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Issues

Issue 99

June 2024

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A woman with curly hear, wearing a crown and holding a trophy topped with a large sphere, that is positioned in front of the sun so there is the halo of light around it.
  • Mechanical
  • How I got here
  • Issue 99

Q&A: Cara Fox, QMUL Formula Student Principal

As team principal of Queen Mary University of London’s Formula Student team, Cara Fox has laid the foundations for an exciting career in motorsport.

A blue tinted close up photo of an eye with a pattern of overlaid concentric white, green, yellow and red circles on it
  • Health & medical
  • Technology & robotics
  • Issue 99

How robotics can improve retinal surgery

Engineers are working with ophthalmic surgeons to create a robotically controlled needle with a flexible tip that has the precision required to inject therapeutic materials into the tissue lining the back of the eye.

  • Mechanical
  • How does that work?
  • Issue 99

How do hydraulic presses work?

Whether it's squashing crayons, an anvil or ball bearings, the hydraulic press is governed by a few simple physical principles. Leonie Mercedes explores the engineering behind this enduring viral sensation, and how we can create these obscenely large forces with relatively little input.

A white woman with blonde hair stand on metal steps with ventilation tubes in the background. She wears a red dress and blue blazer.
  • Civil & structural
  • Health & medical
  • Profiles
  • Issue 99

The expert looking at how air moves around buildings

When COVID-19 hit the planet, medical expertise was everywhere, but when it came to working out how the virus spreads Professor Catherine Noakes OBE FREng was one of a handful of experts in how air moves around in buildings.

Silver ballbearings group together inside a shape and reflect in the mirrors
  • Arts & culture
  • Issue 99

How a photographer turned innovative engineering ideas into art

This year, the MacRobert Award – the UK’s longest-running prize for engineering innovation – celebrates its 55th anniversary. Having been commissioned to create a set of images to mark the award’s 50th anniversary in 2019, photographer Ted Humble-Smith has once again created photographs that capture the thought processes behind some of the winning innovations.

Artist’s impression of a generic remote handling robot, showing the operator controlling the robotic arms
  • Technology & robotics
  • Issue 99

The robots hard at work in the UK’s most radioactive places

From highly radioactive environments to the ocean floor and out in space, some places are just too hazardous for humans. But ‘hot’ robotics are being developed to take our places in nuclear environments, from safely storing waste to maintaining and decommissioning fusion facilities.

Image shows the fingers from a hand, which is slightly in water having scooped up grains of sand that contain small colourful microplastics
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Materials
  • Issue 99

How engineers are fighting microplastic pollution

From the deepest reaches of the sea to the innermost tissues of our bodies, humans have found microplastics everywhere we’ve looked for them. Now, engineers are trying to stop microplastics from getting into our water systems and the environment.