how it works 2011

PopSci slices away at concept cars, warplanes, Xerox machines, backyard observatories and more

How the next generation of sensor-packed devices gather 70,000 data points per second to make cars safer for flesh-and-blood humans

Enjoy a vintage gem of the How It Works genre

How a series of thin near-vertical lines placed in front of a display can create a stereoscopic image

To fling passengers at up to 149 miles per hour, Formula Rossa uses a propulsion system inspired by aircraft-carrier jet launcher

The documented teardown has become a necessary part of any gadget's release. But why do we feel this need to take our gear apart?

The Objet Connex churns out complex objects by spraying eight million plastic droplets a second

New integrated circuits use photons to build fast and extremely power-efficient supercomputers

Editor Mark Jannot on the origin of our sixth-annual tear-things-apart-and-look-inside package

Wall-art-worthy cutaways of European, American, and Asian nuclear reactors