circles Earth before speeding toward space. A dedicated rocket (not shown) helps it complete its lap. Before Orion can continue on its moon-bound trajectory, six combustible nuts holding the propulsion system to the service module split in two.

About three weeks and 1.3 million miles later, Orion readies for its final descent back into the atmosphere. Two separation bolts sever the umbilical that funneled power, fluids, and data between the service module and the crew-carrying capsule throughout the mission.

The service module is the last thing to go before Orion’s brutal re-entry. The four fasteners that have held the two parts together fissure. The halves of the hardware that remain on the capsule melt into the craft’s heat shield, helping protect the crew in the final push.

COURTESY NASA

Lau

S E PA R AT I O N A N X I E T Y

keep changing. Halfway through development—after more than a dozen bolt iterations and a couple of vehicle tests— NASA determined the Orion service module needed to go on a serious diet to make room for the systems that would support human life for its eventual two-year trip to the Red Planet and back. About 3,000 pounds had to disappear from the then-49,000-pound vehicle. For EBAD that meant fewer, burlier bolts. Instead of six fasteners that would need to last nearly the entire journey, they’d have four, which saves about 25 pounds. “This caused some headaches,” says Sean Keon, an EBAD engineer who oversees design. They made the bolt all over again, adding some girth and about a quarter-inch of length. The tweaks allowed each to hold more than 100,000 tons, so Orion could lose two without concern. The team machines the bolts according to exact specs; if their measurements are off by more than 11⁄⁄1,000 inch, they’re no good. But the real trick to building these Herculean fasteners isn’t building them. It’s test after test after test. In addition to the shaker table, all the parts run through trials that simulate versions of the mission’s extremes. EBAD freezes them down to minus 100 degrees and heats them to 210 degrees, which ensures their fuses won’t spontaneously ignite midflight under the sun’s glare. To prove the bolts can hold tight through the shock wave of rocket ignition, they suffer three 6,000-G whacks from Thor-worthy steel hammers. Throughout the process, engineers check and recheck the bolts. They remeasure them to make sure their forms haven’t yielded under pressure. X-rays ensure that all of their internal parts are present—and in the right place—and a fluorescent dye highlights cracks as tiny as 0.03 inches long. Once EBAD is satisfied, some nine fasteners from each manufacturing batch head to Lockheed and NASA, which put the pieces through more abusive paces. If any of the hardware has a bad test or a fissure, EBAD pulls the whole lot lot, and the process starts all over again.

ANOTHER WAY TO MONITOR THE SUCCESS off an eexplos osive space bolt is to watch it blow. This happens so fast that obser bserving the boom is terribly underwhelming. There’s almost nothing to see. Like magic. Only it’s not. The only way to t really “see” the explosions is in slowmotion video mo eo runnin ning at a fraction of the rate human eyes can naturally glimpse—at least 100,000 frames per second. And even then, plenty remains hidden, including the electrical charge that sets off a series of tiny detonations that ultimately ignites an organic propellant inside a pressure cartridge. The propellant generates enough energy to drive two internal pistons. The pair then slam against one another with enough force to cause the all-important fracture plane to finally, perfectly, once and for all, fail. From the outside, it looks like the bolt is pulling itself apart. Spacecrafts have redundancies everywhere, including inside the bolts. There are two pressure cartridges, next to each other. If the primary one doesn’t fire, the electric charge continues on,

tapping and igniting the second. If both fire at the same time, which sometimes happens, the shell can still contain the force. But the job isn’t finished once you pull off the explosion. The break itself can cause problems, because, in space, debris is a killer. A tiny fragment of bolt, hurtling around Orion at thousands of miles per hour, could easily smash a solar panel or pierce an important piece of electronics, ending the mission. This is why, when the fasteners nestle among their testing sensors and ultimately snap in two, there is a little baggie dangling underneath to capture debris. Lockheed analyzes the refuse to ensure there are no pieces large enough to cause problems. They review the slo-mo tape too, checking the velocity of anything shooting away from the fracture and the craft. Being certain about where broken parts wind up is doubly important for the most heroic bolts, the ones that secure the crew capsule to its trash-can-shaped life support until the mission’s near-final moments. Pieces of that hardware must stay on the craft, and contribute to another vital feature. After the bolts split, the shards remaining on the capsule melt slightly and become part of the heat shield, throwing off excess heat and helping protect the astronauts during the 4,000-degree push back into Earth’s atmosphere. As they melt, they take the heat with them—like chunks of ice sitting on blacktop on a hot day. As Keon and a group of EBAD engineers describe these final throes, I catch them staring at the conference-room wall behind me. Tucked near the ceiling is a rolled-up projector screen. Test flights are the only real chance for the bolts to prove their mettle, so when they happen, EBAD staff huddle in this room to watch. Right now, NASA is inching toward two big events: a four-minute ride will practice an emergency landing this spring; and, in 2020, Exploration Mission 1 will whip an unmanned capsule around the moon and back home. The last time they piled into this room was in 2014, when Exploration Flight Test 1 circled Orion around Earth twice before splashing down. The unnamed mission was a trial for critical systems such as the heat shield, parachutes, computers, and, of most concern for EBAD, all those separations. That mid-December afternoon, the team ordered pizza, and waited into the night to see how their bolts fared. They paced and sweated, then let out cheers and long-tired sighs. The celebration, though, was tempered by the work—the testing, the refining—they’d return to the next morning. “The mission’s not over,” Keon says. POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

79

a history of hitting the

ROAD 80 SCI

by Jake Bittle icons by Hubert Tereszkiewicz

PAST in the THE PAST rearview

1. rocks and bricks

Humans have been clearing trees and burning brush to transport food and attack our enemies for more than 10,000 years, but Mesopotamians invented some of the first paved roads to make more transit-friendly cities around 3000 B.C. Workers molded thousands of identical clay bricks, dried them, then arranged them like tiles. To keep paths from crumbling every time a cow kicked, they glued the blocks together with bitumen, a naturally occurring semisticky petroleum that we still use as a binder in asphalt today. But this ancient population bothered with the labor-intensive method only on streets with religious significance or high military value. While all road technology might not lead back to Rome, the Roman

Empire did build some of the longest and most durable pathways in the ancient world. Builders recessed rock and gravel layers into the ground for stability. Closer to cities and in other prominent areas, pavers topped these layers with hard stones to create a more polished look. At its height, around A.D. 100, the Empire presided over a combined 50,000 miles of highways, which allowed soldiers and merchants to move swiftly throughout Europe and Asia Minor. Some of these timeworn passages are still functional today. The Via Appia, which runs from Rome 350 miles southeast to the east coast of Italy, supports automobile traffic on select stretches— though it has required quite a few overhauls over the past two millennia.

MAP IMAGES BY THE VOORHES

POP

Today’s streets have it harder than their ancestors did. Instead of feet, hooves, and wooden wheels, they shoulder semis and SUVs. As we’ve developed new ways to zip around, we’ve also changed the makeup of the routes on which we travel, transforming gravel paths into asphalt superhighways. Challenges such as extreme weather and carbon emissions mean our expressways must evolve even further, so engineers are turning to futuristic fixes to keep traffic flowing. Here’s the story behind that long and winding journey—and where it’s going next.

2. sloped mud As the Industrial Revolution took off in Great Britain during the 1700s, local governments built longer networks of gravel highways, relying on toll collection to finance the construction of new routes. These so-called turnpikes sprang up across the countryside, spreading out from London and connecting cities in England and Scotland. But most roadways were made of small stones piled on top of mud, meaning the slightest

3. PACKED GRAVEL AND ASPHALT

sprinkling of rainwater could turn the rocky lanes into mucky heaps of disgusting, dangerous slush. A civil engineer named John Metcalf had a plan for smoothing things over. His construction crews would slightly slope each new street’s surface and dig deep ditches on either side. This provided proper drainage to keep roadways from caving in due to excess moisture, preventing potholes. Metcalf famously went the extra mile to advocate for these design changes. Blind from boyhood, he once challenged a colonel to race him to London. Thanks to the rough terrain, Metcalf made his way to the city on foot faster than the military man could get there in his horse-drawn buggy.

Nineteenth-century Scottish engineer John McAdam, frustrated that even Britain’s best drags were still bumpy, took a new approach: He replaced loose, round stones with rocks crushed into tiny angular bits that he spread out along a path, and then rolled over to press firm. These “Macadam roads” were more durable and weather-resistant—and kinder to carriage wheels—but they were still pretty loosey-goosey. So, in the 1870s, American engineers began filing patents for bituminous asphalt mixtures known as “binders,” which combine the oily substance with gravel or sand for sleeker street surfaces. The basic cross-section of a road or highway hasn’t changed much since: Builders dig a ditch, lay down a bed of packed soil, spread a layer of crushed stone, and then top it with a smooth, 6-inch layer of either asphalt or concrete. Heavierduty roads, such as interstates, sometimes have an additional rocky layer at the foundation.

4. even more asphalt Around the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. started to roll out roads as we know them, replacing soil paths with hardy concrete. But long-distance routes—such as the Lincoln Highway, which joined New York and San Francisco in 1923— were sometimes no better than dirt ditches etched in the countryside. While riding on the Lincoln with his Army convoy in 1919, Lt. Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower had an idea: What if this, but better and everywhere? When he became president, Eisenhower masterminded the interstate highway system, its more than 45,000 miles of pavement taking three decades to lay down.

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

81

PRESENT what’s under our wheels

1. SOLID FOUNDATIONS Apartheid-era South Africa was under sanctions and economically isolated by many other countries, which made buying a highway’s worth of bitumen prohibitively expensive. So engineers in the country came up with an unorthodox solution that was not only cheaper, but also just as effective as conventional methods. Rather than laying down a thin gravel base and slathering it with half a foot of asphalt, South African designers relied on a layer of stone (infused with cement) about a foot thick as the foundation of the path, then placed a 2-inchthick strip of asphalt on top. Trade opened up after Apartheid ended in the 1990s, but no one raced to repave the region: The unique highways proved to be just as strong and resilient as those in other countries. The clever and effective workaround became a subject of fascination for transportation officials from around the world.

ROBOT ROAD BUILDERS 82

2. LOW-FRICTION BLACKTOP

A truly well-designed road won’t just withstand rain, sun, and tire abuse—it’ll also make driving easier and cleaner for the cars passing over it. In Denmark, government researchers will be testing more than 30 miles of highway built with an earth-conscious asphalt that minimizes friction with tires. To lower what’s called “rolling resistance,” the designers embed the upper layer of asphalt with unusually small stones—sometimes smaller than a quarter-inch across—which makes the surface smoother. Cars can coast longer, so drivers need to hit the gas less frequently to maintain a steady speed. Fewer presses of the pedal equals less fuel consumption, which helps minimize emissions. For every million dollars Denmark invests in these streets, motorists could save around $40 million in fuel costs.

3. limestone bases Germany’s comprehensive network of famously no-speed-limit autobahn highways are among the best in the world. Their secret sauce: money. Each of the country’s more than 8,000 miles of freeway costs the federal government nearly a million dollars per year in maintenance. As they say: It costs money because it saves money, and Germany’s road-building budget means better materials that cause fewer problems in the long run. Not only are these bahns twice

Until late in the 20th century, charting the path of a new highway was extremely tedious work. Crews would

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

as thick as the average U.S. highway, but the trenches lining them are sturdy limestone rather than more- common materials such as soil or sand. (The government planned for a few stretches to double as airstrips during World War II, so some sections are actually thick and sturdy enough to survive the force of a landing plane.) Each motorway is also topped with highquality concrete. As a result of their resilience, these routes are safer, quieter, easier on cars, and last an average of 20 years longer than American pavement. And even though it’s not as big as the United States, Germany’s web of highways is dense—if you laid all the autobahns end-to-end, they would stretch a third of the way around the planet.

walk 50 feet, stick a peg in the ground, and repeat ad nauseam as a paving robot followed close behind.

Even as those machines advanced, they still needed so-called string lines to guide them straight as they

ROADS

4. ice/salt road Especially cold or dry locales can boast boulevards made of unconventional stuff. In arid countries such as Chile, governments sometimes skip asphalt and top roads with a salty compound called bischofite, which occurs naturally in the Atacama desert. It doesn’t make clouds of dust the way sandy roads do, and rare rainfall helps the soluble substance stay in place. In chillier northern climes, frozen rivers become drives linking otherwise-isolated towns from January through April. But they’re melting earlier each year as temperatures rise.

