Sports & leisure
- Mechanical
- Sports & leisure
- Issue 66
What makes an exciting roller coaster?
Alton Towers has a new roller coaster, Galactica, that requires virtual reality headsets and participants experiencing a level of G-force acceleration greater than a rocket launch. Engineers, designers and enthusiasts describe elements of roller coasters and what makes some rides scarier than others.
- Sports & leisure
- Design & manufacturing
- Issue 98
An engineered adventure
Children's play areas can be interactive, multisensory experiences, designed by engineers, architects and designers to develop key skills. Neil Cumins spoke to Spencer Luckey, the creator of Climbit – an interactive obstacle course spanning four storeys at the heart of Belfast’s W5 science centre.
- Mechanical
- Sports & leisure
- Profiles
- Issue 98
On the fast track to green hydrogen
Dr Caroline Hargrove CBE FREng's career has taken her from pioneering research in computer modelling of particle interactions, into racing car simulators, and onto medical technology and the production of green hydrogen.
Quick read
- Health & medical
- Sports & leisure
- Innovation Watch
The headband reducing the risk of brain injury
Halos is a sports headband for concussion and sub-concussion protection, which will benefit people playing in sports where head impacts occur, such as football, rugby, and hockey.
Quick read
- Technology & robotics
- Sports & leisure
- Innovation Watch
- Issue 93
Bend it like a simulated avatar
The world's top free-kick-takers can curve a football in a way the goalkeeper can’t anticipate. Training to save these is no easy task. Now, Belfast startup INCISIV just might have a helping hand for goalies, with an ultra-programmable virtual reality technology.
Quick read
- Technology & robotics
- Software & computer science
- Sports & leisure
- How does that work?
- Issue 92
Face filters
It started with face swaps, flower crowns and appended dog ears. Now, all manner of transformative sorcery is just a tap away.
Quick read
- Arts & culture
- Sports & leisure
- How I got here
- Issue 92
Q&A: Stan Jones
An opportune moment led to a career designing adventure playgrounds (and a soundsystem for Shambala Festival on the side) for Stan Jones.
Quick read
- Sports & leisure
- Mechanical
- How I got here
Q&A: George Imafidon
George Imafidon wears many hats. He’s a performance engineer at X44, Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE HonFREng’s electric motorsports team; CEO and Co-Founder of Motivez, improving access to STEM careers; and is on the Hamilton Commission board, investigating the representation of Black people in motorsport.
- Sports & leisure
- Issue 89
Creating pitch perfect sports grounds
When it comes to management of turf in sports grounds, expertise generated in the UK is in demand. The UK grounds-management sector is valued at over £1 billion and has been driven by the large levels of employer and volunteering activity combined with engineering innovation.
- Arts & culture
- Sports & leisure
- Issue 88
Entertaining audiences of the future
In 2019, a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Challenge Fund, Audience of the Future, was launched to explore how immersive technology could transform audience experiences. During COVID-19 they used their technology to bring these experiences into the home.
Quick read
- Design & manufacturing
- Sports & leisure
- How does that work?
- Issue 85
Electric hairdryers
Invented in the 1920s, the electric hairdryer is an everyday household object that has changed significantly over the past century – and is likely to continue developing as technology evolves.
- Civil & structural
- Sports & leisure
- Issue 77
The football pitch in three pieces
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is part of a regeneration project that has transformed the stadium and surrounding area. As well as being home to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, the stadium will host NFL games in the UK and it boasts the world’s first dividing sliding pitch.
- Mechanical
- Sports & leisure
- Profiles
- Issue 74
A formula for success
Over the past 30 years, Paddy Lowe FREng has seen Formula One motor racing grow from small teams to a billion pound enterprise at the forefront of technology. He has introduced active suspension, hybrid engines and other key technologies that have changed the profile of motor racing.
- Sports & leisure
- Issue 70
Going for gold
The success of Great Britain’s cycling team at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games was celebrated, but what about the closely guarded technology that contributed to their success? The engineering approaches taken to shave as much time as possible off the clock are spoken about by Professor Tony Purnell.
- Sports & leisure
- Maritime & naval
- Issue 69
How to create the perfect wave
From small waves lapping at your feet and swells suitable for surfing to storm waves for testing structures and even tsunamis, waves of any shape and any size can now be engineered. What are the techniques and conditions needed to model waves and what makes some more powerful than others?
- Electricals & electronics
- Sports & leisure
- How does that work?
- Issue 66
Noise-cancelling headphones
Used by plane and train passengers wanting to listen to radio, music or film without hearing background noises, active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones are able to prevent outside noise from leaking through to the inside of headphones.