NASA satellite image of the oil slick from July 12, 2010

The New York Times is reporting that a cap placed yesterday on the exploded BP oil well appears to be holding steady. After the disastrous oil rig explosion on April 20 off the Gulf of Mexico, BP has struggled to find a solution to stop the deadly leak.

See this graphic for a timeline of previous attempts to cap the leak, and this video for views of the current containment apparatus.

Hopefully, engineers now can fully focus on cleanup efforts. Already researchers are pioneering new oil-water separation methods, and engineers like Eric Hoek are busy evaluating these technologies and putting them to good use.

Eric Hoek

In 2009 Professor Hoek started a research project at UCLA to evaluate technology designed by Ocean Therapy Solutions to see if it could treat oil-contaminated waters.

Professor Hoek and his team developed strategies to enhance the technology’s performance, and it successfully removed 99.99% of oil-in-water emulsions.

The team also developed oil-tolerant membranes that can reduce the oil concentration in waters while maintaining productivity, stability, and energy efficiency.

As a result of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred in April 2010, there is an immediate need for rapid oil-water separation technology.

Professor Hoek has made several trips to the Gulf region and has been working to deploy prototype systems to assist in the containment and clean-up efforts.

If you’re swimming in the surf this summer, don’t expect to see a lifeguard from Baywatch racing to save you from a riptide.

Instead, your rescuer may be EMILY: the 4 foot long robot lifeguard.

EMILY (EMergency Integrated Lifesaving lanYard) is a buoy that uses a sonar device to scan for underwater movements associated with swimmers in distress.

To reach drowning victims, the robot has an electric high-speed propeller that allows it to swim up to 28 mph, six times faster than a human lifeguard, and can overcome even the roughest water.

Not only that, but EMILY is outfitted with a camera and speakers so that the onshore lifeguard can calm the distraught swimmer and instruct him or her to hold onto the robotic buoy or wait for human help.  The robot can travel up to 80 miles on a single battery charge.

EMILY is currently patrolling Malibu’s dangerous Zuma Beach and by December will be guarding about 25 more.  The current version is operated by remote control, but the next model will be completely autonomous and save drowning victims without the aid of onshore lifeguards.

An increase in beach safety is certainly necessary: over 77,000 people were rescued by lifeguards at U.S. beaches in 2009.

Image: Hydronalix

Millions of fish and marine wildlife are dying as a result of the massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast.

What if there were ways to lead fish away from such dangers and direct them to safer waters?  It might be possible with the leadership of remote-controlled fish-like robots.

Maurizio Porfiri, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, used smart materials to create a robot that would be accepted by real fish as an equal and a leader. The new materials included “ionic polymers that swell and shrink in response to electrical stimulation from a battery, propelling the robot,” reports NYU Poly.

Real fish leaders beat their tails faster and accelerate to gain attention.  They also tend to be larger than their peers.  Taking these factors into account, Porfiri created a robot that moves silently and with the same movements of real fish.  However, it can’t yet dive or surface and it still requires batteries.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The goal is for these fish-like robots to lead real fish away from power plant turbines and similar dangers.  The same robot technology might be applied to birds, to direct them to safe wintering grounds, or even humans, to lead them to safe areas in the event of a fire or other disaster.

In other fishy news, a new blimp designed in Switzerland mimics the graceful movements of the rainbow trout. Using no engines or propellers, the Airfish is able to “swim” through the sky, keeping itself aloft with acrylic polymers connected by carbon electrodes. These materials deliver a charge that causes the blimp to expand and contract in a fish-like shimmy.  Now that’s one divine dirigible.

Here’s a video:

Images:
laszlo-photo/Flickr
NYU-Poly

Golf is one of the most popular sports in the world – in the United States alone there are over 15,000 golf courses. Yet, each year, 300 million golf balls go missing, with many ending up in bodies of water. One golf ball can take up to 1,000 years to decompose, and as it does, it slowly excretes a large amount of heavy metal zinc, a pollutant.

So, in an effort to make sports and leisure more environmentally friendly, the Spanish company Albus Golf has created the Ecobioball: a golf ball packed with fish food that dissolves within 48 hours of being in water.

The Ecobioball is meant for practicing drives into water and can be used on cruise ships, beaches, boats, at seafront hotels or resorts, and near reservoirs, lakes, or rivers.  Even though the balls can only be used once, the cost is considerably lower than the average golf ball.

