Not exactly science, maybe more engineering, but this is from a comment on bikepacking.com:
Totally get it and it's interesting to think about. I bet as tires move toward non-pneumatic technologies, much more tuning and innovation could take place at the level of the sidewall technology.
"It" referring to an earlier comment about aspect ratio. But hang on – "as tyres move toward non-pneumatic technologies"?!?! I
think he's probably talking about tubeless tyres – which are of course just as much pneumatic as tubed ones. Or is this actually suggesting "solid" (maybe foam filled?) tyres as a serious technology?