On today's show, Kevin Dupzyk and James Lynch talk to Fox NFL Director Rich Russo and Producer Richie Zyontz. The pair have been producing sporting events together for years, and on February 5 they'll be the men behind the curtain for Super Bowl LI. We ask them about what it takes to make a modern-day NFL broadcast come together, and hear which legendary NFL coach laid the foundation for what we now expect from watching a football game on TV. And then, because we initially interviewed them befor...
Jan 30, 2017•34 min
On today's show, we talk to our good friend Rachel Rothman, Chief Technologist at the Good Housekeeping Institute. Working on a specialized floor a few levels up from Popular Mechanics, she and a team of engineers test stoves, clothes, food, cars--pretty much everything you encounter in day-to-day life. She explains how she got into such an exacting line of work, how it's heightened her neuroses (and given her new ones), and why it's ultimately so rewarding. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...
Jan 14, 2017•26 min
On today's show, Steve Abraham, a long time air traffic controller at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, tells us about his job--everything from how he get into it (and how that's changed), to the time he had two airplanes flying one on top of the other, to the fact that, yes, dangerous situations like that are very rare, even if delays aren't. Musical thanks this episode to minusbaby for "Flying." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dec 30, 2016•32 min
BioLite is an interesting company. Their signature product is a camp stove that burns wood and uses some of the heat to charge a battery, which can, in turn, charge small electronic devices. It's great for camping. But it's also great for people who don't have easy access to electricity or clean-burning fires (which turns out to be a lot of people). On today's show, CEO Jonathan Cedar explains how his company went from simply trying to improve combustion to having offices in India and Africa. Sp...
Dec 17, 2016•31 min
On today's episode, guest host and Popular Mechanics Contributing Editor Dan Dubno takes us inside the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to learn about new technology that can allow a man to climb anywhere. Until he falls, which may or may not have happened to Dan Dubno. Musical thanks for this episode goes to The Crypts! for their song Marie Curie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dec 03, 2016•30 min
The preparators of the American Museum of Natural History's Exhibitions Department are artists and craftsmen by trade who become scientists by practice as they build the museum's famed traveling exhibitions. In what may be the coolest workshop in the whole of New York City, they use wood, metal, epoxy, paint, and hundred-year-old death masks to build dioramas that transport visitors to settings all over the natural world. As they undertake final preparations for their latest exhibition, Cuba!, w...
Nov 19, 2016•32 min
For today's episode, Popular Mechanics' political correspondent Mark Warren joins to interview Dana DeBeauvoir, County Clerk of Travis County, Texas (It's where Austin is). She discusses the preparations Travis County is undertaking for a record-breaking 2016 general election, and helps Mark address some of the concerns we've heard about polling places. Let this episode be your reminder to go out and vote. Musical thanks for today's episode goes to Podington Bear for their tracks "60s Quiz Show"...
Nov 04, 2016•27 min
With Halloween fast approaching, we talk to Leonard Pickel of Hauntrepreneurs - a company that designs haunted attractions from the ground up. An architect by training, Pickel explains how he distorts the stuff he did in the studio to create spaces that put people on edge. He also explains the hardest type of person to scare, the scariest room he's ever designed, and the worst scare he's ever received. The music in this episode is "Soundtrack 2, Act 3" by Tim Nelson, from "Caligari: An Exquisite...
Oct 24, 2016•32 min
Tonight, Friday, October 7th, is the LA Lakers' first home game of the NBA preseason. After their game is over, the crew at LA's Staples Center will have to get the arena ready to host a concert on Saturday. By Monday they'll have to get it into shape as a basketball court again, as the Clippers, their other NBA tenant, have a game--which they play on their own distinct hardwood floor. When the next Friday rolls around, it's time for an LA Kings ice hockey game. How does the arena shape-shift fo...
Oct 07, 2016•27 min
If you read the October 2016 issue of Popular Mechanics, you may have noticed a section of the Breakthrough Awards devoted to competitors from Major League Hacking, the competition circuit for college and high school-aged hackathons. And you may also have noticed that Danny Yim and Jake Kaplan of the Bergen County Academies in New Jersey took home a prize at their hackathon for making one soldering iron to rule them all. And then, if you're still with me, you probably found yourself wondering: W...
