Earthquake-Reducing Bacteria, Revolving Doors and Human Behavior, Engineering Sexiness, Shipbuilding, Space Oddity, Fab@Home, Phenomena Beyond Imagination, WowWee da Vinci and Bananas! Here are some quick takes of unique engineering projects, processes, circumstances and devices.

Designing a Dance Floor at Sea
When Macron Dynamics, a manufacturer of linear actuators and motion systems, was contacted by a major cruise line about designing a motion system aboard two cruise ships, the firm’s engineers were told the installation would take place aboard while the ships were at sea. Even more, the design challenge had to be met without Macron ever setting foot aboard the ships, as the vessels were continually operating cruises from ports on the opposite coast.

According to the company’s retelling of the story:

The project involved designing and installing a telescoping stage aboard two of the ship’s nightclubs. The stage would move across each nightclub’s dance floor, carrying performers and musical equipment. In addition, the dance floor had to remain flat and free from obstructions that could interfere with its regular use.

At their Horsham, Pa., facility, Macron designed the stage’s motion components using a modified version of its 14-Z belt driven linear actuator, a telescoping actuator that uses a stationary motor and a continuous loop belt. The flat belt, which is routed through the actuator’s drive system, allowed the system to be installed flush with the dance floor without interfering with passenger safety — the idea being to modify the actuator’s drive system to eliminate the continuous loop belt system and to route the belt through the actuator, which was to be concealed under the stage.

Therefore, a special mechanism had to be installed beneath the stage, according to Joe Baird at Macron. The mechanism lifts the belt out of the floor as the stage passes over that section of belt, feeds it through the actuator drive system, and then places the belt back into the floor as the stage continues.

With the design complete, Macron engineers began to assemble as many components as possible at the Horsham facility. When the time came to install the system on the telescoping stage, the assembled components and tools necessary to carry out the installation were shipped to the West Coast port.

Once aboard the cruise ships, grooves were fabricated into the dance floor to accommodate and conceal the belt, while the belt itself was dyed to blend with the dance floor. Macron’s engineers were able to put together a design that handles the weight of the performers on stage and remains smooth and accurate over the full range of motion.

Could Live Bacteria Reduce Earthquake Damage?
When earthquakes strike in sandy soil, the ground can turn to a liquid-like state that proves disastrous for buildings, a phenomenon called liquefaction. Now scientists hope to turn such sandy soils into solid rock by injecting live bacteria into the ground.

While civil engineers already know they can inject chemicals into loose soil to bind grains together, the chemicals are toxic.

A natural culture of Bacillus pasteurii along with oxygen and other nutrients causes calcium carbonate to form around sand grains, cementing them together, according to LiveScience. The structure of the soil is not changed; the gaps are simply filled in. Moreover, the culture is not toxic, according to Jason DeJong, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California at Davis, and colleagues. And it could be applied during or after construction.

The process has been tested only in a lab setting, however. A similar technique has been used to repair cracks in statues. The researchers plan to test the process on a larger scale if funding is provided.

Virtual Playground for Other-World Creators
Designing attractions to capture the attention of those online visitors is becoming big business as major corporations move to establish marketing footholds in 3-D virtual worlds such as “Second Life.”

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since San Francisco-based Linden Lab founded the online world in 2003, it has exploded in popularity and today is inhabited by a total of 4,214,731 people from around the globe.

“Second Life comes with a built-in interface to transform geometric shapes into just about anything, and users can take classes within the realm or use tutorials to beef up their object-building skills,” writes Alex Veiga of The Associated Press (via Wired).

Millions of Us is one of the growing number of digital design companies doing business in the popular online universe. Since launching in July, the firm has done projects for General Motors, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft and Intel. Other major companies that have established a presence in Second Life include IBM, Dell, CNet Networks and Adidas.

Why leave all the fun to the marketing mavens and professional designers? For those who might want to design an alternate world, Second Life may be the tool you need.

(Contributed by Fred White)

Leonardo and a Functional Ornithopter
Leonardo da Vinci’s 15-century vision of mechanical flight apparently never included fixed wings assisted by propellers or jet engines, but his chief inspiration was birds, reflected in drawings of a flying machine fashioned to stay aloft by flapping its wings. (See: Engineers Look to Nature for Inspiring New Tricks)

Robotics company WowWee shares a similar vision, as this month the entertainment products company plans to release a mass-produced, functional ornithopter, a device that flies in birdlike fashion — “in this case, a radio-controlled toy that mechanically flaps its Mylar wings,” according to The New York Times last month.

