How to make sure Biden's infrastructure plan can hold up to climate change – and save money

With adaptive design, infrastructure is ready to be expanded in the future. It's working for the Dutch.

Jeremy Bricker, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan • conversation
March 30, 2021 ~8 min

Bendable concrete and other CO2-infused cement mixes could dramatically cut global emissions

Researchers are developing ways to lock captured CO2 into cement. It could help rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure and deal with climate change at the same time.

Volker Sick, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; DTE Energy Professor of Advanced Energy Research; and Director, Global CO2 Initiative, University of Michigan • conversation
Feb. 14, 2021 ~9 min


To make less-harmful road salts, we're studying natural antifreezes produced by fish

De-icing salts help us get around in winter, but they corrode cars, crack roads and contaminate rivers and lakes. Scientists are working to develop better options by imitating natural antifreezes.

Monika Bleszynski, Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor, University of Denver • conversation
Jan. 29, 2021 ~8 min

Arecibo telescope's fall is indicative of global divide around funding science infrastructure

The collapse of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was a result of financial neglect – and was a long time coming.

Raquel Velho, Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute • conversation
Dec. 11, 2020 ~7 min

UK plans to slash carbon emissions 68% by 2030 – how banking, building and borrowing can help

Slashing carbon emissions by 68% by 2030 will depend on using the UK's infrastructure strategy effectively.

Anupam Nanda, Professor of Urban Economics & Real Estate, University of Manchester • conversation
Dec. 4, 2020 ~7 min

Fences have big effects on land and wildlife around the world that are rarely measured

Millions of miles of fences crisscross the Earth's surface. They divide ecosystems and affect wild species in ways that often are harmful, but are virtually unstudied.

Wenjing Xu, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley • conversation
Nov. 30, 2020 ~10 min

Smart concrete could pave the way for high-tech, cost-effective roads

What if roads and bridges could signal structural problems that need repair?

Vishal Saravade, Post-doctoral Scientist, Purdue University • conversation
Nov. 12, 2020 ~8 min

Solar farms, power stations and water treatment plants can be attractions instead of eyesores

Are facilities that produce necessities like energy and clean water doomed to be ugly? Not when artists and landscape architects help design them.

Margaret Birney Vickery, Lecturer in Art History, University of Massachusetts Amherst • conversation
May 15, 2020 ~9 min


Endangered tigers face growing threats from an Asian road-building boom

A new study forecasts that thousands of miles of new road construction will cut through tiger habitat across Asia by 2050. Planning can make these projects more tiger-friendly.

Neil Carter, Assistant Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of Michigan • conversation
April 29, 2020 ~8 min

Climate change threatens drinking water quality across the Great Lakes

Warmer waters, heavier storms and nutrient pollution are a triple threat to Great Lakes cities' drinking water. The solution: Cutting nutrient releases and installing systems to filter runoff.

Joseph D. Ortiz, Professor and Assistant Chair of Geology, Kent State University • conversation
April 29, 2020 ~11 min

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