The engine in your car, truck, or SUV can run on either copper, platinum, or iridium spark plugs. You probably heard the hype around iridium plugs and how they manage to deliver solid sparks while ...

Internal combustion engines are likely to remain in widespread use for some time yet, but it's possible that we may be bidding adieu to that most iconic of engine parts, the spark plug. Researchers ...

Fitting a gasoline-powered car engine with frikkin’ laser spark plugs may seem like one sci-fi step too far, but since it improves the combustion and cleans-up the exhaust, it may be the gas engine’s ...

For over 30 years, Barry Fox has trawled through the world’s weird and wonderful patent applications, uncovering the most exciting, bizarre or even terrifying new ideas. His column, Invention, is ...

The pollutant emissions and high-energy consumption of combustion engines using conventional spark plugs have long been serious environmental problems. Now, it has been demonstrated that lasers can ...

Supersonic laser It may not help start a troublesome lawnmower, but Australian researchers have developed a 'spark plug' that will work in a jet travelling at 10,000 kilometres an hour. Researchers at ...