Some of our more mature readers may have known him personally: the unfortunate Icarus. The young man from Greece who failed to heed his father’s advice aimed unreasonably high, only to suffer a fatal crash because his ascent was built on wax.

That wouldn’t have happened to him with plastic. For decades, materials scientists have been trying to realise the dream of human-powered flight by relying on sky-storming plastics. Thanks to carbon fibre and wing coverings made of BOPP foils, considerable distances can now be covered with only muscle power.

So, what does the myth teach us? Maybe that the youth’s father Daedalus should have used polymers to build his wings....