Looking down on a Icelandic geothermal pool gives a view into a dragon's eye in this drone image by photographer Miki Spitzer. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28563

After reading Brian Merchant's "Blood in the Machine," I am definitely going full Luddite.

Researchers sometimes study avalanches and other granular flows in a rolling drum, where grains can cascade down continuously. Here, the twist is that they've done it with photoelastic disks, which show stress patterns when viewed under crossed polarizing filters https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=30124

The Brennan torpedo -- a 19th-century version of the weapon -- was launched by pulling a cable out the back. As counterintuitive as it sounds, pulling this cable backward propelled the torpedo forward. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=22580

When a test tube of liquid hits a surface, the curvature of the meniscus focuses the rebounding fluid into a jet. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29971

In mechanical systems, gears and pulleys transmit rotation from one location to another. Here, researchers explore a fluid dynamical version of such systems. The set-up consists of two rotors contained in a cylindrical corral filled with a water-glycerin mixture. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=30015

Wet fur forms a spiral of spiky hairs in this image by photographer Ben Dalgleish. For thin and flexible fibers like hair, a little moisture lets them clump together, forming stiffer (but still flexible) shapes. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28972

Our ears, like those of many other animals, convert mechanical signals to electrical ones, through a Rube-Goldberg-esque series of transformations. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29960

A sudden breeze can pluck droplets hanging from a stem. Here, researchers recreate that phenomenon in the laboratory. With a close-up view and high-speed images, we can enjoy every detail of the detachment and break-up. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29985

Fracture is a sudden, brittle breaking-apart that we generally associate with solid materials that get stressed too far. Some viscoelastic, non-Newtonian fluids have been known to fracture, but that was generally thought to be unusual. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29952

Note to self: talk about the upcoming book even more 😆

Over time, rivers naturally curve and meander. As water accelerates around a river bend's curve, it creates a secondary flow that carves sediment away from the outer bank and deposits it on the inner one. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=22202

Fabrics flutter in seemingly impossible ways in artist Thomas Jackson's images. But despite first appearances, each photograph is true to life. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29543

Doing my final pass on this manuscript, and I'm killing so many semi-colons. Suddenly, I feel like @scalzi.com. #writerlife

In planetary atmospheres, energy and vorticity can cascade from large scales to smaller ones, but the mechanics of this transfer remain somewhat elusive. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29751

On a vibrating fluid, droplets can bounce and interact in complex ways. Here, researchers demonstrate some of the peculiar dynamics of these wave-guided droplets, showing how they can do things like pair up in waltzes. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29790

Today in #writerlife, I'm trying to read the whole manuscript aloud. So far, I'm one quarter of the way in, and my pen is noticeably emptier. It's stunning how much you catch when you start reading aloud from a physical copy.

Flow visualization is both an art and science in fluid dynamics. Here, researchers were interested in studying the separation bubble that forms over a backward-facing ramp--a shape that shows up, for example, on an aircraft. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28631

Five days to the manuscript deadline, and I went out and rode my MTB for 2 hours today. Granted I did spend more than 2 hours working on the book first. Let's call it work-life balance? #writerlife

Peeking between the clouds, satellites caught a glimpse of a massive phytoplankton bloom off the coast of Greenland in May 2024. The tiny organisms may be visible only under a microscope, but gatherings like these stretch hundreds of kilometers and are visible fr https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=21901

Photographer Jan Erik Waider is a master of capturing incredible landscape imagery. In today's videos, he uses a drone to film waves in the Baltic Sea gently undulating polygonal slabs of ice on the ocean surface. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29769

When flow moves past a cylinder, vortices get shed in its wake. Known as a von Karman vortex street, this distinctive pattern is seen behind flags, islands, and even behind starships. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28357

Fish detect turbulence in the water around them; among other things, this helps them avoid colliding with objects. Here, researchers are looking to understand how fish interact with underwater turbines. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28569

Although water can freeze below 0 degrees Celsius, it requires a little help--in the form of a nucleation site--to do so. But a new study shows a little fungus protein could help the process along. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29746

Many industrial processes break a fluid jet into droplets, like spray painting and ink-jet printing. Here, researchers examine an effervescent fluid jet made up of both liquid and gas. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=27799

1/ There's a system of ocean currents in the Atlantic that shapes Europe's #climate, drives monsoons, and keeps sea levels stable along the US coast. In the last 5 years, the scientific evidence that it could collapse has shifted dramatically. Most people have no idea. 🧵

