Internal combustion: the next generation

Homogenous combustion promises to marry diesel efficiency and torque with the refinement and emissions benefits of gasoline power-but challenges remain.

Designers of fighter aircraft have long understood that plane stability and maneuverability are sometime contrary attributes. The most maneuverable fighter could be one that was too unstable for a pilot to control manually. Hence the development of planes like Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor, which requires computer control to preserve stability at all times.

So it may be with the future of internal combustion. After more than a century of refining an inherently stable combustion process, additional progress on economy and emissions may depend on the adoption of an inherently unstable process that depends on incredibly precise computer monitoring and control to function.