5. emerging asphalt alternatives RUBBER One of the easiest ways to skimp on oily bitumen is to grind up landfill-bound tires and other elastic materials, and mix them into the blacktop. Rubberized highways last nearly two times longer than their traditional counterparts, and can be 50 percent quieter as well. Plus, rubber doesn’t crack as much in extreme heat because, unlike stiff asphalt, the material can expand and contract. California, Spain, and Germany all use rubberized streets, and Japan now features the bouncy stuff in about a fifth of its national roads.

PLASTIC In 2015, the Indian government mandated that cities fill potholes with melted plastic garbage. This technique inspired Scottish engineer Toby McCartney to found MacRebur Ltd., a plastic-road startup that seeks to build byways using the material clogging up our landfills. By grinding thousands of soda bottles down into pellets and mixing the result with standard asphalt, McCartney trims the usual cost of paving materials by as much as 25 percent—while also cutting down on waste.

FOOD SCRAPS Some researchers are working on more appetizing alternatives to petroleum. Culinary waste such as soybeans, cooking oil, and even used coffee grounds can boost asphalt’s binding power; the materials’ organic properties allow them to oxidize in much the same way the bitumen does. This practice should also reduce the overall carbon footprint of new construction. But don’t expect to sniff java on the exit ramp anytime soon: Edible leftovers may replace just a small percentage of the sticky bitumen needed for a full-service road.

rolled out ribbons of blacktop. If those models are the Gutenberg press, the stringless slip-form paver robot,

which crews began using during the 1990s, is a 3D printer. The machine moves along a computer-set route,

gushing a steady stream of asphalt along the way. This saves surveyors the trouble of plopping down

thousands of pins, and also makes it easier to map out features such as steep curves and sharp turns.

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

83

PRESENT continued FUTURE the road ahead

6. gravel is back As small towns across the United States face drastic budget shortfalls, some find themselves without the cash they need for road repair. In at least 27 states, localities have turned to a rugged solution. Instead of repaving damaged paths, they just unpave them— peeling up all the asphalt and leaving swaths of loose rocks in its wake. Though pebbled pathways can generate throat-clogging dust and tend to get a little messy in the rain, they work just fine for routes that don’t see a lot of heavy traffic. And while you’d be right to worry about sharp little stones wearing down your Goodyears, some experts argue that supersize potholes in busted-up asphalt can be way more dangerous for drivers than good ol’ gravel is. Any rough spots that do form are much easier and cheaper to fix: All you need to do is get some more rocks and fill in the craters.

84

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

1. self-repairing Shifts in temperature and moisture mean cracks are always forming, and we often don’t know where they are until they’re really dangerous. But what if a freeway could repair itself? Scientists are experimenting with forms of fissure-fixing pavement. In the Netherlands, researcher Erik Schlangen of the Delft University of Technology laced a stretch of asphalt with a matrix of steelwool fibers, turning the surface into one big conductor. When cracks start to form, the government passes by with a massive magnet on a truck, which makes the metal contract, closing the gap.

The Dutch are already employing Schlangen’s threads on a dozen roads, but even-more-radical solutions are also in the works. Su Jun-Feng of Tianjin Polytechnic in China, who has worked with Schlangen in the past, has tested dispersing small capsules of an expanding chemical polymer known as “rejuvenator” throughout a few Tianjin streets. Whenever fissures start to form, the capsules expand to fill up the chasms. This patch-up job halts the decay of the road while making the aging pavement less brittle— which means it’s less likely to crack again later.

ROADS

2. climateproof creations Extreme heat due to global warming poses one of the biggest threats to drivers across the U.S. High temps cause asphalt to split more quickly, which means pavement in toasty places will decay faster than governments can repair it. Although the Southwest will see the most scorching days, roads in the Midwest might also suffer—they weren’t built to withstand heat at all. Some cities, such as Los Angeles, have started to paint blacktop with

3. PRO-ROBOT DESIGNS

light hues so it absorbs less sun. But preventing future fissures might require new materials. And as monster storms and rising tides trigger ever-bigger and more-frequent floods, traditional drainage systems in coastal areas from Georgia to Cambodia become overwhelmed. Miami, one of the world’s most vulnerable cities to sealevel rise, has already started taking preventative measures such as raising roads off the ground and building dozens of anti-flooding pump stations. But low-lying countries such as Belize might have to renovate much of their existing infrastructure. U.K. startup Topmix is experimenting with permeable pavements that slurp up thousands of gallons of rain; their mixture omits the usual layer of finecrushed stone to allow moisture to slip through to the dirt beneath.

While early models still might be a tad crashprone, self-driving cars are coming. And they’ll eventually lead us to change our streets. Lanes, for example, will get skinnier once they don’t have to accommodate shaky human hands. Roads will also have to become “smart,” communicating instructions via embedded sensors rather than with more-traditional visual cues. Radio transmitters could take over right-of-way regulation from stoplights, and satellite pings could mark detours in place of signs. Engineers will also have to find new ways to manage construction zones along highways—car cameras have a hard time knowing which messages, from cones to hand signals to barricades, trump others. Some startups, such as UC Berkeley-born Hyperlane, have crafted novel proposals for highway upgrades like self-driving-only lanes. There’s not much time: By some estimates, fleets of robot taxis and buses could roll in during the next decade.

4. solar panels With every passing year, humanity needs more power: Global energy consumption could rise by around 25 percent by 2050, to the equivalent of nearly 150 billion barrels of oil a year. All that energy has to come from somewhere—so, some engineers wonder, why not get it from our streets? Open roads tend to absorb plenty of sunlight, which you surely know if you’ve ever stepped on blacktop while barefoot. Those toasty rays could power your dishwasher. In 2017, China debuted a mile-long stretch of “solar highway,” a raft of panels stuck beneath a plasticlike polymer thick enough to tolerate the weight of a vehicle. Energy from the array could funnel to streetlights above or houses nearby. Idaho startup Solar Roadways has tested similar technology, but both prototypes face serious financial hurdles: One square meter costs more than 90 times as much as the same swath of regular asphalt.

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

85

The Second Wave B Y E R I C

A D A M S

M O R E T H A N A D E C A D E A F T E R T H E CO N CO R D E L A N D E D F O R T H E L A S T T I M E , A N E W C L A S S O F S U P E R S O N I C A I R P L A N E S P R E PA R E S F O R L I F T O F F.

POP 86 SCI

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

87

T

88

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

to overstate the challenges Boom faces as it chases this goal and all the ways its plan could go wrong. Seventy-one years after Chuck Yeager punched through the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, the Concorde and the Soviet Union’s Tupolev Tu-144 remain the only airliners to achieve Mach speed. Neither worked out. The Tupolev mostly carried cargo, making just 102 flights with passengers. British Airways and Air France lost money on most Concorde trips despite exorbitant ticket prices and hefty government subsidies. They grounded the airplanes in 2003 after 27 years of glamorous—if fiscally strained—service. The business case doesn’t appear much better today. Even as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic make steady progress toward the day tourists will glimpse space through the porthole of a rocket ship, no one’s figured out how to make supersonic transport economically feasible. The problem lies in maximizing fuel efficiency while reducing engine noise and mitigating the sonic boom that inevitably accompanies anything moving faster than the speed of sound. When you throw in the requirement that this tech turn a profit, the puzzle is so fiendishly difficult to solve that Boeing and Airbus all but quit trying, launching precisely zero efforts since the Concorde’s last flight. photographs by Eric Adams

OPENING SPREAD: COURTESY BOOM SUPERSONIC

THE CONTROL ROOM AT THE U.S. Air Force Academy’s Aeronautics Research Center is remarkably quiet given the fury Blake Scholl and his engineers just uncorked. Thick concrete walls and a robust slab of glass separate them from a screaming General Electric J85-15, a turbojet like the one used in the T-38 trainer and other military jets. The cylindrical engine, bolted to a steel test stand, glows a sinister shade of red as it spits a cone of flame the color of a clear summer sky. Scholl, who founded Boom Supersonic in 2014, watches as his chief test pilot, former U.S. Navy fighter hotshot Bill “Doc” Shoemaker, and Boom propulsion engineer Ben Murphy coax the engine through its runup to full afterburner: Fuel squirts into the exhaust, boosting the jet’s thrust—and noise—by about 50 percent. All that energy barrels down an exhaust port and out of the building, which is nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In less than a minute, the test, one of dozens Scholl’s team will perform, confirms that the older-generation engine can handle the stress they’ll be subjecting it to. The J85 is GE’s workhorse military turbojet. Three of them will power Boom’s XB-1, a one-third-scale demonstration model of the $200 million, 55-seat carbon-fiber airliner the company hopes to see streaking across the sky at twice the speed of sound by 2025. It would be difficult

T H E S E CO N D WAV E

So Much for the Afterglow (1) Test-burning a GE J85-15 engine; (2) Boom Supersonic founder Blake Scholl.

1

Why bother, when airlines show little interest in jets that carry fewer people, burn more fuel, and can fly only over oceans because of the awful racket they make? Given all this, the idea that a guy who’s best known for Amazon’s ad-buying tech could make supersonic work seems unlikely. Scholl’s plan sounds absurd when you realize his aviation experience is limited to flying small planes. Yet he exudes the ebullient confidence typical of startup founders. “All the technology we need to do this already exists,” he says. “It’s safe, reliable, and efficient. So let’s take that same proven technology and make passenger’s lives more efficient too.” For Scholl, the path to that vision is clear. Boom’s success hinges on developing a jet engine capable of achieving supersonic speeds without that fuel-guzzling afterburner. And he believes the boom problem won’t be a problem for his company. His business plan relies on convincing airlines that with new, more-efficient technology, they’ll make plenty of money shuttling business-class passengers across the Atlantic in three hours or the Pacific in six. The Virgin Group and Japan Airlines are among five carriers so intrigued by the idea that they’ve lined up to buy Boom’s airplanes, should they make it to production. That’s one way of sparking a supersonic revival. The other is to technologically hush the boom and open up an avenue the U.S. and Europe closed to everyone but the military in the 1970s: overland flights, where Mach speeds let you cross the country in the time it takes to watch a movie. The market could be huge, but so are the costs, which is why two other aviation upstarts— Aerion and Spike—are focused on the lucrative business-jet sector. Those companies believe they can mitigate sonic booms with aerodynamic tweaks and clever flying. NASA has spent decades pursuing the same objective, and in 2018, the Trump administration allocated a healthy slice of its $633.9 million aeronautics research budget to the task. Fifteen years after the Concorde’s last landing, civilian aviation might be ready to go supersonic again. SCHOLL FOUNDED BOOM because he was surprised no one was applying advances in aviation tech to supersonic jets. “We’re trying to do for commercial airplanes what SpaceX is doing for rockets,” he says. The company expects to spend $6 billion or $7 billion bringing its jet, dubbed “the Overture,” to market. So far it has raised about $141 million. That’s only a little more than it’ll cost to build the XB-1. Starting so small is unusual—but essential given that Boom’s ultimate goal is a 170,000-odd-pound airliner capable of Mach 2.2. It’s highly likely they won’t get it right the first time, Scholl admits. Boom’s headquarters, a gleaming white hangar in a

