Chemically-reacting flows are some of the toughest problems to unravel. In this new study, researchers found that the very act of flowing through narrow channels can change the speed of Keep reading
Month: April 2025
“One Month of Sun”
Get lost in the beauty of our star with Seán Doran‘s film “One Month of Sun”. Constructed from more than 78,000 NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory images, the video shows solar Keep reading
Cracking Droplets
Droplets infused with particles — like coffee — can leave complex stains once they evaporate. Here researchers show the complex cracking pattern that develops as a droplet with nanoparticles evaporates. Keep reading
All Wound Up
A thin fiber sitting atop a bubble can spontaneously coil around the bubble thanks to elastocapillarity. (This seemingly bizarre behavior is also why wet strands of hair clump together.) Here’s Keep reading
December’s Derecho
I confess I’d never heard the term derecho before moving to Colorado, but I’ve experienced a few of these wind storms now. They’re intense! Last December’s derecho formed when a Keep reading
Inside a Coronavirus Aerosol
This is a glimpse inside a tiny aerosol droplet with a single SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus inside it. The numerical simulation required a team of 50 scientists, 1.3 billion atoms, and the Keep reading
“Shadows in the Sky”
This moody music video features storm chasing footage from photographer Mike Olbinski. As always, his captures are stunningly majestic. Watch closely and you’ll see everything from bulbous mammatus clouds to Keep reading
Swirls in the Wake
Rocky islands make excellent atmospheric swirls, as seen here around Guadalupe Island. Winds blowing in from the ocean get forced up and around the island’s topography, resulting in vortices that Keep reading
Opera Singer Air Flow
What does the air flow from a trained opera singer look like? That’s the question behind this study, which combines music and fluid dynamics. Using an infrared camera tracking carbon Keep reading
The Hot Chocolate Effect
Stir hot chocolate powder into milk or water, and you can recreate this bizarre acoustic phenomenon. Once the powder is mixed in, tapping the side of the cup creates a Keep reading