Some seabirds, including gannets and boobies, feed by plunge diving. From high in the air, they fold their wings and dive like darts into the water, impacting at speeds around Keep reading
Tag: buckling
Wrinkles on Bubble Collapse
A viscous bubble wrinkles when it collapses, and scientists long assumed this behavior was caused by gravity. But a new experiment shows that the buckling is, instead, driven by surface Keep reading
Collapsing Inside a Soap Film
There’s a common demonstration of surface tension where a loop of string is placed in a soap film and then the film inside the loop is popped, making it suddenly Keep reading
Plant Week: Bladderworts
Carnivorous plants live in nutrient-poor environments, where clever techniques are necessary to keep their prey from getting away. The aquatic bladderwort family nabs their prey through ultra-fast suction. This starts Keep reading
Levitating with Sound
Sound can manipulate fluids in fascinating ways, from levitation to vibration. Here researchers use sound to levitate and manipulate droplets and turn them into bubbles. Increasing the acoustic pressure on Keep reading
Galapagos Week: Diving Birds
One of my favorite things to do while we were sailing along the Galapagos was watching the blue-footed boobies hunt. Like the gannets shown above, boobies are plunge divers. They Keep reading