Year: 2025

A team of engineers from Australia and China has developed a sponge-like device that can extract drinkable water from the air, even in low humidity conditions where traditional methods like fog harvesting and radiative cooling typically fail. Powered entirely by the sun, the innovation offers a promising solution for water scarcity in remote or disaster-affected areas.

Designed by researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne and five Chinese institutions, the device functions effectively across a wide range of environmental conditions, including humidity levels between 30% and 90% and temperatures from 5 to 55 degrees Celsius.

What once required a team of engineers physically pushing car chassis through factory assembly lines is now handled entirely in simulation. At BMW, digital twins—virtual replicas of entire factories—allow engineers to test and refine production processes long before a single piece of machinery is installed. This shift is part of a larger transformation happening in manufacturing, driven by what’s now being called the industrial metaverse.

While consumer visions of the metaverse have faltered, the industrial application of these technologies is thriving. The industrial metaverse—an ecosystem of interconnected simulations, sensors, 3D models, and augmented reality—offers manufacturers the ability to virtually plan, test, and optimize physical processes in a digital environment. According to the World Economic Forum, the industrial metaverse is expected to reach a global market value of $100 billion by 2030.

Set against the star-filled skies of Chile’s Atacama Desert, UT4—one of four 8-meter telescopes at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) array in Paranal—stands as a technological marvel. With its advanced adaptive optics system, UT4 delivers images so sharp they rival those captured from space.

At night, beams of light erupt from UT4’s dome, slicing through the darkness. These beams originate from the 4 Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF), which allows the telescope to create artificial stars high above the Earth. The lasers excite sodium atoms located about 90 kilometers up in the atmosphere, causing them to glow. These glowing spots act as reference points, or “guide stars,” allowing astronomers to measure how Earth’s atmosphere distorts incoming light.

LEAP 71, a company focused on computer-aided engineering, is expanding its computational development platform to design rocket engines capable of generating thrust in the meganewton range. Building on successful trials of smaller engines, the company is now developing two new reference propulsion systems: the 200 kN XRA-2E5 aerospike engine and the 2000 kN XRB-2E6 bell-nozzle engine.

At the core of this initiative is “Noyron,” a generative development model that encodes engineering logic into software. This model automates the creation of manufacturable rocket engine designs, including complex turbomachinery components necessary for engine functionality.