The “Bubble Circus” is a delightful outreach device equipped for all manner of physics demos, as seen in the video above. Many of its exercises explore surface tension, a force Keep reading
Month: June 2022
Flying with Large Ears
Evolution often requires compromise between competing effects. Large-eared bats, for example, rely on the size of their ears to aid their echolocation, but such large ears can hurt them aerodynamically, Keep reading
Foggy Flows
The transparency of air makes it easy to overlook its fluid nature. In this National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year entry, photographer Thierry Bornier captures the early morning view Keep reading
Bioluminescent Plankton
The blue-outlined dolphins you see above get their glow from microorganisms called dinoflagellates. They are a type of bioluminescent plankton, shown in the lower image, that can be found in Keep reading
The Blue Whirl
Researchers studying the use of fire whirls to burn off oil spills have discovered a new type of fire whirl – the blue whirl. Their results are currently reported in Keep reading
Pearls of Mezcal
Mezcal is a traditional Mexican liquor distilled from agave. (The more commonly known tequila is actually a special type of mezcal.) As a part of the production process, distillers pour Keep reading
Ocean Mixing
Movement in Earth’s oceans is driven by a complicated interplay of many factors like temperature, salinity, and Earth’s rotation. Above are results from a numerical simulation of the top 100 Keep reading
Viscous Fingers
Viscous fingers form between air and titanium dioxide sol-gel in this photograph. The two fluids are trapped in a thin gap between glass plates – a set-up known as a Keep reading
Fluids Round-Up
Time for another fluids round-up! Here are some of the best fluids-related links I’ve seen around: – Above The Brain Scoop tells us about beetles that spend their whole lives Keep reading
Roll Clouds
The roll cloud, or Morning Glory cloud, is a rare phenomenon that looks rather like a horizontal tornado. In reality, it is part of a soliton wave traveling through the Keep reading