June 2008 IssuE
World Watch
Public Transit Grows in American Popularity
BY GAIL HELGASON
Freelance Writer
More Americans took public transit in 2007 than at any other time in the last 50 years, Civil Engineering (Reston, Va.) reports. The American Public Transportation Association says Americans took 10.3 billion public transit trips, a 2.1 per cent increase over 2006.
Travel on light rail systems increased the most — by 6.1 per cent — followed by commuter rail at 5.5 per cent.
College Students
Discover Asteroid
Two Texas college students have added an asteroid to Planet Earth’s body of space knowledge, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. At the recommendation of their former physics instructor, the Tarrant County College students were participating in an international program to examine images of space for asteroids.
The professor, Raymond Benge, noted that it is rare for undergraduates to actually find an asteroid. “There are a lot of astronomers who have never found one,” he said.
The International Astronomical Union has tentatively identified the asteroid as 2008 EB61.
Satellites Shed Light
On Mayan Civilization
What happened to the Mayans? Their civilization once stretched from the Yucatan Peninsula to Honduras and reached a peak of 15 million people, but it declined in the ninth century.
Destructive land-use decisions may have been a factor, an item in Civil Engineering (Reston, Va.) speculates.
Satellite imagery suggests that seasonal wetlands surrounding most Mayan cities were drained by ancient canals. Researchers at the Marshall Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., identified the canals through a satellite program designed to help people responding to natural disasters in Central America.
Researchers believe that as temper-atures climbed, local droughts were induced by the appropriation of the wetlands for agriculture, as well as by slash-and-burn agricultural practices.
Dubai Does It Again
Dubai City is poised to break another world record in the massive stuff category. It already has the world’s tallest building — and is now planning the planet’s longest spanning arch bridge, the Engineering News-Record (New York) reports.
The latest bridge over Dubai Creek will include an arch of 667 metres in length. That’s 125 metres more than the current record holder, the ChaotianmenYangtze Crossing. Total length of the whole bridge will be about 1.7 kilometres.
The estimated $680-million structure will feature two arched spans inspired by desert sand dunes. Structural design is expected to be led by Parson Transportation with Schlaich Bergermann of Germany advising.
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FUTURE NIGHT |
International Work Challenging
Doing engineering work in some of the world’s fastest growing markets often involves cultural growing pains, the Engineering News-Record (New York) reports. Industry professionals shared some lessons they have learned, during a recent forum in Beijing co-sponsored by McGraw Hill Construction.
“Culture often trumps best practices and even the contract,” said Bill Van Wagenen, P.E., of CH2M HILL’s program to bring together U.S. military bases in Korea.
Spokespersons with experience in India noted that while labour is cheap there, competition is high for skilled workers. A firm involved in the Delhi airport development built a labour camp for 12,000 workers, which proved to be an effective strategy for keeping people on the job.
Nautilus and Neptune
Mine the Sea
Will the next great metals rush take place beneath the sea? That’s what Nautilus Minerals and Neptune Minerals are betting, reports Mining Engineering (Littleton, Colo.).
Nautilus of Toronto is focusing on gold, copper and zinc deposits off the cost of Papua New Guinea. It is the first company to explore for gold and copper sulfide deposits on the seafloor.
Meanwhile, Neptune Minerals of the U.K. is preparing its first mining application to explore off the coast of New Zealand. It is seeking deposits of high-grade copper, zinc and lead.
Excitement High
For Electric Car
The new electric roadster from Tesla Motors promises “pin-you-back-in-your-seat acceleration” — even though it’s “a plug-in that will never use a drop of gasoline,” says a story in USA Today (McLean, Va.).
The vehicle, which went into production this spring, can go from 0-to-96 km/h in “Ferrari-like 3.9 seconds,” the publication reports.
The key technological hurdle Tesla engineers had to overcome was to develop a reliable, safe and reasonably priced lithium-ion battery, similar to those used for laptop computers. The design uses more than 6,000 rechargeable laptop computer cells, equipped with numerous cooling channels. The battery pack is designed to power more than 160,000 km and operate in extreme temperatures.
Brazil and Russia
To Work Together
On Jets and Launchers
Brazil and Russia have agreed to work together to develop jet fighters and satellite launch vehicles, Associated Press reports. The agreement is expected to propel the development of fifth-generation jet fighters and rockets capable of launching various types of satellites into space.
Analysts say that although Russia has not been pro-active on technology transfer in the past, it may now be striving to beat France, which is undertaking similar initiatives.