The ancient Greeks first recognized static electricity, but the mechanisms behind it remain somewhat mysterious. In particular, it’s unclear how two pieces of the same material can build a charge Keep reading
Category: Research
Explaining Salt Polygons
Around the world, salt playas are criss-crossed with meter-sized polygons formed by ridges of salt. The origins of these structures — and the reason for their consistency across different regions Keep reading
Soap Film Ruptures
Soap film ruptures are well understood for your typical bubble solution, but what happens when tiny particles get added to the soap film? That’s the question in this recent study. Keep reading
Curved Cracks
When mixtures of particles and fluids dry, they typically leave a pattern of straight cracks. Here researchers explore what happens when the drying film contains bacteria from the family E. Keep reading
Superradiance in Fluids
A group of excited atoms can collectively emit more photons than they could individually in a phenomenon known as superradiance. Now researchers have shown that vibrating fluids can produce superradiance Keep reading
A Game of Toss
Over the past few years, we’ve seen lots of droplets bouncing and walking on waves. But today’s example is a little different. In this set-up, the wave is a large Keep reading
Breaking Clots With Sound
Clots that block blood flow away from the brain are one of the most common causes of strokes for younger people. If caught early, anticoagulants can sometimes resolve the issue, Keep reading
Rocket-Like Supercooled Drops
Many droplets can self-propel, often through the Leidenfrost effect and evaporation. But now researchers have observed freezing droplets that self-propel, too. The discovery came when observing the freezing of supercooled Keep reading
How Large Particles Get in Sea Spray
When bubbles burst at the ocean’s surface, they eject droplets that can carry high concentrations of contaminants like pollutants, viruses, and microplastics. Previous theories posited that only particles smaller than Keep reading
Instabilities on Instabilities
The world of fluid instabilities is a rich one. Combine fluids with differing viscosities, densities, or flow speeds and they’ll often break down in picturesque and predictable manners. Here, researchers Keep reading