Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
The Best of FYFD 2025
Happy 2026! This will be a big year for me. I’ll be finishing up and turning in the manuscript for my first book — which flows between cutting edge research, scientists’ stories, and the societal impacts of fluid physics. It’s a culmination of 15 years of FYFD, rendered into narrative. I’m so excited to share…
The Hydrostatic Paradox
Engineering classes often discuss hydrostatics–the physics of non-moving water–before they cover fluid dynamics and its flows. But hydrostatics is plenty challenging on its own, as Steve Mould demonstrates in this video looking at how hydrostatic pressure depends on depth (and, not, as our intuition might suggest, on shape). As always, he has some nice countertop-scale…
Lung Flows
When a fluid coats the inner walls of a cylinder, it can move downward in what’s called a collar flow. In our airways, a sinking collar flow can thicken as it falls, eventually blocking the airway completely. In a Newtonian fluid, this thickening during motion is essentially unavoidable; any small disturbance to the fluid will…
Droplets Through a Forest
When droplets flow through a forest of microfluidic posts, they can deform around the obstacle or break up into smaller droplets. Here, researchers explore the factors that control the outcome, as well as when droplets collide, coalesce, and mix. (Video and image credit: D. Meer et al.)
“Moment of Creation”
Bubbles caught in ice resemble the growth of a cellular organism in this photograph of Tatiewa Lake in Japan, taken by Soichiro Moriyama. When water freezes, gases dissolved in it come out of solution, but depending on the speed and direction of freezing, these bubbles do not always escape before ice forms around them, freezing…
Ripple Bugs
Ripple bugs are a type of water strider capable of moving at a blazing fast 120 body lengths per second across the water surface. In addition to their speed, ripple bugs are incredibly agile and are active almost constantly. Researchers believe they’ve found the insect’s secret: feather-like hydrophilic fans that spread on contact with the…
Leaves Dance in the Wind
Once a breeze kicks up, leaves on a tree start dancing. Every tree’s leaves have their own shapes, some of which appear very different from other trees. But their dances have patterns, as this video shows. In it, researchers explore how leaves of different shapes deform in the wind and how they can decompose that…
Panama’s Missing Pacific Upwelling
Strong seasonal winds blowing from the Atlantic typically push water away from Panama’s Pacific coast, allowing deeper, colder waters to rise up. This upwelling cools reefs and feeds phytoplankton blooms, both of which support the rich marine life found there. But in early 2025, the upwelling didn’t occur. Normally, coastal ocean temperatures drop to about…
A Soft Cell in Microgravity
There are many shapes that can be tiled to fill space, but nearly all of them have sharp corners. Last year, mathematicians identified a new class of shapes, known as “soft cells,” that feature curved edges and faces but very few sharp corners. Like traditional polyhedrals, soft cells can tile to fill a space completely…
“Legends of the Falls”
Strong winds blew curtains of mist across Skógafoss in this image of nesting northern fulmars by photographer Stefan Gerrits. Despite water’s high density compared to air, fine droplets are able to stay aloft for long periods, given the right breeze. Mists, fogs, and sea spray can float surprising distances; droplets exhaled from our lungs can…