Photographer Chris Perani is fascinated by the microstructures of insect wings, which he captures in "extreme macro" through focus stacking--letting us see wings in glorious micron-scale detail. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29528

Icebergs have long served as a metaphor for not knowing what's going on beneath the surface. Studies like today's are a reminder of why that is. Researchers found that asymmetric icebergs--shaped, in this case, like a right triangular prism--can self-propel as th https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29530

Relatively simple visual and hydrodynamic signals are enough to make digital fish school in ways that resemble living ones. Here, researchers look at what happens when well-behaved schools of fish get too big. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=27769

Cleaning produce helps fruits and vegetables last longer and reduces the chances for foodborne illness. But it can be a difficult feat with soft, delicate foods like tomatoes, berries, or greens. Researchers have a new and bubbly method. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29757

When soap bubbles burst, the hole grows as an expanding circle. But not every fluid bursts this same way. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28655

A toad swims across a pond in this award-winning image from photographer Paul Hobson. The shot was actually captured from below the water, with the camera kept dry in a glass housing. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28964

The field of active matter looks at the collective motion of particles and organisms--how birds flock and fish school. In systems of "dry" squirmers--those that have no hydrodynamic interactions with one another--clumps of squirmers can form with empty spaces in https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28625

I pulled my head out of the revision cave long enough to check Bluesky and discover that, yes, my publisher is on here! :waves: Hi, @basicbooksgroup.bsky.social! And now, back to manuscript prep.

When air bubbles rise through a liquid, they scavenge dust, viruses, microplastics, and other impurities as they go. Once at the surface, these contaminant-covered bubbles thin and burst, generating many tiny droplets that arc through the air above. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28988

In volcanic eruptions, collisions between ash particles can sometimes build up enough electric charge for lightning to arc through the plume. But how do identical ash particles build electric charge? https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29514

A slight change in perspective can do wonders. In this video, the Slow Mo Guys look at a burning flame from below. They accomplish this by mounting a gas grill upside-down. This small change means that buoyancy can't simply lift heat and exhaust gases away from t https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=29508

Meltwater braids like a river delta in this gorgeous image from photographer Stuart Chape. It earned the Silver distinction from the World Nature Photography Awards in their "Planet Earth’s landscapes and environments" category. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28555

We usually think of surface tension turning droplets into spheres in order to minimize their area. But spheres aren't the only shape surface tension can enforce. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28637

When particle-laden fluids like a mudslide flow downhill, even well-mixed particles can wind up separating. To explore how this works, researchers put glass spheres--of two different sizes but equal density--into silicone oil and let it flow down an incline. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=27054

In recent years, smoke from powerful wildfires has raised questions among atmospheric scientists by always swirling in the same direction. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28545

If you fill a test tube with water and drop it, the impact causes a pressure wave that travels up from the bottom and creates a focused jet. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=27941

Light shines dimly through the wall of an ice cave in this photograph by Marie-Line Dentler. Shaped by melting, pressure, freezing, and fracture, these structures are dynamic and ethereal. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28459

Uranus is one of our solar system's oddest inhabitants, stuck spinning on its side with a tilted and offset magnetosphere. To better understand it, a team observed the planet for 17 hours with JWST. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28454

Convection isn't always driven by temperature. Here, researchers explore the convective patterns formed by Thiovulum bacteria. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28647

If you've ever seen crashing waves glowing blue, you've been treated to bioluminescence. Although many creatures can bioluminesce, tiny dinoflagellates--a type of marine phytoplankton--are one of the easiest to spot. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28350

The colorful coastline of the Bazaruto Archipelago extends off East Africa. Regions of shallow waters, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs appear in shades of tan, green, and turquoise. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=24866

Haboobs are a dust storm driven by the strong winds at the forefront of weather fronts and thunderstorms. Those powerful winds pick up dust in arid and semi-arid landscapes, creating billowing, turbulent clouds that appear downright apocalyptic. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=27809

Scientists have long hypothesized that the high electrical charge of thunderstorms could produce an opposite charge in the ground that would discharge from the forest canopy. But this phenomenon, known as a corona, had never been observed on actual trees. https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28550

Sound is not something we can typically see, though there are ways to visualize it, including cymatics and special acoustic cameras. This video pursues a different tactic: using schlieren photography and stroboscopic lighting to show how sound waves reflect and d https://fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=27668