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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...