Rivers are systems in a constant state of change, balancing flow speeds, path length, sediment deposition, and erosion, as seen in this previous Practical Engineering video. The next video in Keep reading
Year: 2023
“Water in Dripping”
Zheng Lu’s stainless steel sculptures capture elaborate splashes in action. In some of the pieces, thousands of Chinese characters cover the sculpture’s surface; these are quotes from historical texts and Keep reading
Hawaiian Magma Complex
Few volcanoes are as well-studied as those of the Big Island of Hawai’i. With a host of seismic monitors and frequent eruptions, scientists know the near-surface region of Hawai’i well. Keep reading
Finding the Red in the Red Tide
Blooms of the algae Karenia brevis — known as a red tide — bring havoc to Gulf Coast shores. The algae can kill fish and other marine life, and it Keep reading
Hunting By Whisker
Seals and sea lions often hunt fish in waters too dark or turbid to rely on eyesight. Instead, they follow their whiskers, using the turbulence generated by a fish’s wake. Keep reading
Can Water Solve a Maze?
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
Runescapes
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
A Toad’s Sticky Saliva
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
Long-Lived Bubbles
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
Swimming With Corkscrews
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