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Structural Engineering
Buildings and structures take careful planning in order to ensure that they don't collapse or fail in any way. Structural engineers analyze and study the way in which buildings support loads.
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How the Panama Canal Makes Water Flow Uphill
The Panama Canal has been one of the world's biggest engineering feats since it was built nearly by hand in the 1900s.
Man-made Islands Are More Common Than You Think
Man has been building islands all over the world for centuries using extraordinary feats of engineering. But at what cost to the environment?
San Francisco's Wave Organ Plays With the Tides
Built in 1986, the Wave Organ amplifies the sound of the waves to create beautiful music.
Creaking Floors Served as Security Warning System in Ancient Japan
In 17th century Japan, wealthy citizens built homes with "nightingale floors" that squeaked, warning them of intruders. In fact, the floors squeaked louder when the steps got lighter.
Egyptian Pyramids Built with Ramps, Not Alien Technology
We may finally know how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids.
Meet the World's Longest Sea-Crossing Bridge
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is 34 miles (55 kilometers) long and connects the territories of Hong Kong and Macao to mainland China for the first time.
How Removing Public Monuments Works
Controversy surrounds the removal of public monuments honoring the U.S. Confederacy. But who determines which monuments go up or come down?
London 'Smile' Challenges World to Build Smarter Wooden Structures
This year's London Design Festival features a long wooden tube that shows the potential of hardwood as a versatile building material.
10 Futuristic Construction Technologies
First, there was only mud. Now there’s transparent aluminum, self-healing concrete and a swarm of nanobots to build your home. Meet your dwelling of the future.
10 Green Structural Engineering Marvels
Architects design buildings. Civil engineers build bridges. Structural engineers keep it all from crumpling and shaking apart. What happens when you mix all three and throw in a green twist?
10 Strange Structural Engineering Marvels
Some architects and engineers go big. Others get fancy. And yet others aim squarely for the completely bizarre. These imagination-bending, gravity-defying products may induce more than a few OMGs.
How do you build an underwater tunnel?
Underwater tunnels are so commonplace that we rarely think of the great dangers -- and extreme construction techniques -- these modern wonders require. With the opening of the Marmaray Tunnel in October 2013, it's time to take a second look.
Famous Black Engineers Throughout History
You know the story: Lowly intern at huge company climbs the ladder to become its CEO. Or maybe you don't because it never really happens. But it did for one Ursula Burns. Meet her and nine other black engineers who have blazed an amazing trail.
How the Society of Women Engineers Works
In 1950, 60 pioneering American women formed the Society of Women Engineers to support and encourage each other in a field not very welcoming to them. Sixty years on, the fight continues, as women are still underrepresented in engineering.
What's the world's longest suspension bridge?
A national tragedy in Japan was the catalyst for the construction of the world's longest suspension bridge. But it took 40 years to build, and required inventing new technologies along the way to make it happen. Do you know its name?
How Underground Mining Works
Underground mining has come a long way from the days of men with pickaxes and canaries. It relies much more heavily on machinery that makes it much safer than in the past. Which techniques are used in mining today?
Why are blueprints blue?
Why are blueprints blue and not some other color? There's a specific chemical process behind it, and its discovery has all the elements of a dark fairy tale.
Big Power, Small Package
You might consider it a feat of strength when you haul a particularly weighty and cumbersome armful of groceries into the house, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the dramatically heavy loads these powerhouses can handle.
10 Heaviest Objects Mankind Has Ever Moved
It's always been a dilemma for humans: how to move that super-heavy object to a new place. But we always seem to find a way, don't we?
10 Women Who Broke New Ground in Engineering
One of the most travelled stretches of U.S. highway was designed by a woman who loved mathematics and wasn't interested in being a teacher. Who was she, and where is it?
How Earthquake-resistant Buildings Work
Sometimes it seems as though Earth has been hitting the caffeine a little too hard, with all the shakes from earthquakes. So, how do structures stand strong amid all those quakes?
How was the Bay Bridge built?
The Bay Bridge is a wonder of structural engineering. Find out how multiple architectural styles were incorporated into the bridge that unites Oakland with San Francisco.
What was the first steel-framed skyscraper?
Steel-framed skyscrapers are common sights in any city skyline these days. But someone had to be the first to build up, up, up. Find out where this architectural standard was born.
What is soft-story seismic retrofitting?
A soft-story building has a first floor that's more flexible than the ones above -- think apartments over a department store that's mostly open space. How does soft-story retrofitting keep such buildings from collapsing in a quake?
Is steel still the best material for building?
Steel is getting more expensive because the prices of iron and coal are rising. Are there alternatives to steel that can do the same job -- or better -- for less?
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