Fog blankets the forest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in this photo by Tihomir Trichkov. It gives the photo the quality of an Impressionist painting. Rain from the day before Keep reading
Tag: science
Predicting Heat Waves
The United States, Europe, and Russia have all seen deadly, record-breaking heat waves in recent years, largely in areas that are ill-equipped for sustained high temperatures. A new paper presents Keep reading
Polymers and Fluid Sheets
Even adding a small amount of polymers to a fluid can drastically change its behavior. Often polymer-doped fluids act more like soft solids, able to hold their shape like your Keep reading
Bending in the Stream
Nature is full of cilia, hairs, and similar flexible structures. Unsurprisingly, flows interact with these structures very differently than with smooth surfaces. Here, researchers investigate flow in a channel lined Keep reading
Why We Can’t Control Rivers
Rivers are systems in a constant state of change, balancing flow speeds, path length, sediment deposition, and erosion, as seen in this previous Practical Engineering video. The next video in Keep reading
“Water in Dripping”
Zheng Lu’s stainless steel sculptures capture elaborate splashes in action. In some of the pieces, thousands of Chinese characters cover the sculpture’s surface; these are quotes from historical texts and Keep reading
Hawaiian Magma Complex
Few volcanoes are as well-studied as those of the Big Island of Hawai’i. With a host of seismic monitors and frequent eruptions, scientists know the near-surface region of Hawai’i well. Keep reading
Finding the Red in the Red Tide
Blooms of the algae Karenia brevis — known as a red tide — bring havoc to Gulf Coast shores. The algae can kill fish and other marine life, and it Keep reading
Hunting By Whisker
Seals and sea lions often hunt fish in waters too dark or turbid to rely on eyesight. Instead, they follow their whiskers, using the turbulence generated by a fish’s wake. Keep reading
Can Water Solve a Maze?
Inspired by a simulation, Steve Mould asks a great question in this video: can water solve a maze? Yes — with some caveats. Steve makes two different maze patterns — Keep reading