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On 14 August last year, the city of Genoa in northwest Italy woke to a strong summer storm. By 11.30am, the rain was so heavy that visibility had fallen dramatically. Videos captured by security cameras show vehicles slowing down as they crossed Morandi Bridge, which grew progressively more enveloped in a grey mist. A few minutes later, a 200-metre section of the bridge collapsed, including one of its three supporting towers. The tragedy killed 43 people and left 600 homeless. It also dealt a hammer blow to Italy’s once-proud engineering history – and the country’s confidence in its mastery of...

The rugged west coast of Norway, home to thousands, is a challenge to travel along by car. It takes time. A long time. The harsh weather conditions make it an unpredictable route, with roads often closing and ferries often cancelling their departure due to snow, heavy winds or high waves. A continuous E39 highway that is accessible 24/7, with fixed links between islands and the mainland will make the western coast more accessible for people who inhabit the coast, but also for tourists and for the transportation of goods. Currently, 1,000km of road need to be improved The Norwegian parliament...

When you walk around a Maker Faire, you’re likely to see a wide variety of 3D printers, though if you look at the basic construction, you’ll find there are usually only two main types on people’s tables. There are cartesian (with a gantry at right angles) and delta (the ones with three arms holding the print head). Sure, there are a few others that appear from time to time, but these two dominate the landscape. Cel-Robox has teamed up with M-Solv to create a new entity called Q5D Technologies to push new manufacturing technologies, such as this one that caught...

Most newer concrete beams that hold up Utah highway bridges are around 145 feet long. But the Utah Department of Transportation is about to place six that are 40 percent longer — 203 feet — to help widen Interstate 15 in Lehi. They are longer than the iconic Cinderella’s castle in Walt Disney World (189 feet) is high, or the leaning tower of Pisa (185 feet). They also will be the third-longest single-component beams in the United States, slightly shorter than two in Orlando, Fla., and Seattle, said Lee Wegner, with Forterra Structural Precast, the West Valley City company that...

In 2015, Colorado School of Mines writing instructor Dr. Jon Leydens delivered a TED talk titled “engineering and social justice.” According to Leydens, in the mid-2000s students started asking him about how they could combine their “passion for social justice” with their “interest in engineering.” Leydens is part of a growing movement that seeks to incorporate social justice into engineering, in both the professional code and the curriculum. Far from being a marginal movement, on the fringes of the profession, it enjoys support at the highest levels. The movement began during the Vietnam War era when left-wing engineers founded the...

PORTLAND, OREGON—Venus flytraps have a well-known way of dispatching their victims: They snare inquisitive insects that brush up against trigger hairs in their fly-trapping pods (above). But now, physicists have discovered that the triggering process may involve the release of a cascade of exotic chemicals similar to the whiff of ozone that tingles your nose after a lightning bolt. To study this process, scientists used an electrical generator to ionize air into a “cold plasma,” which they then gently blew toward a flytrap in their lab. Normally, the flytrap’s closure is caused by an electrical signal created when two or...

A $20-billion bridge connecting Hong Kong and Macau to the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai is set to finally open this week, marking the completion of the longest sea-crossing bridge ever built, nine years after construction began. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend a ceremony in Zhuhai on Tuesday, along with top officials from Hong Kong and Macau, with the bridge opening to public traffic Wednesday. The 55-kilometer (34-mile) bridge was originally due to open in 2016, but repeated delays pushed that to this year.

3D printing is fast becoming one of the most useful tools ever developed by humans. The technique can be used to print pretty much anything from food to new body parts. 3D printers can also be used to print novelty items, tools, weapons and even buildings. The technology has already had a huge impact on the modern world and is set to become ever more important in many industries of the future. In most cases, the only real limitation to what can be 3D printed is our imagination, as these 15 amazing 3D printed objects testify to. The following list...

The University of Maine unveiled an innovative, rapidly deployable bridge system July 12 at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center. Engineers, Maine Department of Transportation officials, business leaders, investors, researchers, members from Advanced Infrastructure Technologies (UMaine's licensee for the original “Bridge-in-a-Backpack”) and staff attended the event, at which a bridge span was strength-tested in the laboratory using computer-controlled hydraulic equipment that simulates the heaviest highway truck loads. The strength-test was conducted for the first time to prove the design modeling predictions, and demonstrate the bridge system can withstand the truck loading specified in the American Association of State Highway and...

Hat Tip: Alan Cooperman Understanding Engineers #1 Two engineering students were biking across a university campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?" Birth of an engineer The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want." The first engineer nodded approvingly and said, "Good choice: The clothes probably wouldn't have fit you anyway." Understanding Engineers #2 To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the pessimist,...

