Engineering

A guide to the structures, machines, and systems that power and connect our world.

Latest in Engineering

a pulley system with a ceiling fan chain

Man solves ceiling fans’ most annoying problem

By Mack DeGeurin

Large group of used dirty sleeping mattresses. Abandoned in wild landfill

Fungi help turn old mattresses into insulation

a stingray swimming in clear blue water

Stingray-inspired robot cracks the mystery of how rays swim

By Mack DeGeurin

a black robot shaped like a human hand

This robot hand can detach from its arm and crawl around

By Mack DeGeurin

Four images side-by-side showing angles of a saxophone-inspired instrument called the Post Digital Sax

The 10 weirdest and wildest musical instruments of 2026

hand in glove holding a chip

5 remarkable engineering innovations of 2025

By Andrew Rosenblum

A humanoid robot is carried by technicians after being knocked out in a kickboxing match at the World Humanoid Robot Games on August 15, 2025 in Beijing, China.

2025 proved humanoid robots are here to stay. And fall down.

By Mack DeGeurin

a global density map of the world's buildings

Browse a 3D map of the world’s 2.75 billion buildings

red and white and red and green candy canes on a green background

The magic of making candy canes by hand

By Laura Baisas

E-scooter on fire in safety demonstration video from CPSC

Cozy up (safely) to an e-scooter’s lithium battery yule log

three white 3D printed animal skulls

3D printed skulls make mounting antlers less of a bloody mess

By Mack DeGeurin

3D printed Christmas tree made from ice

Physicists 3D-printed a Christmas tree made of ice particles

Water flowing through the Hamlin Lake Dam in Ludington Michigan.

2,500 ‘high-risk’ U.S. dams are sinking into the ground

A salt grain-sized microrobot on a human finger to illustrate size

Dancing robot is the size of a grain of salt

A thin sheet of plastic covered in transparent MOCHI film

Bubble wrap-like material could help insulate glass windows

Tesla made a $350 pickleball paddle

By Mack DeGeurin

Close up of musician playing 3D printed carbon fiber cello

This 3D-printed cello puts a carbon fiber spin on a classic

Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander. This rendering does not have the new LightPort, but it will sit atop the lander in future models.

Wireless power grids head to the moon

By Mack DeGeurin

Tumbleweed inspired robot next to actual tumbleweed

Tumbleweeds inspire this rolling, resilient robot

An ancient Pompeii wall at a newly excavated site, where Associate Professor Admir Masic applied compositional analysis (overlayed to right) to understand how ancient Romans made concrete that has endured for thousands of years.

Pompeii’s ruins challenge Rome’s famous concrete recipe