The inspiration for the functional ornithopter — besides Leonardo’s work — is an insect. This according to Sean Frawley, an aerospace engineering graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida and inventor of the toy, the FlyTech Dragonfly.

He is 22 years old.

Fab@Home for the CAD-Proficient Crowd
For those who want to replicate a broken part made of plastic, low-melting-point metal or some other materials, or for inventors who want to prototype at home, the Fab@Home kit may provide endless hours of pleasure and industry.

Evan Malone, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, has built a prototype of a 3-D printer in the Computational Synthesis Laboratory. Hod Lipson, Cornell University assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, calls this printer Fab@Home because a person can build his or her own from off-the-shelf-parts for about $2,300.

The person replicating parts or creating designs for small parts must use a CAD program to create a file to send to the Fab@Home unit, but “anyone can download plans from a Web site. The Fab@Home is open-source, permitting faster technology progress.

According to the Web site:

While the usual expectation is to make solid objects of epoxy or other quick-hardening plastic, the Fab@Home also deposits plaster, Play-Doh, silicone, wax (to make forms for casting), low-melting point metals and various other materials layer by layer. The build volume of the machine is roughly 8 inches cubed.

Estimated time to build a unit from a kit: 18-24 hours.

(Contributed by Fred White)

Engineers Already Knew This
The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the largest student-managed organization in the United States, asks: “Sexy? Engineering? Can the two possibly go together?”

As professional engineers already know, the answer is yes, engineering and science ARE sexy.

Nonetheless, NSBE Magazine is showcasing “the style and substance of the black engineering community” and “shining a light on a side of black engineers you’ve never seen before” with its “50 Sexiest Engineers” special issue, which the magazine hopes to be “a powerful promotional tool to show students, parents, educators and professionals a new way to define success.”

See a Sinking Ship? Call for Help?
If you’re out fishing on the ocean and you see what appears to be a sinking ship, do you immediately call for help? Almost always, yes; but not if it’s the FLIP SHIP.

FLIP stands for Floating Instrument Platform, and it is actually a huge specialized buoy, according to Nan Criqui at the University of California-San Diego.

Oh, and it really flips!

To study wave motion under the water surface, researchers at the University of California commissioned the building of a ship that resembles a normal ship when traveling to a research spot, but then sea water (which is heavier than air) fills the lower 300 feet of FLIP to make the pilot room and crew rooms jut up into the sky, according to UK’s The Sun. Twenty-eight minutes later, FLIP stands vertically and its working areas have risen as much as five stories into the air.

Scientists doing sound-in-the-sea experiments like using FLIP; it is a lot quieter than other boats because it doesn’t move so much. Scientists who study surface waves prefer FLIP because it gives them an experimental platform that is not affected by what they are trying to measure. (Video)

Strange Conversations No One Has Heard
The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) program, established at Princeton University in 1979 by aeronautical engineering professor emeritus Robert G. Jahn (then Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science), explored phenomena literally outside the imagination of most engineers: the ability of the conscious mind to directly influence the physical world.

Since the program’s inception, an interdisciplinary staff of engineers, physicists, psychologists and humanists has been conducting a comprehensive agenda of experiments and developing complementary theoretical models to enable better understanding of the interaction of human consciousness with physical devices, systems and processes common to contemporary engineering practices (i.e., reality).

Three weeks ago today, university staff dismantled the PEAR lab and, after 28 years, its doors were closed for good.

Engineering Ripe Bananas
Over the past five years, Chiquita has worked with consulting firm GEN3 Partners Inc. to figure out how to delay the banana’s ripening process. Bananas ripen more rapidly and delicately than many other fruits, as the yellow fruit interacts with carbon dioxide. They can turn from inedible green to yellow with overripe brown spots in just a week.

GEN3, a product innovation consulting company, researched ways to ship bananas in the perfectly ripe yellow state and keep them that way when they arrive at shops. The company found that the pharmaceutical industry had engineered plastics that regulate airflow in boxes and decided to apply that technology to the bananas. At Chiquita’s packaging plants, workers handpick the bananas heading to convenience stores and other non-grocery shops for their ideal size, color, shape and ripeness. The single bananas are laid on top of one another in boxes that are covered with a semi-permeable membrane that allows oxygen to pass through but controls the flow of carbon dioxide to delay ripening until the box is opened.

