Popular Science US - May - June 2017

In this issue

In this issue: A house-size diesel engine, Evolving supercomputers, The tape doctor’s recorder, Huge toys for little hands, Fun in construction vehicles, Dubai faces the future, Illusions of grandeur and more...!!!

Toy Box Overfloweth

YOU BOGARTED YOUR NIECE’S ROBOT DINOSAUR for a solid three hours after her birthday party. Admit it. We won’t judge you. Today’s playthings are some tempting stuff. They’re bigger, stronger, and faster than the foot-powered plastic “cars,” immobile Lego fortresses, and dead-eyed Teddy Ruxpin dolls that came before. Building sets are so lifelike, go-karts so zippy, and robots so intelligent that even adults will find these outsize toys utterly irresistible. Now kindly hold my beer, kid; there’s a Nerf battle that needs my full attention.

2 mins

Heads In The Cloud

RIGHT NOW, IN A DATA CENTER far, far away, gargantuan cloud servers are providing brainpower to devices as minute as fitness trackers. A baseball-size camera, for example, might seem like little more than simple home surveillance; or an adorable green dinosaur might appear to be just a child’s plaything. In reality, armies of servers undergird these—and countless other— unassuming gadgets. Here are five of the smartest out there.

1 min

Get Ready to Rumble

Working the controls of an excavator is a little like flying a helicopter in that it requires the use of both hands independently, as well as your feet.

10+ mins

The Future-Proofing Engine

Oil won’t last forever, and Dubai’s government knows it. To stay prosperous, the city-state bets big on science and technology.

10+ mins

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Popular Science US Magazine Description:

This is the most exciting time to be alive in history. Discovery and innovation are reshaping the world around us, and Popular Science makes even the most complex ideas entertaining and accessible. By taking an upbeat, solutions-oriented look at today's most audacious science and revolutionary technology, we forecast what tomorrow will be like. We deliver the future now.