TED Talks
TED: The beauty of building with mud and trash | Vinu Daniel
What if we could use waste to create resilient and sustainable buildings? Bringing out the beauty of the dirt beneath our feet, climate-responsive architect Vinu Daniel shares how he and his team are giving local and discarded materials...
SciShow
Birds Are A Quick Fix For Your Anxiety
Tweeting may not decrease your stress, but the twitter of some birds just might. And can we make people forget their memories?
SciShow
Wasp Nests and Bee Hives
How can you tell the difference between a yellowjacket and a hornet? And how much cosmic XP do you need to evolve a wasp into a bee? Follow the insect that stung you, and discover the fascinating world of wasp nests and bee hives.
SciShow
What Our Buildings Will Look Like in the Future
Ever wondered what our buildings might look like in the future? Right now, the construction industry heavily relies on concrete, but it isn't great for the earth. Join Hank Green for a new episode of SciShow and take a look at what the...
SciShow
6 Construction Failures, and What We Learned From Them
Things can go wrong in scientific experiments sometimes, but when it comes to engineering, getting things wrong can be disastrous.
SciShow
Why is Organized Crime Buying Sand?!
Some might call sand coarse, rough and irritating, but there’s no denying that it’s used everywhere: from glass to asphalt, sand is a key ingredient for all sorts of materials in construction and technology. But this heavy reliance on...
TED Talks
TED: 5 lessons on building an emissions-free city | Heidi Sørensen
Confronting climate change makes for better cities and a better quality of life, says Heidi Sørensen, director of the climate agency for the city of Oslo, Norway. From construction sites without noise pollution to fully electric...
PBS
This super strong concrete could repair aging bridges. Here’s what’s standing in the way
There's a dire need to repair aging infrastructure in the U.S., and an innovative building material could be a game changer. Embedded with steel fibers, ultra-high performance concrete is about five to 10 times stronger than standard...
TED-Ed
How the world's tallest skyscraper was built | Alex Gendler
In 2004, construction began on a new building in Dubai, promising a revolutionary design that would dwarf the rest of the world's skyscrapers. Five years later, the 828-meter Burj Khalifa was complete, surpassing the previous...
SciShow
5 Ways Biology Is Transforming Buildings
Throughout history humans have come up with lots of different ways to build shelters for themselves. But sometimes, inspiration for better construction materials comes from nature, in structures you might not expect — like the scales on a
SciShow
The World Is Built on Sand... and We're Running Out
Some might call sand coarse, rough and irritating, but there’s no denying that it’s used everywhere: from glass to asphalt, sand is a key ingredient for all sorts of materials in construction and technology. But this heavy reliance on...
Crash Course
Building a Desalination Plant from Scratch: Crash Course Engineering #44
An essential part of engineering is engineering design. Today we’ll see how design synthesis helps you put together the components of a process and decide what techniques are needed to solve your problem. We’ll explain the need test...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Yes, scientists are actually building an elevator to space | Fabio Pacucci
Sending rockets into space requires sacrificing expensive equipment, burning massive amounts of fuel, and risking potential catastrophe. So in the space race of the 21st century, some engineers are abandoning rockets for something more...
SciShow
How Tall Can Skyscrapers Get?
Get an engineeer's-eye-view of the tallest buildings in the world, to learn what challenges they face as they reach for the sky and wonder, how tall can we build?
SciShow
TMT: The World’s Most Controversial Telescope
What exactly is the Thirty Meter Telescope, and why is the proposed location in Hawai'i such a conflict?
TED Talks
Brandon Clifford: Architectural secrets of the world's ancient wonders
How did ancient civilizations move massive stones to build Stonehenge, the Pyramids and the Easter Island statues? In this quick, delightful talk, TED Fellow Brandon Clifford reveals some architectural secrets of the past and shows how...
TED Talks
Skylar Tibbits: The emergence of "4D printing"
3D printing has grown in sophistication since the late 1970s; TED Fellow Skylar Tibbits is shaping the next development, which he calls 4D printing, where the fourth dimension is time. This emerging technology will allow us to print...
TED Talks
TED: How to build for human life on Mars | Melodie Yashar
We're going to be building on the Moon this decade -- and next will be Mars, says space architect Melodie Yashar. In a visionary talk, she introduces her work designing off-world shelters with autonomous robots and 3D printers and...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How the world's first subway system was built - Christian Wolmar
It was the dawn of 1863, and London's not-yet-opened subway system - the first of its kind in the world - had the city in an uproar. Most people thought the project, which cost more than 100 million dollars in today's money, would never...
SciShow
Bone Cities, Ash Towers, and 4 Other Futuristic Buildings
Right now, the construction industry heavily relies on concrete, but it isn't great for the earth. Many scientists are looking for ways to replace it in the future, and some of their ideas are so off the wall that they just might work.
SciShow
The Coming Robot Swarms
We might soon be following the logic of animal swarms to help us solve problems like traffic and constructing buildings in dangerous places, like Mars!
TED Talks
TED: What if women built the world they want to see? | Emily Pilloton-Lam
Only four percent of construction workers are female -- that's totally unacceptable, but it's also a huge opportunity both for women and for the trades, says youth educator and builder Emily Pilloton-Lam. She makes the case for putting...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How did they build the Great Pyramid of Giza? | Soraya Field Fiorio
As soon as Pharaoh Khufu ascended the throne circa 2575 BCE, work on his eternal resting place began. The structure's architect, Hemiunu, determined he would need 20 years to finish the royal tomb. But what he could not predict was that...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Blood, concrete, and dynamite: Building the Hoover Dam | Alex Gendler
In the early 20th century, the US had expanded from coast to coast, but many cities in the southwest still lacked reliable water sources. The Colorado River's erratic flow and frequent floods made it unreliable for agriculture, and the...