Image: love♡janine/Flickr

Biomimicry is an exciting field of engineering that continually produces amazing designs.  We have reported on the robotic arm based on an elephant trunk, artificial honeybee silk, and biofuels inspired by frog foam.  Now biomimicry is tackling the problems of cargo ships.

For any mode of transportation, a heavier load increases fuel costs and emissions.  This is especially true for an ocean-traveling container ship, which uses massive amounts of energy to propel through water.

However, by mimicking the hydrophobic characteristics of the water fern, researchers at the University of Bonn believe they can design a more energy-efficient container ship.

The water fern is superhydrophobic, which means that it remains dry even when submerged under water for weeks, because it has small, fibrous hairs that keep a thin cushion of air close to the plant’s body that water cannot penetrate.

This occurs because the outermost tips of the hairs actually love water, and staple themselves to water molecules upon contact, causing a layer of air to become trapped between the plant and the tips of the hairs.

Researchers believe that a redesigned container ship with similarly hydrophobic hulls could cut fuel costs and emissions by ten percent, which is significant considering that global shipping is the cause of three percent of all man-made carbon dioxide emissions.

This isn’t the only recent use of biomimicry: researchers at the University of British Colombia have engineered a solid biomaterial that mimics the elasticity of muscle.

The biomaterial recreated the molecular structure of the protein titin and possesses high resilience at low strain, yet stronger resilience with increased strain, an important quality of real muscle tissue.

Researchers will be able to customize the muscle-like material to mimic different muscle types, and will be helpful in tissue engineering and other biotech pursuits.

Images:

Grantsviews / Flickr
JB London / Flickr

Here’s an idea that could give a boost to offshore energy plants: underwater kites that harness tidal energy. Water is almost 800 times denser than air, so capturing the its force could ultimately be even more efficient than using wind power.

Called Deep Green, the low-cost and low-impact kite captures tidal power ten times faster than the speed of the water it operates in, resulting in 1,000 times more energy gains.

The prototype, made by Swedish start-up Minesto, is expected to produce 500 kilowatts of power and could be combined with offshore wind farms, for a joint marine energy effort.

Watch as the sea kite powers a train set in this video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

[PopSci]

Image via Minesto

While containing last week’s oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico has proven increasingly difficult – scientists are now discussing giant domes, fire, and even mushrooms as solutions to tame the blaze- there’s also some good news about our oceans to share:

This week, the US federal government finally approved the nation’s first offshore wind farm project, after nine years of careful and at times contentious review. While the plan has been met with some opposition from locals who say the 400ft turbines would be a blight to the landscape, proponents of the project say that Cape Wind has the potential to bring in a new era of clean energy in the US.

The $1 billion project is planned to be built off the shore of Cape Cod in the Nantucket Sound, will stretch over 24 square miles, and will provide adjacent areas with over 75% of their energy needs. Approval of the Cape Wind farm puts the US back on par with Europe and China, who have already implemented similar projects.

Image: phault/Flickr

NASA satellite image showing an oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico

A rescue squad has been dispatched to help contain an oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico, but this time it’s not the Planeteers – it’s robots.

Since the explosion of a BP oil rig off the coast of New Orleans last week, oil has been leaking underwater at a rate of about 42,000 gallons of oil per day. To combat this hazardous situation, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard have deployed a team of robotic submarines. The bots will functioning in a similar capacity to NASA’s Robotnaut 2 (using dexterous limbs to operate controls), and their goal is to close off the leaking oil well by activating a large valve.

Captain Planet would be proud.

U.S. Coast Guard photo of a robotic arm at work underwater

Want more robots? Be sure to check out our post on National Robotics Week.

As you probably know already, today (Thursday, April 22) is Earth Day, which means it’s time to celebrate the achievements of environmental engineers everywhere.  So here’s a collection of news items highlighting the efforts of engineers to improve the state of our home planet. For more information about Earth Day events in your area, check the official Earth Day Network site.

Road Hogs

Farm power is back, and this time the pigs are on duty. Innoventor, a design and engineering firm, has teamed with researchers at the University of Illinois to develop a special reaction process that turns pig manure into biofuel. The swine fuel is being tested as a low-grade asphalt binder, and has been used to pave a stretch of highway  in St. Louis.

Students Design Eco-topia

Back in November, we blogged about the Future City design competition, and now the results are in. Congrats to the team from North Carolina’s Davidson IB Middle School, whose model for a self-sustaining city in Madagascar beat out over 1,000 entries, nabbing first prize. View more details of this amazing futuristic green city in the video above.

