In 1959, Volvo Invented A Life-Saving Seat Belt. Then It Gave The Patent Away
Every time a driver clicks a seat belt into place, they are using a design that is more than 65 years old. In 1959, Volvo engineer Nils…
Thomas Midgley Solved Two Problems For Cars And Refrigerators. Then Both Inventions Became Environmental Problems
Thomas Midgley Jr. spent his career solving practical problems with chemistry. In the 1920s, he helped develop tetraethyl lead, a fuel additive that dramatically reduced engine knock…
Japan Built 395 Kilometers Of Giant Sea Walls After The 2011 Tsunami
Along Japan’s northeastern coastline, enormous concrete walls now stand between towns and the Pacific Ocean. Some rise as high as 12.5 meters, while others contain openings that…
The Burj Khalifa Reaches Nearly 3,000 Feet. So How Does Water Get To The Top?
The Burj Khalifa is so tall that even something as ordinary as taking a shower becomes an engineering challenge. Every day, roughly 250,000 gallons of water must…
This Ship Doesn’t Go Around the Ice. It Goes Through It
Imagine a ship pushing through the Arctic, surrounded by ice thick enough to stop ordinary vessels in their tracks. Now add two nuclear reactors, three propellers and…
How Does a 31-Foot Yacht Rise 5 Feet Above the Water?
How do you make a 31-foot yacht move faster without simply adding a bigger engine? Enata Marine’s Foiler answers that question with four carbon-fiber hydrofoils that lift…
BMW Put Car Technology on a Boat—and It Can Fly
BMW built a boat that can lift its own hull out of the water—and that strange trick may be the real reason it can travel so fast…
10 Old Technologies That Make You Wonder: How Did They Think of This?
In 1955, a tiny electric train ran through New York’s Holland Tunnel—not to carry passengers, but to monitor traffic. More than 300 years earlier, someone had built…
10 Impossible Projects That Changed the World Forever
Some of the world’s greatest engineering achievements began as ideas that seemed almost impossible. Engineers had to cut through mountains, cross deep oceans, control powerful rivers and…
At First, Nobody Can Figure Out How This Bridge Works
At first glance, the Lucky Knot Bridge in Changsha, China, looks almost impossible to understand. Its bright red structure twists, rises and crosses itself like a giant…