Muography can provide a noninvasive approach to examining subterranean infrastructure, and in the Journal of Applied Physics, researchers apply this technique to the Shanghai Outer Ring Tunnel, which runs under the Huangpu River. Using a combination of a spatial scan over the length of the tunnel and a simulation of muons passing through a simplified tunnel model, the researchers mapped the thickness of the sediment. They took 10 minutes of data per location at 50-meter intervals as proof of their technique.

Studying miniature analogs of natural earthquakes in the lab, MIT geologists quantified how much energy from the quake goes into heat, shaking, and fracturing. The research could help seismologists predict the likelihood of quakes in seismically active regions.