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Can Water Solve a Maze?
Runescapes
A Toad’s Sticky Saliva
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Celebrating the physics of all that flows

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Celebrating the physics of all that flows

FYFD

  • Browse
    • The Archive
    • Themed Series
    • FYFD Videos
    • Research
    • Phenomena
    • Art
    • Reader Questions
  • Follow
    • Email Newsletter
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • Support
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Merch
  • Contact Us
  • Email Newsletter
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Phenomena

Can Water Solve a Maze?

Nicole Sharp - May 29, 2023April 4, 2023

Inspired by a simulation, Steve Mould asks a great question in this video: can water solve a maze? Yes — with some caveats. Steve makes two different maze patterns — Keep reading

A poster showing microscopic patterns formed in a flask after evaporation and chemical reactions. Art

Runescapes

Nicole Sharp - May 26, 2023April 3, 2023

Drying fluids can leave behind all kinds of fascinating patterns, as we’ve seen before with whiskey, coffee, and even blood. Here researchers study patterns left behind by lipids, dyes, and Keep reading

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Research

A Toad’s Sticky Saliva

Nicole Sharp - May 25, 2023March 30, 2023

Frogs and toads shoot out their tongues to capture and envelop their prey in a fraction of a second. They owe their success in this area to two features: the Keep reading

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Phenomena

Long-Lived Bubbles

Nicole Sharp - May 24, 2023March 29, 2023

Without surfactants to stabilize them, bubbles don’t last long at room temperature. But adding a little heat changes the picture. When heated, the bubbles get stabilized by a thermal gradient Keep reading

A corkscrew, demonstrating the helical shape of many microswimmers' tails. Research

Swimming With Corkscrews

Nicole Sharp - May 23, 2023March 28, 2023

For many microswimmers, like bacteria or spermatozoa, swimming through common fluids is like moving through mud. Unless they can produce enough thrust to overcome a fluid’s yield-stress, they are effectively Keep reading

Luis Caffarelli History

Abel Prize Winner Luis Caffarelli

Nicole Sharp - May 22, 2023March 23, 2023

Tomorrow mathematician Luis Caffarelli will receive the Abel Prize — one of the highest honors in mathematics — in part for his work in fluid dynamics. Caffarelli is one of Keep reading

"Fusion of Helios" Art

“Fusion of Helios”

Nicole Sharp - May 19, 2023March 28, 2023

Built from approximately 90,000 individual images, “Fusion of Helios” reveals the wisp-like corona of our Sun. Astrophotographers Andrew McCarthy and Jason Guenzel joined forces to combine eclipse images with data Keep reading

Bubbles on water. Research

Oil-Covered Bubbles Popping

Nicole Sharp - May 18, 2023March 27, 2023

When bubbles burst, they release smaller droplets from the jet that rebounds upward. Depending on their size, these droplets can fall back down or get lofted upward on air currents Keep reading

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Phenomena

Acoustic Cameras

Nicole Sharp - May 17, 2023March 24, 2023

Acoustic cameras use arrays of microphones to isolate where sounds are coming from. As Steve Mould shows in this video, they have some incredibly cool properties. They can show engineers Keep reading

A research poster showing different crack patterns for drying droplets. Phenomena

Drying Cracks

Nicole Sharp - May 16, 2023March 23, 2023

Droplets with particles in them can leave complex stains when they dry — just look at coffee rings and whiskey marks! Here, researchers look at the patterns left on glass Keep reading

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About FYFD

FYFD celebrates the physics of all that flows. It was established in 2010 by Nicole Sharp, PhD. You can also follow FYFD on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

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