Tracking the Cracks

Roland Piquepaille writes "Israeli physicists from the Weizmann Institute have used a new approach to study how materials break. In a short news release, brilliantly titled "Breaking news", they explain their new method for analyzing the progression of a forming crack. The news release even says that it could have help engineers predict 'exactly how much pressure the levees protecting New Orleans could withstand before giving way.' This method could be used by engineers and material scientists in a vast variety of applications."

Comments

Categorical Denial

[Doc Ruby]

Yes, because the problem in New Orleans was the precision of measuring the inadequate levees. It couldn't possibly be that the Federal Corps of Engineers built levees that , then claimed they failed because they weren't designed to stand a category 5 hurricane.