5 coolest engineering innovations of 2024

To keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, we need to cut emissions in half by 2035--even as we will likely hit another record for burning fossil fuels this year. Still, the brilliant engineering demonstrated in this year's winning projects provides hope that we can rise to the challenge. A new kind of thermal battery will allow us to decarbonize the heat that powers the industrial processes behind everything from cement to chemicals. Newly inexpensive lasers are helping turn ore into pure iron for steelmaking using renewable electricity. Food challenges have generated different types of innovation: Instead of hauling agricultural waste to decompose in the dump, why not create a harvester-style robot that can process it into carbon-sequestering, soil-enriching biochar? To fight pests, a technique called mRNA interference allows bioengineers to create a precision poison for a particularly troublesome beetle.