Long ago, an emperor decided to build a great wall to protect his new empire and ensure his power. He ordered men across China to leave their homes and submit to the grueling labor required for its construction. As years passed and the...

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...

Experts in Britain are warning that a generation of young people may never be able to own their own homes because of a grave housing crisis. There is a shortfall of over four million homes and it is now a hot political issue. Pressure is...

Mark Ellison, the author of the new book “Building,” is a carpenter who knows his way around tools. But rather than a how-to book, this is about developing any kind of craft and skill, along with a few hard-earned lessons for living a...

Tweeting may not decrease your stress, but the twitter of some birds just might. And can we make people forget their memories?

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.

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...

Things can go wrong in scientific experiments sometimes, but when it comes to engineering, getting things wrong can be disastrous.

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...

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...

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...

There's been a boom in female entrepreneurship in cities around the country, but when it comes to construction, there remains a lag. For Nellie Torres, a woman of color, it was doubly challenging to enter the industry. After years of not...

Mexicans who come to the U.S. seeking employment often leave their loved ones and culture behind. In Wisconsin, a nonprofit helps connect American farmers with their migrant employees through language and cultural education. Some of the...

Starting tomorrow, the European Union plans to start sending back some of the 170,000 migrants and refugees who have made the dangerous journey by sea to Europe this year. Along another main migrant sea route from North Africa toward...

At a special housing development in Oregon, families who adopt foster children live side by side with seniors who volunteer their time in exchange for affordable rent. The NewsHour's Cat Wise reports on how members of the...

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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?

What exactly is the Thirty Meter Telescope, and why is the proposed location in Hawai'i such a conflict?

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...

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...