This wild photograph shows a goose flying upside down with its head turned 180 degrees in a behavior known as whiffling. In this orientation, the bird’s typical lift characteristics are Keep reading
Sea Sponge Hydrodynamics
The Venus’s flower basket is a sea sponge that lives at depths of 100-1000 meters. Its intricate latticework skeleton has long fascinated engineers for its structural mechanics, but a new Keep reading
Hovering Hawk
Birds have a level of control in flight that would make any engineer jealous. This 2021 Audubon Photography Award winning video by Bill Bryant shows off the skills of a Keep reading
Fish Versus Bird
You’ve seen birds catch fish, but have you ever seen a fish that catches birds? In this video, giant trevally fish hunt fledgling terns — including those in flight! To Keep reading
Leidenfrost Without the Heat
Leidenfrost drops slide almost frictionlessly on a layer of their own vapor, generated by extremely hot surfaces nearby. But in this experiment researchers recreated many of the classic behaviors of Keep reading
Shattering With Resonance
Resonance is a phenomenon that is both familiar and somewhat mysterious. It takes place when a system is excited near its natural frequency. In this case, we’re seeing a mechanical Keep reading
The Froghopper’s Incredible Suction
The tiny froghopper feeds on the sap in xylem, a feat that requires overcoming more than a megapascal of negative pressure. Plants, as you may recall, transport water and nutrients Keep reading
“Starlit”
In “Starlit” filmmaker Roman De Giuli explores a universe in a fish tank. The planets and asteroids we see are droplets of paint and ink floating in a transparent, gel-like Keep reading
Fun From the Beach
Here’s a neat bit of fluid dynamics derived from a day at the beach! Our experiment begins with well-mixed (and likely compacted) sand grains and sea water in a bottle. Keep reading
Adhering Through Vibration
This little robot relies on vibration to generate its adhesion. By vibrating its flexible disk, it generates low pressure in the thin air layer between the disk and the surface. Keep reading