S

2

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

89

T H E S E CO N D WAV E

90

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

1

2

3

ETIENNE DE MALGLAIVE/GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES (CONCORDE); BETTMAN/GETTY IMAGES (TUPOLEV TU-144)

suburb of Denver, bustles with activity. In one corner, a team assembles a mock-up of the Overture’s interior, which features wide seats, wood trim, and a locker under each berth instead of an overhead bin. Not far away, engineers stress-test the carbon-fiber horizontal stabilizer—that’s the little winglet on a plane’s tail—of the XB-1 demonstrator. A growing collection of parts, including a pile of Goodyear aircraft tires, fills one room. Here and there you see models of the airliner, ambitiously sporting the liveries of carriers from around the world. At 170 feet long, the jet will be a bit shorter than a Boeing 777. With a pinpoint nose and triangular delta wing that spans just 60 feet, it will look like a dart. A full-size mock-up of the demonstrator, which will carry two people at 1,400 mph, sits in the middle of the hangar. Airplanes are typically designed around their engines, and the ones that will power the Overture are perhaps its greatest barrier to success—because they don’t exist. For its business to work, Boom needs a propulsion system far more fuel efficient than its demonstration plane’s J85s or even the Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 turbojets the Concorde used. That means ditching the afterburner that injects fuel into the exhaust for a second kick of thrust. This extra boost used to be essential for supersonic flight, but aviation tech has come a long way; the newest Mach fighters can speed along without afterburners. “Modern engine technology will get you all the thrust you need without them,” Scholl says. Trouble is, no one makes an engine that’s both capable of supersonic speed without an afterburner and able to generate enough range for airline use. Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and GE are developing proposals, but no one’s discussing specifics for the Boom effort yet. Assuming it does produce a powerplant with the needed specs, Boom will have to go through its own aerodynamic contortions to make it work. The company’s engineers are developing a variable-geometry air inlet for the XB-1 that will maximize efficiency at both supersonic cruising velocities and the relatively slow pace required for takeoff and landing. The carbon-fiber inlet has a hinged flap that lets it change size. At Mach speed, that flap angles upward into the airflow to create a smaller opening, impeding the air coming in while cruising so it flows through the turbine at the right speed and pressure. When going subsonic, the panel retracts to allow the engine to gulp the air required for everything else. It’s not a part you find on many aircraft, and data from recent wind-tunnel tests suggests Boom’s inlet works. “It’s one of the most complex pieces of the airplane,” Scholl says. “Amazingly, we nailed it on the first try.” Boom still has a long way to go though. Developing a new airliner takes years in a process often rife with delays, overruns, and missteps even before regulators dig into things like manufacturing and flight-safety procedures. The French and British consortium that developed the Concorde spent 20 years and $37 billion (today’s dollars)

on the project, drawing heavily from government coffers to pull it off. Airbus needed 17 years and some $25 billion to bring the A380 to market, while Boeing devoted eight years and at least $32 billion to the 787 Dreamliner. Still, no less an aviation luminary than Virgin Group founder Richard Branson is betting that Boom can pull it off. His company has offered Boom engineering, manufacturing, and flight-test assistance—and preordered 10 jets. AERION AND SPIKE HAVE in some ways even loftier ambitions than Scholl’s outfit: They want to quell the sonic boom, something that has vexed generations of aeronautical engineers. Aircraft compress the air around them as they move through the sky, violently jamming together the molecules that comprise Earth’s atmosphere into pressure waves. These waves, which radiate around the airplane like rings from a pebble dropped in a pond, typically dissipate without much fuss. But when a craft exceeds the speed of sound, it races ahead of those ripples, which

A

collapse into a single shock wave and create a percussive boom that sounds like a thunderclap. The airplane’s tail then creates a second shockwave, and a second boom. No one aboard hears the cacophony, but everyone along the flight path can, even when the jet is cruising at altitudes beyond 50,000 feet. The Concorde generated a boom loud enough to rattle windows, startle people, and frighten animals. This prompted the U.S. and many European nations to ban overland flights by supersonic airliners. Boom isn’t concerned about the boom because it is focusing on oceanic flights. Aerion and Spike don’t have the luxury of ignoring the problem, because bizjets must be capable of flying everywhere. While Aerion aims to quiet its airplane by flying it at a speed and altitude that can keep the boom from reaching the ground, Spike thinks aerodynamic sculpting can minimize the racket. Research by Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works division suggests this would work if the craft flies at a prescribed altitude and with the right attitude, so to speak. Spike will almost certainly crib from Lockheed’s ongoing work with NASA on its X-59 QueSST, a “quiet” supersonic jet intended to prove the viability of boomsuppression tech. Mitigating the sound requires directing

Plane Cool (1) A mockup of Boom’s demonstration flyer; (2) the mighty Concorde; (3) the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144.

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

91

airflow over the wings and fuselage so the shock waves the airplane sheds don’t combine into a big bang, Lockheed program manager Peter Iosifidis says. “The most important aspect of the design is its shape—what’s touching the air,” he says. Small horizontal stabilizers called canards mounted in front of the wings help, as does a curved and tapered fuselage. Engineers are also integrating quieting measures, such as removing the windshield to decrease the pressure wave it creates (pilots fly by camera), adjusting the airplane’s angle of attack, and tuning its weight to help it maintain the 55,000-foot altitude “sweet spot” needed for these tactics to succeed. Theoretically, these tricks should work. Proving it is the point of the X-59, which Lockheed expects to fly by 2021. The goal is to generate a sonic boom with a perceived decibel level of 75 for anyone on the ground. That’s about as loud as slamming your car door. If successful, the results could convince the U.S. and Europe to reverse their bans on overland commercial supersonic flights. Spike is betting everything on that scenario. The company flew an unmanned, small-scale demonstrator in October 2017 to prove its design could fly. It expects to begin testing a full-size version by the end of 2019 and,

1

2 92

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

T H E S E CO N D WAV E

if everything works as expected, will start building its S-512 jet that should see test flights in 2021. Spike hopes its airplane will hit the market three years later, in 2024. Its aircraft is notable for having just two engines and no weight-adding windows; its 18 or so passengers will instead view the outside world through enormous, highresolution digital displays. Aerion’s timeline is only slightly less ambitious: It plans to fly a prototype of its 8-to-12-passenger AS2 in 2023, get it certified by 2025, and deliver airplanes to its customers the year after that. ONE IMPEDIMENT TO bringing back supersonic air travel is solving the technological riddles. The bigger challenge is making it pay. Although the Concorde remains an engineering marvel, it was a commercial failure. British Airways and Air France couldn’t make it profitable. Scholl is convinced he can. His pitch goes like this: Boom’s airliner will be smaller, lighter, and more fuel efficient than the Concorde, and therefore cheaper to operate.

O

Flying from, say, London to New York in three hours would allow airlines to make twice as many flights each day and pack them with high-revenue business-class passengers. He sees even greater appeal in crossing the Pacific in six hours. His argument convinced Japan Airlines to invest $10 million in Boom and preorder 20 planes, bringing the order sheet to five airlines and 76 jets. Boom’s internal studies suggest a demand for as many as 1,800 commercial supersonic aircraft by 2035. But aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia, who follows the three supersonic startups closely, questions whether any of them will raise enough money to reach market. “That $6 billion for Boom to reach certification is an honest, good-faith number, but I think they will have a lot of trouble securing it,” he says. Even with investments and preorders, it’s impossible to predict whether that interest will persist or if the plane will meet its performance goals, he says. Then there are the environmental concerns. The new generation of supersonic aircraft could burn five to seven times as much fuel as conventional jets, exceeding their CO2 emission limits by 70 percent, according to a study the International Council on Clean Transportation released in July 2018. To be fair, the report used fuel- consumption estimates gleaned from publicly available data on Boom’s airliner, which hasn’t even flown yet. Scholl argues that the report underestimated the fuel burn of conventional jets while overestimating that of supersonic ones. He believes Boom’s airplane will be at least as efficient in cost per available seat-mile—a common fuel-economy metric in the airline industry— as conventional business-class service. Still, supersonic travel remains glamorous, and carriers might see that as a way of attracting affluent customers. “If airlines or business-jet providers want to differentiate themselves, supersonic sure will do it,” Aboulafia says. Boom is definitely going for glamorous. With its needlelike fuselage, pinpoint-sharp nose, and triangular delta wing, the Overture is one cool-looking craft. The planned interior is no less impressive. A virtual-reality demo offers a glimpse of what crossing the sky at 1,400 mph could be like. No one gets stuck in the middle because there’s just one passenger on either side of the aisle. There’s lots of leather, gleaming surfaces, and polished wood. Every one if its 55 seats faces a giant screen, and customers watch the scenery through large round windows. Scholl says the cabin will be so insulated that you won’t hear the engines. “Our goal is to exude tranquility,” he says. And maybe that’s the real sell: “Tranquility” is not a word anyone uses to describe air travel these days. Neither is “lucrative,” at least when it comes to supersonic transport. The engineers and entrepreneurs working on a new generation of high-speed civilian airplanes aim to change that, with models that could make traveling beyond the speed of sound quieter, cleaner, more glamorous, and, yes, more profitable than the iconic jet that started it all.

Testing, Testing (1) Boom’s flightsimulator rig; (2) A future flyer?

POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

93

POP 94 SCI

LAND MAKE of

Grandma refused to sell her house, so the miners dug around her. So goes the yarn Bruce Zaccagnino spun about this set in Northlandz, one of the world’s largest model-train museums. For its few visitors, the mazy 52,000-square-foot Flemington, New Jersey, spot is a daunting multi-hour walk. But for founder Zaccagnino, it’s a shred of the railway in his mind: “I’ll wake up—no dreams, no forethought—and all of a sudden, there’s this scene in front of me,” he says. Opened in 1996, the site is the offspring of his collection, which began in his basement in ’72. Its 8 miles of 1⁄87-scale track wind through postcard midcentury vistas. Maintaining Northlandz at this size is a full-time job, but the would-be engineer keeps laying new track.

BELIEVE Photographs by

B E N E D I C T R E D G ROV E Text by

E LE AN O R CU M M I N S POPSCI.COM • SPRING 2019

95

96

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

Stock Cars

Whistle Stop

98

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

100

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

Full Steam Ahead

’Round the Mountain

102

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

104

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

Fast Track

TALES FIELD F R O M

T H E

TRACE EVIDENCE

excavating ancient prints in the shadow of a volcano K E V I N H ATA L A , A S S I S TA N T P R O F E S S O R O F B I O L O G Y AT C H AT H A M U N I V E R S I T Y

Human footprints preserved in ancient mud can give us clues about how our ancestors walked, ran, and hung out. Archaeologists have found marks dating back more than a million years, while others are more recent—some at Engare Sero in Tanzania are as young as 5,000 years. I was lucky to have my first field experience at Engare Sero back in 2010. It was unlike any dig I’ve done since. At most archaeological sites, you’re laboriously digging up remains so old that it’s difficult to imagine the context in which these beings lived and died. But in Tanzania, we were gently brushing away a thin layer of sediment to uncover hundreds of fossilized prehistoric footprints, and it felt like no time had passed since our ancestors left them. The volcano that deposited the ash

106

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

layer—the soft surface that dozens of these ancient people walked over—still looms over the cracked, dry lakebed. Flocks of flamingos fly overhead. As you drive to the site, giraffes and ostriches mosey by. It’s completely surreal: This place is just like it was thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, the footprints we only recently uncovered have already started to wear away in the elements. To help scientists avoid eroding more artifacts, the Smithsonian 3D Digitization Project took images of the entire site. Now we can do most of our research remotely, analyzing marks from anywhere in the world and printing 3D replicas that teach the public how our ancestors lived. While I’m sad not to go back to Engare Sero, this is the best way to study the site while still preserving its one-of-a-kind landscape.

as told to Jillian Mock / illustrations by Tara Jacoby

TA L E S F R O M T H E F I E L D

LIFE AND DEATH

why didn’t the mountain lion cross the road? S E T H R I L E Y, W I L D L I F E E C O L O G I S T AT T H E N AT I O N A L P A R K S E R V I C E , S A N TA M O N I C A M O U N TA I N S N AT I O N A L R E C R E AT I O N A R E A

California contains some of the largest and busiest freeways in North America. This causes problems for local animals, particularly mountain lions—traveling through traffic can kill them, so roads prevent them from spreading out. As a result, we’re seeing more cases of inbreeding and of these territorial animals fighting and killing each other. Mountain lions in certain parts of California, especially the Los Angeles area, now have extremely low genetic diversity compared with those in other Western states. By putting GPS collars on a few of these big cats—which generally requires setting a trap and then tranquilizing them with a blowpipe dart—we’ve learned that most don’t even try to cross the biggest roads. Young adults will occasionally attempt it, but it’s very rare that they make it across alive. One interesting young male called 32 crossed Route 101’s seven lanes of traffic in the middle of the night and passed through a residential area. He went on to successfully navigate several major roads and made it all the way to Los Padres National Forest, a journey of more than 40 miles. But then he tried to cross Interstate 5, where a car hit and killed him. After seeing him travel so many roads, it was a bummer not to have him make it across one more and find a territory to call home. It’s amazing that we still have large carnivores in the second-most-populous metropolitan area of the country, and we want to keep it that way. We’re working with Caltrans, California’s transportation agency, to build a 165-foot-wide vegetated bridge over 10 lanes of Route 101. As far as we can tell, it’s the largest wildlife crossing anyone has ever attempted.

