Archive - Construction Physics

Reading List 06/28/25

Fannie and Freddie’s mortgage blacklist, the air traffic controller shortage, the largest landowners in the US, a blended wing airliner, and more.

Jun 28 •

Why Are Homes in Western States So Expensive?

Earlier this month I came across the following graphic, originally posted on Reddit in 2022, showing the state of housing affordability in the US.

Jun 26 •

Reading List for 06/21/2025

Construction Physics email stats, why appliances break so often, a special economic zone for Silicon valley, a river filtering pool, and more.

Jun 21 •

How Batteries Are Making the Electrical Grid More Reliable

To operate reliably, the US electrical grid needs to balance supply and demand: to make sure, at any given moment, that the amount of electricity…

Jun 19 •

Reading List for 06/14/25

Figure’s new humanoid robot demo, what it would take to create the data for a robot foundation model, “right to repair” on naval vessels, electricity…

Jun 14 •

Reading List for 06/07/2025

Risks to US battery storage, un-affordable affordable housing, a major Supreme Court NEPA ruling, making chip materials in space, and more.

Jun 7 •

How Common Is Multiple Invention?

When Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent for the telephone on February 14th, 1876, he beat competing telephone developer Elisha Gray to the patent…

Jun 5 •

May 2025

Reading List for 05/31/2025

Wind wars, ALARA, power plant water use, grassroots opposition to data centers, and more.

May 31 •

Can We Afford Large-Scale Solar PV?

In the US solar energy has steadily risen in how much of our electricity it supplies.

May 29 •

Reading List 05/24/25

Tulsa’s remote worker incentives, the “stolen iPhone building”, the Trump administration’s shipbuilding struggles, falling traffic law enforcement, and…

May 24 •

Japan and the Birth of Modern Shipbuilding

How Japan invented modern shipbuilding, and conquered the shipbuilding industry in the process.

May 22 •

Reading List for 05/17/2025

The “Safe System” of road design, a manufactured “superwood”, concrete sphere batteries, Tesla’s insurance arm, the University of Nebraska’s drought…

May 17 •

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