BBC Science Focus

Taking inspiration from a freak 2003 incident in Kentucky – where a bourbon spill sent 800,000 gallons up in flames, twisting into a 30m (100ft) fire whirl on a lake – Prof Elaine Oran and her team began to wonder whether the same process could be harnessed for good. “We were joking about how it must have smelled,” she told BBC Science Focus. “Then we looked carefully at what was happening. Larger fire whirls were pulling in and eating up smaller fire whirls, actually pulling them in and absorbing them.”