108

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

as told to Rachel Nuwer

AT THE EXTREME

i ran a marathon in space S U N I TA W I L L I A M S , N A S A A S T R O N A U T

Once you leave the world of gravity, your bone density and muscle mass begin to decrease. To prevent this, astronauts in space have to spend about two hours a day working out. While I was on the International Space Station in 2007, I often used a treadmill for this purpose. I just happened to qualify for that year’s Boston Marathon. So I thought, Why not run it in space? There isn’t enough gravity to keep you from floating off the treadmill on the ISS. On the day of the marathon, I strapped in with a bungeetype harness that physically pulled me to the surface. At some points, the strap was so tight that my entire right leg went numb, which was a lot different than the typical muscle aches a runner experiences on Earth. That

wasn’t the only quirk of my orbital marathon. By the middle of the race, my clothes were soaked in sweat— but with no wind to dry it, the perspiration just kind of stayed there. Even snack breaks were different: A fellow astronaut cut up oranges (brought up from Earth earlier that week) and tossed the slices at me. I tried to catch them as they floated by, but I ended up missing most of the fruit. Other things were the same. Like most marathon runners, I felt terrible at the 21-mile mark. Astronauts actually experience a similar feeling during a spacewalk, which is a 6.5-hour exercise session: You get super-exhausted right before you’re done. In both cases, I had to gut it out to push through and finish the task.

as told to Claire Maldarelli / illustrations by Tara Jacoby

SAVE When You Grow A Zoysia Lawn From Living Plugs! Zoysia Lawns are thick, dense and lush!

Improving America’s Lawns Since 1953

THE ONE TIME, LIFETIME LAWN SOLUTION! Save Water! Save Time! Save Work! Save Money! Zoysia Grows Where Other Grass Doesn’t! Plant a genuine Amazoy™ Zoysia lawn from living plugs once and never plant a new lawn again. Zoysia Zoysia thrives in is the perfect choice for partial shade to hard-to-cover spots, areas full sun! that are play-worn or have partial shade, and for stopping erosion on slopes. North, South, East, West – Zoysia grows in any soil, no ifs, ands or buts!

Cuts Watering & Mowing By As Much As 2/3!

Eliminates Endless Weeds And Weeding!

Stays Green In Summer Through Heat & Drought!

No more pulling out weeds by hand or weeds sprouting up all over your lawn. Zoysia Plugs spread into a dense, plush, deep-rooted, established lawn that drives out unwanted growth and stops crabgrass and most summer weeds from germinating.

When ordinary lawns brown up in summer heat and drought, your Zoysia lawn stays green and beautiful. The hotter it gets, the better it grows. Zoysia thrives in blistering heat (120˚), yet it won’t winter-kill to 30˚ below zero. It only goes off its green color after killing frosts, but color returns with consistent spring warmth. Zoysia is the perfect choice for water restrictions and drought areas!

Environmentally Friendly, No Chemicals Needed! No weeding means no chemicals. You’ll never have to spray poisonous pesticides and weed killers again! Zoysia lawns are safer for the environment, as well as for family and pets!

Now 3 Ways to Start Your Zoysia Lawn! 1) Freestyle Plugs come in uncut sheets containing a maximum of 150-1”plugs. Freestyle Plugs allow you to make each plug bigger if you want-you decide. Min. size 1” sq. 2) New Super Plugs are ready to plantprecut into individual 3 x 3 inch plugs. They arrive in easy to handle trays of 15 Super Plugs.

Many established Zoysia lawns only need to be mowed once or twice a season. Watering is rarely, if ever, needed – even in summer! We We ship ship at at the the best best planting planting time time for for you! you!

Your Assurance of Lawn SUCCESS

Each Order for Amazoy Zoysia Plugs is

GUARANTEED Guaranteed to grow new green shoots within 45-60 days or we’ll replace it FREE – for up to 1 year – just call us. We ONLY ship you living genuine Amazoy Zoysia grass harvested direct from our farms. Easy planting and watering instructions are included with each order. Every Reorder assumes success of previous orders (plantings), voiding any previous guarantees, but initiating a new one-year guarantee.

3) Amazoy Approved Seed-As The Zoysia Specialists for 60+years, we finally have a Zoysia seed available that meets our standards and homeowners expectations. Learn why at zoysiafarms.com or by phone at 410-756-2311.

Meyer Zoysia Grass was perfected by the U.S. Gov’t, released in cooperation with the U.S. Golf Association as a superior grass.

www.ZoysiaFarms.com/mag ©2019 Zoysia Farm Nurseries, 3617 Old Taneytown Rd, Taneytown, MD 21787

Order Your ZOYSIA Plugs Now — Harvested Daily From Our Farms And Shipped To You Direct!

Continental USA only and not to WA and OR

ORDER TODAY FOR EXTRA SAVINGS AND FREE PLUGS Freestyle Plugs You decide how big to cut the plugs. Each grass sheet can produce up to 150-1 in. plugs. Plant minimum 1 plug per sq. ft.

Super Plugs Precut plugs 3 inches by 3 inches READY TO PLANT Packed in trays of 15 Super Plugs. Plant minimum 1 plug per 4 sq. ft.

Your PRICE

+ Shipping

SAVINGS

Super Plugs

Free Plugs

Trays

2

$29.95

$14.50

–

15

–

1

$24.95

$ 8.50

+100

4

$50.00

$16.00

60

+15

5

$90.00

$20.00

750

+150

6

$66.00

$19.50

95

+25

8

$110.00

$30.00

1100

+400

10

$95.00

$30.00

120

+30

10

$125.00

$35.00

2000

+1000

20

$165.00

$45.00

25% 36% 43% 52%

180

+45

15

$180.00

$50.00

Max Plugs*

Free Plugs Grass Sheets*

300

–

500

Dept. 5288

Your PRICE + Shipping

SAVINGS –

34% 47% 50% 54%

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO START AND MAINTAIN A CAREFREE BEAUTIFUL ZOYSIA LAWN PLANTING TOOLS * PLANT FOOD * WEED AND PEST CONTROLS * ORGANIC PRODUCTS * SOIL TESTS * GARDEN GLOVES * EDGING AND MORE

All Available Exclusively at www.ZoysiaFarms.com/mag or 410-756-2311 ZOYSIA FARM NURSERIES, 3617 OLD TANEYTOWN ROAD TANEYTOWN MD 21787 AMAZOY IS THE TRADEMARK REGISTERED U.S. PATENT OFFICE for our Meyer Zoysia grass.

We ship all orders the same day the plugs are packed and at the earliest planting time in your state.

TA L E S F R O M T H E F I E L D

army ants

1

B R I A N F I S H E R , C U R AT O R O F E N T O M O L O G Y AT T H E CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Shortly after 9/11, I collected half a million Costa Rican army ants for a museum exhibit in California. Under new safety laws, TSA agents had to open all containers of animals. I spent all night in the Los Angeles airport begging them not to crack open my garbage-can-size suitcase.

absolutely nothing A M Y F R A P P I E R , P A L E O C L I M AT O L O G I S T AT SKIDMORE COLLEGE

When my team carried glass vessels to Belize, a customs agent wanted to open them. I explained they were completely empty: Collecting air requires a container with almost no molecules inside. Luckily, his eyes glazed over as I discussed vacuums, and he waved us through.

COLLECTIONS

do you mind if we look in your bag? 5 lava flows A R I A N N A S O L D AT I , P O S T D O C T O R A L F E L L O W AT L U D W I G M A X I M I L I A N UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH IN GERMANY

As a graduate student, I wanted to melt down a hunk of cooled lava and compare it with the flows on active volcanoes. So I took it from Syracuse, New York, to Missouri in my carry-on. Security stopped me and opened the bag, and I worried the 5-by-10-inch piece of rippled black glass would break. But the inspectors handled it carefully and were fascinated to learn about the science happening right in their hometown.

If water bottles and forgotten nail clippers are the only items slowing you down at airport checkpoints, you’re probably not a field scientist. In their quest to bring samples and instruments to and from various sites, researchers regularly end up flying with audaciously odd objects. Here are a few outlandish materials that puzzled security.

A N AT S H A H A R , G E O C H E M I S T AT T H E CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE IN WA S H I N GT O N , D.C .

To see how metals act in Earth’s interior, my team squeezes them in diamond anvil—vises the size of extra-wide pill bottles. We also blast them with X-rays from a source in Chicago, so I often fly with them. Agents sometimes grill me because in a scanner, the samples look suspiciously dense.

3

a dead bird in a coffee thermos A L I C E B OY L E , B I O L O G I S T AT K A N S A S S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

In 2017, I was in Costa Rica studying little-known birds called white-ruffed manakins. When one died unexpectedly, it was an opportunity to sequence the species’ genome for the first time. So I froze its body and stashed it in my coffee thermos. I reached the airport, and security wanted to make sure I didn’t have any liquids left in the mug. I had to say, “Well, there is ice…and a dead bird.” SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

diamond vises

spacecraft prototype

4

110

2

G R E G D A LT O N , M E C H A N I C A L E N G I N E E R AT T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F C A L I F O R N I A AT B E R K E L E Y

Before the Parker Solar Probe headed toward the sun, my team had to make sure its electron analyzer wouldn’t burn up. So I hand-carried the delicate component to a heating facility at Johns Hopkins. The suitcase-size part was bristling with wires and electronics, and on the trip back, TSA agents diverted us into secondary inspection. So we handed out promotional Parker stickers to win them over with a charm offensive.

as told to Jillian Mock and Charlie Wood / illustrations by Tara Jacoby

Health and Well Being

“UPWalker® Gives Me Back My Freedom!” Arlin felt like he was a prisoner in his own house... but not anymore thanks to UPWalker

M

eet Arlin. When he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease he felt like he was trapped in his own house, but now with the UPWalker he has the freedom to do what he wants to do.

“It lifts you up spiritually and physically” And then there’s Grandison... “I’ve tried other walkers, but this one keeps me more erect and it takes a lot of the pressure off my back and my knees and my ankles. There’s a lot less pain so it makes me want to get out.”

“A better alternative to walkers!”

The Original Upright Posture Walker!

Listen to what JoAnne has to say: “What I love about my UPWalker is the freedom that it gives me. I feel alive again! What a blessing it is to spend more time again with my grandchildren.”

“The UPWalker is going to change patients’ lives!” “The UPWalker is revolutionary. A study conducted by a leading medical research center showed that walking upright improved user posture and sense of security, increased endurance and reduced pain.” – Paul C. Murphy, MD, Murphy Sports Medicine Center of La Jolla

See for yourself how UPWalker will make you Feel More Independent and Secure On Your Feet! Try it Today with our 30-Day Money Back Guarantee!

Traditional Walker/Rollator

• Arrives Fully Assembled • Safe & Easy to Use • Comfortable Design • 3 Size Options for Best Fit • Folds for Easy Transport

VS

SPECIAL OFFER! THE PROBLEM

THE SOLUTION

SAVE OVER $100 Patented

3 FREE Accessories - $42 Value!

Free Shipping Call: 1-800-517-1227

or visit: www.UPWalkerOffer102.com

TA L E S F R O M T H E F I E L D

YOU DID WHAT?!

i stuck plungers to chicken butts R O D R I G O VÁ S Q U E Z , P R O F E S S O R O F B E H AV I O R A L E C O L O G Y AT U N I V E R S I T Y O F C H I L E AT S A N T I A G O

To figure out how T. rexes and velociraptors strutted around, paleontologists might measure fossilized femurs or footprints. But my team of behavioral ecologists turned to their living cousins: chickens. Animal development is a time capsule. As a chicken grows from egg to adult, it passes through forms that look like its evolutionary ancestors, including theropods, dinosaurs with long tails that walked on two legs. With their similar body structures, we thought that restoring an ancestral tail might give chickens the swagger of their ferocious forebears. First, I tried taping weighted metal bars to the chicks’ butts. But the “tails” would slip off easily, and they weren’t very realistic anyway. So we moved on to custom cabooses: thin rods attached with form-fitting clay and secured with Velcro belts. They’re shaped like mini toilet plungers. As the chicks grew, we swapped the tails for heavier versions every few days, keeping them at about 15 percent of the bird’s weight. Slowly, the birds developed the right muscles, and we were delighted to see them start crouching and stretching out their steps. Compared with control animals without tails or with a weight over their centers of gravity (instead of their behinds), the tailed chickens’ postures became more forward-leaning. They really looked like little dinosaurs!

