“Taking Lessons from What Went Wrong” by William J. Broad is in the Science Times section of the NYT today. Especially in light of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil blowout disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it is a great time to relect on how engineers can learn from failure (in order to limit the chances of future disasters!).
The article can be read at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/science/20lesson.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq= technology engineering&st=nyt&scp=1