HowStuffWorks Newsletter
Engineering is the discipline of design and construction of mechanical devices, equipment, structures and public works systems. Topics include aircraft technologies, buildings, bridges, robotics and heavy machinery.
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A Google engineer made headlines for claiming that an AI called LaMDA had become sentient or conscious. While many AI scientists disagreed, what would it take for an AI to ever become sentient?
It's been some 15 years in the making and is still under construction. What's the real story behind the Jeddah Tower's delay?
By Dave Roos
Drinking fountains have faced a challenge from bottled water, but they seem to be making a comeback. By the way, we throw away over 60 million PET water bottles every day in the U.S. alone.
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Smart traffic lights monitor traffic and continuously adjust their timing to improve flow, and can even help disabled or elderly pedestrians navigate crosswalks. Could they be a solution to the problems of traffic stress and road rage?
Gothic architecture first appeared in France in the late Middle Ages. Some of the world's most stunning cathedrals were built using its key architectural elements.
By Lauren David
Standing 1,428 feet tall and just 60 feet wide, Steinway Tower in New York City has earned the nickname, "The Coffee Stirrer."
Stanford researchers emulated the feet and legs of a peregrine falcon to enable a flying robot to land and perch on various surfaces, which could have lasting implications for future drone design and use.
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Smart buildings have technology embedded inside them, allowing unprecedented levels of interaction between a building and its occupants. Some would call it "unprecedented levels of snooping."
The Hongshui River Scenic Park walkway is shaped like a super- colossal, brightly colored butterfly and is twice as long as the island of Manhattan.
By Carrie Tatro
The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most iconic and enduring symbols of the city of Paris, France. But why did Napoleon commission it?
The first CT scan let doctors see inside a woman's skull and confirm her cystic brain mass. That scanner? It was developed by an eccentric engineer who worked at the Beatles' record company.
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EPCOT was Walt Disney's "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow." But it didn't actually turn out the way he had envisioned it.
By Alex Krieger
Famed composer Ludwig von Beethoven died leaving just a few notes for his 10th Symphony. More than 200 years later, scientists use artificial intelligence to finish the job.
Elon Musk's Tesla Bot raises serious concerns, but probably not the ones you think.
Heck, it's even hard for some people to have common sense.
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The Senate just crossed a hurdle to get a bipartisan infrastructure bill signed. It could pay for new roads, bridges and other installations that a country needs to function. But why is infrastructure so notoriously hard to fund in America anyway?
A 12-story building in Surfside, Florida, just outside Miami collapsed, with residents inside. Why would a 40-year-old structure fall from the sky seemingly out of nowhere, and are there other buildings in danger of falling?
This postwar era architecture has a heavy, raw look, hence the name. But the designs are sensible and authoritative, and many Brutalist buildings are experiencing a revival.
Crumpling is a physical process that occurs when a thin sheet is forced to adapt to a smaller space and is seen in everything from DNA packing in a cell nucleus to the formation of mountains.
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This dragon is illuminated every night, spitting out both fire and water on weekends and holidays, as it sways its way over the Han River in Da Nang.
All steel is not the same, and Damascus steel has a reputation for being the best. But is today's Damascus steel the same as that forged centuries ago?
Obelisks can be found in cities throughout the world, from Washington, D.C., to Paris, France. But what is the origin of these massive structures?
Windmills and wind turbines work on the same core principle to convert wind into energy, but one creates mechanical energy while the other creates electricity. Here's how they work.
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First developed in the 1920s, Geiger counters still use the same basic technology to detect radiation, but today can be the size of a smartphone.
Set over Bear Run, a tributary of the Youghiogheny River in the mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania, Fallingwater is perhaps the architect's best-known work.