Blog

How we try maintaining nature

A chat with Prof. Jon Christensen–of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, the Department of History, and the Center for Digital Humanities–on what the data from $5.4 billion and 2,174 projects tells us about the progress and pitfalls of modern conservation.

The dark side of innovation, seen from Bell Labs, Mars, and...

A conversation with Andy Russell, Dean and Professor in the College of Arts & Sciences at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, on society’s focus on innovation, which keeps us from thinking about and crediting the maintainers who keep everything working.

The United States of Maintenance

Across dams, national parks, federal buildings, and state capital budgets, these five interactive heat maps explore and compare maintenance in America.

When maintenance is more important than innovation

A conversation with Lee Vinsel, assistant professor of science and technology studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology, about the need for balance between innovation, technology, and maintenance.