In this high-speed video, artist Linden Gledhill ignites a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen contained within a soap bubble. As neat as the video is, I decided to take a Keep reading
Month: May 2023
A Game of Toss
Over the past few years, we’ve seen lots of droplets bouncing and walking on waves. But today’s example is a little different. In this set-up, the wave is a large Keep reading
Cellular Clouds
Though tough to make out from the surface, our oceans are often covered by cell-shaped clouds stretching thousands of kilometers. This satellite image shows off two such types of marine Keep reading
Breaking Clots With Sound
Clots that block blood flow away from the brain are one of the most common causes of strokes for younger people. If caught early, anticoagulants can sometimes resolve the issue, Keep reading
Magnetic Soap Films
Soap films naturally thin over time as fluid evaporates and differences in film thickness cause surface-tension-driven flows. In this video, researchers experiment with adding magnetic nanoparticles to the soap film. Keep reading
Wreathed
A woman hides in silt and sediment in this award-winning underwater photo by Lee Jongkee. The motion of her plunge sends water spinning downward, where it picks up particles from Keep reading
Rocket-Like Supercooled Drops
Many droplets can self-propel, often through the Leidenfrost effect and evaporation. But now researchers have observed freezing droplets that self-propel, too. The discovery came when observing the freezing of supercooled Keep reading
Submarine Volcano
This pale green plume signals the activities of Kaitoku, an underwater seamount near Japan. Periodic activity picked up there in August 2022 and continued into the new year. The rising Keep reading
How Large Particles Get in Sea Spray
When bubbles burst at the ocean’s surface, they eject droplets that can carry high concentrations of contaminants like pollutants, viruses, and microplastics. Previous theories posited that only particles smaller than Keep reading
Shaping the Earth Through Cataclysm
Though we often think of the Earth as changing slowly, some events are so catastrophic that they change the landscape irrevocably. Some 15,000 years ago, a massive lake covered what Keep reading