fuckyeahfluiddynamics

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Crowd Vortices

The Feast of San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain draws crowds of thousands. Scientists recently published an analysis of the crowd motion in these dense gatherings. The team filmed the crowds at the festival from balconies overlooking the plaza in 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Analyzing the footage, they discovered that at crowd densities above 4 people per square meter, the crowd begins to move in almost imperceptible eddies. (Image credit: still - San Fermín, animation - Bartolo Lab; research credit: F. Gu et al.; via Nature) Read the full article

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A Stellar Look at NGC 602

The young star cluster NGC 602 sits some 200,000 light years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Seen here in near- and mid-infrared, the cluster is a glowing cradle of star forming conditions similar to the early universe.  (Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/JWST; via Colossal) Read the full article

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Slipping Ice Streams

The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream provides about 12% of the island's annual ice discharge, and so far, models cannot accurately capture just how quickly the ice moves. Researchers deployed a fiber-optic cable into a borehole and set explosive charges on the ice to capture images of its interior through seismology. But in the process, they measured seismic events that didn't correspond to the team's charges. (Image credit: L. Warzecha/LWimages; research credit: A. Fichtner et al.; via Eos) Read the full article

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Imaging a New Era of Supersonic Travel

Supersonic commercial travel was briefly possible in the twentieth century when the Concorde flew. But the window-rattling sonic boom of that aircraft made governments restrict supersonic travel over land. Now a new generation of aviation companies are revisiting the concept of supersonic commercial travel with technologies that help dampen the irritating effects of a plane's shock waves. (Image credit: Boom Supersonic/NASA; via Quartz) Read the full article

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"The Ballet of Colors"

Thomas Blanchard's short film "The Ballet of Colors" plunges viewers into a warm spectrum of roiling oil and paint.  (Video and image credit: T. Blanchard et al.) Read the full article

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Filtering by Sea Sponge

Gathering oil after a spill is fiendishly difficult. Deploying booms to corral and soak up oil at the water surface only catches a fraction of the spill. A recent study instead turns to nature to inspire its oil filter. (Image credit: NOAA; research credit: Y. Yu et al.; via Physics World) Read the full article

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Salt Affects Particle Spreading

Microplastics are proliferating in our oceans (and everywhere else). This video takes a look at how salt and salinity gradients could affect the way plastics move.  (Video and image credit: M. Alipour et al.) Read the full article

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Derecho-Induced Skyscraper Damage

Derechos are short-lived, intense wind storms sometimes associated with thunderstorms. Last spring, such a storm passed through Houston, leaving downtown skyscrapers with more damage than a hurricane with comparable wind speeds.  (Image credit: National Weather Service; research credit: O. Metwally et al.; via Ars Technica) Read the full article

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Seeing Sound

Sound, vibration, and motion are all inextricably linked. In this BBC video, physicist Helen Czerski shows how an object's sound and vibrations relate through the classic Chladni experiment. (Video and image credit: BBC) Read the full article

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"Skimming the Waves"

Common terns are gregarious sea birds that cruise low over the water to fish. When they spot prey, they will dip down to grab a fish from the surface, or they will fold their wings to plunge-dive to depths of half a meter.  (Image credit: N. Kovo/WPOTY; via Colossal) Read the full article

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Ultra-Soft Solids Flow By Turning Inside Out

Can a solid flow? What would that even look like? Researchers explored these questions with an ultra-soft gel (think 100,000 times softer than a gummy bear) pumped through a ring-shaped annular pipe.  (Image and research credit: J. Hwang et al.; via APS News) Read the full article

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Strandbeest Evolution

Theo Jansen's Strandbeests are massive, wind-powered kinetic sculptures designed to roam Dutch beaches. Conceived in the late 1980s as a way to kick up sand that would replenish nearby dunes, the beests have grown into a decades-long obsession for the artist and his followers.  (Video and image credit: Veritasium) Read the full article

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Anti-Icing Polar Bear Fur

Despite spending their lives in and around frigid water, snow, and ice, polar bears are rarely troubled by ice building up on their fur. This natural anti-icing property is one Inuits have long taken advantage of by using polar bear fur in hunting stools and sandals. In a new study, researchers looked at just how "icephobic" polar bear fur is and what properties make it so. (Image credit: H. Mager; research credit: J. Carolan et al.; via Physics World) Read the full article

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A Drop's Shape Effects

Falling raindrops get distorted by the air rushing past them, ultimately breaking large droplets into many smaller ones. This research poster shows how variable this process is by showing two different raindrops, both of the same 8-mm initial diameter.  (Image credit: S. Dighe et al.) Read the full article

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Flooding the Mediterranean

Nearly 6 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the ocean and evaporated faster than rivers could replenish it. This created a salty desert that persisted until about 5.3 million years ago. One hypothesis -- the Zanclean megaflood -- suggests that the Mediterranean refilled rapidly through an erosion channel near the Strait of Gilbraltar.  (Image credit: R. Klavins; research credit: A. Micallif et al.; via Gizmodo) Read the full article

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Dutch Water Works

The Netherlands have a long history of extraordinary public works when it comes to water management. With much of the country's land lying at or below sea level, massive civil engineering infrastructure is a necessity. (Video and image credit: Practical Engineering) Read the full article