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Soft Matter news
New study may revise a 60-year-old theory about flowing viscous liquids
The international collaborative team of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) in Japan, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar) in India, and Osaka University in Japan has discovered for the first ...
Soft Matter
7 hours ago
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Evaporation critical to coronavirus transmission as weather changes
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise worldwide, it is increasingly urgent to understand how climate impacts the continued spread of the coronavirus, particularly as winter virus infections are more common and countries in the ...
Soft Matter
Sep 22, 2020
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Fish, seaweed inspire slippery surfaces for ships
Long-distance cargo ships lose a significant amount of energy due to fluid friction. Looking to the drag reduction mechanisms employed by aquatic life can provide inspiration on how to improve efficiency.
Soft Matter
Sep 15, 2020
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Predicting delayed instabilities in viscoelastic solids
It is presently challenging to determine the stability of viscoelastic structures since seemingly stable conformations may gradually creep (plastic deformation of a material under stress as a function of time) until their ...
Restoring the filtration efficiency of N95 masks after they have been cleaned
N95 masks are a critical part of the personal protective equipment used by front-line health care workers. These masks achieve 95% efficiency at filtering out tiny 0.3-micron particles, while maintaining reasonable breathability, ...
Soft Matter
Sep 08, 2020
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Poetry in motion: Engineers analyze the fluid physics of movement in marine snails
In the world's oceans, billions of tiny marine snails (a form of plankton) commute daily between surface waters, where they feed at night, to depths of several hundred meters during the day to rest while avoiding predators. ...
Soft Matter
Sep 07, 2020
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194
Floating a boat on the underside of a liquid
A team of researchers from Institut Langevin and Sorbonne Université has shown that it is possible to float boats on both the top and underside of a suspended fluid. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group ...
Face shields, masks with valves ineffective against COVID-19 spread: study
If the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines aren't enough to convince you that face shields alone shouldn't be used to stop the spread of COVID-19, then maybe a new visualization study ...
General Physics
Sep 01, 2020
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Slippery superfluids push jets to breaking point
A unique type of helium that can flow without being affected by friction has helped a KAUST team better understand the transformation of rapidly moving liquids into tiny droplets.
Soft Matter
Aug 31, 2020
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468
Effectiveness of cloth masks depends on type of covering
Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing a mask while out in public has become the recommended practice. However, many still question the effectiveness of this.
General Physics
Aug 25, 2020
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3134
Using a public restroom? Mask up!
Think you don't need to worry about COVID-19 while using a public restroom? A group of researchers from Yangzhou University in China recently reported that flushing public restroom toilets can release clouds of virus-laden ...
Soft Matter
Aug 18, 2020
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958
Humid air can extend lifetime of virus-laden aerosol droplets
The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is thought to spread through natural respiratory activities, such as breathing, talking and coughing, but little is known about how the virus is transported through the air.
Soft Matter
Aug 18, 2020
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374
Researchers capture footage of fluid behaving like a solid
Swansea University researchers from the College of Engineering have captured the moments a fluid reacts like a solid through a new method of fluid observation under pressurised conditions.
Soft Matter
Aug 14, 2020
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223
Using physics to improve root canal efficiency
Scientists used computational fluid dynamics to determine the effect of temperature on root canal cleaning efficiency. Higher temperatures can, to a point, improve cleansing, but this benefit falls off if the temperature ...
General Physics
Aug 11, 2020
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Making masks and PPE with hydrophilic surfaces, could reduce infection risk
Since the COVID-19 virus spreads through respiratory droplets, researchers in India set out to explore how droplets deposited on face masks or frequently touched surfaces, like door handles or smartphone touch screens, dry.
General Physics
Aug 11, 2020
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132
Droplet spread from humans doesn't always follow airflow
The World Health Organization has warned that aerosol transmission of COVID-19 is being underestimated. If aerosol spread is confirmed to be significant, as suspected, we will need to reconsider guidelines on social distancing, ...
Soft Matter
Aug 04, 2020
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1269
Scientists investigate radiolabeling of calcium carbonate particles in vivo
Сalcium carbonate particles are among the most promising bioactive compounds. However, before their use for drug delivery, their toxicity should be established, as well as their distribution inside laboratory animals. A ...
General Physics
Jul 14, 2020
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How to get rid of the coffee-stain effect
The coffee-stain effect is a well-known effect in physics and daily life in which a dark-colored edge remains when a fluid containing particles evaporates. This is caused by an "avalanche" of particles moving to the outer ...
Soft Matter
Jul 03, 2020
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137
Chemicals released into the air could become less hazardous, thanks to a missing math formula for droplets
Drones and other aircraft effectively spray pesticides over miles of crops, but the method also can pollute the environment if wind carries the mist off-target.
Condensed Matter
Jun 26, 2020
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373
Flushing toilets create clouds of virus-containing particles
Researchers used a computer simulation to show how a flushing toilet can create a cloud of virus-containing aerosol droplets that is large and widespread and lasts long enough that the droplets could be breathed in by others.
Soft Matter
Jun 16, 2020
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11775
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Models explain changes in cooking meat
Superfuids may merge via corkscrew mechanism
Jets of bacteria carry microscopic cargo
Water-balloon physics is high-impact science
Distortion isn't a drag on fluid-straddling particles
Rethinking a century of fluid flows
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Quantum entanglement realized between distant large objects
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Ancient Adelie penguin colony revealed by snowmelt at Cape Irizar, Ross Sea, Antarctica
Salty lake, ponds may be gurgling beneath Mars' South Pole
Understanding oxygen-reducing enzymes
Lights, camera, action... the super-fast world of droplet dynamics
How are microbes attracted to an oil spill?
Spider-Man-style robotic graspers defy gravity
Discovering a new fundamental underwater force
Industrial bread dough kneaders could use physics-based redesign
A red future for improving crop production?
Research reveals how wounds heal in 'waves'
Researchers discover a new method to regulate cell plasticity
Oligomeric materials to enhance water splitting
New machine to probe the ultrafast motion of matter
