FAILUROLOGY

Nicole Imeson & Brian Moynihan•www.failurology.ca

Science

Physics

A case study on engineering failures

Last refreshed: June 27th, 2025 at 11:50 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

Ep 45 Kowloon Walled City

Engineering News – Prosthetic Dexterity (2:50) This week’s engineering failure is the Kowloon Walled City (8:10). A city within a city, Kowloon had a deep history (9:50) in Hong Kong. Development of Kowloon really took off in the 1950s (11:50), but was limited by Kai Tak Airport (19:30). Despite a lack of administration, there was order in Kowloon (25:25) until it was demolished in 1994 (36:40). Check out our Patreon page for Mini Failure bonus episodes - https://www.patreon.com/failurology Phot...

Mar 13, 2022•43 min

Ep 44 Challenger Space Shuttle

Engineering News – Surgical Sticky Tape (2:25) This week’s engineering failure is the Challenger Space Shuttle (6:20). 73 seconds after take off, the Challenger exploded (14:45) on live TV. While ultimately a pair of O rings were to blame (23:55), a full investigation occurred (26:55) and found that there were several procedural issues at play. Check out our new Patreon page for Mini Failure bonus episodes - https://www.patreon.com/failurology Photos/Sources/Summary from this episode - https://w...

Feb 27, 2022•44 min

Ep 43 Harbor Cay Condo Construction Collapse

Engineering News – Stretchable Thermometer (2:05) This week’s engineering failure is the Harbor Cay Condo Construction Collapse (6:10). Several issues (13:15) with the design and construction of the concrete slabs and columns led to the collapse of the building before it was even complete. There were consequences (29:25) for everyone involved and a lot of lessons to learn to prevent this from happening again. Check out our new Patreon page for Mini Failure bonus episodes - https://www.patreon.co...

Feb 13, 2022•33 min

Ep 42 United Flight 232

Engineering News – Houston Astrodome (1:45) This week’s engineering failure is the United Flight 232 (9:20). The DC-10 aircraft (12:30) was a three engine aircraft. About an hour after take off, the tail engine catastrophically exploded and the plane had to make an emergency landing (22:05). A full investigation (40:25) was done to determine what went wrong and how it could be prevented from ever happening again. Check out our new Patreon page for Mini Failure bonus episodes - https://www.patreo...

Jan 30, 2022•49 min

Ep 41 Three Mile Island

Engineering News – Calgary to Banff Train (5:25) This week’s engineering failure is the Three Mile Island (15:10). TMI-2 or Three Mile Island Unit 2 (19:15) suffered a partial meltdown (25:00) after 3 months of operation and never ran again. They didn’t know it at the time, but the accident would impact nuclear power in North America for decades to come (38:50). Check out our new Patreon page for Mini Failure bonus episodes - https://www.patreon.com/failurology Photos/Sources/Summary from this e...

Jan 16, 2022•47 min

Ep 40 SPECIAL CN Tower

Engineering News – Underwater Adhesive This week‘s episode is about an engineering marvel, the CN Tower. Check out our new Patreon page for Mini Failure bonus episodes - https://www.patreon.com/failurology Photos/Sources/Summary from this episode - https://www.failurology.ca/ Ways to get in touch Twitter - https://twitter.com/failurology Email - thefailurologypodcast@gmail.com Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/company/failurology-podcast YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh1Buq46PYyx...

Jan 02, 2022•30 min

Ep 39 Lake Peigneur and Cantara Loop

This week‘s episode features a sneak peek at two of our favourite bonus mini failure episodes. The first mini failure we are sharing with you is Lake Peignuer in Louisiana (1:55). The entire lake drained into an underground salt mine in a matter of minutes. And the second Mini Failure is about the Cantara Loop rail disaster (9:40). In the ‘90s a train derailed into the Sacramento River on a very challenging section of track. If you like the mini failure episodes you hear today, there are others ...

Dec 19, 2021•27 min

Ep 38 Charles de Gaulle Airport Collapse

We remember the lives lost and changed by the E’cole Polytechnique Massacre 32 years ago. (0:36) This week‘s engineering failure is the Charles de Gaulle Airport Collapse (4:10). There were two main modes of failure, process failure (10:00) and structural engineering failure (14:45). The terminal was ultimately re-built (26:40) and engineers around the world took note of what not to do. Check out our new Patreon page for Mini Failure bonus episodes - https://www.patreon.com/failurology Photos/So...

Dec 05, 2021•31 min

Ep 37 2003 NE Blackout

Engineering News – LEGO is Running On 100% Renewable Energy (2:10) This week‘s engineering failure is the 2003 Northeast Blackout (8:10). What started as a series of small events over the course of a couple of hours (11:00), cascaded into a full-blown blackout on a hot summer day. The impact was huge (17:10) and there were a number of causes (27:30). The investigation (32:00) shared their findings and recommendations to prevent this from happening again. Check out our new Patreon page for Mini F...

Nov 21, 2021•48 min

Ep 36 A Year In Review

This week Brian and Nicole are celebrating the 1 year anniversary of Failurology. They talk about why (and how) Nicole started the podcast, what changed along the way, they recapped some of their favourite episodes and talked about some other projects that have happened as a result of Failurology. Check out our new Patreon page for Mini Failure bonus episodes - https://www.patreon.com/failurology Summary from this episode - https://www.failurology.ca/ Ways to get in touch Twitter - https://twitt...

Nov 07, 2021•47 min

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