Central air heating not doing the trick for your family during those cold East Coast winters? Have a wood-framed home that doesn’t retain heat? One option you have is radiant heat, which consists of a hydronic tubing system underneath your actual flooring. But wait, radiant heat sounds complicated…
Can You Use Human Waste as Bricks? Apparently You Can!
Never did you ever think that would be a sentence you'd read. Human waste as bricks...does that even make sense? Well, according to Professor Abbas Mohajerani from RMIT University in Australia, it does. For the past 15 years he's been committed to this project, and it's lead him down th…
Meet the First Female African American Master Plumber in the U.S.
Adrienne Bennett is the first African American female to become a master plumber in the U.S. Her whole life--and whole career--she has faced adversity as she's tried to rise through the ranks of her trade. But, with much resilience, passion, strength, and dedication, she never gave up.…
Construction Camp in Austin Teaches Girls Trade Skills
They do summer camps a little differently in Austin, Texas. Thanks to the National Association of Women in Construction, thirteen middle-school aged girls are learning the skills needed to begin careers in the construction industry and other trades. During the week-long camp, they h…
New ‘Super-Wood’ Becomes Cooler in Sunlight
New research shows that you might be able to cool your home with ‘super-wood.’ By stripping the wood of its lignin before densification, it actually allows the densified wood to cool in bright sunlight. By doing this, buildings that are constructed using this material would have a s…
Ball Pit or Reservoir in Los Angeles?
Did you ever think it would hard to tell a ball pit from a water reservoir? Well, in Los Angeles it is. The L.A. Water Reservoir is now home to 96,000,000 (yes, 96 million!) black balls that look like they belong in a ball pit at a kid's birthday party. But actually, they fit perfectly …
Detroit Invests $30 million in Skilled Trade Training Center
Last month, the city of Detroit promised to invest $30 million in a 120,000 square foot training center for skilled trades. This new state-of-the-art facility would not only provide much needed space and resources for members of the skilled trades, but would also consolidate and unite them in one ar…
