Microfluidic circuits are key to “labs on a chip” used in medical diagnostics, inkjet printing, and basic research. Typically, channels in these circuits are printed or etched onto solid surfaces, Keep reading
Tag: microfluidics
Microfluidics in Medicine
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Human Genome Project spent years decoding DNA from a handful of donors. The work was painstaking and slow, given DNA sequencing technology Keep reading
Thermal Slipping
A particle suspended in a liquid typically jitters haphazardly about as it’s struck randomly by nearby liquid molecules. But when a temperature gradient is applied to the liquid, that random Keep reading
Ice Damages With Liquid Veins
Water expands when it freezes, a fact that’s often blamed for ice-cracked roads. But expansion isn’t what gives ice its destructive power. In fact, liquids that contract when freezing also Keep reading
Blood Flow in a Fin
This award-winning video shows blood flowing through the tail fin of a small fish. Cells flow outward in a central vessel, then split to either side for the return journey. 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
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
Swept Along
When a car drives over a leaf-strewn autumn road, it pulls leaves up with its passage. This tendency to drag fluid along when an object passes is called entrainment, and Keep reading
Changing with the Flow
Chemically-reacting flows are some of the toughest problems to unravel. In this new study, researchers found that the very act of flowing through narrow channels can change the speed of Keep reading
Devising Greener Chemistry
Not all microfluidic devices use tiny channels to pump and mix fluids. Some, like the Vortex Fluidic Device (VFD), conduct their microfluidic mixing in thin films of fluid. The VFD Keep reading