Construction Physics

Stagnant Construction Productivity Is a Worldwide Problem

Stagnant Construction Productivity Is a Worldwide Problem

Reading List 12/06/2025 3D printed legos, exploding wire detonators, the David Taylor model basin, multi-point metal forming, and more.

Reading List 12/06/2025 • 3D printed legos, exploding wire detonators, the David Taylor model basin, multi-point metal forming, and more.

Reading List 11/29/25 NIMBYism and aesthetics, defibrillator drones, railway track detonators, a proposed mach-23 space gun, and more.

Reading List 11/29/25 • NIMBYism and aesthetics, defibrillator drones, railway track detonators, a proposed mach-23 space gun, and more.

How a Government Think Tank Trained The First Generation of US Software Developers

How a Government Think Tank Trained The First Generation of US Software Developers

Reading List 11/22/25 The ship failure that caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, the boring part of Bell Labs, a more efficient way of making antimatter, underground nuclear reactors, and more.

Reading List 11/22/25 • The ship failure that caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, the boring part of Bell Labs, a more efficient way of making antimatter, underground nuclear reactors, and more.

How ASML Got EUV

How ASML Got EUV

Reading List 11/15/25 Israel refilling a lake with desalinated seawater, South Korean nuclear subs, ways to make titanium cheap, a “new Bell Labs”, and more.

Reading List 11/15/25 • Israel refilling a lake with desalinated seawater, South Korean nuclear subs, ways to make titanium cheap, a “new Bell Labs”, and more.

What Is A Production Process? Chapter 1 of my book “The Origins of Efficiency”

What Is A Production Process? • Chapter 1 of my book “The Origins of Efficiency”

Reading List 11/8/2025 Gathering robot training data, “love letters” sent to home sellers, the Napier Deltic diesel engine, jumps in electricity demand from electric teakettles, and more.

Reading List 11/8/2025 • Gathering robot training data, “love letters” sent to home sellers, the Napier Deltic diesel engine, jumps in electricity demand from electric teakettles, and more.

Strap Rail

Strap Rail

How the UK Lost Its Shipbuilding Industry

How the UK Lost Its Shipbuilding Industry

Reading List 10/25/25 Jet engine-powered data centers, Brightline train deaths, cracks in a super thin skyscraper, a Chinese particle accelerator, and more.

Reading List 10/25/25 • Jet engine-powered data centers, Brightline train deaths, cracks in a super thin skyscraper, a Chinese particle accelerator, and more.

Reading List 10/18/25 North Korean construction company, data center popularity, why robot dexterity is hard, a map of US solar panels, and more.

Reading List 10/18/25 • North Korean construction company, data center popularity, why robot dexterity is hard, a map of US solar panels, and more.

More on US Pedestrian Deaths

More on US Pedestrian Deaths

My Book, The Origins of Efficiency, is Out Today

My Book, The Origins of Efficiency, is Out Today

Reading List 10/11/2025 Russia’s role in nuclear fuel production, aircraft contrails, homes collapsing in North Carolina, Konrad Zuse’s Helix Tower, and more.

Reading List 10/11/2025 • Russia’s role in nuclear fuel production, aircraft contrails, homes collapsing in North Carolina, Konrad Zuse’s Helix Tower, and more.

Why Are So Many Pedestrians Killed by Cars in the US?

Why Are So Many Pedestrians Killed by Cars in the US?

Reading List 10/04/2025 Boeing’s 737 replacement, parking lot investments, a deflected hurricane, opinions on nuclear power, and more.

Reading List 10/04/2025 • Boeing’s 737 replacement, parking lot investments, a deflected hurricane, opinions on nuclear power, and more.

Reading List 09/27/25 Energy permitting, Chicago’s “affordable” housing, China’s new arctic shipping route, Volvo’s armored cars, and more.

Reading List 09/27/25 • Energy permitting, Chicago’s “affordable” housing, China’s new arctic shipping route, Volvo’s armored cars, and more.

How Common Is Accidental Invention?

How Common Is Accidental Invention?

Reading List 09/20/25 Shoddy US homebuilding, a foundation model for creating CAD files, ghost kitchens, lunar Helium-3, and more.

Reading List 09/20/25 • Shoddy US homebuilding, a foundation model for creating CAD files, ghost kitchens, lunar Helium-3, and more.

What’s Happening to Wholesale Electricity Prices?

What’s Happening to Wholesale Electricity Prices?

Reading List 09/13/2025 3D printing company Icon, transporting wind turbine blades on the largest airplane in the world, insurers funding cloud seeding, earthquakes in the Atlantic Ocean, and more.

Reading List 09/13/2025 • 3D printing company Icon, transporting wind turbine blades on the largest airplane in the world, insurers funding cloud seeding, earthquakes in the Atlantic Ocean, and more.

Reading List 09/06/2025 London homebuilding, historical home prices, a humanoid robot loading a dishwasher, France’s history of nuclear reactor construction, and more.

Reading List 09/06/2025 • London homebuilding, historical home prices, a humanoid robot loading a dishwasher, France’s history of nuclear reactor construction, and more.