With the pandemic fading into distant memory, 2023 seemed more like a ‘normal’ year. Yet, engineering progress continues to gain in speed and intensity. This list of major 2023 Engineering impacts underscores that ‘classic’ motivations can drive new progress.
- EQUIPMENT: WAR(P) SPEED Defense investments continue to spur engineering innovation, Russia has unleashed a new level of hypersonic missiles, with Ukraine evolving to try to blunt their impact. Hypersonic capabilities are a hot area of geopolitical military competition.
- MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY: OPEN THE POD BAY DOOR, HAL Elon Musk’s Neuralink initiated a clinical trial to perform surgery for robotic installation of a computer-to-brain interface with potential to help paralyzed patients move.
- HEALTH 1: GENE EDITING MATURES The first marketed product was approved which uses CRISPR gene-editing approach. It modifies the human genome as a treatment for sickle-cell disease. This is the first of likely many examples of humans purposely retooling their own bodies at the molecular level.
- HEALTH 2: ACKNOWLEDGING THE OBVIOUS New obesity treatments went mainstream. The GLP-1 inhibitors transitioned from diabetes treatments to weight-reduction. And they’re trending to becoming metabolic lifestyle drugs. The clamor for access to them underscores the need and desire, particularly in the US, to do something about BMI-related risks to human health. This class of drugs seems to be tracking toward the level of significance last achieved by the statins. Yet, the impact on other bodily functions, including cardiac, remain to be studied further.
- ANALYTICS: DARK MATTERS The July 2023 launch of the ESA’s Euclid Telescope gives us another tool to help understand the universe in which we float. Euclid’s capacity to process wide-angle images surpasses the Webb telescope and will fuel new calculations on just how much matter is really out there.
- CLIMATE: NEXT STEPS There was another ‘talk-fest’ at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28. And new Tesla promises to build gigafactories in Mexico and China, along with a car engine that doesn’t use rare-earth elements. On the ground, Humans continue to grapple with making real changes to live in their warming environment. The urgency felt in Arizona, including planning for a desalination plant in Mexico to slake their thirst is a useful example of how to think creatively and act across borders for the common good.
- AUTOMATION: FaiT ACCOMPLI ??? Focus and suitable worry continue to build about the (potentially uncontrolled) speed of progress in Artificial Intelligence. ChatGPT-4 goes subscription model. Judges thump lawyers for including false AI-generated case citations. And ‘Terminator’ OpenAI melts down into a new business model and delivers a shock to the competitive system. It doesn’t seem that this area will fall off our radar anytime soon.
- TRANSPORTATION 1: SPECIAL DELIVERY In September, NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex mission delivered its payload to Earth: a sample of material from nearby asteroid Bennu.
- TRANSPORTATION 2: DIVING DEEP While our progress and attention is often toward the stars, and how to reach them, the OceanGate Titan failure in its attempt to streamline ocean-floor access is a cautionary tale. The laws of physics cannot be disregarded, even if material science gets more creative.
- INFRASTRUCTURE: BUILDING ARTS Opening of the Perelman Performing Arts Center in NYC showcases achievement of the triple threat: noble goals, artistic creativity, and technical marvel. Amongst a list of darker news, the light offered from this accomplishment radiates.
As we move into 2024, let’s visualize and deliver a positive Engineering impact, to compensate for the negative drivers of greed, sloth, and narrow-mindedness. And we’ll continue to amplify that notable news from colleagues across the globe.
