Diving Together

Two spheres dropped into water next to one another form asymmetric cavities. A single ball's cavity is perfectly symmetric, and so are two spheres', provided they are far enough apart. But for close impacts, the spheres influence one another, creating a mirror image. (Image credit: A. Kiyama et al.) Read the full article

Cracking Droplets

Droplets infused with particles -- like coffee -- can leave complex stains once they evaporate. Here researchers show the complex cracking pattern that develops as a droplet with nanoparticles evaporates. (Image and research credit: P. Lilin and I. Bischofberger) Read the full article

Spinning Tops

What does the flow look like around a spinning top? Here, researchers used dye to visualize what happens in a Newtonian fluid (like air or water) as well as a viscoelastic fluid. (Image credit: B. Keshavarz and M. Geri) Read the full article

Morphing Particle Rafts

A layer of tiny glass beads sitting atop a pool of castor oil becomes a morphing surface in this video. Applying an electric field creates enough electrostatic force to draw the interface upward against the power of both gravity and surface tension.  (Image and video credit: K. Sun et al.) Read the full article

Schooling Relies on Vision

For fish, collective motions like schooling rely on a few mechanisms, including flow sensing and -- as beautifully demonstrated in this experiment -- vision. (Video and research credit: L. Baptiste et al.) Read the full article