news 2024

Thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), civil engineers can inspect large-scale infrastructure more efficiently and cost-effectively, while also monitoring the progression of damage severity over time. A team of researchers has demonstrated the feasibility of an AI-driven method for crack detection, growth and monitoring, and will soon test it on the railway section between Zermatt and Brig in Valais Canton.

McGill study suggests a '30-minute city' is more attainable, though would still require urban design changes In the "15-minute city," a concept popularized in Europe, everything a resident might need on a daily basis is a short walk or bicycle ride away. A study by Transportation Research at McGill University (TRAM) suggests, however, that this model may not be easily achieved in large North American cities such as Montreal.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences have developed a novel solution for heat pumps. Using this new approach, companies can generate carbon-free process heat at temperatures of up to 200 degrees Celsius while also drastically reducing the number of different heat pumps required.

New evidence of one of the first cities in the Pacific shows they were established much earlier than previously thought, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU). The study used aerial laser scanning to map archaeological sites on the island of Tongatapu in Tonga. Lead author, PhD scholar Phillip Parton, said the new timeline also indicates that urbanisation in the Pacific was an indigenous innovation that developed before Western influence.