What civil engineers are reading this week

• Join a laid-back ride along upstate New York's beautiful, bucolic Taconic Parkway

  The Taconic Parkway rolls for 104 miles on the east side of the Hudson River, in a relatively quiet part of the state. In the 1920s, FDR conceived it not as a freeway, but as a recreational highway.

• Southwestern flash flooding overwhelming New Mexico dam on brink of failing

  Heavy rain drenched portions of the Southwest, putting nearly a third of the country at risk of flash floods. New Mexico has seen the worst of it so far, where water spilled over a 20-foot dam.

• Can data centers ever be examples of good design?

  Vast data centers are increasingly in the news as people question the impact on local environments. Can architects help to make these buildings look and function better?

• El Niño’s feared ‘Kelvin wave’ is about to hit California

  The El Niño-driven pattern could raise sea levels by up to a foot, threatening southern California communities that are already watching their beaches disappear in recent years.

• Bioluminescent algae: An illuminating new possibility for civil engineering

  See how chemical triggers activate light from algae Pyrocystis lunula, opening up potential engineering applications including water testing for pH and for potential toxins.

• Researchers tap chipmaking tech to build better EV batteries

  Nanoscale manufacturing techniques used in the semiconductor industry are used to design a copper current collector that improves battery charging, helping electric vehicles travel farther on a single charge.