Issues

Issue 102

March 2025

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Close up of a man underwater, breathing through scuba gear.
  • Sports & leisure
  • How does that work?
  • Issue 102

How does scuba gear work?

A specially engineered two-stage regulator system attached to a gas cylinder allows scuba divers to safely breathe underwater while moving about freely so they can explore the ocean.

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Digital rendering of orange, capsule shaped bacteria floating on a white background.
  • Health & medical
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 102

The medical test battling antibiotic resistance

Every year, more than a million people die as a direct result of ‘superbugs’ that have become resistant to antibiotics. Now, a test that can identify common bacterial infections in minutes and pick out the right drug to prescribe will help us use these lifesaving drugs more wisely.
Penny has curly dark hair and wears a taupe jumper, she is smiling at the camera.
  • Materials
  • Technology & robotics
  • Profiles
  • Issue 102

Penny Endersby FREng: how to weather the rise of AI

As CEO of the Met Office, Penny Endersby FREng is now at the forefront of bringing AI to weather forecasting and the UK’s understanding of climate change.

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A Black female healthcare professional wearing a white medical jacket and stethoscope talks to a female patient wearing a peach hijab, who is holding a clipboard and form who
  • Health & medical
  • Opinion
  • Issue 102

Why the relationship between clinicians and patients should matter to engineers

Technology developed to specifically help people manage certain health conditions can help them live more independent lives. However, sometimes the development, deployment and use of such technologies can unintentionally introduce negative impacts.
Artist's impression of a hand holding a large butterfly net, covered in renderings of wind turbines, energy storage materials and a solar furnace. The hand holding the net is trying to catch a butterfly, whose wings are flames.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Materials
  • Issue 102

Taking the heat out of climate change

When we think of storing energy, we usually think of batteries. But with a huge slice of global carbon emissions resulting from producing heat, engineers are developing ways to store this critical resource with the hopes of driving us closer to net zero, writes Stuart Nathan.

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A white woman wearing a black suit sits on a black leather chair on a blue coloured set for a panel talk. Behind her there is a large red circle that says Nobel Prize Summit 2023 in white writing
  • Software & computer science
  • How I got here
  • Issue 102

Q&A: Sarah Barrington, PhD student studying AI harms and deepfakes

After studying engineering in the UK and embarking on a career in data science, Sarah Barrington is now a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley.

Paramedic in a red and neon yellow uniform transporting a patient from a helicopter into an ambulance.
  • Health & medical
  • Issue 102

Stopping the bleed: a challenge for engineers

Haemorrhage is second only to traumatic brain injury as a cause of death from injury the UK. Tourniquets are well known for treating blood loss from limbs, but there is no proven equivalent for patients with a non-compressible haemorrhage. Surgeons, emergency department physicians and other trauma specialists grappling with this problem are now looking to engineers for new solutions.
A hand places a small concrete block onto a stack of five others.
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Materials
  • Issue 102

Concrete foundations for net zero

If concrete were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of CO₂ after the US and China. The race is on to slash its emissions. Swapping out its most polluting ingredients, locking in carbon, and upcycling our industrial and construction waste could hold the key, says Leonie Mercedes.