Ocean Update

Recently, there’s been a slew of exciting news in the field of ocean engineering. Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have created a new acoustic imaging system to allow scientists to view the ocean floor in high definition. Meanwhile, California has opened a large desalination plant that will soon make it possible for residents to drink water from the Pacific Ocean, and the Navy is testing a submarine engine that runs solely on power derived from ocean currents.

Earth to NASA

This year, NASA’s Earth Day gift might be the best of all: NASA Earth Exchange (or NEX, for short) is a colossal, 128-screen data-crunching monster, set to revolutionize our understanding of global climate change. Already, NEX has been able to “cobble together half-trillion-pixel snapshots of global vegetation change over the past 30 years in just ten hours,” reports PopSci, a task that would have usually taken months to compute.

Extra

We close with some stunning images of the recent volcanic explosion in Iceland – reminder of the awe-inspiring, often unpredictable forces of Planet Earth, and science’s ongoing efforts to understand and track them.

Pig Image: The Pug Father/Flickr

Your room wouldn’t get a lot of sun, but it would certainly have a great view.

This year, one of the standout entries for eVolo Magazine’s skyscraper design competition is a structure as a tall as the Empire State Building that extends deep underwater.

The imaginative building, also called a sub- or sea-scraper, was designed by Sarly Adre bin Sarkum of Malaysia and intended to contrast with the above-ground entries that dominated the competition.

The floating “seascraper” is designed to be completely self-sufficient. Green spaces would sit above the surface of the water and provide food and oxygen, while wind, solar, and wave power would be harnessed for energy. Underwater levels would consist of housing, work spaces, and recreational areas.

This year eVolo’s winning design was a prison in the sky where inmates work and live in a community that would contribute to the host city below. The prison would consist of agricultural fields, factories, and recycling plants operated by the offenders, in an attempt to reduce post-release crimes.

Second and third place went to a water purifying complex for Indonesia and a nest-like skyscraper for Tokyo, respectively (see the two images below). Check out more designs as well as the other winners here.

In other exciting architecture news, a new landmark and leader in green building standards is rising in the London skyline. The Strata, a new apartment complex set to open this year, is the world’s first skyscraper to incorporate large wind turbines in its structure. The turbines sit 42 stories up and are expected to generate about 8% of the building’s energy needs.

While it’s unclear whether we will see an Atlantis of seascrapers anytime soon, architects and engineers are clearly producing buildings that challenge our existing notions.

What about you? What kinds of changes and innovations would you incorporate into a future structure and why?

Look here for more amazing architecture

Images:

from eVolo Architecture Magazine

Strata images from supermoving/Flickr, Matt From London/Flickr

The Scarlet Knight might sound like the name of the next big superhero, but it’s actually the first robotic deep-sea glider to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Without the aid of a propeller, this craft “flew” through the water, all the while communicating with scientists via GPS:

“…It has no engine to provide forward thrust or motion. It descends by pumping a small volume of water – about a cup – into its nose, causing that part of the glider to sink relative to the tail. Because of the unequal buoyancy…the glider makes headway.”

It completed its trip in Spain on December 4th after over seven months at sea. Check out this dramatic video documenting the journey (there are sharks!):

Click here to view the embedded video.

The engineers behind Scarlet predict that in the near future many similar unmanned gliders will patrol the oceans, gathering important data such as the depth, salinity and current strength of earth’s waters. These measurements are vital to understanding the nature and pace of climate change, so perhaps Scarlet qualifies as a super hero after all.

[WashPost]

To read more about new tools for monitoring weather and climate change, see our recent article about floods and volcanoes.

Photo via Rutgers University

Colleges offer women engineering students sisterhood and support.

Coming into Virginia Tech’s engineering program, Angela Walker knew that as a woman, she would be in the minority. That’s why she chose to live in Hypatia, an all-female engineering community, her first two years. “Nothing can replace the ability to walk down the hallway and get help on homework,” says Walker, now a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. “If it weren’t for the network of people you meet through this program, many girls might feel intimidated to the point that they decide to drop out of engineering,” she says. “We empower each other.”

Programs like Hypatia make a difference. Many women in engineering programs report feeling isolated. That’s no surprise: Women make up 57 percent of the total undergraduate population but just 17 percent of engineering undergraduates. Engineering educators want those numbers to go up — not only to fill a serious engineer shortage in this country but also to diversify the profession. The more diverse an engineering team is, the greater the potential for creative ideas and solutions. That’s why schools like Virginia Tech and the Pennsylvania State University are doing everything they can to provide moral support for women engineering students.

