Category Archives: Engineering

Solved: the mystery of how Victorians built Crystal Palace in just 190 days

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Rapid assembly of structure for 1851 Great Exhibition in London was possible thanks to nut-and-bolt revolution

It was built at unprecedented speed to exhibit the British empire’s greatest treasures and manufacturing achievements to the world. Now, the mystery of how the Victorians managed to erect the Crystal Palace so quickly in 1851 has finally been solved.

Experts have discovered that the answer to this 173-year-old riddle lies in the first known use of standardised nuts and bolts in construction – a humble engineering innovation that would power the British empire and revolutionise the industrial world.

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Australian expert ‘over the moon’ to have helped rescue 41 men trapped by tunnel collapse in India

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Arnold Dix describes having to dig ‘100 millimetres at a time’ to save workers stuck in Silkyara-Barkot tunnel for 17 days

An Australian tunnelling expert has told of his part in the dramatic rescue of 41 Indian workers who had been trapped in a collapsed tunnel for 17 days.

Arnold Dix, a Melbourne specialist in underground transportation and infrastructure, is being hailed after his efforts helped save workers stuck inside a blocked tunnel in the Himalayan mountains.

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Tidal barrier proposal for Lincolnshire and Norfolk sets off wave of opposition

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Wildlife and environment groups condemn plan promising renewable energy for 600,000 homes

Plans for a renewable energy tidal barrier linking Norfolk and Lincolnshire have sparked fierce debate between scientists, wildlife charities and a port company CEO who is leading the project.

Entrepreneur James Sutcliffe, who has managed and advised port companies in Sierra Leone and Bangladesh, has now set his sights on the Wash, which is the sea, mudflats and salt marsh between the two counties.

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Engineering the future: meet the Africa prize shortlist innovators

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Turning invasive plants into a force for good and powering healthcare with solar – here are three of the 2022 nominees

From a solar-powered crib that treats jaundiced babies to fibre made from water hyacinth that absorbs oil spills, innovators from nine African countries have been shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s 2022 Africa prize.

This year half of the shortlist of 16 are women, and for the first time it includes Togolese and Congolese inventors. The entrepreneurs will undergo eight months of business training and mentoring before a winner is chosen, who will receive £25,000, and three runners-up, who win £10,000 each. All the projects are sustainable solutions to issues such as access to healthcare, farming resilience, reducing waste, and energy efficiency. The Guardian spoke to three of the shortlisted candidates.

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‘I get nightmares’: Turks fear impact of Erdoğan’s $65bn Istanbul canal

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The louder opposing voices grow, the more determined the president becomes to go ahead with his ‘grand fantasy project’

There isn’t usually a lot going on at the Sazlıdere dam north-west of Istanbul, one of several reservoirs providing the megacity with fresh water. Yet this week the calm expanse of forest, farms and marshland was at the centre of the latest battle of narratives in Turkish politics.

On Saturday, President Recep Tayip Erdoğan is due to attend a ceremony here for an element of the biggest and boldest of the construction megaprojects that have come to define his two decades in office: his “crazy” Istanbul canal.

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Cloud spraying and hurricane slaying: could geoengineering fix the climate crisis?

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Around the world, dozens of ingenious projects are trying to ‘trick’ the ocean into absorbing more CO2. But critics warn of unforeseen consequences

Tom Green has a plan to tackle climate change. The British biologist and director of the charity Project Vesta wants to turn a trillion tonnes of CO2 into rock, and sink it to the bottom of the sea.

Green admits the idea is “audacious”. It would involve locking away atmospheric carbon by dropping pea-coloured sand into the ocean. The sand is made of ground olivine – an abundant volcanic rock, known to jewellers as peridot – and, if Green’s calculations are correct, depositing it offshore on 2% of the world’s coastlines would capture 100% of total global annual carbon emissions.

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Footage shows debris from China’s largest rocket falling to Earth – video

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The remnants of China’s largest rocket plummeted back to Earth, plunging into the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, according to Chinese state media and people in Oman and Jordan who captured footage of its light in the sky.

Most of the rocket debris burned up in the atmosphere, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office

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Old-school Stellantis car factories gear up for the shock of electric

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Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant is one of many whose future lies in the hands of the merged auto giant

Carlos Tavares is an unashamed petrolhead, with a rally-racing hobby that harks back to an earlier automotive age. Yet carmakers like Stellantis, which he leads, and its rivals have had to set aside affection for roaring internal combustion engines as environmental rules set the limits for the industry.

