What do a nineteenth-century war ship, a sardine-hunting shark, and a viral bottle trick have in common? Cavitation! The phenomenon of cavitation occurs when a fluid is accelerated such that Keep reading
Category: Phenomena
The Galloping Starfish
Starfish won’t win any sprints, but they’re actually quite good at moving around as they hunt for prey. Without brains, starfish are led by their feet, which pull in the Keep reading
High Tide
Broad Sound, in eastern Australia, is home to some of the most extreme tidal swings in the world, with more than ten meters difference between high and low tides. The Keep reading
Slow Mo Pulse Jet Engine
Pulse jet engines rely on their shape to maintain combustion without moving parts. The pressure waves that travel through the engine pump fresh oxygen into the combustion chamber and then Keep reading
Eyes on the Sun
Though it may look like the Eye of Sauron, this image is actually one of our best-ever glimpses of a sunspot. Captured by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, this Keep reading
The Strangeness of Sand
Sand and other granular materials can flow, jam, and transmit forces in counterintuitive ways. This Lutetium Project video gives a nice overview of some of these bizarre properties. Many of Keep reading
Aging Fluids
If you’ve ever left a sealed container of Playdoh untouched for months, you know that there’s a big difference between the fresh stuff and what’s left in that can. Aging Keep reading
Rolling Off a Duck’s Back
Ducks and other water fowl need protection from the elements. Fortunately for them, the structure of their feathers cleverly helps them shed water. As seen in this video, feathers have Keep reading
The Greedy Cup in Your Washing Machine
A Pythagorean, or “greedy” cup, is one that automatically drains itself once filled to a certain level. In other words, it’s a self-starting siphon – one that triggers only at Keep reading
Curls Past the Canaries
When winds flow past a solitary peak, like an island in the ocean, they’re disrupted into a series of counter-rotating curls. That’s what we see here stretching to the southwest Keep reading