Brady Heywood Podcast

Why do the really big catastrophes happen? The earthquakes, the financial crashes, and even the outbreak of the First World War. In this episode we dive into the weird world of complexity theory.

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Mark Buchanan's Ubiquity can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquity-Catastrophes-Happen-Mark-Buchanan/dp/0609809989

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative...

The aircraft crashes that changed the world of aviation. And the reason aircraft windows aren't square.

Follow the podcast on twitter @BradyHeywoodPod

A number of books cover the crash of the aircraft, but Henry Petroski's To Engineer is Human is one of the best: https://www.amazon.com/Engineer-Human-Failure-Successful-Design/dp/0679734163

There are a number of documentaries on YouTube, including: https://www.youtube...

On 1 August 2007 at 6:05 pm, during rush hour traffic, the I35-W Highway Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed into the Mississippi River.

We’ll look at how a bridge could suddenly collapse after 40 years of service...

Did the Hanging Garden of Babylon actually exist or was it myth?

And why bother talking about it in this podcast?

Because apart from whether or not the Garden existed, or more importantly where it was located, the story of its history is fascinating.

But even more fascinating is the extraordinary engineering achievement that may have underpinned its very existence...

With doctors saying her husband is dying, Emily Warren Roebling sets out on a path to see the great bridge through to completion.

Read more at https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/52fa7d_6775ee5cee5c476d87e658bdb812cb9e.pdf.

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The greatest engineering challenge of the age. A male dominated profession. One woman.

Emily Warren Roebling.

Read more at https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/52fa7d_88f884ef141648d59ae81f5d8c0dee25.pdf.

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The collapse of the Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge is one of the world's most recognised structural failures.

Were there any warnings from history that this failure could have occurred, and more importantly, if failures like this had ever happened at the past - why did we as a profession forget the lessons learned?

Footage of the bridge collapse can be viewed on YouTube https://youtu.be/j-zczJXSxnw 

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative...

The tragic crash of the Virgin Galactic spacecraft carries lessons for all of us. Do failures happen because humans make mistakes? Or do they happen because we design systems that ultimately fail us as humans?

Detailed article on the disaster can be found at https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/52fa7d_155a03ee1ac745c7a6edd76118a71e16.pdf

The National Transportation Safety Board's report can be found at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR1502...

What does a stadium collapse, baseball, fire fighting, and taking a shower have in common?

In this episode we explore the concept of expertise and ask does it have a dark side? Indeed, can failures sometimes occur precisely because we possess expertise?

But before all that we'll join a group of firefighters about to step into an obscure valley in Montana in 1949.....

What is not well known about the West Gate Bridge collapse in Melbourne, Australia in 1970 was that it was only one of a string of similar bridge failures that happened around the world.

The failures highlighted that the engineering profession’s understanding of these bridge types was clearly lacking. In Melbourne the profession paid the ultimate price: 35 fatalities.

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative...