A new technology has been developed that can rapidly predict city-scale structural damage even when portions of satellite imagery are obscured by clouds or smoke immediately after a disaster.

The world mourns for Japan in the aftermath of its 8.9 earthquake. The size of the quake and the tsunami that followed raise questions about just how far human engineering can resist catastrophic ...

Engineering fails usually bring to mind collapsed bridges, unstable buildings, and expensive disasters that nobody wants to repeat. Most design mistakes are repaired, demolished, or quietly forgotten.