Jennie M. Morton

The FIFA World Cup depends on engineering to deliver memorable goals, intense rivalries, and iconic venues. Researchers and designers help shape nearly every aspect of the tournament, from natural grass systems built to perform across climates to the aerodynamics of the official match ball. This quiz looks at the science and innovation behind the World Cup, including stadium construction, environmental monitoring, and the role of mechanical engineering in sports.

These microscopic filaments exhibit fracture stresses 150 times greater than bulk lithium, effectively acting as rigid projectiles that pierce even the most advanced solid electrolytes. While engineers previously assumed that hard solid electrolytes would mechanically block these formations, the high yield strength and brittle characteristics discovered in “Strong and brittle lithium dendrites,” published in Science earlier this year, explained the continued issues with internal short circuits.

In pediatric prosthetics, engineering challenges are not defined solely by mechanics or materials—instead, they are defined by time. Children grow, muscle mass shifts, and limb geometries evolve rapidly, often rendering a newly fitted prosthetic obsolete within months. For a student engineering team at Arizona State University, that reality has become the central design constraint shaping every technical decision.