Fresh winter snow blankets Chicago in this satellite image. Over on Lake Michigan, ice dots the coastline out to about 20 kilometers from shore. Darker regions near land mark thinner Keep reading
Category: Phenomena
Chaotic Hose Instability
Steve Mould is back with another video looking at wild fluid behaviors. This time he’s considering hose instabilities like the one that makes a water-carrying hose beyond a certain length Keep reading
Twisting in the Flow
What happens to liquid crystals in a flow? In this video, researchers look at liquid crystals flowing through the narrow gap of a microfluidic device. Initially, all the crystals are Keep reading
Growing Ice
While much attention is given to the summer loss of sea ice, the birth of new ice in the fall is also critical. Ice loss in the summer leaves oceans Keep reading
A Stellar Look at NGC 602
The young star cluster NGC 602 sits some 200,000 light years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Seen here in near- and mid-infrared, the cluster is a glowing cradle of Keep reading
Imaging a New Era of Supersonic Travel
Supersonic commercial travel was briefly possible in the twentieth century when the Concorde flew. But the window-rattling sonic boom of that aircraft made governments restrict supersonic travel over land. Now Keep reading
Salt Affects Particle Spreading
Microplastics are proliferating in our oceans (and everywhere else). This video takes a look at how salt and salinity gradients could affect the way plastics move. The researchers begin with Keep reading
Seeing Sound
Sound, vibration, and motion are all inextricably linked. In this BBC video, physicist Helen Czerski shows how an object’s sound and vibrations relate through the classic Chladni experiment. She vibrates Keep reading
Strandbeest Evolution
Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests are massive, wind-powered kinetic sculptures designed to roam Dutch beaches. Conceived in the late 1980s as a way to kick up sand that would replenish nearby dunes, Keep reading
A Drop’s Shape Effects
Falling raindrops get distorted by the air rushing past them, ultimately breaking large droplets into many smaller ones. This research poster shows how variable this process is by showing two Keep reading