112

as told to Charlie Wood

MY INSPIRATION

how to predict the next pangaea R O S S M I T C H E L L , R E S E A R C H F E L L O W AT T H E S C H O O L O F E A R T H A N D P L A N E TA R Y S C I E N C E S AT C U R T I N U N I V E R S I T Y, P E R T H , A U S T R A L I A

Growing up, you see the world map a lot. In fifth grade, they showed us the same map, only the seven continents were drifting around like they did millions of years ago. That made me see the globe in a new way. I learned that there have been numerous supercontinents in Earth’s history, with great names such as Rodinia, Nuna, and Pangaea. As I got older and began formally studying geology, I realized that because the tectonic plates that make up Earth’s surface are still shifting today, there would be more supercontinents in the future. I wanted to be the one to predict them. Geologists agree that in the next 100 million or 200 million years, the land will once again converge and, in the process, eliminate an ocean. But which ocean closes is the subject of heated debate. As a graduate student, I built a computer model showing how North America and Asia might meet somewhere near Hawaii,

crushing the Pacific Ocean. Not everyone agrees. Many geologists think we’ll revert to a Pangaea-like supercontinent, where the Atlantic disappears, and South America and Africa touch. Others (including me) have theorized that the Indian Ocean might close, and, in the process, pull up Australia between India and Japan. Validating any model won’t be easy. Even though computers are an incredible boon to our field, collecting data on the ground remains essential. But geologists can’t set up controlled experiments the way physicists or biologists might: Nature already acted, and all we can do is analyze the evidence left behind. Right now, I’m in Australia doing just that by collecting rock samples from different layers. By measuring the magnetic signatures of rocks from diverse parts of the globe, we’re piecing together how Earth’s magnetic field shaped continents in the past, and where it might move them to in the future.

as told to Eleanor Cummins / illustrations by Tara Jacoby

ADVERTISEMENT

Break Free from Neuropathy with a New Supportive Care Cream A patented relief cream stands to help millions of Americans crippled from the side effects of neuropathy by increasing sensation and blood flow wherever it’s applied Raymond Wilson The Associated Heath Press AHPì"SFDFOUCSFBLUISPVHITUBOETUPIFMQ NJMMJPOT PG "NFSJDBOT QMBHVFE CZ CVSOJOH  UJOHMJOHBOEOVNCMFHTBOEGFFU #VUUIJTUJNFJUDPNFTJOUIFGPSNPGBDSFBN  OPUBQJMM TVHHFTUJOHUIFNFEJDBMDPNNVOJUZNBZ IBWFCFFOHPJOHBCPVUUIFQSPCMFNBMMXSPOH 5IF CSFBLUISPVHI  DBMMFE Diabasens  JT B OFXSFMJFGDSFBNEFWFMPQFEGPSNBOBHJOHUIF SFMFOUMFTTEJTDPNGPSUDBVTFECZOFVSPQBUIZ 8IFO BQQMJFE EJSFDUMZ UP UIF MFHT BOE GFFU  JUDBVTFTBSUFSJFTBOECMPPEWFTTFMTUPFYQBOE  JODSFBTJOH UIF nPX PG XBSN  OVUSJFOU SJDI CMPPEUPEBNBHFEUJTTVF )PXFWFS XIBUTNPTUSFNBSLBCMFBCPVUUIF DSFBNBOEXIBUNBLFTJUTPCSJMMJBOUJTUIBU JUDPOUBJOTPOFPGUIFPOMZOBUVSBMTVCTUBODFT LOPXO UP BDUJWBUF B TQFDJBM TFOTPSZ QBUIXBZ SJHIUCFMPXUIFTVSGBDFPGUIFTLJO 5IJTQBUIXBZJTDBMMFE531"BOEJUDPOUSPMT UIF TFOTJUJWJUZ PG OFSWFT *O MBZNFO UFSNT  JU EFUFSNJOFTXIFUIFSZPVGFFMQJOTBOEOFFEMFT PSTPPUIJOHSFMJFG 4UVEJFTTIPXUIBUTZNQUPNTPGOFVSPQBUIZ BSJTFXIFOUIFOFSWFTJOZPVSMFHTEFUFSJPSBUF BOE CMPPE nPX JT MPTU UP UIF BSFBT XIJDI TVSSPVOEUIFN "T UIF OFSWFT CFHJOT UP EJF  TFOTBUJPO JT MPTU5IJTMBDLPGTFOTBUJPOJTXIBUDBVTFTUIF GFFMJOHTPGCVSOJOH UJOHMJOHBOEOVNCOFTT 5IJT JT XIZ UIF NBLFST PG Diabasens TBZ UIFJSDSFBNIBTQFSGPSNFETPXFMMJOBSFDFOU DMJOJDBM VTF TVSWFZ USJB JU JODSFBTFT TFOTBUJPO BOECMPPEnPXXIFSFFWFSJUTBQQMJFE

No Pills, No Prescriptions, No Agony 6OUJM OPX  NBOZ EPDUPST IBWF GBJMFE UP DPOTJEFS B UPQJDBM DSFBN BT BO FGGFDUJWF XBZ UPNBOBHFOFVSPQBUIZDiabasensJTQSPWJOHJU NBZCFUIFPOMZXBZHPJOHGPSXBSE i.PTU PG UPEBZT USFBUNFOU NFUIPET IBWF GPDVTFE PO NJOJNJ[JOH EJTDPNGPSU JOTUFBE PG BUUBDLJOH JUT VOEFSMJOJOH DBVTF 5IBUT XIZ NJMMJPOTPGBEVMUTBSFTUJMMJOFYDSVDJBUJOHQBJO FWFSZ TJOHMF EBZ  BOE BSF DPOTUBOUMZ EFBMJOH XJUI TJEF FGGFDUTw FYQMBJOT %S &TCFS  UIF DSFBUPSPGDiabasens “Diabasens JT EJGGFSFOU 4JODF UIF NPTU DPNNPOMZ SFQPSUFE TZNQUPNT ì CVSOJOH  UJOHMJOH BOE OVNC MFHT BOE GFFU ì BSF DBVTFE CZ MBDL PG TFOTBUJPO PG UIF OFSWFT  XFWF EFTJHOFE UIF GPSNVMB JODSFBTF UIFJS TFOTJUJWJUZ

"OE TJODF UIFTF OFSWFT BSF MPDBUFE SJHIU CFMPX UIF TLJO  XFWF DIPTFO UP GPSNVMBUF JU BTBDSFBN5IJTBMMPXTGPSUIFJOHSFEJFOUTUP HFU UP UIFN GBTUFS BOE XJUIPVU BOZ ESVH MJLF TJEFFGGFDUTwIFBEET

Study Finds Restoring Sensation the KeyTo Effective, Long Lasting Relief 8JUI UIF DPODMVTJPO PG UIFJS MBUFTU IVNBO DMJOJDBMVTFTVSWFZUSJBM %S&TCFSBOEIJTUFBN BSF OPX PGGFSJOH Diabasens OBUJPOXJEF "OE SFHBSEMFTTPGUIFNBSLFU JUTTBMFTBSFFYQMPEJOH .FO BOE XPNFO GSPN BMM PWFS UIF DPVOUSZ BSFFBHFSUPHFUUIFJSIBOETPOUIFOFXDSFBN BOE  BDDPSEJOH UP UIF SFTVMUT JOJUJBM VTFST SFQPSUFE UIFZTIPVMECF *OUIFUSJBMBCPWF BTDPNQBSFEUPCBTFMJOF  QBSUJDJQBOUTUBLJOHDiabasensTBXBTUBHHFSJOH JODSFBTFTFOTJUJWJUZJOKVTUPOFXFFL5IJT SFTVMUFE JO TJHOJmDBOU SFMJFG GSPN CVSOJOH  UJOHMJOHBOEOVCNOFTTUISPVHIPVUUIFJSMFHT .BOZQBSUJDJQBOUTUBLJOHDiabasensEFTDSJCFE GFFMJOH NVDI NPSF CBMBODFE BOE DPNGPSUBCMF UISPVHIPVU UIF EBZ 5IFZ BMTP OPUJDFE UIBU BGUFS BQQMZJOH  UIFSF XBT B QMFBTBOU XBSNJOH TFOTBUJPOUIBUXBTSFNBSLBCMZTPPUIJOH

Diabasens is shown to provide relief from: • Burning • Swelling • Tingling

• Heaviness • Numbness • Cold extremities

Diabasens Users Demand More .BOZPGDiabasensVTFSTTBZUIFJSMFHTIBWF OFWFSGFMUCFUUFS'PSUIFmSTUUJNFJOZFBST UIFZ BSFBCMFUPXBMLGSFFGSPNUIFTZNQUPNTXIJDI IBWFNBEFMJGFIBSE i*IBWFCFFOVTJOHUIFDSFBNOPXGPSBCPVU UFOEBZTÞ*UIBTHJWFONFTVDISFMJFGÞ *WF IBE WFSZ CBE GPPU QBJO GSPN JOKVSJFT BOE PWFSVTFÞ PG NZ GFFU GPS ZFBST XIJDI IBWF DPOUSJCVUFEUPTFWFSFJUDIJOHUJOHMJOHBOEQBJOGPS TPNFUJNFÞ .ZGBUIFSBMTPTVGGFSFEGSPNUIJTQBJO BOEJUDIJOH*XJTI*XPVMEIBWFIBEUIJTGPSIJN Þ 5IF mSTU UJNF * VTFE UIF DSFBN  * GFMU BO BMNPTUJNNFEJBUFSFMJFGGSPNUIJTÞ *OPXÞVTFÞJUBUMFBTUUXJDFBEBZPODFJOUIF NPSOJOHCFGPSFXPSLBOEPODFBUOJHIUCFGPSF *TMFFQÞ *BNTPEFMJHIUFEXJUIUIJT*UIBTIFMQFENZ XBMLJOH  BMTP *U IBT IFMQFE HFOFSBUF GFFMJOH BHBJOJONZGFFU wSBWFT.BSTIB"GSPN5FYBT

Topical Cream Offers Sufferers a Safer, More Effective Avenue of Relief: Diabasens increases sensation and blood flow wherever its applied. It’s now being used to relieve painful legs and feet.

Targets Nerve Damage Right Below the Skin’s Surface Diabasens JT B UPQJDBM DSFBN UIBU JT UP CF BQQMJFEUPZPVSMFHTBOEGFFUUXJDFBEBZGPSUIF mSTUUXPXFFLTUIFOPODFBEBZBGUFS*UEPFT OPUSFRVJSFBQSFTDSJQUJPO 4UVEJFT TIPX UIBU OFVSPQBUIZ JT DBVTFE XIFO UIF QFSJQIFSBM OFSWFT CSFBLEPXO BOE CMPPEJTVOBCMFUPDJSDVMBUFJOUPZPVSMFHTBOE GFFU "T UIFTF OFSWFT EFUFSJPSBUF  TFOTBUJPO JT MPTU5IJTJTXIZZPVNBZOPUGFFMIPUPSDPME BOE ZPVS MFHT BOE GFFU NBZ CVSO  UJOHMF BOE HPOVNC "EEJUJPOBMMZ  XJUIPVU QSPQFS CMPPE nPX  UJTTVFT BOE DFMMT JO UIFTF BSFBT TUBSU UP EJF  DBVTJOHVOCFBSBCMFQBJO "O JOHSFEJFOU DBMMFE DJOOBNBMEFIZEF JO Diabasens JT POF PG UIF POMZ DPNQPVOET JO FYJTUFODF UIBU DBO BDUJWBUF 531"  B TQFDJBM TFOTPSZQBUIXBZUIBUSVOTUISPVHIZPVSFOUJSF CPEZ "DDPSEJOH UP SFTFBSDI  BDUJWBUJOH UIJT QBUIXBZ XIJDI DBO POMZ CF EPOF XJUI B DSFBN  JODSFBTFT UIF TFOTJUJWJUZ PG OFSWFT  SFMJFWJOHGFFMJOHTPGUJOHMJOHBOEOVNCOFTTJO ZPVSMFHTBOEGFFU 4VQQPSUJOH JOHSFEJFOUT CPPTU CMPPE nPX  TVQQMZJOH UIF OFSWFT XJUI UIF OVUSJFOUT UIFZ OFFEGPSJODSFBTFETFOTBUJPO

How to Get Diabasens *OPSEFSUPHFUUIFXPSEPVUBCPVUDiabasens  UIF DPNQBOZ JT PGGFSJOH TQFDJBM JOUSPEVDUPSZ EJTDPVOUT UP BMM XIP DBMM %JTDPVOUT XJMM BVUPNBUJDBMMZ CF BQQMJFE UP BMM DBMMFST  CVU EPOUXBJU5IJTPGGFSNBZOPUMBTUGPSFWFSCall toll-free: 1-800-310-0157.

THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE FDA. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE, OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE. RESULTS MAY VARY. OFFER NOT AVAILABLE TO IOWA RESIDENTS.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

baby steps, baby steps K A R E N A D O L P H , P R O F E S S O R O F P S Y C H O L O G Y AT N E W Y O R K U N I V E R S I T Y

Since about 1920, when researchers first began studying how humans learn to walk, the standard method has been to encourage young children to move from point A to point B. Babies can do that, of course, but they usually veer away from the path. Maybe they go to point C, or they stop halfway between A and B to pick a piece of lint off the carpet. They’re not goal-directed the way researchers assume they are. So I decided to just let them play and see how much they moved. Everyone knew that toddlers walk a lot, but when we actually counted, it

was astounding. One at a time, we put infants between 12 and 19 months of age in a lab playroom equipped with toys, stairs, and a little slide, keeping a caregiver present. We filmed them, and when we reviewed the footage to track their walking, they averaged about 2,400 steps per hour. That’s roughly the distance of eight American football fields! Plus, in situations where the caregiver wasn’t playing with the baby, that step count almost doubled, reaching about 4,000 steps an hour. It’s like they’re thinking, “If you won’t play with me, I’ll make my own fun!” as told to Sara Chodosh

TA L E S F R O M T H E F I E L D

HOW IT WORKS

riding in cars J O E VA N O F L E N , O P E R AT I O N S L E A D AT D R I V E . A I

We spend so much of our lives commuting, but with self-driving cars, we could fill that time in unlimited ways. You might finish up work, put on a movie, or—if the car windows are digital displays—enjoy a virtualreality tour of the French countryside. But before we hand over the keys, we need to test the tech. In June 2018, I started as a “safety driver” at autonomous car company Drive.ai, riding behind the wheel of our passenger shuttles in Frisco, Texas. After driving the vehicle out into the

field, I would press a button to engage autonomy. In the event I needed to take over, I didn’t want to waste a second getting to the controls, so I would keep a hand on the steering wheel and hover a foot over the pedals, mimicking manual driving. They moved just as they would if I were using them—first-time passengers would peek up at me to see if I was touching anything. Riders also expressed surprise at how cautious the AI is. In fact, the most common reason I’d have to take over was when other human drivers became impatient—

for example, while they waited for the self-driving vehicle to slowly cross multiple lanes of traffic at rush hour. In these instances, we will disengage autonomy and go into human mode as a courtesy to the other drivers on the road. People climb into the shuttle with all kinds of wild expectations, but after their first ride—or sometimes even halfway through—they realize it’s really just another bus ride. Then they usually go back to their activities. In most cases, that means they get buried in their cellphones.

as told to Rob Verger / illustrations by Tara Jacoby

n o i t c e t o r P y a d y r Eve for your vehicle! FloorLiner ™

TechShade®

Seat Protector

See these products and much more at

.com © 2018 by MacNeil IP LLC

MADE IN USA

HEAD TRIP

SHAKE IT

you move, i move

118

SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM

LOOK AT THE PAT TERNED IMAGE

above. With the magazine fixed, the design remains still. But move the page ever so slightly, and the decorative display picks up speed. What’s driving this delusive dynamism, says neuroscientist Stephen Macknik at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York, is our mental attempt to focus on a moving world. When our eyes concentrate, they generate tiny jerklike twitches known as microsaccades, which alert our brains to motion. To prevent the world from seeming like a giant strobe light show, we suppress these movements, keeping the eye seemingly still. But the image above hijacks this system. In

the real world, sharp changes between light and dark signal movement. The picture here mimics this, as a light shape offsets a dark one. Also, each inside circle is rotated 90 degrees compared with its outer one, making the inner and outer circles quiver in polar directions. Our never-ceasing microsaccades pick up on these contrasting colors as action and send that information, via motion- detecting neurons, to our brains. Our noggins then naturally suppress the microsaccades but retain the movement signals. So what you end up seeing is an endless continuum of false flux. Of course, to make it cease, you can always stop wiggling the page around. by Sara Kiley Watson

The NEW Gold Standard of Walk-In Bathtubs

Stay Safer & More Independent with a Jacuzzi® Luxury Walk-In Bathtub

SAVE $1,500 on your NEW Walk-In Tub with ONE DAY installation

Low Entry Step

Don’t let mobility concerns end your ability to enjoy a relaxing and therapeutic bathing experience NEW!

 NEW! Epsom salt compatible with SJXLI.EGY^^M® Walk-In &EXLXYFLIPT[MXL QSFMPMX]MRERHSYXSJ XLIXYFERHEPWS LIPT]SYJIIPQSVI WIGYVIERHMRHITIRHIRX [LIRFEXLMRKEXLSQI

Enjoy Legendary

Jacuzzi

®

Jet Technology

hydromassage relaxes the mind and body

 NEW! $TXLHWHUDQGHQHUJ\HI¼FLHQWSXPS

provides a more enjoyable bathing experience

 NEW! Relaxing Bubble Foot Massage  NEW! Heated back and seat for more comfort and relief

 PLUS! Installation in as little as one day available!

Epsom Salt Compatible Now enjoy the relaxing health FIRI½XWSJ)TWSQ WEPXMR]SYVXYF [MXLSYXXLI [SVV]SJVYWXSV HEQEKIXS]SYV XYF´WGSQTSRIRXW

®

CALL A JACUZZI SPECIALIST & SAVE $1,500 Call now for limited-time savings on your new Walk-In Bathtub and details on installation that takes as little as ONE DAY! ITE LIM D

W

AR

Y

LIFETIME RAN

T

Call: 1-888-484-5744 or Visit: www.JacuzziWalkIn.com

Ask About Affordable Financing

A TANGLED WEB

HEAD TRIP

there’s only one way out ALL ROADS MIGHT LEAD

to Rome, but some destinations are accessible by only a single route. Practice your logical reasoning with these path puzzles (instructions below), a concept originally created by mathematician Roderick Kimball.

[1]

Instructions:

Each grid has two openings, and your goal is to find the path between them. The digits on the outside are both clues and strict rules: They represent the number of square cells the path travels through in each corresponding column or row. If there’s no number, the trail can pass through an unconstrained number of cells. Always, the path can pass through each square just once. (Use a pencil; answers on page 122.) [1]

3

3

4

4

3

3

2

5

4

2

2 4

[2]

2 5 5 2

[2] GOING NOWHERE FAST

running in place BACK IN THE ’90S, ADAR PELAH WAS

studying vision at the University of Cambridge when he noticed something funny at the gym: For the first few minutes after stepping off a treadmill, he felt like he was moving much faster than he actually was. Pelah documented his observation in a 1996 paper. Since then, studies have tested many socalled treadmill illusions, including this one: Run on the machine for at least 10 minutes, step off, then have a friend blindfold you. Try to walk in place, and you’ll run forward instead. While you’re on the treadmill, your body is moving, but the world isn’t shifting past you like it does when you’re striding on solid ground. You end up with zero optic flow—the motion of the visual world as you move. Once you step off the machine, the universe moves 120

with you again. With positive optic flow suddenly back, your brain vastly underestimates the speed at which your surrounding visual field should be moving, creating a feeling of acceleration, Pelah says. If blindfolded, you move forward while attempting to stay in place because your body still thinks that forward motion keeps you stationary. It takes a few minutes for things to recalibrate. “It’s a multisensory illusion,” Pelah says. “You have to be controlling your muscles at the same time as you’re experiencing visual information.” Put people in a wheelchair after a workout, and they don’t notice anything strange if wheeled around. The documentation of the shift—and shift back—helped scientists realize the intimate interface that exists between the visual and motor systems. If you frequent the treadmill often, your body becomes conditioned to the shift, and the effect will stop. So if you need an explanation for irregular gym attendance, wanting to experience the illusion is a creative excuse.

by Nicole Wetsman / illustration by Brown Bird Design

2

2

2

2 4 2 2

[3]

6

6

6

4

4 6 5 4 6 5 by Claire Maldarelli

PASSING THE TIME

game the system [1]

THERE’S NOTHING MORE PAINFUL THAN WATCHING TIME PASS DURING A road trip. Instead, occupy your mind with these logic problems. Then whip them out on future car rides, and watch your fellow passengers struggle. Hints: In problem one, the Olympian crosses the bridge three times. In two, Jen and Dan both make one airport pit stop. (Answers on page 122.)

TIME TRIALS

Q: A kindergartner, a fifth grader, a high school track star, and an Olympic sprinter are all waiting in line at a track-and-field meet’s food stand. Suddenly, the storm of the century starts to roll in. The only way back to the safety of the stadium is across a wobbly bridge in critical need of repair. The rickety old thing can handle only two people crossing at one time. Three runners or even a strong burst of wind could knock it away entirely. To make matters worse, the tempest’s dark clouds have blotted out the sun completely. Luckily, the kindergartner has a flashlight keychain attached to his backpack that provides just enough light to travel across safely. The winds that will take down the structure begin in 17 minutes. The Olympic sprinter can race across in just one minute, and the high school track runner can manage in two. But it takes the fifth grader a plodding five minutes and the kindergartner an even slower 10. Given that the dilapidated bridge can handle just two people at once and one of the travelers must always have the flashlight in hand, how can the group get to safety in the allotted time?

[ 2 ] A CALCULATED TRIP

Q: An amateur engineer plans to circumnavigate the equator in an airplane he designed himself. Unfortunately, when he built it, he hadn’t planned on using it for a flight of this nature. So, the plane holds only enough fuel to make it halfway. Intent on making this feat a reality, he built two more identical planes and convinced his two friends, Jen and Dan, to pilot the spare planes and help him along to achieve his goal. The planes can transfer their fuel midair at any point during the trip, but there’s a catch: Only one airport on Earth will allow these homemade airliners to take off and land—and it happens to be located along the way. The engineer wants to travel the entire globe without stopping, and Jen and Dan have agreed to stop, refuel, and follow the engineer in whatever manner necessary to help. It won’t be easy: Each plane holds 180 gallons of fuel and can travel 1 degree of longitude (it takes 360 degrees to circle the world) in one minute for every 1 gallon of fuel. How can Jen and Dan help? When should they stop, transfer fuel to the engineer, and head to and from the airport? by Claire Maldarelli

HEAD TRIP

MAXIMIZE YOUR POTENTIAL

TIME-TRIPPIN’

why car rides seem to last forever ALMOST ANYONE WILL TELL YOU

that long road trips feel eternal. This effect, researchers say, happens because humans make pretty terrible timekeepers. We have no master clock in our brains that ticks the passage of each second. Rather, neurons all over our noggins track time, with different regions triggered by distinct stimuli—like the need to wait for a reward or clap to a beat. And these neurons are easily swayed by other mental processes, like attention. Paying attention to time activates the brain’s supplementary motor area (SMA), says Jennifer Coull, an experimental psychologist at Aix-Marseille University in

France. The more we note time’s passage, the more active the SMA becomes, she says, and neuroscientists think the brain misinterprets more SMA activity as more time passed. In studies where people were told in advance that they’d be asked how long a task took, participants focused on time passing and overestimated the activity’s duration. Those unaware they’d be asked these queries attended only to the task, and underestimated the time to complete it. The same effect is true in a car. So use this issue’s puzzles as a way to trick your brain—these cerebral challenges will seem to speed up the clock on your road trip. by Dana G. Smith

THE ANSWERS [1]

3

3

4

4

3

3

2

5

4

2

2

Available for purchase with coupon in fine stores everywhere or online at:

4

www.appliednutrition.com Enter Coupon Code: 013797

5

2

5 2 2

[2]

2

2



2

MAGNUM BLOOD-FLOW SEXUAL PEAK PERFORMANCE FOR MEN

4

SAVE $3

2

EXPIRES 06/30/19

2

MANUFACTURERS COUPON

Consumer: Redeemable at retail locations only. Not valid for online or mail-order purchases. Retailer: Irwin Naturals will reimburse you for the face value plus 8 (cents) handling provided it is redeemed by a consumer at the time of purchase on the brand specified. Coupons not properly redeemed will be void and held. Reproduction by any party by any means is expressly prohibited. Any other use constitutes fraud. Irwin Naturals reserves the right to deny reimbursement (due to misredemption activity) and/or request proof of purchase for coupon(s) submitted. Mail to: CMS Dept. 10363, Irwin Naturals, 1 Fawcett Drive, Del Rio, TX 78840. Cash value: .001 (cents). Void where taxed or restricted. ONE COUPON PER PURCHASE. Not valid for mail order/websites. Retail only.

