Most Useful Podcast Ever

Roy, Peter, Jacqui and Kevin tell Steve Casner, NASA research psychologist and author of Careful: A Users Guide to Our Injury Prone Minds, stories of times we've made big mistakes to find out why humans do dumb stuff. We also try to make a phone call using an Amazon Echo, and test a commuter bike with a crazy gear shifter. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our guest on the podcast this week is a very smart, very adventurous dude named Brendan Leonard, a climber, ultrarunner and general outdoorsman who recently wrote a book called The Great Outdoors: A Users Guide. He gives us tips on how to survive everything that can go wrong while you're out on an adventure, from darkness to cold to rattlesnakes. We also test golf shoelaces, and the Curious Idiot gets into a fight with a scrolling webpage. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the latest installment of The Fast and The Furious out this weekend, Scott Eastwood, who plays a character named Little Nobody in the film, stopped in to the Popular Mechanics office to race the staff with remote control cars. But it turns out Eastwood has actual race experience, and he tells us all about it in this week's episode. Also this week: Roy Berendsohn talks saws, and we challenge editorial assistant James Lynch to a handyman's obstacle course. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peter and Kevin watched the show "Jungletown" on Viceland this week and wondered how the show's volunteers were doing such a poor job of running a PVC water system to their home site. So they asked Roy, who didn't pull any punches. Meanwhile, Kevin spent some time out in the woods testing weird new camp stoves, and Daniel Espinoza, the director of the new sci-fi horror flick Life, calls in to explain how horror movies scare you. Prepare to be shocked! Prepare to be entertained! Prepare to learn cool stuff from movies and TV shows!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To kick off today's show, we talk to PM Autos Editor, Ezra Dyer, who recently visited the NYPD Fleet Services Division—the guys responsible for keeping the department's 6,000 cop cars in good, running condition. Ezra explains what the average car owner could learn from watching how New York's Finest take care of their cars. Then, James Lynch and Matt Allyn stop by the studio to answer some of my questions about St. Patrick's Day. After that, we talk to Dr. Marvin Pritts, a plant expert from Cornell University, about what we can do to salvage our gardens after a winter of unpredictable weather. Finally, on today's testing table, Peter Martin shares a life lesson.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's show, we offer up helpful tips for three things that will likely be driving you mad this March. First up, we talk to Tim Chartier, professor of mathematics and computer science Davidson College, about "March Mathness," his statistically driven approach to mastering bracketology for this year's NCAA Basketball Championship. Then Alex George talks us through the latest home security devices, so you won't have to lose your mind worrying about your empty house on ski weekends (especially once you've stashed your tournament winnings). Finally, Peter Martin comes to the testing table with a new body fat testing device that not only tells you how out of shape you are, but also gives you a workout plan to get ready for warmer weather.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's show, in light of the emergency at the Oroville Dam in California, we talk to Rachel Sears, the director of FEMA’s Floodplain Management Division, to find out what to do if there's a flood risk near you. Then Katie Macdonald tries to get resident curmudgeon Peter Martin excited for Mardi Gras. Finally, Jacqui and Matt Allyn run wantonly around the office, but make sure to signal their turns.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's show we ask: Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya? First, we get the lowdown on all the prop bets for this year's Superbowl. Not who wins, or the number of points scored by the Falcons or the Pats, but the good stuff—how often will we see Beyonce? How long will the national anthem last? Then we talk Superbowl snacks with our friends at Delish. Finally, Jacqui, Kevin, and Peter try out a bag of Tostitos chips that can save you from driving drunk.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Popular Mechanics Senior Home Editor Roy Berendsohn is a font of mechanical knowledge. In this episode, we asked him to give us his top tips for winter, and ended up learning about physics, fans and tumblesnow. On the testing table, we try out an $8,000 camera.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you ready to turn some of our awesome life tips into full-time habits? Then check out this episode, which includes tricks for changing your life from Stanford researcher BJ Fogg, who studies the ways technology influences health habits and started the website tinyhabits.com. After that, we dig in deep with some Shop Notes for the New Year. And beer lover Matt Allyn tests a fitness tracker called THE BEAST. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices