What civil engineers are reading this week

• Civil engineer’s side-gig work on his firm’s project lands him in legal, ethical hot water

  When does a potential conflict of interest cross the line? In this case, an engineer is hit with charges of double-billing. Was his project work as a consultant or for his firm? Here’s what happened.

• Studies reveal how denizens of Easter Island made and moved the giant statues

  An archaeologist who has been studying Rapa Nui for more than two decades claims his team has solved the baffling mystery of the nearly 1,000 megaliths found around the island, each weighing 70 tons.

• Drought wiped out a civilization that rivaled ancient Egypt

  A series of severe droughts, each lasting at least 85 years, was a major contributor to the decline of the Indus Valley civilization, according to new research. 

• 28 miles of Boston transit rail replaced, ready for battery-electric trains

  This project alone replaced more rail than is typical across the entire Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail network in a year. 

• The rare chance to do it again – applying what you know now

  Sometimes, bridge engineers have the opportunity to do it twice. They’re asked to return to a successful bridge many years later and design a new one alongside it. Consider these three examples.

• Scientists may have finally ‘seen’ dark matter for the first time

  The NASA gamma-ray spacecraft Fermi may have enabled scientists to “see” dark matter, the universe’s most mysterious stuff, for the first time.