Can a retired rocket engine take us to Mars?

The space shuttle's main engine was mothballed with the programme in 2011. Now NASA believes it's the future of interplanetary travel.

6 metre waves. All engines on fire. 1 500 Km from land.

How Flying Tiger 923 and its 'miracle pilot' made an impossible ocean landing.

Land Rover Discovery D300

A FEW MONTHS ago a $2 billion lottery jackpot was won in the United States. It’s fun to sometimes ponder outrageous winnings like that, and how I’d spend it, even if it’s completely detached from reality.

Volkswagen Taigo R-Line 1.0 TSI

The compact proportions make this a delightful daily commuter.

Mazda CX-5 2.2 L De Akera AWD

Floor the pedal and overtaking is achieved easily and safely.

Making the most out of your grinder

THE HUMBLE BENCH GRINDER IS A STAPLE of the handyworker's home shop, largely due to its versatility. But, while you can employ one to remove metal from just about anything, the traditional kind may not provide the precision you need for every grinding operation. Here, we shed light on the best ways to use the different types of grinders, gleaned from our testing.

Unlock your devices' full potential with a USB-C hub

AS NEW TECH SHRINKS EACH YEAR, essential ports such as USB-A, HDMI, and ethernet are being replaced by the slimmer USB-C.

WE BUILT THE WORLD'S FIRST V-8 TESLA

THE RICH REBUILDS TEAM HAD A DEAD MODEL S. THEY FIXED IT WITH A CAMARO ENGINE.

I bought a GHOST TOWN

This abandoned California mining village once had 400 buildings. Now I'm restoring the 20 that remain.

F1 taught me that speed starts with comfort

AS A FAN OF MOTORSPORT, I'M ALWAYS fascinated with the finer details that go into Formula One racing. Piloting the fastest racing cars on the planet subjects drivers to savage forces - up to 6 G's under braking which has led to an almost endless pursuit of comfort.

How do you build the world's largest magnet? It's complicated

THE SUPERCONDUCTING E ELECTROMAGNET IS THE 'BEATING HEART' OF THE ITER TOKAMAK- A MAGNETIC CONFINEMENT DEVICE THAT PRODUCES CONTROLLED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION POWER.

What happens when two black holes collide?

FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE'VE OBSERVED A 50-YEAR-OLD theorem from Stephen Hawking in the natural world. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and Stony Brook University analysed the gravitational wave data of two inspiralling black holes. What they found in the collision proved Hawking's Area Theorem: The area of a black hole's event horizon cannot shrink.

The key to finding this 'impossible' material might be a nuclear explosion

A DECADES-LONG QUEST TO FIND A quasicrystals - a crystal-like material with a seemingly impossible structure - has led researchers to an unlikely location: the site of the Trinity test, the first atomic bomb blast.

Did the US lose a crucial testing ground when it left Afghanistan?

THE ADVANTAGES OF UAVS ARE RENDERED USELESS IN THE CONTEXT OF AN ENEMY THAT CAN CUT THE LINK BETWEEN OPERATOR AND AIRCRAFT.

Quantum cyberattacks are coming.This maths can stop them

ENCRYPTION – THE PROCESS OF SENDING A scrambled message that only the intended recipient’s device can decode – allows private and public sectors alike to safeguard information.

Tidal floods are coming to more cities, thanks to the Moon's wobble

FLOODING DAYS ALMOST TRIPLE AS SEA LEVELS AND TIDE AMPLIFICATION FROM THE MOON CROSS A TIPPING POINT.

The world's smallest implantable chip might save your life one day

SCIENTISTS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY have created the world’s smallest microchip, which can be implanted into the body and may eventually be able to detect medical conditions such as strokes. The chips, called motes, are the size of dust mites, measuring less than 0.1 cubic millimetre, and can only be seen under a microscope.

Bionic augmentation...Humanity's next big leap?

Prosthetics can enhance human abilities, instead of - through medical necessity - merely matching them. From exoskeletons to artificial organs, and Elon Musk's Neuralink brain computing lab, a future is fast approaching where able-bodied humans will be prosthetically enhanced.

Drill Master

For cordless versatility, the Slammer Hammer from WORX is a powerhouse drill for all occasions.

Volkswagen Polo GTI 2.0 TSI 147 kW

Opinions on cars we've driven

The $20 million bioengineering gambit to Save the Northern White Rhino

We have the science and technology to bring animals back from extinction. But should we use it?

Researchers say they’ve finally sequenced the entire human genome. Yes, all of it

GENETICS

The radioactive diamond battery that will run for 28 000 years

MACHINES

The Pentagon wants to launch a nuclear thermal rocket in 4 years

MILITARY TECH

Maths could've saved Texas's power grid in 2021

DEEP MATHEMATICS

How to safely enter a black hole

Supermassive black holes are ideal for visiting, but 1 in 1 000, as illustrated, have dangerous accretion discs and blast jets of particles at near light speed.

The age of mammals

The Rise and Reign of the Mammals is a book that tells us not only about the past, but about our future as a species too.

Elizabeth Ann is the first clone of a US endangered species. She was 33 years in the making

For the first time, scientists have created a clone of an endangered US species - a black-footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann. The researchers used cells from a donor that had been dead for more than 30 years, and the procedure's success could mean not only rescue for one of North America's most endangered mammals, but a watershed moment in conservation biology.

How 'bout them apples?

South Africa is known for its delicious fruit, but have you ever thought about what goes into getting those crisp, sweet apples from the orchards to our supermarkets? PM toured the Ceres Fruit Growers facility in Ceres to get the low-down.

Long-Tongued Flies: Bold Pollinators of Namaqualand

The recent discovery of a new fly species deepens our understanding of what it’ll take to conserve a bevy of endemic long tubed flower species in Namaqualand. But still, there are far more questions than answers.