In the city, Ms. Rees began working for Schering-Plough, where she sold Dr. Scholl's insoles, wart removers and bunion pads an upgrade from panty liners, she says.
Dr Mahdavi is working on other lattice structures, including aerodynamic body parts for racing cars and special insoles for a firm that hopes to make the world's most comfortable stiletto-heeled shoes.
Compared to the early polar explorers of the 1900s, Fiennes's team will benefit from some innovative equipment, including boots with electrically-heated insoles, battery-powered heated clothing, radar to spot dangerous crevasse fields and a specially designed breathing apparatus to enable them to survive at temperatures that will regularly reach -70 degrees Celsius and perhaps even lower.