Sep 23, 2016•28 min
On today's show, IDEO's Dav Rauch and Peter Hyer talk about their work designing the interfaces in everything from ATMs to Tony Stark's Iron Man suit. It turns out that thinking about how people use stuff is a pretty fun job, full of insights into the quirks of human behavior, even--or especially--when you get to try things like using beach balls to compose music, or a burrito as a video game menu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 14, 2016•33 min
On today's episode, fantasy football addict (and Popular Mechanics Executive Editor) Peter Martin joins the show as a guest interviewer when we talk to Matthew Berry, ESPN's senior fantasy sports analyst. Everyone envies the job, but Berry put in serious work to get it: He's been playing fantasy sports since the days when the week's results had to be faxed out by the league commissioner. He explains how the game has changed, how he keeps up with so many different leagues, and how his wife handle...
Aug 26, 2016•27 min
On today's episode, we talk to Glenn Hiemstra, the founder of Futurist.com. To start with, he explains what it even means to be a futurist. Then he tells us a little more about what it takes to peer into the unformed times that await, breaks down the things he's been right and wrong about, and discusses what he sees coming in our near future. The good news: We all might have a lot more leisure time. The bad news: We all might not have cars. Special musical thanks for this episode go to Jonas for...
Aug 12, 2016•31 min
On today's episode, Jeremy Bennett from Filson and Matt Bressler from Wickett & Craig - one of the nation's few tanneries that specialize in high-quality vegetable tanning - stop by the studio to discuss working with leather. By the time this episode is over, you'll know what a splitter is, what a skiver is, and the how many square feet of skin cover a jumbo heavy native steer. Thanks to Kevin Bewersdorf for his composition "The Last Seinfeld," used on today's show. Learn more about your ad ...
Jul 29, 2016•26 min
Among the many ideas that have been floated for slowing down climate change, carbon capture and sequestration is one of the easiest to understand: When carbon dioxide is produced - say, by a factory - you find a way to trap it, then bury it someplace where it can't get into the atmosphere and contribute to the intensifying greenhouse effect. But CO2 shoved into storage as a gas or liquid can leak, especially if, at some point in the future, we manage to lose track of all the places we put it. On...
Jul 15, 2016•22 min
In honor of the 100th Anniversary edition of the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, competitive eating lifer Crazy Legs Conti comes on the show to talk about the sport. Aside from explaining how he got started in professional engorging (hint: it involves oysters), he gives us a rundown of eating strategies, ruminates on the hardest foods to eat fast, and officiates a Popular Mechanics eating competition between host Kevin Dupzyk and producer Katie Macdonald. Learn more about your ad choices...
Jul 01, 2016•34 min
On today's show, we talk to Pecos Davis and Chance Parsons, firefighters with the Malaga Volunteer Fire Department in Eddy County, New Mexico. Working with few resources in the southwest corner of the state, they've ridden one-to-a-truck to fires sparked by wind-borne static electricity and built their own foam-dispensing equipment. Also, they regularly use a tool called a "Snozzle." And as we find out, they wouldn't have it any other way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.c...
Jun 17, 2016•31 min
If you’ve ever seen a Cirque du Soleil show, or perhaps Marvel Universe Live, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the work of Brett Copes. He’s a rigger—one of the guys who sets up the complicated stage apparatus that lets performers fly through the air—safely—while looking supremely cool. On today’s show, he explains the technical details that make it possible, including the reason a 150 pound acrobat may in practice weigh half a ton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...
Jun 03, 2016•32 min
On today’s show, Travis Law and Trevor Lacasse of Team Penske – mechanics for Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya, who’ve won a combined five Indianapolis 500 races – talk about what they’ll be doing this weekend, when the race celebrates its centennial. While an individual pit stop lasts less than 10 seconds, it’s the result of painstaking practice, heavy strategizing, and the whim of weather and luck on the oval. We get the lowdown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.c...
