How insects track odors by navigating microscale winds

How do flying insects like important pollinators locate odor sources in the great outdoors, despite encountering highly variable wind conditions? They use odor plumes—which travel like smoke and form when the wind blows ...

Exploring the physics of gummy candy

For gummy candies, texture might be even more important than taste. Biting into a hard, stale treat is disappointing, even if it still carries a burst of sweetness. Keeping gummies in good condition depends on their formulation ...

Extracting the best flavor from coffee

Espresso coffee is brewed by first grinding roasted coffee beans into grains. Hot water then forces its way through a bed of coffee grains at high pressure, and the soluble content of the coffee grains dissolves into the ...

Preserving pine forests by understanding beetle flight

The mountain pine beetle is one of the main causes of tree mortality in the pine forests of North America. For example, the insect has killed thousands of acres of pine forest in British Columbia and Alberta, and as a result, ...

Improving bloodstain pattern analysis with fluid dynamics

Often left on the surfaces of a crime scene or on the clothes of an accused criminal, blood backspatter can be used as evidence for forensic scientists to reconstruct what occurred. However, the fluid dynamics at play are ...

The perfect pour: Model predicts beer head features

From creating drinks with distinctive looks to providing aromas for connoisseurs, beer foam is big business. The complex interplay between the components of a beer, the vessel from which it's poured, and the glass it's poured ...

How to shelter from a nuclear explosion

There is no good place to be when a nuclear bomb goes off. Anything too close is instantly vaporized, and radiation can pose a serious health threat even at a distance. In between, there is another danger: the blast wave ...

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