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Engineering News 25 July 2025 - 11 November 2025

China’s Hongqi Bridge on G317 Partially Collapses in Sichuan After Slope Failure; No Injuries Reported (Nov. 11, 2025)

China’s Hongqi Bridge on G317 Partially Collapses in Sichuan After Slope Failure; No Injuries Reported (Nov. 11, 2025)

A section of the Hongqi Bridge on National Highway 317 in Maerkang, Sichuan province, partially collapsed on Tuesday following a mountain slope failure; local authorities said no casualties were reported. China Daily Police had already shut the 758‑meter bridge to all traffic on Monday after cracks and terrain shifts were detected nearby; worsening conditions on Tuesday triggered landslides that brought down approach spans and the roadbed, according to an official notice. Reuters The route forms part of a key overland link between China’s interior and Tibet, amplifying the regional transport impact of the disruption. Reuters Construction of the bridge was
11 November 2025
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Superwood vs Steel: How This “10x-Strong” Wood Could Revolutionize Construction

Superwood vs Steel: How This “10x-Strong” Wood Could Revolutionize Construction

What is Superwood and Who’s Behind It? “Superwood” is not a sci-fi material but the latest engineered timber from InventWood, a Frederick, MD startup. Based on a breakthrough by Prof. Liangbing Hu (Univ. of Maryland), Superwood is ordinary wood (or even bamboo) transformed into a super-strong material timesofindia.indiatimes.com inc.com. After Hu’s 2018 Nature paper on transparent wood, he spent years refining the process. In 2021 InventWood spun out of academia, and today it holds 140+ patents on wood densification. InventWood CEO Alex Lau says the treated wood “behaves like wood but is much stronger and lighter,” envisioning buildings that are
14 October 2025
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Engineer Turns Disposable Vape into Blazing-Fast Web Server with Only 24KB Memory

Engineer Turns Disposable Vape into Blazing-Fast Web Server with Only 24KB Memory

Unlikely Web Server: A Vape Pen’s Hidden Computing Power Disposable vape pens are usually seen as trash once the nicotine runs out, but inside they often hide surprisingly capable electronics. Bogdan Ionescu – an engineer and hobbyist known as “BogdanTheGeek” – discovered this when he cracked open some “fancier” vape models. Instead of the typical mystery “blob” IC, he found a marked chip from Puya (a Chinese chipmaker) tomshardware.com. It turned out to be a Puya PY32F002B microcontroller: a tiny Arm Cortex-M0+ running at 24 MHz with 24 KB of flash storage and 3 KB of RAM tomshardware.com. These specs are not stellar
17 September 2025
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Space Junk Gold Rush: Inside the 2025–2032 Race to Clean Up Earth’s Orbit and Cash In on Sustainability

Space Junk Cleanup Breakthrough: Ion Engine Exhaust Could Blast Debris Out of Orbit

The Ion Engine Exhaust Method: Blasting Debris with Plasma In this novel concept, a cleanup satellite approaches a piece of orbital debris and fires a stream of plasma (electrically charged gas) from an ion thruster to gradually slow the object’s orbital speed space.com. Slowing an object causes its orbit to decay; eventually it reenters the atmosphere and burns up harmlessly. The key innovation by Kazunori Takahashi of Tohoku University is a bi-directional plasma thruster that solves a fundamental problem: when you shoot an ion beam one way, Newton’s third law pushes your spacecraft the opposite way space.com. Takahashi’s design mounts
16 September 2025
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Mach 2 Marvels: The Epic Saga of Dassault’s Mirage Fighter Jets

Mach 2 Marvels: The Epic Saga of Dassault’s Mirage Fighter Jets

In 1958, the Mirage III became the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in level flight. The Mirage IIIC entered French service by 1961. The Mirage F1 first flew in 1966 and could land about 60 knots slower than the Mirage III. The Mirage 2000 first flew in 1978 and introduced fly-by-wire control with the Snecma M53-P2 engine delivering 64 kN dry and 95 kN with afterburner. The Mirage 4000 first flew in 1979 as a twin-engine “Super Mirage” with canards and a potential load up to 8 tons, but only one prototype was built and it
25 July 2025
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