Handmade kinetic sculptures by artists Marion Pinaffo and Raphaël Pluvinage spin and paint the sky in colorful smoke in “Sfumato”. Named for an artistic technique in which shading gradually changes Keep reading
Month: November 2024
Surviving Rainfall
Water striders spend their lives at the air-water boundary, skittering along this interfacial world. But what happens when falling rain destroys their flat existence? That’s the question that motivated today’s Keep reading
That Drain Life
No matter your cleaning habits, it’s possible to get some unexpected roommates. This variety is the drain fly, a species well-adapted to the moist environment of our pipes. As larvae, Keep reading
Tornadoes in a Bucket
In nature, some powerful tornadoes form additional tornadoes within their shear layer. These subvortices revolve around the main tornado, causing massive destruction in their wake. In the laboratory, researchers create Keep reading
Farewell, Saffire!
After eight years and six flight tests, NASA said a fiery farewell to the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment, or Saffire, mission. Each Saffire test took place on an uncrewed Cygnus Keep reading
“Origin”
Billowing turbulence, mushroom-like Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, and spreading flows abound in Vadim Sherbakov’s “Origin.” The short film takes a macro looks at fluids — inks, alcohols, soaps, and other household liquids. Keep reading
Vortex Below
When a drop of ethanol lands on a pool of water, surface tension forces draw it into a fast-spreading film. Evenly-spaced plumes form at the edges of the film, then Keep reading
Langebaan Lagoon
Strands of green and brown mix in Langebaan Lagoon on the South African coast in this astronaut photograph. The shallow tidal estuary has a sandy floor and, since no river Keep reading
Spreading the Word
Just as prairie dogs bark to warn the colony of danger, many plants can signal their neighbors when they’re under attack. This thale cress releases calcium when caterpillars eat it; Keep reading
Convection in Action
We’re surrounded daily by convection — a buoyancy-driven flow — but most of the time it’s invisible to us. In this video, Steve Mould shows off what convection really looks Keep reading