Roman De Giuli’s “Otherworld, Volume 1” is a beautiful exploration of color and flow. Glittery particulates act as tracers in the flow, reminiscent of the way rheoscopic fluids do. In Keep reading
Month: February 2025
Holding Fast in the Flow
Many tiny creatures in the natural world face living in fast flows. The larvae of the net-winged midge, for example, forage their way through fast-flowing Alpine springs with speeds of Keep reading
Superwalking Droplets
Vibrate a pool of silicone oil and you can generate walking droplets. Drive the vibration at two simultaneous frequencies and you can support much larger droplets, known as superwalkers. These Keep reading
Morphing Wings Using Real Feathers
Although humanity has long been inspired by bird flight, most of our flying machines are nothing like birds. Engineers have struggled to recreate the ease with which birds are able Keep reading
Breaking the Euler Equations
Mathematicians like to break things. Or, more exactly, they like to know when the equations we use to describe physics break down. One popular target in fluid mechanics are the Keep reading
When the Mediterranean Dried Up
Geological evidence shows that millions of years ago, the Mediterranean Sea nearly dried out. In fluid mechanics, we’d describe this problem using one of our fundamental equations: conservation of mass, Keep reading
Captured by Waves
Acoustic levitation and optical tweezers both use waves — of sound and light, respectively — to trap and control particles. Water waves also have the power to move and capture Keep reading
Rattlesnakes Sip Rain From Their Scales
Getting enough water in arid climates can be tough, but Western diamondback rattlesnakes have a secret weapon: their scales. During rain, sleet, and even snow, these rattlesnakes venture out of Keep reading
Bouncing Off Defects
The splash of a drop impacting a surface depends on many factors — among them droplet speed and size, air pressure, and surface characteristics. In this award-winning video from the Keep reading
Superman’s Hair Gel
I love a good tongue-in-cheek physical analysis of superheroes. This estimate of the drag force experienced by Superman’s hair when outracing a plane or speeding bullet was done by Cornell Keep reading