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turbulence

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Fluorescent purple liquid splashes.
fluid dynamics

An Injection of Chaos Solves Decades-Old Fluid Mystery

By Adam Mann
January 4, 2022
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In the 1960s, drillers noticed that certain fluids would firm up if they flowed too fast. Researchers have finally explained why.

fluid vortices
fluid dynamics

An Unexpected Twist Lights Up the Secrets of Turbulence

By David H. Freedman
September 3, 2020
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Having solved a central mystery about the “twirliness” of tornadoes and other types of vortices, William Irvine has set his sights on turbulence, the white whale of classical physics.

Animation of black hole formation.
mathematical physics

New Math Proves That a Special Kind of Space-Time Is Unstable

By Steve Nadis
May 11, 2020
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Einstein’s equations describe three canonical configurations of space-time. Now one of these three — important in the study of quantum gravity — has been shown to be inherently unstable.

Multimedia

The Map of Mathematics

By Kevin Hartnett
February 13, 2020
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Explore our surprisingly simple, absurdly ambitious and necessarily incomplete guide to the boundless mathematical universe.

Photo of black and white swirls of mixing paint
fluid dynamics

Mathematicians Prove Universal Law of Turbulence

By Kevin Hartnett
February 4, 2020
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By exploiting randomness, three mathematicians have proved an elegant law that underlies the chaotic motion of turbulent systems.

Video simulation of gas around a black hole.
astrophysics

Astronomers Find Black Holes Stirring Up the Biggest Galaxies

By Charlie Wood
December 12, 2019
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After a space telescope disintegrated, astrophysicists had little hope of understanding how supermassive black holes agitate giant galaxies. Then they invented a hack.

Art for "The Trouble With Turbulence"
In Theory

The Trouble With Turbulence

By Michael Moyer
January 28, 2019
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Turbulence is everywhere, yet it is one of the most difficult concepts for physicists to understand.

Photo of Jupiter for "Mathematicians Tame Turbulence in Flattened Fluids"
fluid dynamics

Mathematicians Tame Turbulence in Flattened Fluids

By Joshua Sokol
June 27, 2018
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By squeezing fluids into flat sheets, researchers can get a handle on the strange ways that turbulence feeds energy into a system instead of eating it away.

Photo of smoke
Abstractions blog

What Makes the Hardest Equations in Physics So Difficult?

By Kevin Hartnett
January 16, 2018
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The Navier-Stokes equations describe simple, everyday phenomena, like water flowing from a garden hose, yet they provide a million-dollar mathematical challenge.

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