Engineering Matters
Summary: Three times winner of the Publisher Podcast Awards, including Best Technology Podcast, Engineering Matters celebrates the work of engineers who use ingenuity, practicality, science, theory and determination to build a better world. In the UK alone 5.7million people work in engineering related enterprises from manufacturing and agriculture to construction and transportation. Their work ensures that the country has sustainable power supplies, better connectivity between cities, increasing efficiency in production processes; advanced manufacturing methods; and is embracing the digital transformations that include virtual modelling of our environment, and development of intelligent machines. Our episodes will examine the vital work of engineers using a mix of interviews, analysis and site visits.
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- Artist: Reby Media
- Copyright: Reby Media
Podcasts:
In the summer of 2021 record rainfall overwhelmed river systems across Europe. People in the Limburg region of the Netherlands held their collective breath as water levels in the River Meuse rose. Floods in the 1990s had taught them what devastation flooding could bring. Fortunately, the government had already acted, investing in a unique and...
The 2021 energy crisis saw coal power plants fire into life as natural gas prices spiralled and wind turbines stood idle. The combination of circumstances emphasised the need for firm power that is also zero carbon. Fortunately, a quiet revolution has been underway in the nuclear industry as Small Modular Reactor (SMR) plans are maturing....
When Andrew Smyth turned the handle on his clockwork pies on Great British Bake Off in 2016, it brought together two disciplines that had never been combined before. Engineering and baking were combined in the glory of eight mechanised pies. For aerospace engineer Andrew this was just the beginning of a new career as a...
In this first episode of the New Year, we are telling a story about renewal. A project in 1950s New Zealand called the Kaituna Cut re-diverted a river, draining wetlands to create pasture. But working against nature can have negative consequences. The process caused the Maketū estuary to silt, and biodiversity to crash. Now, following...
This week we bring you a guest episode from the Planet Beyond podcast. An adventurous spirit in people has made many successful organisations what they are today. To be truly great, we often find these people are guided by a moral compass, possessing core values that provide that relentless pointer to the right way, even...
Humans can feel that we have built a world to live in that is above and apart from nature. We concrete the ground, we regulate the temperature of our spaces, and we shield ourselves from storms. But increasingly wild and frequent weather events are making us doubt the endurance of our fortress of glass, steel,...
By the end of 2021, 8 billion doses of COVID19 vaccine had been administered around the world. This achievement has only been possible thanks to world leading scientific research creating vaccines in record breaking time. However not many people realise that this is only part of the story. To get these vaccines into the arms...
High Speed 2 is the UK’s latest transport megaproject. Billed as the largest ever investment in the country’s rail, its first phase will link London in the south via 230km of high-speed rail with Birmingham in the West Midlands. With a focus on innovation and new technologies available, the project is determined to avoid the...
At 4.1GW Berwick Bank is planning to become the largest offshore windfarm in the world. This is enough generating capacity to power Scotland’s homes twice over and it would play a critical role in meeting the UK’s wind energy targets. But in order to move ahead it must overcome a range of challenges from obtaining...
Ever since the beginning of the space age, scientists and engineers have considered the role extra-terrestrial resources could have to supporting missions of exploration and science. However, early missions to space and the moon were too brief to benefit from in-situ supplies. Now with a new drive to return to the Moon, this time to...
Two years ago the world was preparing for COP25 in Madrid, and we released this episode (#36) about a calculator that was helping countries around the world to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and create more sustainable energy systems. Just as relevant now as it was then, and for the benefit of newer listeners, we...
In the 20 years before Covid-19 the proportion of 17- to 20-year-olds with a driving licence fell from nearly half to less than a third. Even before lockdowns and remote working, the way people moved was changing. As we organise for the future, we need to understand that the decisions on what to build and...
Decarbonisation of transportation and shipping will require us to leverage improvements to green technologies and adapt to new ways of thinking and organising. It will require us to make different choices, on an individual and collective level. This is the final episode in our series of specials in the run up to COP26. We will...
The world is in a climate emergency and as its inhabitants, we have a narrow window of opportunity to take control. And the infrastructure industry has a fundamental and important role to play in reducing global emissions. In this episode, the third of our series leading up to COP26, we look at some ambitious targets...
Early in the morning of 6 July 2013 a freight train carrying 7.7 million litres of crude oil derailed, destroying downtown Lac Megantic, a small town in Quebec, Canada. The disaster claimed 47 lives and destroyed over 30 buildings and condemning a further 36. As part of the rebuilding efforts, the town saw an opportunity...
