My father was a banker, but he was a builder at heart which meant he was constantly remodeling our houses and then selling the improved product. Growing up, I was always surrounded by builders, was ...

If you could foresee construction problems, wouldn’t you prevent them from happening? In the 2002 film “Minority Report,” police use the foreknowledge of psychics called “precogs” to predict and ...

Guru Madhavan is the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and senior director of programs at the National Academy of Engineering. His new book is Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World (W.W.

Modeling how cars deform in a crash, how spacecraft respond to extreme environments, or how bridges resist stress could be ...

Bridges, roads, buildings, railways, distribution systems, canals, dams, even lighthouses. Yes, lighthouses. If you encountered any of these structures today, or stopped to marvel at one on a recent ...