Here’s a surprising example of defying gravity: if you coat a vertical treadmill in oil, a cylinder held next to it will levitate! A new paper delves into the mathematics Keep reading
Month: October 2024
Pipe Flow and Pressure
Whether you’re a homeowner or an engineer, at some point you’ll have to deal with pipe flow and the challenges inherent to getting water from Point A to Point B. Keep reading
Ferrovolcanism
Beyond Earth, scientists expect to find objects formed by a volcanism much different than what we typically see here. Researchers used Syracuse University’s Lava Project apparatus to simulate ferrovolcanism — Keep reading
Kinetic Sculptures by Anthony Howe
These mesmerizing kinetic sculptures built by Anthony Howe are entirely wind-driven. It’s not necessarily apparent in these images, but these sculptures are several meters tall and weigh hundreds of kilograms, Keep reading
Challenges of Commercial Supersonic Flight
Years ago as I sat on a plane taxiing at Heathrow, I caught a glimpse of a Concorde out on the tarmac. My classmates couldn’t understand why I was so Keep reading
Brace For Impact
What happens in the moment before an object hits the water? That’s the question at the heart of a new study exploring how water deforms before an object’s impact. The Keep reading
Blue Dunes
This false-color image shows a Martian dune field near the northern polar cap. The image itself covers an area 30 kilometers wide, but the dune field stretches over an area Keep reading
Tiny Symmetric Swimmers
Microswimmers live in a world dominated by viscosity, and in viscous fluids, symmetric motion provides no propulsion. That’s why bacteria and other tiny organisms use cilia, corkscrew flagella, and other Keep reading
“Stream”
Roman De Giuli’s short film “Stream” explores a macro world of color and flow, with a few glimpses behind-the-scenes at how the visuals get made. The artistic canvas here is Keep reading
The Mobile Mud Spring of Niland, CA
What’s part geyser, part mud pot, and all creeping, unstoppable natural disaster? The Niland Geyser, known as the world’s only moving mud spring. Dianna explores this geological mystery in the Keep reading