Civil engineers and physicists have designed a new method for the electronic, continual monitoring of concrete infrastructure. The researchers say a flexible skin-like fabric with electrical properties could be adhered to areas of structures where cracks are likely to appear, such as the underside of a bridge, and detect cracks when they occur. Installing this "sensing skin" would be as simple as gluing it to a structure's surface.

A technique for testing irradiated materials on the nanoscale has yielded results on the macroscale. The technique uses electron microscopy with mechanical testing in situ; it could accelerate new materials for nuclear power applications and improve testing of nuclear power plants already in service.

Researchers have designed a sensor that can measure strain in structural materials and is capable of healing itself -- an important advance for collecting data to help us make informed decisions about structural safety in the wake of earthquakes, explosions or other unexpected events.

Researchers are using nanotechnology to create new energy efficient materials. With the increasing worldwide demand for energy, there is a pressure to use the finite energy resources wisely while reducing one of the major areas of energy consumption -- transportation, which accounts for more than 20% of the world’s total primary energy and produces much of the world’s pollution.

When geologists survey an area of land for the potential that gas or petroleum deposits could exist there, they must take into account the composition of rocks that lie below the surface. Previous research had suggested that compaction bands might act as barriers to the flow of oil or gas. Now, researchers have analyzed X-ray images of sandstone and revealed that compaction bands are actually more permeable than earlier models indicated.

Afficionados of modern poured-concrete design were in for a rude awakening last month when they heard Matt Burgermaster's presentation at the 64th annual meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians. He illustrated how Thomas Edison invented and patented in 1917 an innovative construction system to mass produce prefabricated and seamless concrete houses. Typically most people associate this style of architectural design and type of building technology with the European avant-garde of the early 20th century.