Top Engineering Achievements of 2012

HOWDID THEY DOTHAT? TOPENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENTS OF 2012 AS MILLIONS AROUND THE WORLD SAT GLUED TO THE STREAM OF FELIX BAUMGARTNER JUMPING FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE, HOW MANY OF THEM MARVELED AT THE MONUMENTAL ENGINEERING FEAT THEY WERE WATCHING? Achievement Impact FROM THIN AIR (PART1) A small company in northern England revealed technology that successfully creates gasoline using only air and electricity. OIL CONSUMPTION by country, top 10 The breakthrough could prove revolutionary in the battle against climate change and a 18949 watershed moment in the global energy crisis. 8924 4464 3426 2986 2793 2725 2400 2289 2230 United China Japan India Saudi Brazil Russia Germany Canada Korea States Arabia South Thousand barrels per day FROM THIN AIR(PARTI) Man jumps from edge of space to land safely on the ground. Daredevil skydiver Felix Baumgartner ascended 24.2 miles above the surface of the planet in a capsule, and then descended with nothing but parachutes, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier without the assistance of a motor. ALGAE TO BIODIESEL A breakthrough by a team from the University of Michigan sped the process for algae-based biofuels from 90 minutes to just 60 seconds. Researchers estimated that an area the size of New Mexico could rovide enough biofuel to match what the U.S. now consumes a year in gasoline. THE YEARLY GASOLINE CONSUMPTION IN THE U.S. IS ABOUT: 134 430 billion That's gallons gallons more per than person MINDPOWER Zac Vawter climbed the 103 floors of Chicago's Willis Tower with the help of a prosthetic leg that he ontrolled with his mind, the limb responding to electrical impulses from his hamstring muscles. Thought-controlled limbs are not new, but the focus on legs rather than hands may lead to safer artificial limbs for veterans, accident victims and those who have lost legs due to illness. ANYROOM? WEIGHT 460 tons Space X's Dragon docked at the International Space Station. With NASA's shuttle missions now a thing of the past, private companies have been hired to help ferry supplies to the space station and are expected to further expand their reach into the cosmos. SIZE About the ALTITUDE same as a 240 miles football above Earth field LET THE GAMES BEGIN ENGINEERING ATHLETICISM Organizers staged a massive production, the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London, one of the busiest cities in the world. Engineers and construction workers 700,000.000 2.1 million people crowded into Olympic venues in just the first three days of the two-week event. Man-hours between 2005 and 2013 E0.3 298.2 Miles of phone and Internet cables Miles of cable were laid underground crisscrossed the venues HI, MARS NASA's rover Curiosity landed safely on the surface of Mars. The rover daily beams back images of the Red Planet that are unlike anything earthlings have ever seen from one of our planets closest neighbors. Plus, there's always the chance Curiosity will reveal that there's life on Mars-and it has its own Twitter account. SOURCES The Associated Press / Huffington Post / The Telegraph / Energy Information Administration / Center for the Advancement of Science in Space HTTP://WWW.BESTONLINEENGINEERINGDEGREE.COM -------