‘Engineering contributions to humanity through the ages and challenges for 2050’May 20, 2019
The Institution of Structural Engineers' Joe Kindregan says today's engineers need a more holistic approach to meet the challenges of climate change, globalisation and urbanisation, and the leadership expectations of tomorrow’s engineers will be significant and there will be less emphasis on technical skills and a stronger focus on soft skills
Improvements to Belfast-Derry road: An overviewMay 20, 2019
The ‘Regional Development Strategy 2025’ and the supporting ‘Regional Transportation Plan for Northern Ireland 2002-2012’ set out the vision for the spatial growth of Northern Ireland and the need for this to be supported by a fit for-purpose strategic road network, writes David Porter
The Quebec Bridge collapse: A preventable failure — Part 1May 20, 2019
In the first of a two-part article, Sean Brady takes readers through the chain of events that led to the collapse during construction, with 75 deaths, of the Quebec Bridge
Factors affecting fire safety in heritage buildings: An analysisMay 20, 2019
The recent fire at Notre Dame in Paris has, once again, turned the spotlight on how susceptible heritage buildings are to fire and recent analysis has indicated that most of the devastating fires that have occurred in historical buildings occurred during restoration works, through faulty electrical systems or through adverse weather events, writes Pat Hunt
Drones to the rescue and how one Irish firm is helping to save livesMay 20, 2019
We must see drones as another team member or another item of equipment. It will purely strengthen agencies' capabilities if used correctly, but will not solve all of the issues surrounding difficult aerial searches, writes Oisin McGrath
Notre Dame: Medieval stonemasons built vaulted ceilings to protect against firesMay 20, 2019
The challenge of restoring Notre Dame after the fire in April presents an opportunity to unravel the techniques of the time, says Professor David Wendland, chair of construction history at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg in Germany, who recently deduced how intricate, late Gothic vaults were constructed
Assigned assessment of contaminated land risksMay 20, 2019
One of the main risks and misconceptions in our industry is the thought process that if providing radon protection to a development you are also providing protection against all other ground gas and vapour risks, which isn’t necessarily the case, writes Michael Sweeney
Glass skyscrapers: A great environmental folly that could have been avoidedMay 20, 2019
As part of my research into sustainable architecture, I have examined the use of glass in buildings throughout history, and if architects had paid more attention to the difficulties of building with glass, the great environmental damage wrought by modern glass skyscrapers could have been avoided, writes Henrik Schoenefeldt
Floods will cost the UK billions, but AI can help make sewers the first defenceMay 20, 2019
The UK will need to spend £1bn a year on flood management to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, but artificial intelligence can use data to help make decisions about how water should flow in and around human settlements, to avoid the worst effects of flooding, writes Jonathan Sykes
A step for a promising new battery to store clean energyMay 20, 2019
Researchers have built a more efficient, more reliable potassium-oxygen battery, a step towards a potential solution for energy storage on the nation's power grid and longer-lasting batteries in mobile phones and laptops
Painting a fuller picture of how antibiotics actMay 20, 2019
Machine learning reveals metabolic pathways disrupted by the drugs, offering new targets to combat resistance
Using AI to predict breast cancer and personalise careMay 20, 2019
MIT/MGH's image-based deep learning model can predict breast cancer up to five years in advance