6

[3] 4 6 5 4 6 5

6

6

4

TIME TRIALS, p. 121 The Olympic sprinter and the high school track star cross together first (two minutes). The Olympic sprinter rushes back, light in hand (one minute). Then, the fifth grader and the kindergartner run across, with the light (10 minutes). The high school track star, waiting on the other side, rushes back with the flashlight to grab the Olympian (two minutes). Together, they run across just before the bridge collapses (two minutes, for a total of 17 minutes). A CALCULATED TRIP, p. 121 All three planes take off at the same time and head west for 45 minutes, making it one-eighth of the way there. At that point, Dan gives 45 gallons of his fuel each to Jen and the engineer. Jen and the engineer press on, and Dan returns to the airport. When they reach the 90 degree mark, Jen gives 45 gallons to the engineer and heads back to the airport; the engineer keeps moving. When the engineer hits the 180 degree mark, Dan leaves the airport heading east and meets the engineer at the 270 degree mark. Dan gives him 45 gallons, turns around, and heads west with the engineer. At the same time, Jen heads east to meet them. They all meet again at the 315 degree mark. Jen gives 45 gallons to Dan and the engineer, leaving each plane with 45 gallons—enough to make it back to the airport.

“THE FUTURES WE WERE PROMISED” PHOTO CREDITS PAGE 57, TOP DOWN: COURTESY EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION; POP SCI ARCHIVE; COURTESY UBER. PAGE 59, TOP DOWN: THREE LIONS/GETTY IMAGES; ROLLS PRESS/ POPPER FOTO/GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY VECTORR. PAGE 61, TOP DOWN: COURTESY POP SCI ARCHIVE (2); KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES. PAGE 63, TOP DOWN: COURTESY CAR FROM UK; COURTESY CARNEGIE MELLON (2)

Lindenites, the elderly, or those with cognitive disabilities.

( C O N T I N U E D F R O M P. 6 9 )

IN 36 OTHER CITIES AROUND THE U.S. LAST FALL,

there was a multi-modal transit initiative that wasn’t aimed at disadvantaged populations and didn’t come courtesy of the government. It was offered by Lyft, the $15 billion ridehailing company that also owns the nation’s largest bike-share operator, Motivate. The program provided 1,900 participants across the United States and in Toronto with ride credits and passes for cars, scooters, and public transit…if the winners promised to not use their cars for a month. It didn’t change any infrastructure or shift policy; it was just a sweepstakes. But around 130,000 people signed up for the chance to solve their personal last-mile problems. In a lot of ways, Denver’s Grace Orders was an ideal winner: She already had a Lyft account, so she wasn’t going to let her vouchers languish. And she was already a

ride-share convert. Orders works at a healthtech startup downtown, in a co-working space a block from a 1.25-mile-long pedestrian mall, which has several nearby train stations and a free bus that stops every block. But she doesn’t live near a train stop, so every morning she took a Lyft Line—the kind you share with other riders—to avoid a nearly $30 parking fee if she drove to work. During the free trial, she continued to do that—but instead of taking a Lyft home, she’d step aboard a scooter, ride it to a park near her house, then walk the rest of the way. She started batching her grocery and social trips so she didn’t have to call multiple cars. “It helped me really plan my day and think about what I was going to be doing with errands,” she says. “Also to be more efficient with trips, just more thoughtful about it.” It didn’t change her life much, and she’s probably not going to continue to spend $700 a month on Lyft services, but it did make her rethink her relationship to her vehicle—as in, maybe she shouldn’t own

Trust ...V1 earns it one ambush at a time.

“the radar? They tellWhere’s me every time. A detector without the arrows is like a car without headlights.

Ahead

Beside

” Behind

©2018 VRI

www.valentine1.com

™ ®

Mike Valentine Radar Fanatic

- $69

- $49

 Concealed Display - $39  V1connection™ LE - $49

Plus Shipping / Ohio residents add sales tax

Valentine Research, Inc. Department No. YGB 10280 Alliance Road Cincinnati, Ohio 45242

Ph 513-984-8900 Fx 513-984-8976

one at all. “Having a car is a cost that can be a little ridiculous,” she says. Maybe she could Lyft-scooter-walk all the time, and not pay for an automobile that often sits unused. Carmakers can see that mental calculation happening and are trying to respond in ways that will keep them relevant if someday a 1-to-1 ratio between people and cars is no longer the American Dream. GM’s Maven program links car owners and some lessees to drivers who want to rent their wheels short-term. Volvo’s M will give subscribers on-demand access like that of Zipcar. Ford bought big into an autonomous-vehicle software company. But perhaps a failed pilot program by Ford tells the real story: In 2016, the company launched a scheme that let three to six customers share the same lease. After three months, no one—no one!—had signed up. In general, ride-sharing schemes don’t actually prompt many people to give up their cars. Data from a 2016 UC Berkeley study, supported by the DOT and car2go, a pay-bythe-hour rental service, suggested that just 2 to 5 percent of car2go members stop owning autos because of ride-sharing options, while 7 to 10 percent chose not to buy one at all. On top of that, companies like Lyft might actually make city driving worse: A July 2018 report by Schaller Consulting found that of U.S. city dwellers using “transportation network company” (TNC) cars, 60 percent would have walked, biked, or stayed home if they hadn’t been able to summon a ride, and 40 percent would have sparked up their own vehicle or taken a cab. “TNCs are used instead of personal autos mainly when parking is expensive or difficult to find and to avoid drinking and driving,” the report states. For every mile a Grace Orders didn’t drive, a TNC gigger drove 2.8 miles—meaning that TNC systems actually increase vehicle use by about 180 percent. Ride-shares, then, do not represent an unalloyed good, and on their own are unlikely to help people navigate cities in new ways. But they and the bike and scooter and whatevercomes- next companies they buy up are going to be part of the first-mile/last-mile ecosystem. And so some cities are helping to make them work for people with lower incomes, as last-mile options. St. Petersburg, Florida, subsidizes Uber rides to and from transit stations. Meanwhile, Detroit and Austin, Texas, have autonomous shuttles. Columbus recently introduced such a

GETTING THERE

service downtown, and expects to add one in Linden by year’s end. But there’s more to a city than its most crowded corridor. IN AN OFFICE PARK AB OU T 10 MILE S FROM

downtown Columbus (a 25-minute drive, a $20 ride-share, or a 1.25-hour bus trip), you’ll find Arc Industries North, which helps connect people with cognitive and physical disabilities to jobs. Inside, Jose, 48 , whose last name is withheld to protect his privacy, shows off a film he made about the internships he held this past summer. From the other side of the table where he sits, occupational-therapy student Olivia Vega smiles as pictures flash on his computer screen: Jose handing out maps to zoo-goers, Jose mugging next to a tiger or working with the city parks department. The images transition to slides of white text on blue background, explaining the work he did. What goes unmentioned is the difficulty Jose faced getting to and from those jobs. That’s where Vega came in. Her program at Ohio State University partnered with

Smart Columbus to tailor a navigation app for residents with cognitive disabilities. Last summer, Jose and the other interns began testing the app, called WayFinder, and offered suggestions to its developers. WayFinder—made by AbleLink Technologies and available nationally—is like a customized Google Maps. It displays routes that caretakers and travel trainers preprogram in, following GPS waypoints along the way and enhanced by text, vibrating alerts, audio cues (“You’re halfway to work” and “This looks like your stop, but don’t be fooled”), and pictures of landmarks. Jose finds WayFinder far better than conventional map apps: “What GPS does is get people lost,” he says. With this app, “you say, ‘WayFinder, show me the best way to get to’ a specific place.” Like the mall. “And it takes you directly to the mall.” Before WayFinder, Jose stayed close to home—inside a small radius that included a Panera Bread, Walmart, and Half Price Books—all places he could reach on foot. Now

he can go wherever the bus goes. He found out he likes antique shops, Tim Horton’s, and the Ohio-themed food truck downtown. “I’ll definitely keep using it,” he says of the app. “Especially here in the city, or if I want to take a tour of a national park. I really want to see the Smithsonian.” City residents with physical disabilities, like Nicole Williams from Linden, still face challenges. If her son misses the bus, there’s no reliable way for her to help him get to school. She can’t ride a scooter or a bike, or drive a car. Paratransit rides aren’t dependable. Waiting for an accessible ride-share takes much longer than a regular one, an issue at the heart of several lawsuits against Uber. In the end, transportation that works for people who face impediments of any kind— whether they have a disability or they just don’t have a car—benefits everyone. When you fix the first and last miles of any journey, for anybody, the rest of that journey, and the destination, are more accessible, no matter who you are or where you want to go.

®

:DON%HKLQG %UXVK0RZHU

%XUQ&DJHFRP • Chip big branches up to 5" in diameter. • Shred yard & garden waste up to 1.5” thick. • Powerful engines spin massive flywheels and shredding hammers to reduce everything FAST.

:\DWW(DUS

Yard & Garden Waste

7RRUGHU\RXU

FDOO 

'5¿HOGEUXVKFRP

FREE SHIPPING 6 MONTH TRIAL SOME LIMITATIONS APPLY Go online or call for details.

Check out the full DR® lineup including towable models!

'5FKLSSHUFRP

Go Online for FREE DVD & Info Kit! TOLL FREE

888-213-1109

5

-Minute Fence Stain

19BAEA © 2019

The DR® Field & $ 149999 Brush Mower is Now Better than Ever! FASTER. Up to 20 HP and 34"-wide cut for faster mowing! EASIER. Power steering gives you fingertip control. NEW CHOICES: including PTO and towbehind models for tractors and ATVs.

SDJHV

FRS\RIWKLVIDVFLQDWLQJVWRU\

Branches

Starting at just

19BAEB © 2019

POPULAR SCIENCE SHOWCASE

:DQWHG5HZDUG

NEWDQGIMPROVED Yard Cleanup is EASY with a AMERICA’S DR )LHOGDQG%UXVK0RZHUV DR® CHIPPER ORIGINAL 6+5(''(5

:HDUHRIIHULQJDVXEVWDQWLDO UHZDUGIRUFHUWDLQLQIRUPDWLRQ UHJDUGLQJDPLVVLQJPDWFKLQJ SRUWUDLWRI:\DWW(DUS·VÀUVW ZLIH8ULOOD6XWKHUODQG%RWK KHUSKRWRDQGKLVZHUHWDNHQ LQ4XLQF\,OOLQRLVLQ :\DWW·VSRUWUDLWOLNHO\ZRUWK PLOOLRQV KDVUHFHQWO\VXUIDFHG 7RUHDGDIDVFLQDWLQJVWRU\ WKDWLVNHHSLQJDIHZZHVWHUQ ZULWHUVXSDWQLJKWRUWRMRLQ LQWKHWUHDVXUHKXQWYLVLW

ZZZIURQWLHUVKDGRZVFRP

New C-Sharp

TM

The Ultimate Pocket Sharpener for Precision Knife Care

r

'PVS
4IBSQFOJOH
"OHMFT




BOE

EFHSFFT

r

'JOFTU
(SBEF

(SJU
$FSBNJD

4IBSQFOJOH
QMVT

(SJU

#FODITUPOF
GPS
1PMJTIJOH r


$PNQBUJCMF
XJUI
-BOTLZ
$POUSPMMFE"OHMF
4IBSQFOJOH
,JUT

PS
-BOTLZ
5VSO
#PYFT r

5IF
1FSGFDU
.BUF
UP
-BOTLZT

#FTUTFMMJOH
2VBE
4IBSQ

• • • •

Sprayer attaches directly to garden hose. No masking, simply hose off over-spray. One quart covers 600 square ft. Select from three natural wood tones; Natural Cedar, Dark Cedar, or Redwood.

FiveMinuteFence.com

MSRP $18.99

-BOTLZDPN
t

for FREE Catalog

RotoCube

®

Rotating Magnetic Bulletin Towers

Actual size is 30.6 mm

50th Anniversary Apollo 11 Commemorative Half-Dollar

Track Results Motivate Your Team Show What's Happening

magnatag.com/RC | 800-624-4154

World’s Most Powerful Leaf Vacuum...at a New LOW PRICE!

O

n July 20, 1969, the world sat glued to their television sets. Before their very eyes, a door opened, a ladder descended, and man first set foot on the surface of the moon. The footprints, flag and plaque left on the lunar surface sent an eternal message throughout the cosmos: humanity had finally reached the heavens, and America led the way. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the

FREE SHIPPING on 4 or More!

Rated #1 in Vacuum Power Now at the Lowest Price Ever Converts to an All-Purpose Trailer

19BADX © 2019

Stores Flat in Minutes

999

FREE SHIPPING 6 MONTH TRIAL SOME LIMITATIONS APPLY

Go Online or Call for FREE DVD & Info Kit!

DRleafvac.com TOLL FREE

888-213-1109

Just 750,000 of these historic U.S. half dollars will be released, and they are expected to sell out fast. As a one-year-only issue, these curved coins will never be struck by the U.S. Mint again. When they’re gone, they’re gone! Each coin comes in uncirculated condition with an official certificate of authenticity. Don’t miss this historic release—call now and use the special offer code below!

