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Design & manufacturing

Where technical knowledge and design skills come together to solve problems and bring a multitude of different types of products to life.

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A man sitting at a table, holding a prototype of a prosthetic hand based on the classic 'split hook' style
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Health & medical
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 95

Making prosthetics without compromise

Prosthetics for upper limb differences often involve a choice between something user-friendly and affordable, or aesthetically pleasing. University of Strathclyde-based startup Metacarpal is trying to bring all three elements together with a new body-powered prosthetic hand.

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  • Design & manufacturing
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Profiles

Q&A: Deborah Meaden

Ahead of this year’s National Engineering Day, green Dragon, Deborah Meaden emerged from the Dragon’s Den to share her a few secrets of success with Ingenia.

Quick read

  • Aerospace
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Technology & robotics
  • Innovation Watch

How AI can help 3D print perfect plane parts

Finding and correcting 3D printing errors is especially tough in the aerospace sector: a part with even a 300-micron defect could be catastrophic.

Quick read

  • Design & manufacturing
  • How I got here
  • Issue 95

Q&A: Laura Tuck

After a stint designing products now sold worldwide for Dyson, design engineer Laura Tuck has been working to empower women worldwide at several startups.

A green tape measure lying on top of green-coloured denim
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Issue 95

Turning jeans green

The engineering behind the trusty wardrobe staple, and how new technologies are attempting to lessen their well-documented environmental burden.

  • Design & manufacturing
  • Chemical
  • Environment & sustainability
  • Materials
  • Innovation Watch

Kicking single-use plastics to the curb

This spider-silk inspired plastic alternative produces no plastic alternatives – unlike existing "compostable" plastics.

A BMW i4 crashing into a pole on its right hand side. The glass in the windows is shattering and the airbags have inflated.
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Mechanical
  • Transport
  • Issue 94

How crashing cars can help us make them safer

When your day job sometimes involves totalling a £100k car in the name of keeping passengers safe.

A syringe with the needle sticking into a purple sphere with long pins sticking out of it, which is a model of a covid virus particle
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Opinion
  • Issue 94

How lessons from COVID-19 could speed up UK tech development

Ian Quest and Dick Elsy CBE FREng reflect on how we can take the learnings from the Ventilator Challenge UK to wider technology development in the UK.

Quick read

  • Design & manufacturing
  • How I got here

Q&A: Nabilah Thagia

Nabilah Thagia is an engineering undergraduate at Dyson and was recently awarded Engineering Apprentice of the Year at the Engineering Talent Awards.

An array of toilet rolls on a pink surface.
  • Materials
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Issue 92

From tree to toilet: engineering loo roll

It takes complex technology to turn trees into toilet rolls. Dr Anna Ploszajski unravels the engineering behind and production of one of life’s essentials.

Two artists, one on a ladder and one crouching, who are working on a replica of a Raphael painting next to a table of art supplies.
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Arts & culture
  • Technology & robotics
  • Issue 92

The technologies that recreate historic artworks

Did you know Churchill's wife once set a portrait of him on fire because he hated it so much? Factum Arte used modern technology to recreate it, so it lives to see another day – sorry Clementine.

Quick read

An engineer standing in a manufacturing facility.
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Aerospace
  • How I got here
  • Issue 90

Q&A: Kate Todd-Davis

Apprentice Kate Todd-Davis followed her passion for aerospace and automotive engineering to Rolls-Royce – and gained a degree in manufacturing technology from the University of Sheffield along the way.

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A woman with an afro standing in front of three specialist detangler combs.
  • Design & manufacturing
  • Innovation Watch
  • Issue 90

The afro hair comb inspired by printing

Swansea-based engineer Dr Youmna Mouhamad is using her R&D experience to invent a hair comb designed to make looking after textured hair easier and less painful.

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  • Health & medical
  • Design & manufacturing
  • How does that work?
  • Issue 87

Lateral flow tests

During the pandemic, millions of people took lateral flow tests every week to detect COVID-19, enabling them to get a result in just 15 minutes.

Quick read

A person with blow-dried blue and pink hair
  • 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.