{"id":451,"date":"2025-01-08T22:28:49","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T03:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/?p=451"},"modified":"2025-01-11T13:18:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T18:18:05","slug":"near-the-quarter-century-pole-2024-year-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/?p=451","title":{"rendered":"Near the Quarter Pole &#8211; 2024 Year in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"\">Approaching the 25-year mark of the 21<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0Century, let&#8217;s realize that we\u2019re pretty far in. Technological progress is all around but sometimes gets lost in the e-shuffle, unless we shine a light on it \u2026 like in our year-end review of engineering progress and prowess around the globe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong>EQUIPMENT<\/strong>:&nbsp;<em>THE CHESHIRE CATBOX&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;Alphabet\/Google\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/technology\/computing\/google-willow-quantum-computing-chip-solved-a-problem-the-best-supercomputer-taken-a-quadrillion-times-age-of-the-universe-to-crack\">progress in quantum computing<\/a>&nbsp;is an important indicator that the future of computing has wild possibilities. Their Willow chip announcement, with an advance in AI-informed algorithms for correcting quantum computing anomalies, cited impressive speeds. This has noteworthy implications for the pacing of development in the cybersecurity and fintech industries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>HEALTH<\/strong>:&nbsp;<em>FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;There was an explosion of academic discipline and structured energy in the study of aging and extending human healthy lifespan, as measured by the number of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grc.org\/systems-aging-conference\/2024\/\">conferences<\/a>&nbsp;for the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LongevityGlobal\">exchange of ideas<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prweb.com\/releases\/biomarkers-of-aging-consortium-announces-winners-of-prestigious-biomarkers-of-aging-challenge-302306709.html\">outputs<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>MATERIALS<\/strong>:&nbsp;&nbsp;<em>E-CYCLE<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;Reclaiming value from e-waste is an opportunity that is piling up. The UK\u2019s Royal Mint has waded in with a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c6p2k11e41po\">new capability for extracting gold<\/a>&nbsp;from e-rubbish in South Wales.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>ENERGY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><em>CAN\u2019T WaiT<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2024\/12\/28\/why-microsoft-amazon-google-and-meta-are-betting-on-nuclear-power.html\">Big Tech went nuclear<\/a>&nbsp;over rising demands for energy required to fuel its AI ambitions.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/09\/20\/nx-s1-5120581\/three-mile-island-nuclear-power-plant-microsoft-ai\">Microsoft wants Three-Mile Island<\/a>&nbsp;out of mothballs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sustainability.atmeta.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/03\/accelerating-the-next-wave-of-nuclear-to-power-ai-innovation\/\">Facebook seeks nuclear-capacity partners<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;It remains to be seen if this will push the greenward pace for energy or just add environmental risk to the current carbon trajectory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>CLIMATE<\/strong>:&nbsp;<em>OPENING THE SINK<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;Because countries are having difficulty meeting their carbon-reduction goals, CO2 sequestration efforts will have increasing importance. This year, we saw progress in different approaches: startup of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/climeworks.com\/press-release\/climeworks-switches-on-worlds-largest-direct-air-capture-plant-mammoth\">Climeworks carbon-capture plant<\/a>&nbsp;in Iceland.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aiche-cep.com\/cepmagazine\/november_2024\/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=2020321&amp;app=false&amp;cmsId=4228125#articleId2020321\">Wood \u2018vaulting\u2019<\/a>&nbsp;is talked-up as a twist on the tree-hugging perspective. And&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2024\/09\/24\/startups-are-using-rock-dust-to-make-agriculture-carbon-friendly.html\">sponging with olivine rock<\/a>&nbsp;is literally pitched on farms.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>TRANSPORTATION<\/strong>:&nbsp;&nbsp;<em>ELON-G FOR THE RIDE<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hI9HQfCAw64\">Video of the SpaceX Rocket booster return<\/a>, an impressive feat, was everywhere! Yet the global reach for the stars continues to be so close, and yet so far, as the pros\/cons of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/jaxa-slim-moon-lander-dead\">Japan SLIM moon mission<\/a>&nbsp;showed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>INFRASTRUCTURE<\/strong>:&nbsp;<em>DALI\u2019S BRUSH<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/baltimore-key-bridge-collapse-what-to-know-127d6ae38d63561ca4c1f18b3d508ba6\">Baltimore Bridge was destroyed by a wayward ship<\/a>, evidence of an aging and fragile physical framework in the United States. The tragedy was a reminder of the need for the US congressional infrastructure legislation that was enacted to shore up the systems that undergird this (aspiring-to-be) modern society.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">As 2025 rolls in, let\u2019s continue to advocate for positive Engineering impacts on communities, to compensate for any self-centeredness that may distract our species.&nbsp;&nbsp;And&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/\">we\u2019ll continue to spotlight<\/a>&nbsp;those brave advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Approaching the 25-year mark of the 21st\u00a0Century, let&#8217;s realize that we\u2019re pretty far in. Technological progress is all around but sometimes gets lost in the e-shuffle, unless we shine a light on it \u2026 like in our year-end review of engineering progress and prowess around the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"[\"title\",\"meta\",\"thumbnail\",\"content\",\"tags\",\"comments\"]","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16,17,5,9,13,11,10,14,15],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-year-in-review","tag-accomplishment","tag-assessment","tag-engineering","tag-engineeringearth","tag-innovation","tag-insights","tag-news","tag-progress","tag-year-in-review"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineeringearth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}