Reference Terms
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Civil engineering
In modern usage, civil engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the planning, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures, or public works, as they are related to earth, water, or civilization and their processes. Most civil engineering today deals with power plants, bridges, roads, railways, structures, water supply, irrigation, environmental, sewer, flood control, transportation, telecommunications and traffic. In essence, civil engineering may be regarded as the profession that makes the world a more agreeable place in which to live.
Engineering has developed from observations of the ways natural and constructed systems react and from the development of empirical equations that provide bases for design. Civil engineering is the broadest of the engineering fields, partly because it is the oldest of all engineering fields. In fact, engineering was once divided into only two fields, military and civil. Civil engineering is still an umbrella term, comprised of many related specialities.
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Earth & Climate News
March 18, 2026
Mar. 18, 2026 Pink granite boulders sitting mysteriously atop Antarctica’s Hudson Mountains have led scientists to a stunning discovery: a hidden granite mass buried beneath Pine Island Glacier, stretching nearly 100 km wide and 7 km thick. By dating the rocks ...
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Mar. 12, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a universal pattern showing how temperature affects life on Earth. Across thousands of species—from microbes to reptiles—performance rises gradually with warming until an optimal temperature is reached, after which it ...
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Mar. 9, 2026 Global warming has picked up speed in the past decade, according to a new analysis from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). By removing short term natural influences such as El Niño, volcanic eruptions, and solar cycles from ...
Mar. 6, 2026 Scientists have discovered a newly identified marine fungus that can infect and kill toxic algae responsible for harmful blooms. The microscopic parasite, named Algophthora mediterranea, attacks algae such as Ostreopsis cf. ovata, which produces ...
Mar. 5, 2026 Ocean temperatures may be quietly protecting the world from a global drought catastrophe. By analyzing more than a century of climate data, researchers discovered that droughts rarely spread across the planet at the same time, affecting only about ...
Mar. 5, 2026 A sweeping new study of more than 2,000 insect species reveals a troubling reality: many insects may be far less capable of coping with rising temperatures than scientists once hoped. Researchers found that while some species living at higher ...
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Latest Headlines
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Mar. 15, 2026 A new detection method called “Jerk” could dramatically improve how scientists forecast volcanic eruptions. By using a single broadband ...
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Mar. 12, 2026 Scientists at Curtin University have uncovered a new way to read the deep history of Earth’s landscapes using microscopic zircon crystals from ancient beach sands. These incredibly durable minerals ...
Mar. 11, 2026 A long-running debate about the Silverpit Crater beneath the North Sea has finally been resolved. Scientists now confirm it formed when a roughly 160-meter asteroid struck the seabed about 43–46 ...
Mar. 7, 2026 Gravity may seem constant, but it actually varies across the planet—and one of the strangest places is Antarctica, where gravity is slightly weaker than expected. Scientists have traced this ...
Mar. 3, 2026 Fusion energy may be one of the most promising clean power sources of the future—but only if scientists can precisely measure the extreme, fast-moving plasmas that make it possible. A new U.S. ...
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