Indigenous fire management
Growing up in California, I remember summer as fire season. Every year the vegetation in the hills around us would dry out. Then it would take just one careless camper […]
Growing up in California, I remember summer as fire season. Every year the vegetation in the hills around us would dry out. Then it would take just one careless camper […]
Engineering has always been about the wise use of resources. Traditionally, the profession focused on resources in the microeconomic sense. That is, the economic interests of the owner, employer, or […]
Through my work on several National Academy of Sciences committees I’ve come to appreciate the lasting effects on tribal lands—and the peoples who lived there. Several sites around the United […]
Previous blogs have cautioned against crossing the line between science and advocacy. But what does that mean in practice, and why is it a problem? For one thing, it’s contrary […]
The National Academies are a private, nongovernmental organization advising the federal government on science, engineering, and medicine. Abraham Lincoln authorized the creation of the National Academy of Sciences in 1863. […]
A contemporary of Julia Morgan, Clarence Wigington was the nation’s first African-American municipal architect. Despite a lack of formal training, he became a senior architectural draftsman in the office of […]
Coral reefs are home to a vast diversity of marine life. Like rainforests, they act as “lungs” for the planet, providing 70% of our oxygen. They’re dying out, so we […]
At 101 stories, the Saint Regis Tower in Chicago is the world’s tallest building by a woman architect, Jeanne Gang. Previous blogs have discussed the work of women architects—both contemporary […]
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) established the National Urban Search & Rescue Response System in 1989. Engineers started serving on urban search and rescue teams the following year. Disasters […]
The British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke developed three laws, the most famous of which is, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Isaac Asimov expressed a similar […]