This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Malik Johnson, a 29-year-old union pipe fitter in St. Louis. It has been edited for length and clarity. When my parents bought me toys as a child, ...

Below pop-up awnings and under the watchful eyes of journeymen, apprentice pipe fitters and welders worked last week to show off their skills in turning steel and copper into useful building ...

As technology manager at Chicago’s Pipe Fitters Local 597’s 200,000-square-foot training facility, Mike Zivanovic does his part to prepare Chicago pipe fitters for any and every job. Local Union 597 ...

Audra Smythe is one of just a handful of female pipe-fitters in the whole country. She learned how to weld as a high school student in Future Farmers of America ...

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www ...

Malik Johnson decided to pursue a construction path after learning about a program in high school. He started his career as a concrete laborer and switched to pipe fitting after a pandemic layoff.