Popular Science isn’t Make Magazine, which more than got me over the angst I’d been harboring since Scientific American killed its Amateur Scientist column. Though really, it died when C.L. Strong handed it over the next guy. PS isn’t Wired, either, which is still necessary reading to get the tech-zeitgeist, though it’s either gotten more jaded as time passed or jade no longer looks a cool as it used to. I suspect the former, as a reaction to the realization the cutting edge has moved on somewhere.

Even still, I read PopSci every month (and Popular Mechanics too), and though it gets thinner and thinner, what’s left is still good for skimming through to see what they’re deeming…well…pop.

I scored the November 2010 issue at the gym (don’t worry, I’ll give it back tomorrow with interest) because it had a number of things that worked for me, starting with the cover article on new habitat designs to respond to climate and other changes(p44). Container-like apartments hung over a flooded NYC, stacked prefabs in La Grande Arch de la Defense in Paris, skyscrapers with smart exteriors that capture (or block) sun, rain, and pollutants with millions of tiny funnel like cells.  Then there’s the growing trend in underground bunker condos (p52)…not your father’s air raid shelters, but luxury communities designed to ride out the end of the world (as we know it).  And for those who want their future now they threw in the first person account of self-built green home, the point of which is that it’s not easy getting green (57).

Then there are the new gadgets. I liked the Looxcie Bluetooth headset video earbud, which captures sound and sight on the fly. Not as quite as stealthy as it could be, but close, and clearly the harbinger of things to come.

The other thing that really caught my eye was the Dreamslide, a bike with a step-drive, much like on a stairmaster (p26). Evidently it’s more energy efficient than a rotary crank, and though it only goes about 13 mph, it folds up and looks like it would be right at home in an urban setting. I love my Xootr, but it’s got its limits for getting around town.

Beyond that, there are quite a few nice instant expert articles to bring you up to speed on tech topics from giving old brains new memories to fracking oil (that’s not a Galactica reference), a bit on a couple that built a replica hand powered wooden submarine, tips on how to replace your laptop screen for a superbright one developed for the One Laptop Per Child initiative (voids warranty, btw), as well as how to turn an expensive digital SLR into a pinhole camera. If you really want to.

There’s more stuff in there, including storm chasers and a tech forecast for the Japan of tomorrow.

Like I said, it’s not heavy, but it’s fun.