50th Anniversary Apollo 11 Half Dollar - $39.95 + s/h

Perfect for SPRING CLEAN-UP!

DR® LEAF VACUUMS have Starting proven in laboratory testing to at just achieve the most vacuum $ 99 power versus competitors. And now, our PILOT model combines this same amazing yard clean-up power with an equally amazing new price!

Extremely Limited Mintage One-Year-Only Issue

Apollo 11 Design For just the second time in history, the U.S. Mint has struck a coin with a curved surface. On one side is the indented footprint left by astronaut Neil Armstrong, along with the names of the space programs that led to such a historic moment: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Flip the coin over and you’ll see the outward curve of an astronaut’s helmet. This design recreates the close-up photo taken by Buzz Aldrin of Armstrong standing next to the landing module as seen through Buzz’s visor.

Limited time only. Product total over $149 before taxes (if any). Standard domestic shipping only. Not valid on previous purchases.

Call today toll-free for fastest service

1-844-222-6468 Offer Code AHD273-01 Please mention this code when you call.

GovMint.com • 14101 Southcross Dr. W., Suite 175, Dept. AHD273-01 • Burnsville, MN 55337 GovMint.com® is a retail distributor of coin and currency issues and is not affiliated with the U.S. government. The collectible coin market is unregulated, highly speculative and involves risk. GovMint.com reserves the right to decline to consummate any sale, within its discretion. Facts, figures and populations deemed accurate as of the date of publication but may change significantly over time. All purchases are expressly conditioned upon your acceptance of GovMint.com’s Terms and Conditions (www.govmint.com/terms-conditions or call 1-800-721-0320); to decline, return your purchase within 30 days of receipt. © 2019 GovMint.com. All rights reserved.

WhiteWalls.com

800-624-4154

GlassGrip Accessories ™

GlassGrip.com 800-624-4154 RENEW Your Driveway with the DR® POWER GRADER! TOWS BEHIND your ATV or riding mower, filling in

LASTS 10X longer than ordinary

Saves You Money!

FREE SHIPPING 6 MONTH TRIAL SOME LIMITATIONS APPLY

Go Online or Call for FREE Info Kit!

DRpowergrader.com TOLL FREE

888-213-1109

19BACX © 2019

POPULAR SCIENCE SHOWCASE

Display your ideas on a full wall.

WIDESHOES.COM Men’s Sizes 5-20 in 3E- 8E Created by Winnifred Cutler, Ph.D. in biology from U. of Penn, post-doc Stanford. Co-discovered human pheromones in 1986

Women’s wide shoes, too!

600+ styles

(Time 12/1/86; and Newsweek 1/12/87)

-992-WIDE 800 Hingham, MA 02043 dept. PS1902

10X increases your attractiveness

•

www.MAKEMYRECLINERALIFTCHAIR.com

NEW! Now you can convert your own favorite recliner into a Lift Chair (That should get a rise out of you!) The easiest way to get up and GO!

NAME BRAND HEARING AIDS 60% SAVINGS • All Makes & Models • Free Catalog • Ranging from Analog to Ultimate Digital • 45 Day Home Trial • 50 Yrs Experience

LLOYD HEARING AID 1-800-323-4212 www.lloydhearingaid.com

FREE SOON Church/Government uniting, suppressing “RELIGIOUS LIBERTY” enforcing “NATIONAL SUNDAY LAW.” Be Informed! Mailing address for FREE MATERIALS. TBSM, Box 99, Lenoir City, TN 37771 [email protected]. 1-888-211-1715

GOLD/JEWELRY

GEAR RING & G E A R N E C K L AC E K I N E K T. C O M

(888) 600-8494

POND & LAKE MANAGEMENT LAKE OR POND? Aeration is your 1st step toward improved water quality. Complete Systems $169 - $369. Waterfall? 11,000gph Water Pump only 3.6 amps! 2yr warranty! Just $599.95 www.fishpondaerator.com 608-254-2735 ext. #3

CasCade 5000 Floating POND FOUNTAIN! Aerator Now Available Factory Direct! MSRP ($1100) You Pay $98.95!

DO YOU HAVE A PRODUCT OR BUSINESS? Advertise in Popular Science Magazine’s Showcase & Classified sections FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

«

Chip Parham 212.779.5492

popsci.com

«

The industry’s only “Universal Lift Frame,” attaching to the bottom of a favorite recliner to lift and tilt and ease you up like a traditional lift chair. YOUR RECLINER with the MIRACLE LIFT THE PERFECT LIFT CHAIR

1-888-217-1211

POPSCI.COM

PROVEN EFFECTIVE IN 3 DOUBLE BLIND STUDIES Vial of 1/6 oz. added to 2-4 oz. of your fragrance, worn daily lasts 4-6 months, or use it straight.

Athena 10X tm For Men $99.50

Unscented 10:13 tm For Women $98.50 Fragrance Additives Cosmetics Free U.S. Shipping

♥ Jesse (RI) “I would like to order a 3rd vial of 10X. The effects are subtle but really quite interesting. I am a medical examiner and have reviewed the various products being advertised. Yours is the only one that has real science behind it and I like it a lot. I really do notice differences when I wear it. One weekend I covered myself with 10X and went out and was successful on a level I have never achieved before!”

Not in stores

tm

610-827-2200

www.Athenainstitute.com Athena Institute, 1211 Braefield Rd., Chester Springs, PA 19425 PS

POPULAR SCIENCE DIRECT Call Chip Parham @ 212.779.5492 or email: [email protected]

HEALTH & FITNESS

I WISH SOMEONE WOULD INVENT…

An electric car that recharges itself JOSEPH COMPTON VIA FACEBOOK

Current electric vehicles bypass the gas station, but drivers must wait hours for a charge. A self-reviving ride is ideal, but there are reasons no one currently sells them. Photovoltaic cells are heavy, and they capture new energy inefficiently. In 2017, Iowa State University students built the first fourpassenger SUV with a solar-paneled roof, but its maximum speed on sunlight alone hit only 40 miles per hour. Mechanical engineer and faculty advisor Emmanuel Agba says the technology to make lighter cars exists, but we’d likely need government incentives to spur mass production.

A time machine STEPHEN DIAMOND VIA FACEBOOK

YOU’RE ALREADY EN ROUTE from yesterday to tomorrow. And you can always jump ahead: Spend 100 years aboard the International Space Station, where time passes ever so slightly slower than on the blue planet, and when you return home, Earth will be one second ahead of the ISS. Slipping back is more difficult. You’d have to create a warp in spacetime by bringing two ends of a wormhole together, says John Friedman, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Natural ones might exist, but they’d be too small even for an electron to pass through. Stabilizing a human-size loop would require “exotic matter” with wonky properties such as falling upward, which is probably impossible.

Security without the line JOE BROWN IN THE OFFICE

Forget turbulence. For nearly half of Americans, check-in and security is the worst part of flying. Fortunately, a lineless experience is possible, says Brian Jenkins, a counterterrorism expert at the RAND Corporation, a global-policy think tank. The basic technology already exists: In 2018, the Los Angeles metro employed human-operated remote scanners to identify weapons from 30 feet away. But getting the TSA on board is harder because any change must appear in all airports, which could take 20 years. By then, Jenkins says, computers will ID and scan you as you go straight to your gate.

WANT TO KNOW IF YOUR IDEA COULD BECOME REALITY? TWEET @POPSCI, EMAIL [email protected], OR TELL US ON FACEBOOK. POPULAR SCIENCE magazine, Vol. 291, No. 1 (ISSN 161-7370, USPS 577-250), is published quarterly by Bonnier Corp., 2 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016. Copyright ©2019 by Bonnier Corp. All rights reserved. Reprinting in whole or part is forbidden except by permission of Bonnier Corp. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to POPULAR SCIENCE, P.O. Box 6364, Harlan, IA 51593-1864. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Subscription Rates: $19.97 for one year for U.S. addresses; $29.97 for one year for Canadian addresses; $39.97 for one year for all other international addresses. Canada Post Publications agreement No. 40612608. Canada Return Mail: IMEX Global Solutions, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Printed in the USA. Subscriptions processed electronically. Subscribers: If the post office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within two years. Photocopy Permission: Permission is granted by POPULAR SCIENCE for libraries and others registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to photocopy articles in this issue for the flat fee of $1 per copy of each article or any part of an article. Send correspondence and payment to CCC (21 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970); specify CCC code 0161-7370/85/$1.00–0.00. Copying done for other than personal or reference use without the written permission of POPULAR SCIENCE is prohibited. Address requests for permission on bulk orders to POPULAR SCIENCE, 2 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016 for foreign requests. Editorial Offices: Address contributions to POPULAR SCIENCE, Editorial Dept., 2 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016. We are not responsible for loss of unsolicited materials; they will not be returned unless accompanied by return postage. Microfilm editions are available from Xerox University Microfilms Serial Bid Coordinator, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

130

reporting by Jillian Mock, Charlie Wood, and Eleanor Cummins / illustrations by Rami Niemi

•Hand-Made Pocket Watch •Roman Numerals •Premium Grade Steel Case •Day Date Windows •Magnificent Presentation Case •14 Inch Pocket Watch Chain Length.

Golden American Flying Eagle Hunter $99 ‘An elegant timepiece for any gentlemen; a truly perfect gift.’

American Eagle in your pocket for under $100! The American Eagle representing the symbol of the United States; freedom, liberty and courage, exquisitely displayed on our all new Daniel Steiger American Eagle Hunter Pocket Watch. A tribute not only to the enduring aspects of the land of opportunity but also to the wonderfully diverse history of the delightful craft of timekeeping devices.

The culmination of centuries of innovation was almost at its zenith. One aspect of these beautiful accessories remained! The Hunter Case. Developed to protect the crystal and watch-dial from dust, scratches and other damage. The Hunter Case, like the two previous developments, originated in England. Not this time from the Royals but with the landed gentry. Fox hunting men needed to The long, rich and varied history of be able to open the watch and read the time horology, stretching back to ancient times, with one hand, whilst holding the reins of the reaches new heights in the 16th century, with the very earliest watches, evolving from porta- hunter (horse) with the other. ble spring-driven clocks to the familiar mechan- Prized as antique and vintage, these ical devices, powered by a winding mainspring, collectable pieces have been lovingly recreated by Daniel Steiger; in his attempt to conquer the turning gears and rotating hands. watch world for the every man! Once valued at Worn by the nobility of Europe, these prices only the elite of the world could afford, early clock-watches were shaped into the exotic Daniel Steiger’s revolution takes one giant and bizarre, often crafted into animals, books, leap towards equality, providing an accurate insects and even skulls. Worn as jewelry and beautiful looking pocketwatch at the incredibly novelties by the aristocracy these early pieces reduced price of $99! were valued as decorative ornaments. Honed from the finest materials and The advancement in the mechanical set into patriotic exquisitely inlaid casing, deaccuracy of the portable timepiece coincided picting either a Flying American Eagle; symbol with the introduction in the 17th Century of freedom & strength or a Guardian American of the waistcoat. Introduced by Charles II of Eagle Seal: symbol of liberation, protection & England the shape of the watch evolving to unity. These charming new vintage style handfit snugly into the pockets of this new style of made hunter pocket watches with engraved menswear. This evolution continued into the American Eagle designs are available for the 1800’s with another member of the British first time for this incredibly low price. DisplayRoyal family, Prince Albert, the consort to ing a magnificent white dial with black Roman Queen Victoria, introducing the ‘Albert chain’, numerals, day date windows and measures comfortably securing the pocket watch to the 1 and 3/4 inches in diameter with a 14 inch man’s outer-garment by way of a clip. pocket watch chain length.

Golden American Seal Eagle Hunter $99

A perfect gift for yourself or a loved one. These unique pocket watches are in high demand and so please hurry to avoid disappointment as we only have limited available stock. Although you can always call and request reservation for the next batch of stock to come in, but this too will be limited so hurry and order today! An American Heirloom to hand down to the next generation.

CALL NOW TOLL FREE 24/7 ON

1-800 733 8463

Or Order Online At timepiecesusa.com/PT93pw and enter promo code PT93PW before checkout

Beautiful Ornamented Back Of Case

SRP $789.00

NOW ONLY $99 EACH

PLUS SHIPPING & HANDLING

(You Save $690) 85% OFF

WITH YOUR PROMO CODE

PT93PW 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE Timepieces International, 10701 NW 140th Street, Hialeah Gardens, Fl. 33018 - 1800 733 8463