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Sonic ShowersMedia Platforms Design TeamThough much has changed since humankind fled the wilderness for civilized comforts, one thing hasn’t: We still clean ourselves with water. Yet traditional showers take time, waste resources and don’t necessarily get the job done. Instead, we should take a lesson from doctors who sterilize surgical instruments through techniques such as high-pressure, high-temperature autoclaves, ethylene oxide gas and ultrasonic vibrations. While these methods aren’t exactly “people-friendly,” a little research may enable modern humans to step out from under the indoor waterfall and give up the last of our caveman-like ways....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: NowCost: $19,990 to $24,670Competitors: Kia Rondo, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-VPowertrains: 2.5-liter inline four: 157 hp, 163 lb-ft; six-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmissionEPA Fuel Economy: 21/28 mpgWhat’s New: Along with all-new sheet metal, the 2012 Mazda5 benefits from a 2.5-liter version of Mazda’s inline four (replacing a 2.3), boasting 157 hp and noticeably improved torque across a wider operating range, peaking at 163 lb-ft at 4,000 rpm....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Chinese BYD E6 electric car is displayed during the second press preview day at the 2010 North American International Auto Show on January 12, 2010 at Cobo Center in Detroit. (Photograph by Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)A China invasion of the U.S. auto industry has been anticipated with fear and loathing for a decade. If companies enter the U.S. with impossibly cheap cars, the worries go, they could grab the attention and imagination of car buyers, especially the next generation of car buyers who have a more global view of culture and brands than their parents and grandparents....

Rats have taken over cities around the globe, but there’s a certain mystique to a New York rat. Remarkable generalists when it comes to diet, rats in New York generally eat whatever they can find and live wherever there’s space. Keeping them out of homes is a perpetual concern. Now, New York and other cities are turning to a new weapon to fight this ancient war: dry ice. In March, New York City began filling rat burrows with dry ice in order to kill rats....

Scientists have devised a strange way to attract fish back to dying coral reefs.The researchers placed loudspeakers along dying sections of the Great Barrier reef and played the sounds of a healthy coral reef.The results: 50 percent more fish returned to the loud reefs than the quiet reefs.Coral reefs around the world are one of climate change’s many casualties.As atmospheric temperatures rise, the ocean absorbs that heat, temperatures in the sea rise, and the water becomes more acidic....

The exercise, known as an “elephant walk,” involved a mass takeoff of 52 F-35As.The jets involved in the exercise are the only combat-capable F-35As in the service’s entire inventory.The exercise suggests that the planes are growing easier to maintain, but they’re also really, really expensive to fly. In a dramatic show of air power, the U.S. Air Force’s Hill Air Force Base just sortied 52 F-35A fighter bombers. The jets massed on the runway and then took off, one after the other, into a clear Utah sky....

Gluten-free bread is crucial for those with certain allergies and conditions like Celiac disease. However, it’s time-consuming to produce. Scientists have successfully made gluten-free bread using a technique called Ohmic heating, in which the bread itself is a conductor for electricity. The test bread had more volume and more uniformity, and was made with less time and energy than traditional methods.Cooking is a science as old as time, but scientists are still figuring out cool ways to improve it....

Whiling away the hours in roadwork-induced stoppages, you might find yourself cursing the traffic engineers and highway designers responsible for your misery. You might praise them for finally doing something about that particularly sticky wicket of an interchange. And you might wonder to yourself, “If there was a perfect highway, what would it be like?” At least that’s what we wondered. So we found some of America’s worst examples of highway design, and talked to experts in the field to find out what it takes to build good roads....

Quantum computing promises a future where technology is exponentially faster, more efficient, and more secure. But the mechanics of how it will work are still being figured out. Now, scientists from the University of Vienna and the Australian Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information have demonstrated one possibility for quantum communication that was previously unknown: using one photon can act as both a sender and receiver of information. A paper published this month by Flavio Del Santo, Borivoje Dakić, and Philip Walther in Physical Review Letters, and a follow up demonstration posted on arXiv....

