Browse Physics

Objects could move through water without generating a wake if they are shrouded with a combination of porous materials and tiny pumps.

By swimming collectively, bacterial cells swim faster than they would in isolation.

The swimming motion of organisms in complex fluids is hindered by elasticity.

The paddling motion works not just for swimmers but also for fliers, as new high-speed video observations of fruit flies show.

Numerical calculations show a variety of scenarios for how intact liquid structures on patterned surfaces can break apart and become detached to allow motion.

Turbulent flow around cylinders can tell us plenty about physics of fluids on earth and in astrophysical systems.

Surface waves in a trough of flowing water provide an analog system in which to study Hawking radiation.

The interface between two Bose-Einstein condensates may provide new physical insights into fluid dynamics.

Plasma flux ropes, which occur in events like solar flares, have been observed in experiments to bounce off each other instead of merging and annihilating.

Where do cosmic magnetic fields come from?

Spray deposition processes are determined by how droplets bounce off or stick to water-repellant surfaces.

As aqueous emulsions containing colloidal particles dry, two very different behaviors are observed.

The ability to predict structurally localized patches in a fluid provides a step toward describing the evolution from laminar to turbulent flow.

Molecular dynamics studies indicate a new phase of liquid hydrogen under high pressure.

Temperature and pressure appear to play a more dovetailed role in the glass transition than previously recognized.

A new phonon mode has been observed in a two-dimensional plasma crystal.

Rotating electric fields can power the flow of water along a nanochannel.

Scaling laws are a useful way to characterize fluid flow over a wide range of flow rates and experimental conditions. Theorists now explain several earlier experiments by finding a scaling law that describes how a liquid-liquid interface changes shape when driven by viscous forces.

A magnetic field can control the speed with which waves move on the surface of a ferrofluid. Scientists take advantage of this capability to explore new regimes of wave turbulence.

Turbulent states in a pipe do eventually decay, but you may have to wait for an extremely long time to prove it.