We all know that magnets are pretty much voodoo: invisible forces acting on the real world in unknown and unexpected ways. But engineers have developed a number of methods to harness that magic to perform useful and beneficial tasks, including answer that age old question: How do you measure the flow of a liquid in a pipe?
Read MoreThis is the first episode of a new series I started where I talk about miscellaneous pieces of infrastructure, including viewer-submitted photos. Click the WTI link at the top of the page if you'd like to submit your own photo!
Don't let anyone try to convince you that the earth is a sphere! It's actually closer to an ellipsoid. How does your airline pilot know which direction to head when he’s over the ocean with no landmarks? How do we know the exact boundaries between parcels of land and between states and countries?
Read MoreEngineers that work with fluids need a solid understanding of how they behave. There’s one branch of fluid mechanics that plays a role in areas all across our lives, yet it's not always so intuitive.
Read MoreA Japanese company plans to create an artificial meteor shower for the opening ceremony of the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo. What engineering challenges will they face in creating these synthetic cygnids?
Read MoreDirt is probably the cheapest and simplest construction material out there, but it's not very strong compared to other choices. Luckily geotechnical engineers have developed a way to strengthen earthen materials with almost no additional effort - Mechanically Stabilized Earth (aka MSE or Reinforced Soil). If you look closely, you'll see MSE walls are everywhere.
Read MoreIn 2009, the an MLB committee determined that the increase in the use of maple baseball bats (over the traditional ash bats) was a primary reason for the rise in bats breaking during games. But why?
Read MoreYou may have seen the yo-yo trick called "Around the World", but you probably didn’t know that spacecraft that actually do go around the world have their own yo-yo trick.
Read MoreHow do engineers combine statistical hydrology and societal risk tolerance (two of my favorite topics) to characterize flooding?
Read MoreIn many of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, there’s a secret device protecting the building and the people inside from strong motion due to wind and earthquakes. Did you know you can tune a skyscraper just like a guitar?
Read MoreGardening in the modern age means making things more complicated and arduous, with electrons, bits, and bytes. Behold: the garduino.
Read MoreI was commissioned to build this model in support of a presentation about geotechnical engineering. The goal is to illustrate the flow paths that groundwater takes under an obstruction (e.g. a sheet pile or cutoff wall).
Read MoreFor me, discussing the weather is more than idle small talk. So when I got interested in web-enabled electronics (the Internet of Things), I knew immediately that my first project be related to the first thing I do when I log onto my computer at work each day: check the weather.
Read MoreThere’s a growing movement of people who believe that our space agencies are underfunded and that humanity isn’t paying enough attention to our present accomplishments and future plans in space exploration. Well, I know one way to direct attention to something: Point at it.
Read MoreI have this deep-seated desire to turn every knob and push every button and flip every switch that I see.
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