In addition to making possible improved artificial muscles, this material could be used to make flexible electronic circuits, antennae or mirrors.

ECONOMIST: MONITOR

Beach nourishment: artificial process of replenishing a beach with material from another source that lies either inland or is dredged offshore.

UNESCO: L O S S A R Y

If Dr Lipton is correct, the race has now begun to see whether the first artificial scientist to win a Nobel prize is based on silicon or biological material.

ECONOMIST: Computing and biology: Arresting developments | The

For another, the artificial fireballs seem to be glowing because of the excitation of the atoms within the vaporised material rather than because of oxidation.

ECONOMIST: Ball lightning

The potential applications for medical science are impressive enough, but consider this additional benefit: since the droplets contain no genetic material, scientists can completely sidestep all the ethical red tape surrounding the alternative stem cell approach to artificial tissue.

ENGADGET: Oxford University researchers create new 3D printed 'soft material' that could replace human tissue