A recent academic journal article claims that "meritocratic ideology" and "depoliticized" classroom environments contribute to a sense of exclusion and isolation among female students. The professors argue that the emphasis on "meritocracy," "individualism," and "technical prowess" in engineering all contribute to a "masculine culture" that marginalizes women. Four professors are warning that the “hegemony of meritocratic ideology” and other manifestations of “masculine culture” in engineering courses are detrimental to women. Led by Carroll Serron, who teaches at the University of California-Irvine, the March 1 study contends that the sense of exclusion and isolation felt by female engineering students is exacerbated...

By imposing tariffs on certain Chinese imports, President Trump has followed through on a significant campaign promise to address his entirely understandable concerns about Chinese unscrupulous trade practices and in that nation’s theft of U.S. intellectual property, otherwise known as espionage. China ceaselessly and belligerently hacks U.S. computers, including corporate computers and government computers.  China constructed an artificial island in the South China Sea and has threatened military action if our vessels approach too closely. Even as China rattles its sabers at the United States, it is arguably building up its military forces faster than any other country on earth...

Engineering experts say investigators looking into the collapsed ‘instant’ bridge in Miami will want to know why a central tower which is usually built to support a suspension bridge was not in place when it collapsed onto Tamiami Trail on Thursday afternoon. Last week, Florida International University’s official Twitter account posted a rendering of the bridge in its completed form as envisioned by the planners before its opening to foot traffic in early 2019. The rendering shows a tall central column with cables connecting it to the main span. Engineers say the design is known as a ‘cable-stayed bridge,’ which...

An increasing number of insiders say, contrary to the multitude of studies and seminars we've slogged through, that there is not a shortage of Science Technology and Engineering Majors (STEM) but a glut. "It turns out that new PhDs in science have a hard time getting a job like their mentor's: tenured faculty in a research university," John Staddon a Professor of Psychology and Professor of Biology, Emeritus, at Duke University writes in an essay distributed by the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. "Fifty years ago, in my own area of experimental psychology, things were very different." "Postgraduates,...

International design and innovation firm Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA) is collaborating with ANAS, an Italian government-owned road construction and maintenance company, to design a smart highway system that will stretch across more than 1,500 miles of roads and highways in Italy. Dubbed ANAS Smart Road, the project aims to manage the traffic and enhance road safety, according to a firm release. The system will utilize drones and "flying poles"—a series of grounded smart poles that are equipped with sensors and in-motion Wi-Fi connectivity. The drones can take on various tasks, ranging from "monitoring tunnels, viaducts, or other remote pieces of...

For decades the idea of electronically controlled electromagnetic, hydraulic, or pneumatic valve actuation has been studied, developed, and ultimately abandoned by big-name engineering firms such as Lotus and Ricardo - as well as familiar automakers including BMW, Fiat, Ford, GM, and Renault. Now a spinoff of hypercar maker Koenigsegg called Freevalve appears poised to bring the concept to production.

At a measly 17 cents a gallon, Missouri’s fuel tax is woefully inadequate to fund the state’s growing need for transportation-infrastructure improvements. The more the system deteriorates, the worse our state’s business climate will become. Gov. Eric Greitens could put some muscle into his determination to attract business and generate more jobs by embracing a long-overdue fuel tax increase. The Missouri 21st Century Transportation Task Force, created by the Legislature and approved by the governor last year, proposes to boost the tax by a dime, and by 12 cents for diesel, which is only about half of what’s needed to...

The nearly $30-billion Gateway program to overhaul Northeast Corridor rail lines between Newark and New York City, an array of tunnels, bridges and viaduct over wetlands has two main thrusts: rehabilitation and expansion. These objectives are deeply intertwined—the project team must build new structures in the huge effort before it can upgrade old ones. That’s why digging two 1.4-mile, 28-ft-dia train tunnels under the Hudson River—an estimated $12.9-billion project component—isn’t just an expansion job but a lifeline to free a pair of 107-year-old tubes heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and in need of a rebuild. It’s also why...

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in June 2012 and has been updated with the most recent information. After the construction of the Bay Bridge in 1933, San Francisco began considering duplicating the bridge and running a second one further south across the bay. Enter Frank Lloyd Wright, a little-known architect whose idea and design for a second Bay Bridge never came to fruition. The noted architect hated the idea of a second steel structure similar to the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. Partnering with engineer Jaroslav J. Polivka, Wright proposed a concrete "Butterfly Bridge,” spanning from Army Street (now...

I have created a solar oven with an old satellite dish and about 250 small mirrors. My thermometer reached >600 degrees F in about one minute. I'm trying to think of a way for it to automatically track the path of the sun. Any suggestions?