Popular Mechanics

Discover the latest in technology, engineering, and tools with Popular Mechanics. Plus, get essential advice on your home and car, useful DIY ideas, in-depth explanations on how things work, and more!

The Comfort of Rituals

ONE MORE GIFT • Starting on page 8, you’ll find 37 great presents for any holiday you might celebrate. Here’s a 38th, from contributor Gary Dell’Abate, Howard Stern’s longtime producer.

POPULAR MECHANICS EVERYWHERE • Where to find us beyond these pages

The Best Gifts for 2018

Other Great Gifts

The Complementary Gift • There are some gifts that you know people will have already given to themselves. What can you do for those people? Give them something that will make their gift even better.

Give the Gift of Headphones

THE READER PAGE

LARGE PHOTO OF THE MONTH

The New Army of Caregivers • As more and more wounded veterans come home, their families have had to take on the role of caregivers. Whether they’re ready or not.

A CLOSER LOOK AT HIDDEN HEROES

Packaging Is Killing Us

THERE MIGHT BE HOPE, AFTER ALL • Two materials that use much less energy—one organic, one vinyl.

Supercar Suspension for Bicycles

A New Kind of Computer Animation (from an Old Source)

Night-Vision Footage Like You’ve Never Seen Before

How They Pulled Off the Chase Scene in Robin Hood

Michelle Obama on Improving STEM Education for Girls

Your Holiday Travel Could Be Worse

Why You Should Have Heart Surgery in the Afternoon • And other shocking new discoveries about how your body’s internal clock can help you live longer.

WAYS TO RESET YOUR MOLECULAR CLOCKS

WORK/SHOP • A COLLECTION OF PRODUCTS & OFFERS FROM OUR PARTNERS

If we’re ever able to time travel, will we go forward or backward first?

The Best Tech of the Year

Apple Watch

Are Hobby Drones Dead? • Proposed laws could stop criminals, but discourage new pilots.

Want to Be A Hacker? Go to Dallas. • The newest hacker community in the United States is nowhere near Silicon Valley.

Entry-Level Belt Sanders • Use them for deburring, fine sanding, and stripping of rust.

ASK ROY

SHOP NOTES • Easy ways to do hard things

THE NEW VINTAGE

ROAD TESTED

The Secret Lake • A rare visit to the hidden proving grounds where Mercury revs its engines before you do. Code name: Lake X.

Why My Decade-Old Motor Oil Is Still Fine

New Haven • About six of every ten acres in Connecticut remain forested, and the state maintains the highest percentage of tree coverage in urban and community areas in the country (67 percent). Since the Colonial era, Connecticut’s trees have been prized not only for their beauty but for watershed protection and wildlife habitat. In New Haven, brothers Ted and Zeb Esselstyn work with city officials to make sure that even felled trees continue their contribution to the culture and history of the state.

The Most Unheralded Berry • That would be the cranberry. Two men are out to change that by introducing it to your liquor cabinet.

Better Than a Neck Pillow • An adjustable platform that sits on an airplane seat’s tray table and extends in a Z shape to an ideal pillow height. Also incorporates a charging port and speakers.

Smart Lock

THE BOOM PATROL • At Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah, avalanches are a constant threat. Which is why Eric Murakami and his team climb the mountain, study the slopes, and set them off.

THE SHOPPABLE LIFE

THINGS BOWLERS SAY

Bowling • You’re gonna want to get a lot of lane time. And a ball. But mainly: lane time.

Millie, the Dog Who Wouldn’t Stay • A lesson in electricity, canine curiosity, and...