This article was taken from the September 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Wired's 2013 How To special goes extreme, with expert advice on surviving frostbite, deflecting asteroids and making the impossible video
How to survive anywhere on Earth
Ranulph Fiennes, 69, has trekked alone through the Arctic, crossed the Antarctic on foot, been the first man to travel the Earth along its polar axis, run seven marathons in seven days across seven continents -- after a heart attack -- and climbed the north face of the Eigerdespite severe vertigo. He was also a member of the SAS, discovered the ancient city of Ubar -- buried under the sands of Oman for over 2,000 years -- and attempted to be the first to cross Antarctica in the polar winter. On this expedition, the nearest rescue centre was 13,000km away. "I like breaking records; it's the only thing I know how to do, so it's my job," says Fiennes. "I don't like failures." Described by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's greatest living explorer, he tells Wired what he's learned from living a life of extremes. Madhumita Venkataramanan
How do you cope when something nasty breaks out? David Heymann, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and of the Centre on Global Health Security, helped draw up the World Health Organisation's epidemic-response guidelines and headed its response to the SARS outbreak. He explains how to stop an epidemic.
David Baker
<a href="/{localLink:25228}" title="Overcome paralysis and walk again">How to overcome paralysis and walk again</a>
When blind Arctic explorer Mark Pollock was paralysed from the waist down in 2010, his priority was to fight muscle atrophy. "If you sit in a chair for months, tendons tighten and your back hunches," says Pollock, who is preparing to walk using an Ekso Bionics exoskeleton -- a pair of battery-powered robotic legs strapped to his own. "Everything I now do in training stops that." Liat Clark
How to survive a corporate buyout
You've built a successful startup and an acquirer has come knocking with chequebook in hand. This is a chance to scale the business and secure your personal financial future -- or see the company you love swallowed up and your original vision forgotten.
Here's how you can get a deal on your own terms. Ben Beaumont-Thomas
How to resurrect extinct animals
Numerous labs are cracking extinct species' genetic codes with the aim of bringing them back to life. The most promising candidate currently is the passenger pigeon, according to evolutionary biologist Ben Novak from the San Francisco-based de-extinction project Revive and Restore. He takes us through the essential steps. Rachel Nuwer
How to succeed in international negotiations
Getting your way on the world stage is not easy. Here,
Christopher Meyer, 69 -- British ambassador to Germany in 1997 and the US from 1997 to 2003 -- offers tips on negotiation.
How to make a Rube Goldbery viral video
Compelling videos of Rube Goldberg machines can rule YouTube. Adam Sadowsky, a filmmaker and CEO of creative tech agency Syyn Labs, created hit videos for OK GO's "This Too Shall Pass" and Red Bull. Here's how he gets the ball rolling. Jeremy Cook
How to escape from a repressive regime
Bahraini activist Ali Abdulemam runs Bahrain Online, a pro-democracy platform in a country where holding such opinions can get you arrested.
In 2011, as the Arab spring spread, thousands were arrested and Abdulemam says he was one of many tortured to sign false confessions. Last April, the 35-year-old escaped to the UK after being in hiding for over two years. Here's how he managed his incredible escape. Victoria Turk
How to survive a volcanic eruption
Bill McGuire is professor of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL. In 1996, he was senior scientist at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory at the time of the first recorded explosive eruption of the Caribbean island's Soufrière Hills volcano. Thirty-five years of fieldwork around the world has taught him the golden rules of surviving an eruption, which he shares here.
How to deflect an asteroid
Gareth Collins of Imperial College London's Department of Earth Science & Engineering explains how to defeat near-Earth objects. Sorry, Bruce Willis. David Baker
How to detect a mega-tsunami
When an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 (Mw) occurred some 70 kilometres off the coast of Tohoku, Japan, in March 2011, it took the resulting mega tsunami less than 30 minutes to reach the mainland and cause mass destruction. Such was the force of the earthquake that the planet is estimated to have shifted on its axis by as much as 25cm. Here's a rundown of how best to detect a mega-tsunami on the rise. David Cornish
How to protect your online privacy
Recent leaks from US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and US court records, have revealed the US government's appetite for data surveillance, and that of the British intelligence agency GCHQ, which intercepted senior foreign politicians' communications during the G20 summit in 2009. And as the Leveson Inquiry showed, journalists are no strangers to intrusive snooping.
Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure, warns that we face three main kinds of attacks online: "Criminals, hacktivists and nation states. Of these, nation states have the greatest powers. They will tap your phone, place trojans in your computer, intercept your email. Privacy should not be up for discussion -- it's a question of freedom against control.
Any rights we give away will be given away for good. Do we trust every future government for the next 50 years?" Jenny Afia, partner and privacy expert at the legal firm Schillings, explains where you currently stand: "Under English law, privacy is seen as a qualified right. There are exceptions for national security." So what can you do to keep your privacy? Stephen Armstrong
In his latest book, Extremes: Life, Death and the Limits of the Human Body, space physician Kevin Fong, who is also cofounder of the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine at UCL, describes how modern medicine can "take things that are routinely fatal and make them routinely survivable".
Things such as a heart attack in outer space. Fong explains how to perform life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a space shuttle. Madhumita Venkataramanan
How to turn business failure into success
So the startup idea you thought would set the world on fire is a damp squib. How do you get out in time -- and with enough dignity and cash to try again? Mind Candy CEO Michael Acton Smith knows a thing or two about turning epic failure into massive success: after spending three years and £5.8 million on gaming venture Perplex City, the Firebox.com founder had to close the operation in 2007. He then launched Moshi Monsters: the kids' social game currently has some 80 million users and has spawned other businesses. He shares the key to surviving -- and then thriving -- in business. Liat Clark
Finding a body is traumatic -- and handling it incorrectly may destroy evidence if needed. "The sights and smells are worse than an autopsy," says Nigel McCrery, an ex-police officer and a writer of the drama Silent Witness. He explains how to deal with an unpleasant discovery -- and preserve a possible crime scene. Liat Clark
How to visit Mars on Earth
Kim Binsted has already been to Mars -- or a version of it. In 2007, the University of Hawaii artificial-intelligence professor flew to the Canadian High Arctic to live with six other researchers for four months in a Mars-analogue environment. Part of a study run by the Mars Society, it tested the extreme psychological factors that come into play on long-duration space missions: sleep changes, isolation, stress, fragile group-dynamics and more. Now, Binsted is overseeing her own Nasa-funded Mars simulation in Hawaii, in which a team will go on four "missions" over the next three years. Here's how she checks for the right stuff, while staying here on Earth. Azeen Ghorayshi
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