Pot may be legal in Colorado, but that doesn’t mean the state has no illegal pot. Legal growers have illegally sold cannabis across state lines, and illegal growers can forge a paper trail to enter the legal market. It’s a problem for law enforcement, which needs to combat this gray market to keep the state’s $1.5 billion cannabis industry on the right side of federal compliance. Starting this summer, the state could be able to identify all aboveboard cannabis....

High-Speed RailThe day following the State of the Union speech, Obama traveled to Tampa, Fla., to check in on the nation’s latest, biggest high-speed-rail project, which he name-checked in his speech. “Workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act,” Obama said. From this $787 billion legislation, $8 billion was allocated in April for building a high-speed-rail system in the United States. Recipients of the money were announced the day after the State of the Union, including “$1....

Today, I exercised my privileges as PM’s science editor to get a sneak peek at some of the cutting-edge research happening at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). After relinquishing my social security number for a lanyard and ID tag, I was soon being waved into the most restricted buildings in Idaho Falls. Ever wonder just what goes on behind the closed doors of a Department of Energy facility? Here’s your chance to find out....

Media Platforms Design TeamWelcome to Los Angeles 2020: The water level has risen 4 feet, transportation consists of a green rail system, and the Occupy Movement runs the local government. That was the scenario presented at a live and interactive conference called The Science of Fiction: World Building in Action, held on Saturday at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts in conjunction with the 5D Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to new methods of storytelling based on cutting-edge technology....

The circadian rhythm of the human body is tied to changes in sunlight. As it gets dark, for example, melatonin tends to make us sleepy. But artificial light can wreak havoc with that cycle. Ss you lie in bed clutching your iPad, the device’s blue light might actually be telling your body to wake up and stay active.Enter Silk by Saffron, a smart LED lighting system that changes color temperature throughout the day to correspond with the sun....

Name: Stephen BanduraPatent Application No.: 62/436,808 Patent: Ground Clamp Socket: A socket wrench fixture to easily tighten any electrical ground clamp, saving time—and the risk of accidental exposure to 35,000 volts.I’m an electrician by trade. I went to a union apprenticeship, and I’m still union. I ended up on a job at Merck pharmaceuticals. They have a lot of substations with a medium voltage, which goes anywhere from 2,000 volts up to 35,000 volts....

Media Platforms Design TeamWelcome to PopMech’s morning briefing, PM/AM, gathering yesterday’s headlines you might have missed and the tech and science news you need for today.Read This"Drones will cause an upheaval of society like we haven’t seen in 700 years.“An essay that examines how drones are about to change everything that we know, and why maniacal AI’s, such as Skynet or Agent Smith, are not what we should be worrying about....

On February 4, 4:30 EST, an asteroid known as 2002 AJ129 will give the Earth a close shave. It will pass within about 2.6 million miles, or 10 times further than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Hyperbolic headlines have declared the big space rock “POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS,” drumming up fear since the start of the new year. But look, it’s not going to hit us. You’re fine.“Asteroid 2002 AJ129 has no chance—zero—of colliding with Earth on Feb....

Earlier this year, Maine-based artist Heidi Geist began planning an ambitious road trip: The artist will drive to every U.S. state (excluding Hawaii and Alaska), hitting a new one each week, and will design an original label for a local craft brewery during her short time in town. The 48 Beer Project has drawn sponsorships from places like the Liquid Riot Bottling Co. and Bissell Brothers Brewing Co., and officially kicked off in early September at Allagash Brewing Co....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s loud, hot and probably gets around 10 mpg—on a good day. But with 640 horses under your right foot, who really cares? No car’s engine, short of a genuine F1 race machine, will make your ears tingle from aural pleasure like the LP640’s V12 wailing off the walls of a racetrack. There’s just something special about a 12-cylinder Lamborghini as it’s wound up through the gears. We wouldn’t mind following one around all day–just listening to it....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s December, which means that fathers all over the world are trudging up ladders clutching a cornucopia of Christmas garlands, hoping to win the coveted title of most decorated house on the block. For one dad in Canberra, Australia, the best house on the block wasn’t enough. He set out to conquer the world.Lawyer David Richards already owns the Guinness World Record for Christmas lights; he won it last year when he blanketed his home with 502,165 bulbs....