BIG Exclusives

Digital transformation is reshaping engineering. It is altering how products, processes and systems are conceived, designed, built, operated, and maintained. It is not merely the adoption of new tools; digital transformation is reconfiguring engineering workflows through data-centric architectures, automation, and integrated digital ecosystems. The cumulative effect, across engineering disciplines such as civil, mechanical, electrical, and software development, includes: Improved productivity for engineers Enhanced innovation capacity Reduced time and cost for product development Increased reliability...

I am compelled to ask the question comprising the headline above (with apologies to 1970s progressive rockers Supertramp for borrowing their album title) as I am pummelled daily by news of yet another “crisis”. The Housing Crisis, the Drug Crisis, the War in Iran Crisis, the Microplastics Crisis, the Economic Crisis, and the granddaddy of them all – the Climate Crisis. When seemingly everything is labeled a “crisis”, how do governments, businesses, and citizens in...

The Iranian flashpoint offers more than tests of air defences and nuclear sites. It exposes the evolving anatomy of Iran's most ambitious strategic asset: the Axis of Resistance. Decades in the making, this network of allied militias, political movements, and ideological partners span Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Shia militias in Iraq, Hamas in Gaza, and various remnants of Palestinian splinter groups. This network has long been presented by Tehran as a seamless...

There is a point in any system under pressure at which what appears to be working begins to separate from what can actually be trusted. It is not dramatic. There is no visible failure, no alarm, no obvious breakdown. Outputs continue to flow, timelines are met, and confidence builds. Decisions are made more quickly than before, often with less friction, and the system appears to be doing exactly what it was designed to do. It...

In June 2025, Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion," a sweeping aerial campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz, military and political leadership, and missile infrastructure. The 12-day exchange of strikes that followed briefly threatened to draw the United States into direct, large-scale combat with Iran. Missiles flew, air defences were tested, civilian areas suffered collateral damage, and both sides declared victory. Yet within weeks, the most striking feature of the conflict was not the...

(First published on November 21, 2025) (Part 1 of 2) Key takeaways Rare earth elements (REE) are not geologically rare, but commercially viable deposits are – making economic extraction difficult and highly concentrated. China dominates the REE value chain, producing 68% of global output and controlling ~90% of global refining capacity. Global production has surged, rising from 64,500 tonnes in 1994 to ~394,000 tonnes in 2024. Growth from 2023 to 2024 was driven largely by the...

(First published on February 17, 2026) We live in an increasingly noisy world in which news and information bombard us night and day. Trying to make sense of it all is challenging. There are some who want the average person to accept what is being said to them at face value. How can a person decide what is true, what is misleading, and what is downright false? I am a scientist, so I will approach the...

The communications started arriving soon after my article “The Climate Cartel” was published. As predicted. Not a flood. A trickling dozen. Each one carried some form of the crushing weight of silence.  "I’ve thought this for years," one wrote, "but I’ve never said it publicly." One commenter went to great lengths to publish some ad hominem “investigation” on me on a platform elsewhere. It remains without engagement months later. Some were 30-year climate scientists, some risk modellers whose...

  (First published on January 27, 2026) Key takeaways Data centres are not just energy intensive; they are mineral intensive, requiring 60-75 tonnes of metals per megawatt (MW) of capacity as a significant driver of mining and refining activity. The United States, home to 44% of global data-centre buildout is deeply import-dependent, with China, Canada, Belgium, Germany, and Mexico dominating mineral exposure. Critical artificial intelligence-enabling minerals (gallium, germanium, tantalum) face structural supply constraints that mining timelines cannot easily resolve. Copper...

The carbon credit on my client's balance sheet represented a tree that did not exist, planted in a Brazilian forest that was not disappearing, as a counter to emissions that were never going to happen. But the credit was real. It had a serial number. It was registered in a "verified" carbon standard.  It reduced the company's reported carbon footprint by exactly one metric ton of CO₂ equivalent. Credits for Brazilian forestry projects at the time...