In an exclusive preview of his book The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker looks at language and how it expresses what goes on in our minds -- and how the words we choose communicate much more than we realize.

Engineers would love it if concrete bridges and skyscrapers didn't require so much maintenance, and they might have found the perfect solution using bacteria.

In 1990, the Italian government enlisted top engineers to stabilize Pisa's famous Leaning Tower. There'd been many attempts during its 800 year history, but computer models revealed the urgency of their situation. The tower would topple...

Statistically, the least reliable part of the car is ... the driver. In 2015, Chris Urmson was head of Google's driverless car program, one of several efforts to remove humans from the driver's seat. He shares fascinating footage that...

Stretching 227 meters tall, two towers were assembled to support California's Golden Gate Bridge. They were just one of the challenges facing engineers Charles Ellis and Joseph Strauss. Even before construction began, many thought the...

Things can go wrong in scientific experiments sometimes, but when it comes to engineering, getting things wrong can be disastrous.

In the 19th century, the California gold rush brought thousands of settlers to America's west coast. But finding gold may have been easier than transporting it back east. The only hope for avoiding a grueling six month wagon journey was...

Hank talks about Renaissance architect, engineer, and professional cranky guy Filippo Brunelleschi in this "Great Minds" dose.

Today, nearly 30% of all global ship traffic passes through the Suez Canal, totaling over 20,000 ships in 2021. The site of the canal had been of interest to rulers as far back as the second millennium BCE, but plans to construct a...

Earthquakes are almost impossible to predict. Luckily, engineers have come up with some amazing ways to protect people the next time one might strike.

Everyone is familiar with Twitter, the uber-popular micro-blogging site, which limits the user to 140 characters. The tweet is perfect for sharing your favorite links and updating the world about your life, but it might also be the...

Squeaks and Mister Brown are so excited about rockets, they're going to make their own! You can join in on the fun and learn how to make one too!

In the mid-19th century, suspension bridges were collapsing all across Europe. Their industrial cables frayed and snapped under the weight of their decks. So when German American engineer John Roebling proposed building the largest and...

Welcome back to the Fluctus Channel, as we explore how modern aircraft carriers are propelled across the oceans, from the massive shafts and propellers that drive them to the complex construction and installation...

Ten infrastructure mega-projects America needs President Donald Trump and congress to fund and build in the near future.

China is building the world's largest airport, the Beijing Daxing International Aiport, to serve the Jing-Jin-Ji megalopolis.

China is building the world’s longest underwater tunnel beneath the Bohai Sea--at 76 miles long it will pass through two deadly earthquake fault zones, will be longer than the current first and second-ranked underwater tunnels combined...

China's high speed rail network is already larger than all other countries' combined--and it's only half complete.

The ten longest railway tunnels in the world, inspired by Switzerland's recently completed tunnel which set a new record.

Jing-Jin-Ji: China is in the midst of a construction spree unparalleled in human history. These are the Megaprojects that will lift China into the future. China wants to make its capital, Beijing, the center of the world’s largest...

Hong Kong and Shenzhen are each racing to finish multi-billion dollar mega-bridges across the Pearl River Delta to take advantage of inexpensive land and labor costs on the western side.

China will rapidly expand its nuclear energy production over the next 15 years as part of an all-of-the-above energy push to meet its people's insatiable demand for electricity.

South-to-North Water Transfer Project: The huge populations filling China's northern megacities have a shortage of the single most necessary resource for life: water. To solve that problem, the Chinese will soon be moving 44.8 billion...

Welcome back to the Fluctus Channel, as we explore the evolution of U.S. stealth power from the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II to the cutting-edge US nuclear submarine.





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