Hacker News with Generative AI: Engineering

Tensegrity (wikipedia.org)
Tensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression inside a network of continuous tension, and arranged in such a way that the compressed members (usually bars or struts) do not touch each other while the prestressed tensioned members (usually cables or tendons) delineate the system spatially.
Show HN: AI for Building Design, Planning, and Permitting (spacial.io)
With AI-generated Structural & MEP Plans — reviewed, stamped by licensed engineer, and ready to submit.
A new class of materials that can passively harvest water from air (seas.upenn.edu)
A serendipitous observation in a Chemical Engineering lab at Penn Engineering has led to a surprising discovery: a new class of nanostructured materials that can pull water from the air, collect it in pores and release it onto surfaces without the need for any external energy.
The Ingredients of a Productive Monorepo (swgillespie.me)
So! Suppose you’re an intrepid engineer in a nascent Developer Productivity team. Your engineering organization has decided that it wants to move towards a monorepo. You’ve heard the stories told of Google, Meta, Uber - each a large technology company with developer productivity organizations consisting of hundreds of engineers - and you want to capture some of their magic in a bottle and give it to your users. You wonder - what work lies ahead of you?
Worlds first petahertz transistor at ambient conditions (news.arizona.edu)
A team of scientists, including researchers from the University of Arizona, are working to make that possible.
Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) (2024) (sebokwiki.org)
On behalf of the Editorial Board, the Governing Board, and our authors and sponsors, welcome to SEBoK version 2.11.
My Incorrect Bias About Corporate Engineers (inessential.com)
Before I went to work for Audible (five years ago now — time flies!) I had a bias about engineers that worked for large corporations. I assumed that they weren’t as good as indies and engineers at small companies, or else they’d actually be indies or work at small shops like Omni.
Types of optical systems in a lens designer's toolbox (2020) (pencilofrays.com)
As an optical lens designer, there were times I used to think that “I can get the performance that I need for this system with the software, but I want to understand what I am doing”.
Japan and the Birth of Modern Shipbuilding (construction-physics.com)
During WWII, the US constructed an unprecedented shipbuilding machine. By assembling ships from welded, prefabricated blocks, the US built a huge number of cargo ships incredibly quickly, overwhelming Germany’s u-boats and helping to win the war. But when the war was over, this shipbuilding machine was dismantled. Industrialists like Henry Kaiser and Stephen Bechtel, who operated some of the US’s most efficient wartime shipyards, left the shipbuilding business.
Into The Tunnel: The secret life of wind tunnels (jordanwtaylor2.substack.com)
The NASA Ames low speed open wind tunnel is a cavern: A vast 120 foot wide yawning gulf, its ceiling studded with lights, it makes humans look puny & insectile. In its centre, a rotating disc holds full size aircraft or trucks. Shadow swallows the rear as the cylcopian duct disappears into a bank of colossal fans, relentlessly grasping. Up front, a huge grid shapes and straightens the air as it builds past gale force to 115 miles per hour.
Startup enables 100-year bridges with corrosion-resistant steel (news.mit.edu)
Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT PhDs, is tripling the lifetime of bridges and other structures with a new technology that uses a stainless steel cladding to make rebar resilient to corrosion.
32 bits that changed microprocessor design (ieee.org)
In the late 1970s, a time when 8-bit processors were state of the art and CMOS was the underdog of semiconductor technology, engineers at AT&T’s Bell Labs took a bold leap into the future.
How Japan Invented Modern Shipbuilding (construction-physics.com)
After the war, practitioners brought them to Japan, where they would continue to evolve, eventually allowing Japan to build ships faster and cheaper than almost anyone else in the world.
Ask HN: Engineering Statics and Dynamics book recommendation (ycombinator.com)
Hey HN, I'm trying to learn how to analyze static structures for a project I'm building! I'd love a good grounded introduction book for engineering statics and dynamics!
A broken thruster jeopardized Voyager 1, but engineers executed a remote fix (npr.org)
Earlier this year, NASA mission controllers faced a challenging decision that could have marked the end of Voyager 1's decades-long journey.
A broken thruster jeopardized Voyager 1, but engineers executed a remote fix (text.npr.org)
Earlier this year, NASA mission controllers faced a challenging decision that could have marked the end of Voyager 1's decades-long journey.
Lightweight plastic mirrors drop cost of solar thermal energy by 40% (newatlas.com)
Researchers in Australia are working on a way to lower the cost of producing solar thermal energy by as much as 40% with the help of shatterproof rear-view mirrors originally designed for cars.
We need 'revolutionary' cooling tech (bbc.com)
Climate change is making staying cool more challenging
Tallest Wooden Wind Turbine (modvion.com)
We build wind turbine towers. In wood.
$30 Homebrew Automated Blinds Opener (2024) (sifter.org)
In the spirit of my thermostat and dishwasher controller, I managed to cobble together a decent blinds opener in a short weekend almost entirely from spare parts on hand.
Why the Boeing 777X Won't Have Engine Chevrons (jalopnik.com)
You may have noticed them on certain planes when looking out the terminal windows — a kind of shark-toothed look on the back of some planes' engines. Commercial airplanes, outside of their livery, are designed for function, not aesthetics, so those shark teeth must serve some kind of purpose, right? In fact, they do: Called engine chevrons, they reduce jet engine noise, which can be pretty deafening.
NASA's Voyager 1 Revives Backup Thrusters Before Command Pause (nasa.gov)
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have revived a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft that had been considered inoperable since 2004.
We Know Why Ancient Roman Concrete Lasts Thousands of Years (sciencealert.com)
The ancient Romans were masters of building and engineering, perhaps most famously represented by the aqueducts. And those still functional marvels rely on a unique construction material: pozzolanic concrete, a spectacularly durable concrete that gave Roman structures their incredible strength.
What Is Dating Like in Starbase (SpaceX HQ) by SpaceX Engineer? (ianbrown.substack.com)
When dealing with a tough problem, the best thing one can do is describe it in as much detail as possible.
Voyager 1's Primary Thrusters Revived Before DSN Command Pause (hackaday.com)
As with all aging bodies, clogged tubes form an increasing issue. So too with the 47-year old Voyager 1 spacecraft and its hydrazine thrusters. Over the decades silicon dioxide from an aging rubber diaphragm in the fuel tank has been depositing on the inside of fuel tubes. By switching between primary, backup and trajectory thrusters the Voyager team has been managing this issue and kept the spacecraft oriented towards Earth.
Ed Smylie, Who Saved the Apollo 13 Crew with Duct Tape, Dies at 95 (nytimes.com)
Robert “Ed” Smylie, the NASA official who led a team of engineers that cobbled together an apparatus made of cardboard, plastic bags and duct tape that saved the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 after an explosion crippled the spacecraft as it sped toward the moon, died on April 21 in Crossville, Tenn. He was 95.
NASA keeps ancient Voyager 1 spacecraft alive with Hail Mary thruster fix (theregister.com)
NASA has revived a set of thrusters on the nearly 50-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft after declaring them inoperable over two decades ago.
Improving Naval Ship Acquisition (construction-physics.com)
US Naval vessels today regularly take far longer to build than scheduled, and greatly exceed their already-high cost estimates.
NASA's Voyager 1 Revives Backup Thrusters Before Command Pause (nasa.gov)
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have revived a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft that had been considered inoperable since 2004.
NASA's Voyager 1 Revives Backup Thrusters Before Command Pause Science (nasa.gov)
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have revived a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft that had been considered inoperable since 2004.