engineering

Usually, the drag race comes after the new muscle cars hit the road, not while they're still on the drawing board. But in a tech presentation in Detroit this week, Chrysler showed off a computer-aided modeling system it developed in-house that it says let the company bring its Challenger from concept to market in just 21 months, quicker than Chevrolet did its similarly muscular Camaro.

This has been a good week for sonic physics. First came reports that scientists used sound waves to create a sonic black hole. Now, it seems that a different group of scientists have used specially calibrated sound waves to create something almost as cool: a sonic laser.

The lasers most people are familiar with are formed from beams of light with identical wave structures, added together to form one giant, coherent wave. The saser, created by scientists from the University of Nottingham, England, works the same way, but with correlated sound waves instead of light waves.

Inspired by designs created by his father decades ago, Jared Potter is building an arsenal of ultra-powerful flame-jet drills. As seen in the NatGeo video above, one prototype directs a jet of burning hydrogen at 3200°F against a slab of solid granite.

Name: Oasis of the Seas
Where: Florida
Cost: $1.2 billion
Estimated Completion: This year
The Challenge: Build an 18-story-tall superliner with more outdoor space

When the Oasis of the Seas sets sail later this year, it will claim the record for biggest passenger ship, with space for 6,300 passengers, 2,000 more than any other ship. But it will also claim the most rooms with balconies, the biggest onboard swimming pool, and the first at-sea, tree-filled, outdoor park.

Name: Burj Mubarak al Kabir
Where: Kuwait
Cost: $7.37 billion
Estimated Completion: 2016
The Challenge: Erect a 3,300-foot building that’s strong enough to withstand 150mph winds

Name: Perdido Spar
Where: Gulf of Mexico
Cost: Undisclosed
Estimated Completion: First oil, 2010; all wells online, 2016
The Challenge: Moor a skyscraper-size floating rig to the seafloor, then drill the world's deepest subsea well

Two hundred miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas, below 10,000 feet of water and another 9,000 feet of mud, salt and rock, lies Shell Oil's most ambitious new target, a swath of seabed the size of Houston that holds enough oil and natural gas to produce up to 130,000 barrels a day.

Name: Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Crossing
Where: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Cost: $817 million
Estimated Completion: 2012
The Challenge: Construct the world's tallest arch bridge on a bed of sand

Name: Alternative Multifunctional Underground Space
Where: Amsterdam
Cost: $14.4 billion
Estimated Completion: 2028
The Challenge: Hollow out 900 million cubic feet of earth to make a watertight underground urban oasis

Name: Gotthard Base Tunnel
Where: Swiss Alps
Cost: $8 billion
Estimated Completion: 2017
The challenge: Dig the longest tunnel ever, perfectly level, through the base of the Alps