Primed for Growth

摘要

Technology drives social change. Although the pace and direction of the change can't be predicted, new technology certainly will affect human behavior. In the case of ferries, better and less expensive vessels will serve both operators and customers, and success will lead to success. Innovative technologies and designs are a key part of that success, and exploring these frontiers has been eye opening as we put together this issue of (mt). The University of Columbia's Chris McKesson turned in a particularly thought-provoking piece that questions what we think we know about ferry design and construction. One of Chris's thoughts is to mimic nature's way of building sandwich-type structures, using 3D printing technology to create "birds nests" of filaments for use as low-density core material in sandwich structures. Read more about this and other boundary-stretching concepts starting on page 26.