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Concrete

A lab worker removes crane hoist from a load of rebar used to construct full-scale buildings and bridge spans that are then pushed to the limit in field tests.

This ‘earthquake lab’ is designing buildings to withstand natural disasters

Infrastructure

At Spain’s Institute of Science and Concrete Technology, engineers are trying to find ways to keep buildings and bridges from falling down. The lab is getting attention after the deadly earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria in February.

A red car and a large salt truck drive on a snowy road next to a mountain.

Can bacteria help us prevent salt damage to concrete roads and bridges?

Science
Worker in front of cement truck

Concrete production uses a ton of sand and emits a lot of carbon. Here are some greener alternatives.

Environment
The Shard stands 95 stories tall in the heart of London on the banks of the River Thames.

New book explains the secrets behind famous skyscrapers, other structures

Culture
People walk along the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Jerash

Seawater in the pores? It’s what made Roman concrete great.

Science
Rome's Pantheon is based on ancient concrete.

There’s nothing abstract about this story. It’s strictly concrete.

Development

Concrete doesn’t get a lot of love in the modern world. You don’t hear people admiring the beauty of concrete building work, or small children wanting to grow up to be cement salespeople. Probably the only time that concrete gets a mention in popular culture is as a form of footware for unlucky gangsters. That’s wrong.

Another gang rape in India, with a complex twist

Global Scan

A woman was sentenced by elders to a public gang rape in her village in the West Bengal area to punish her for an affair. India’s Supreme Court is investigating. A signal room in London’s Underground gets flooded, with quick-drying cement. And an artist is painting and placing cut-outs of immigrant workers around LA. All that and more, in today’s Global Scan.

University professor developing environmentally conscious cement

Environment

A Drexel University professor is trying to reduce the environmental impact of cement — one of the most ubiquitous materials on earth. So far, he’s had success in all of the areas that matter.

The World

Greener Concrete

Making concrete is responsible for up to eight per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. A team of researchers led by Kyle Riding at Kansas State University has developed a greener concrete…and it utilizes landfill waste!

The World

Mixed Reaction to Asbestos Sentencing: ‘Justice is Not a Cure’

Global Politics

Marc Hindry heads up a French asbestos victims group, Andeva. He tells anchor, Marco Werman, that he has mixed feelings about the sentencing in Italy of two executives guilty of causing the deaths of more than 2,000 asbestos victims through negligence.