An international gathering of 36 student teams competed in the 2007 AIAA Design-Build-Fly competition. In its 11th year, the popular contest challenges student teams to build an unmanned, remote-controlled airplane to satisfy a series of constraints and flying tasks.

2007 Design-Build-Fly Winner from MITCourtesy of competition website

On this day (July 16) in 1945 the atomic age began, quite literally, with a bang. The Manhattan Project detonated the world's first atomic bomb in the 'Trinity' test. On the same day other notable and connected events occurred with implications for humanity and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

Trinity TestCourtesy of The Library of Congress

Who hasn't wondered at those magical curve balls that we see in sports such as tennis, soccer, baseball and most impressively in ping pong? Or been disappointed by a horrible slice in a game of golf? Of course, there is no magic, these are just examples of aerodynamics in action – the Magnus effect to be precise.

Magnus Effect on a Spinning Ball Moving in Air

The world water speed record (317mph or 511 km/h) is under assault from 3 teams. The defending world record holder, Ken Warby is up for the challenge, as are teams from the USA and the UK.

The new Scuderi Split-Cycle engine design concept promises increased efficiency and reduced harmful NOx emissions compared to the current generation of internal combustion engines found in most cars. Ironically, this new concept is a variation on the notoriously inefficient and polluting 2-stroke engine.

The wind turbine is the poster child for extracting energy from our environment. However, there are numerous other devices that range from the mundane, such as hydroelectric dams, to the downright scary, such as the Atmospheric Vortex Engine which is another word for a controlled (?!) tornado.

Hydroelectric TurbineCourtesy of United States Army Corps of Engineers

Micro (or personal) wind turbines are sprouting on the rooftops of many UK homes in an effort to defeat our addiction to fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Laudable goals, but most of these 'off-the-shelf' roof-mounted wind turbines struggle to generate enough electricity to power a single light bulb.

Micro Wind Turbine Mounted on a House

While clusters of horizontal-axis wind turbines are our primary weapon in the war to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to save the planet from the effects of global warming, there are other interesting wind turbine designs. Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT) come in a variety of shapes and sizes for those keen to take the path less travelled.

Darrieus Vertical-Axis Wind TurbineImage courtesy of FloWind

Today the most cost-effective means of capturing wind energy is a horizontal-axis wind turbine positioned on land or at sea in a proven windy area. Whether micro, personal or industrial – modern horizontal-axis wind turbines share the same basic features.

Wind TurbineLicense: CC BY 2.0, phault

Global warming concerns have launched a renewable electricity-generation boom with sleek wind-turbine farms on land and at sea playing a leading role. Yet capturing wind energy using windmills is an ancient science that pre-dates the use of electricity. The invention of the windmill is variously attributed to the Babylonians (circa 1700BC) and the Persians (circa 600-900AD); either way it is still an ancient machine.

Dutch Windmill in JapanLicense: CC BY-SA 2.0, Hisakuni Fujimoto