Podcast: Mechanical Engineering’s Best of 2025

Every day, the editorial team here at Mechanical Engineering, backed by an amazing corral of writers, is creating and posting new content, from articles to podcasts, quizzes, listicles and more.

On ASME.org alone, our team published around 400 unique pieces of content throughout the year. And the most read pieces range from a rundown of the top 10 electric cars with the longest range and lowest price to whether current carbon capture cost projections reflect their operational reality, and a look back at some of the most creative and technically clever pranks engineers have ever pulled. 

2025 also marked Mechanical Engineering’s first full year as a digital-only publication. We kicked things off with a cover story on NASA’s Artemis mission, explored new horizons in fusion in August, and ended the year with a profile on Kenya's geothermal industry. 

For this special episode, Mechanical Engineering’s editorial team gathers for an annual look back at 2025’s top stories, ranging from rededicating the last U.S. coal-fired passenger locomotive in the U.S., to NASA’s Artemis mission, to unique tools engineered to be used in extreme conditions.

Other favorites include the March issue that looked at engineering better sports equipment and profiled engineering students who are also college athletes and the our annual Watch List that profiles 25 up and coming engineers on our annual Watch List in June.

(Don't miss your chance to nominate an engineer for the 2026 Watch List!)