The firm, which works with companies in various industries including manufacturing, electronics and consumer packaged goods, turned to its network of more than 6,000 scientists, engineers and technical experts, Gregg Bauer, a vice president at GEN3 Partners, told The Boston Globe.

So you can now buy ripe bananas at convenience stores … and all it took was more than 6,000 scientists and engineers to invent a semi-permeable membrane that selectively excludes the flow of carbon dioxide while allowing oxygen to pass freely.

*3/15 UPDATE: Chiquita Brands International has agreed to a $25 million fine after admitting it paid terrorists for protection in a volatile farming region of Colombia.

Behavioral Patterns of People and Revolving Doors
Last year, TU Delft (The Netherlands) Civil Engineering student Ramon Landman recorded the behavioral patterns of people when using a revolving door. TU Delft, in partnership with revolving door manufacturer Boom Edam Group Holding, is aiming to develop the “Entrance of the Future” (10 to 15 years from now).

While enacting various possible user scenarios, 80 test subjects used a revolving door that was set up in a lab. Scenarios were enacted to imitate the various practical situations that arise when using a revolving door. For example, one such scenario involved a person using the revolving door while pushing a shopping cart.

Boon Edam questioned whether its entrances will still be the best solution in the future, or if technological developments will make new and better solutions possible. One problem that is expected to arise in the future is the fact that the increasing demand for high-capacity entrances will lead to continual growth of revolving door diameters, where the weight of the rotating door set will not only weaken the entire construction, but also jeopardize the safety of users. On top of that, growing diameters will also lead to design problems with the roof construction.

The results were meant to serve as the basis for a “simulation tool” for revolving doors and the “Entrance of the Future.”

Define ‘Snapped’: Lisa Nowak
You can’t have missed this recent story. In a fit of lovesick obsession, astronaut Lisa Nowak drove 900 miles earlier last month to confront a woman who she believed was her romantic rival for the affection of a space shuttle pilot. Navy Capt. Nowak, who spent 13 days on a shuttle mission to the international space station last summer, reportedly wore her astronaut diapers in her car as she sped to Florida. With her were a BB gun, a knife and pepper spray. At the airport, Nowak donned a wig and a trench coat and then tried to kidnap and assault the pilot’s girlfriend.

Nowak was caught, arrested and is now back in Texas and charged with attempted kidnapping with intent to inflict bodily harm or terrorize, burglary of a conveyance with a weapon, and battery. NASA announced last week that her assignment in the space agency’s astronaut corps ended last Thursday, though she remains an active duty naval officer.

All this from one of the few women in history who have been to outer space — a ridiculously accomplished woman who made it through electronic weapons school, has flown fighter jets, and earned a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering and a degree of aeronautical and astronautical engineer from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

Now she will be forever remembered as the nutty astronaut.

Space Oddity: The Pioneer Anomaly
For more than three centuries, the basics of gravity were understood pretty well. Newton described the force as depending on an object’s mass. Though it extends infinitely, gravity weakens with distance (specifically, by the inverse square of the distance). Einstein built on these givens in developing his theory of relativity.

Then, more than a decade ago, a researcher noticed something funny about two Pioneer spacecraft that were streaming toward the edge of the solar system — they weren’t where they should have been.

Launched 35 years ago, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to reach the outer solar system and return photos of Jupiter. Pioneer 11, which launched in April 1973, followed and also visited Saturn. After these historic encounters, NASA kept track of the drifting spacecraft, finally losing contact with Pioneer 11 in 1995 and Pioneer 10 in 2003.

Today scientists and engineers remain on course in their efforts to determine what caused the twin Pioneer spacecraft to apparently drift off course by hundreds of thousands of kilometers during their three-decade missions, according to New Scientist. Within a year, engineers and scientists expect to be able to decide whether this drift was caused by a fault on the spacecraft.

New Scientist reports:

The so-called “Pioneer anomaly” showed up in the tracking data as a tiny deceleration for both spacecraft, even though they were heading in different directions. It was as if the Sun’s gravity was pulling a little harder than Newton’s laws predicted.

In other words, in simplest terms, the tracking anomaly that sent the Pioneer space probes drifting hundreds of thousands of miles off course may mean that scientists have the theory of gravity all wrong.

The Engines of G