Rotating drums are a popular way to explore granular dynamics. Here, researchers fill a cylinder (seen below) with heavy grains and a low-viscosity fluid, then rotate the mixture about a Keep reading
Category: Research
Neptune’s Seasonal Changes
Ice giant Neptune orbits our sun once every 165 years, meaning that each season on the planet lasts about 41 years here on Earth. Currently, the side of Neptune facing Keep reading
Swimming Together
Scientists have long pondered the possibilities of hydrodynamic benefits to the ways fish school. But most analyses of schooling have assumed a fixed spacing that’s far more orderly than what Keep reading
You’re Drunk, Toadlet
Most frogs and toads are excellent jumpers, taking off and landing with a control and grace that rivals elite athletes. Not so for the pumpkin toadlet. These species have become Keep reading
Listening to the Sizzle
The sizzle of frying food is familiar to many a cook, and that sound actually conveys a surprising amount of information. In this study, researchers suspended water droplets in hot Keep reading
Extreme Weather
Many of the exoplanets we’ve observed so far are extreme environments. WASP-121b is known as a hot Jupiter, a gas giant so close to its star that it orbits in Keep reading
Sonic Booms and Urban Canyons
In the days of the Concorde — thus far the world’s only supersonic passenger jet — noise complaints from residents kept the aircraft from faster-than-sound travel except over the open Keep reading
Swimming in Complex Fluids
Bacteria like E. coli swim using flagella, helical filaments attached to biological motors on their bodies. By rotating the flagella, the bacterium generates thrust that propels it forward. Oddly, though, Keep reading
Mapping Yellowstone Underground
Yellowstone National Park is filled with geysers, hot springs, and mudpots — all geophysical features driven by the underground movement of water heated by the underlying volcano. But what does Keep reading
Inside a Champagne Pop
When the cork pops on a bottle of champagne, the physics is akin to that of a missile launch in more ways than one. In this study, researchers used computational Keep reading