Carly Petrarca admits that visiting engineering schools her senior year of high school was a little intimidating after all the hype she had heard about the lack of women in the field. But her confidence got a boost when she learned about Penn State’s Women in Engineering Program.

Starting with a three-day orientation before classes begin, the program puts together teams of female students and matches them with mentors, laying a foundation of support for their freshman year and beyond. “Even though women are a minority, the program is huge, and you don’t feel like you’re a minority at all,” Petrarca says.

Attending monthly meetings kept her on top of everything from study skills to building a résumé that eventually landed her an internship at Walt Disney World. Her mentor became a friend that she still e-mails for advice. Now a senior in industrial engineering and a mentor herself, Petrarca says the network also helped her through some rough spots: “The curriculum is definitely challenging, but having these resources, you’re constantly reminded not to give up.”

Support doesn’t always have to come through a formal program. At Tufts University, electrical engineering professor Karen Panetta is leading a team of undergraduate women from different engineering disciplines through several projects. They’re building a solar-powered car for the World Solar Challenge in Australia and have designed all-new solar-
energy systems for two historic lighthouses on Thacher Island off the coast of Massachusetts. The “Nerd Girls,” as they proudly call themselves, invite K-12 students to their campus to dispel myths about engineering. They have even inspired a reality TV show. “They are cool, hip young women,” Panetta says, “who show how having interdisciplinary interests in music, art, drama, dance, and sports — coupled with math and science — makes incredible engineers who can change the world.”

Photos by Ned Dishman

Tampa Bay area students worked closely with scientists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this summer to help scientists document and better understand the reproduction of staghorn coral in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Classified as federally threatened, staghorn coral reproduce only once a year, and the activity is difficult to observe because it lasts for only about 15 minutes in one evening.  Scientists had never documented the event in the Florida Keys before.

The students made numerous dives each night until the reproduction occurred, and they collected sperm and eggs released by the corals.  NOAA will use the sample to promote new coral growth and assist in recovering the species.

The students are participating through SCUBAnauts International, a nonprofit organization committed to educating 12- to 18-year-old students about the marine environment. Professional scientists and divers train SCUBAnauts students to meet the same qualifications as professional science divers. This training includes CPR, first aid, rescue diver training, oxygen administration and other skills. SCUBAnauts students have performed scientific dives in Hawaii, the Bahamas, Tampa Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys and other locations.

Learn more about environmental engineering

Earth’s last great frontier is its oceans, which cover 70 percent of the globe, yet are largely unexplored and only marginally understood. Ocean engineers are helping to open up, protect and put this mystery world to use. They combine civil, mechanical and electrical engineering with oceanography, mathematics, physics and materials science

Make a Difference!
We need to know where ocean pollution is — where it’s heading, and its source — if we’re going to clean it up. Ocean engineers design the sophisticated yet robust instruments need to track sea pollution. For example, British engineers recently developed a robotic fish — it resembles a bass — that will monitor pollution off the coast of Spain.

Did you know?
Nearly 95 percent of the oceans remain unexplored, mainly because of harsh underseas environments. But cutting-edge autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) designed by ocean engineers are capable of going to ever greater depths for long periods of time. The REMUS 6000 AUVs developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution can work 3.7 miles below the surface. It can monitor underwater environments, take samples and map the seabeds.

Where do they work?
Ocean engineers are involved in all things aquatic, from building on- and off-shore and underseas structures, to designing high-tech monitoring devices. The many industries that require their skills include: construction (Hatch Mott MacDonald, Schiavone Construction); dredging (Manson Construction); instrumentation (FarSounder, Ultra Electronics); robotic vehicles (Deep Ocean Engineering); coastal and environmental protection (Coastal Planning and Engineering Inc.), and fish farming (Marine Construction, Ocean Spar).

Meet an Engineer!
Hanumant Singh, who attended George Mason University and MIT, is a scientist at the Deep Submergence Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, where he develops underwater robotic vehicles. He often goes to sea with his robots to study a variety of oceanographic phenomena, including ancient shipwrecks.

COOL FACT: One of Singh’s hobbies is windsurfing. Not only is it fun, he says, but it is a good way of understanding the interactions at the water-sea interface.

Watch a video of Hanumant Singh:

Find out the latest ocean news!