Stellantis was formed in January in a €50bn (£43bn) merger between France’s Peugeot and Italian-American Fiat Chrysler, in one of the clearest responses to the Tesla-driven electric revolution: the merger will allow them to share expensive investments in battery technology.

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The good neighbour who wants to iron out the problems of the weekly wash

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A low-tech washing machine offers a way to wash where there is limited access to power and running water

With a plastic drum, plywood and a few secret components, a London-based engineer has created a rudimentary washing machine that he says will ease the workload for families with little power or water.

Nav Sawnhey has designed a £24 crank-handled machinefor people in places without reliable, affordable power.

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Spring-heeled: concept that could see Usain Bolt rocket to 50mph

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Prototype of revolutionary running device being worked on by scientists at US university

A wearable spring-based contraption that attaches to the legs has the potential to boost human running speeds by 50%, according to researchers who hope to build the first prototype over the next year.

Scientists came up with the concept after computer models showed that it was possible to dramatically increase the amount of energy people put into each running step by enabling them to do work when their feet are in the air.

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Catastrophic failure of Ukraine jet in Iran suggests missile strike

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Experts say debris fragments and sudden loss of fail-safe systems point to missile

To civil aviation professionals, including pilots, engineers and former crash investigators, there was something immediately puzzling about the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet that fell burning out of the sky minutes after takeoff from Tehran.

Conversation on forums, and in a risk assessment that was rapidly produced by the organisations OpsGroup, pointed to the sudden and catastrophic nature of the event, including the loss of both communications and tracking systems.

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Fraud fighters and bamboo bikes: the African innovators driving change

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Software for fighting cybercrime in Ghana and tools for speeding up cervical cancer diagnosis in Uganda are among innovations recognised by the judges of this year’s Africa prize

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa prize, now in its sixth year, is the continent’s biggest award for engineering innovation. Sixteen African inventors from six countries – including, for the first time, Malawi – have been shortlisted to receive funding, training and mentoring for projects intended to revolutionise sectors ranging from agriculture and banking to women’s health. The winner will be awarded £25,000 and the three runners-up will receive £10,000 each.

This year’s inventions include facial recognition software to prevent financial fraud, a low-cost digital microscope to speed up cervical cancer diagnosis, and two separate innovations made from water hyacinth plants. Four inventors spoke to the Guardian about their innovations and their plans to change Africa for the better.

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Maths and tech specialists need Hippocratic oath, says academic

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Exclusive: Hannah Fry says ethical pledge needed in tech fields that will shape future

Mathematicians, computer engineers and scientists in related fields should take a Hippocratic oath to protect the public from powerful new technologies under development in laboratories and tech firms, a leading researcher has said.

The ethical pledge would commit scientists to think deeply about the possible applications of their work and compel them to pursue only those that, at the least, do no harm to society.

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Marker Wadden, the manmade Dutch archipelago where wild birds reign supreme

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A silted-up lake has been transformed into the latest addition to the map of the Netherlands – and an eco-haven teeming with wildlife

It takes about an hour on the ferry, across often choppy waters, to reach the newest bit of the Netherlands. For those sailing in from the port of Lelystad, the first sign of the Marker Wadden is a long finger of sand dunes designed to protect against flooding.

“You see the cormorants, the black birds?” asks the environmentalist Roel Posthoorn, pointing skywards.

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Brian Grace obituary

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My father, Brian Grace, who has died aged 88, overcame early disadvantages to forge a life revolving around his family, his work as an engineering inspector, and the betting shop – not always in that order.

The son of Fred Grace, a bus driver with London Transport, and Lillian (nee Turpin), an advertising model, Brian was born in Battersea, south-west London, with disabilities that required a series of operations on his leg and foot.

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Michigan students unveil inventions for veterans

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College students have created devices they say will improve the quality of life for disabled veterans and others with impairments. Seniors from Lawrence Technological University and University of Detroit Mercy presented devices like detachable drive units for manual wheelchairs, accessible sink installations, a harness for those who uses walkers and a leg flexure for a veteran with edema.

Five Unanswered Questions About the FIU Bridge Collapse

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Bridges don't usually crumble into dust. So when a pedestrian walkway at Florida International University collapsed Thursday, killing six people and crushing eight cars, people were rightly horrified and confused.

Big Things on the Horizon for FWH Associates, P.A.

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The Toms River-based engineering firm announces two new projects and celebrates the recent achievements of its Director of Engineering Consulting, Georgette Kyriacou. Georgette Kyriacou, Director of Engineering Consulting at FWH Associates, P.A., is the recipient of the 2017 NJBA Rising Star Award and the 2016 Jack Meyer Memorial Rookie of the Year Award.