The most talked-about engineering and geoscience stories of 2019

Vancouver Island’s hum can help predict next major earthquake

This story comes from New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. Recently published research shows how an artificial intelligence program was able to pick up a low-intensity hum throughout the Vancouver Island region. Underneath Vancouver Island is a massive tectonic plate known as Juan de Fuca. The ever-present hum indicates is a month-long, slow slip of the tectonic plate, as opposed to the massive shifts that cause earthquakes. The machine learning program was able to separate the low-intensity hum from other background noises in the area and was able to indicate how tracking the hum and the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate’s slow slip could predict a major earthquake. 

Liquid polymer learns to move and grab objects

This story came out of Finland’s Tampere University and Aalto University. A team of researchers from the two institutions developed a liquid crystal polymer that will move and grasp other objects depending on their colour. This research follows previous conditioning lab experiments conducted by the team, where they used conditioning methods to influence the actions of different materials using only light. Materials used for the polymer consisted mainly of plastic but also included liquid crystal molecules, allowing for flexibility and transformation. The purpose of this research is to further knowledge in soft robotics, a field that aims to mimic how human bodies interact with their environments. 

Why the Earth’s magnetic field twitches every few years 

This story came out of France’s Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and the Technical University of Denmark in Kongens Lyngby. The ruptures through the planet’s magnetic field were first observed in 1978, but a recent computer model developed by the two institutions demonstrated how the liquid metal at the core of the Earth (this liquid is also what creates a magnetic pull between the two poles) actually sloshes around, like liquid water being shaken in a bottle. Though it’s been previously observed that the liquid metal sometimes moves slowly in the Earth’s core, the computer model uncovered that, approximately every ten years, the liquid metal goes through a rapid convection, that seemingly shakes or possibly even moves the poles. It’s now being predicted that the poles could go through even more dramatic shifts, including collapsing or flipping polarity.

Coal power plant in Ontario now serving as a solar facility

PCL Construction partnered with the Ontario Power Generation, the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation to transform the Nanticoke Generating Station site into a 44-megawatt clean energy facility, hosting 192,431 solar panels. The former coal plant is located near Lake Eerie and its redevelopment comes one year after the 650-foot smokestacks were demolished and five years after the last piece of coal was burned in the facility. The pollution reduction from this development is the equivalent of removing 7 million cars from Ontario roads.

Spinal micro-implant restores mobility in paralysis patients

This story comes from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. Biomedical engineering specialist Dr. Vivian Mushahwar developed a microfibre that can be implanted in a person’s spinal column to restore function lost due to paralysis. Mushawar and her team developed a map of the spinal column to determine which segments control functions in different parts of the body, such as hips, knees and ankles. After multiple successful animal trials, human clinical trials are expected to begin within the next five years.

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