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Sheets of fungus could be used as eco-friendly fireproofing for homes

19 July 2023

Fungi can be pressed into thin sheets that resist fire by forming a protective coating of char, and they could be turned into fireproofing materials for buildings

Flames that don't flicker could make engines more efficient

25 January 2023

Producing flickerless flames usually requires artificially low pressure or gravity. Researchers have now come up with a method that works in standard conditions and could help make engines more efficient

Fabric inspired by camel’s hump could protect firefighters from heat

20 January 2023

A fabric made by welding aerogel pockets together with ultrasound mimics the make-up of a camel’s hump to protect against fire as well as letting sweat escape

Gel-coated battery could stop mobile phones catching fire or exploding

7 July 2022

A cheap and easily manufactured material can act as a thermal conductor at low temperatures and an insulator at high temperatures, which may help prevent dramatic battery fires and explosions

Fire safety app simulates wildfires and shows a route to avoid them

11 March 2021

An app that uses fire simulations based on local geography, weather and vegetation can tell people how to avoid the path of a wildfire

What is fire?

9 March 2021

A chemical reaction that converts fuel and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water

Blue whirl that consumes all fuel it encounters is three flames in one

12 August 2020

A mysterious blue whirl that burns fuel efficiently is composed of three separate flames – a discovery that could help us generate the whirl for real-world applications

Australia’s wildfires killed 90 per cent of small ground-based animals

23 June 2020

One of the first wildlife surveys conducted after Australia’s recent extreme wildfires found almost no small ground-dwelling animals left in fire-ravaged areas

'Zombie' fires are burning the Arctic after smouldering under snow

15 May 2020

Unprecedented Arctic fires from last summer appear to have smouldered in the underground peat of the tundra through winter and reignited this month as snow melted

Rare herb devastated by Australian bush fires saved by seed bank

8 April 2020

One of the largely unnoticed victims of the Australian bush fires earlier this year was clover glycine (Glycine latrobeana), a rare pea endemic to South Australia that has now been restored thanks to seeds kept at Kew Gardens