Peering from directly above, landscapes take on a whole different aspect. That idea is the heart of Vadim Sherbakov’s “Serenity,” filmed by drone. From seething waters and meandering rivers to Keep reading
Tag: physics
Black Holes in a Blender
Massive black holes drag and warp the spacetime around them in extreme ways. Observing these effects firsthand is practically impossible, so physicists look for laboratory-sized analogs that behave similarly. Fluids Keep reading
Etna’s Blowing Rings
Mount Etna has long been known for its smoke rings, but thanks to the opening of a new vent on the volcano’s southeast crater, it’s now making more rings than Keep reading
Supernova Rings
Some 20,000 years ago, a massive star blew off a ring of dust and gas that expanded into the surrounding interstellar medium. Later, in 1987, the star exploded as supernova Keep reading
Millennium Falcon’s Glide
In what seems to be a tradition now, a group at MIT imagined how the Millennium Falcon would perform if it lost its engines during atmospheric flight. Their hypothetical scenario Keep reading
“Divebomb”
Seabirds like gannets and boobies are engineered for diving. They fly to a certain altitude, locate fish underwater, and then fold themselves into a streamlined projectile. With this, they plunge Keep reading
Unsticking in Jumps
Soft materials tend to be sticky, and once they’re adhered to a surface, they’re often harder to remove than they were to attach — think of Scotch tape stuck to Keep reading
Kirigami Parachutes
To fly stably, parachutes need to deform and allow some air to pass through their canopy. In this video, researchers investigate kirigimi parachutes, inspired by a form of paper art Keep reading
Seeking Rogue Wave Origins
Rogue waves — rare waves much larger than any surrounding waves — have long been a part of sailors’ tales, but their existence has only been confirmed relatively recently. The Keep reading
Evolving Fingers
If you sandwich a viscous fluid between two plates and inject a less viscous fluid, you’ll get viscous fingers that spread and split as they grow. This research poster depicts Keep reading