May 25, 2016•29 min
On today’s episode, Chelsea Miller and Michael Zieba – both master knife makers, albeit with very different origin stories – come to the studio to explain what it takes to make a knife. It’s hard work: there’s a forge involved, belt sanders, and the occasional knife through the hand or foot. That’s why they adamantly agree on one thing—you can’t take up knife making if you don’t love it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 07, 2016•32 min
On today’s show, we try to find out what actually happens inside a craft brewery. It’s not just brewing beer, and even when it is, that doesn’t always go smoothly—have you ever heard of a beer bomb? Three members of the New York brewing community – Matt Monahan of Other Half Brewing, Anthony Accardi of Transmitter Brewing, and Keir Hamilton of Sixpoint Brewery – come to the studio to to explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 23, 2016•33 min
On today’s show, we go from exciting to concerning: First, we discuss whether the future of cars is a Lincoln Navigator with the doors of a DeLorean and the stylings of a Range Rover, or Tesla’s Model 3, which aims to be the sleek electric car of the common man. Then we talk about a movie that tries a whole new method of filmmaking. It might make you queasy, for all the wrong reasons. Finally, we make a game of finding out which countries are members of the nuclear club. Learn more about your ad...
Apr 09, 2016•27 min
There are 121, 362 people currently on the organ transplant list and not all of them will get the organs they need in time. On this episode of How Your Word Works, we learn about a new medical procedure that can reduce organ rejection and potentially save many more of these people. Jacob Pomrenke of the Society for American Baseball Research explains what sabermetrics is and how Major League Baseball will continue to use it, and on Stupid or Amazing, we debate the future of Amazon. Learn more ab...
Mar 25, 2016•24 min
It was 40 degrees out at the start of this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The dogs prefer –10. We find out how warmer temperatures are causing mushers to try different strategies to make sure they meet the requirement of having at least six of their dogs finish the race (They start with 16). Then we learn about new technologies in the worlds of distilling and personal hygiene. One involves boiling and one involves dirt—you might be surprised which is which. Music credits: Intro: "Toot! Too...
Mar 12, 2016•23 min
On today's show, we talk to the guys who turn science and technology into movie magic. Then we hear from astronaut Mike Hopkins about life on the International Space Station--the little things, like chewing, swallowing, and sneezing. Finally, we tell you if auto lease swapping programs that can put you in a Bentley for the price of a Honda are stupid, or amazing." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 27, 2016•21 min
With the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary in the books, election season is in full swing. In this week’s episode we asked professional pollster Nick Gourevitch the question on everyone’s mind in the run up to the election: Are polls all they're cracked up to be? Then an epidemiologist tells us what we need to know about the Zika virus, and what we can expect from it here in the US. Then we give you an inside look at what it takes to make convincing visual effects with the help of Jonath...
Feb 12, 2016•26 min
On January 28, 1986, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its mission, America changed in a profound way. The schoolchildren of America had been watching the launch with keen excitement, a schoolteacher among the crew. NASA was pursuing an ambitious launch schedule. Spaceflight was routine, regular, and something America was good at. Then came the Challenger tragedy. On this episode, we hear the voices of journalists, NASA staff, and civilians that lived through the disaste...
Jan 27, 2016•31 min
In the waning days of 2015, kick your Christmas Tree to the curb and get started thinking about the new year. On today’s episode, we tell you what happens to your tree after you part with it, and suggest an unconventional choice of drink for toasting the next trip around the sun. Then we evaluate an upgrade you might consider in 2016 and decide if it’s stupid, or amazing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dec 31, 2015•22 min
On today’s show, we take a look at the craftsmanship that was required to shoot Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight in Ultra Panavision 70mm and project Star Wars: The Force Awakens in IMAX 70mm on quaint, old film. Then we decide if today’s luxury movie theater experience is stupid, or amazing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dec 20, 2015•24 min
This week on How Your World Works, New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs drops by the studio to to discuss, germs, healthy living, and why he once let his son lick ice cream off the sidewalk. Plus: Dr. Christopher Mason of Weil Cornell Medical College explains whether or not you should be worried about touching the subway pole, and Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the CDC’s Influenza Division, reminds you of the best ways to avoid the flu. Learn more ...
Dec 04, 2015•25 min
