FYFD

Celebrating the physics of all that flows. Ask a question, submit a post idea or send an email. You can also follow FYFD on Twitter and YouTube. FYFD is written by Nicole Sharp, PhD. If you're a fan of FYFD and would like to help support the site and its outreach, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon or giving a donation through PayPal with the button below. Your support is much appreciated!

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Pacific Surf

Life in Venice Beach lends itself to wave-watching, or so it seems for photographer Craig Hubbard.  (Image credit: C. Hubbard; via Colossal)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

A Fluidic Space Telescope

A telescope's resolution is set by the size of its reflective surface. Our largest space telescope, JWST, has a 6.5-meter reflector, the largest we could manage given manufacturing constraints and the need to launch it in a rocket. To reach even larger sizes, researchers are considering a new type of reflector: one made of liquid. (Image credit: NASA; research credit: I. Gabay et al.)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Mirabilite Mounds at Great Salt Lake

In cold weather, a new geological feature has shown up at Utah's Great Salt Lake in the last decade. These salty mirabilite mounds form terraced crystals that resemble Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs. (Video credit: Great Salt Lake Institute; image credit: Utah Geological Survey)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Droplets Can Climb Sugar Fibers

In nature, droplets and fibers can meet on a spider's web, on fur, or on a dew-gathering cactus. Here, researchers explore what happens when the droplet can dissolve the fiber it's suspended on. As the authors note, a lumberjack who cuts the branch they sit on makes a fatal choice. The droplet sees a different outcome. (Image and research credit: S. Dorbolo et al.)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Inside the LA Aquaduct

In the early twentieth century, Los Angeles had capital and political willpower, but not water. So it built an engineering marvel, the LA Aquaduct, to guide water from the Sierra Nevadas down to the growing city. Grady gets into the literal (and figurative) ups and downs of the project in this Practical Engineering video. (Video and image credit: Practical Engineering)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

"Tadpoles: The Big Little Migration"

In this short film, videographer Maxwel Hohn follows the migration of western toad tadpoles in British Columbia, showing their daily underwater journey from deep waters, where they can hide, to warmer, shallow waters, where they eat. (Video and image credit: M. Hohn et al.)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Burning Oil Spills With Fire Whirls

Though they are relatively infrequent, large marine oil spills, like 2010's Deepwater Horizon, are devastating and incredibly difficult to clean up. In many locations, the "best" option for responding to such disasters is burning off the oil before it can absorb enough water to sink. But these floating fires leave behind unburned oil and produce soot. To enhance the burn, researchers are looking at the possibility of triggering large-scale fire whirls. (Research and image credit: W. Cui et al.; via Eos)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Fixing Mosul Dam

Keeping the water in a reservoir is an obvious challenge for any dam. But for Iraq's Mosul Dam, it's especially challenging because the dam was built on a foundation of gypsum, a highly water-soluble mineral. (Video and image credit: Practical Engineering)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

The Disappearing Great Salt Lake

Since 1989, Utah's Great Salt Lake has lost some 70% of its surface area. The exposed lakebed left behind is a source of toxic dust that gets lifted into the air. Researchers are trying to understand what water sources exist beneath the lake and whether they might save the saline lake and its ecosystem from disappearing entirely. (Image credit: M. Thorne; research credit: M. Jacketta et al.; via Eos)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Swirls Above the Southern Ocean

In the Southern Ocean, obstacles are sparse. But the ice-cloaked volcano of Peter I Island is tall enough at over 1600 meters to disrupt the wind.  (Image credit: M. Garrison; via NASA Earth Observatory)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

"Self-pollination in a flower of thymeleaf speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia)"

Though we rarely notice their movement in the moment, plants, and especially their flowers, are frequently on the move. Here, retired engineer Jay McClellan captures a thymeleaf speedwell flower as it opens, then pushes a stamen toward its pistil, thereby pollinating itself. (Video and image credit: J. McClellan; via Colossal)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Closing a Venus Fly Trap

The Venus fly trap has long fascinated scientists with its ability to catch fast-moving prey. Just how the plant closes its "trap" leaf so quickly is a matter of debate. A new study gives us more detail--but not complete clarity--about what's going on. (Image credit: N. Suzuki; research credit: J. Ryu et al.; via Nature and Gizmodo)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

A Special Trio of Clouds

Off the coast of Alaska, March 19th, 2026 featured a trio of fascinating clouds. Southwest of Anchorage, a cyclonic polar low twisted up from cold polar air centered over warmer waters. This particular storm boasted tropical-storm-force winds and thunderstorms in its center. (Image credit: M. Garrison/NASA Earth Observatory)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Dropping Oobleck

Oobleck is a peculiar substance. Formed from a suspension of cornstarch particles in water, it can flow like a liquid at low shear rates or jam into a solid under impact. Here, researchers explore what happens to a droplet of oobleck impacting a surface. (Image and research credit: A. Mobaseri et al.; via APS)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

The Teton Dam Failure

Engineering failures always leave us with lessons learned. The failure of Teton Dam in 1976 triggered an overhaul in how we manage dam construction and regulation.  (Video and image credit: Practical Engineering)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Vanishing Spirits: Cognac

Years ago, photographer Ernie Button discovered an intriguing stain left behind in his whiskey glass after the last drops evaporated. (Image and submission credit: E. Button)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Oyster Reefs Sequester Nitrogen

The US eastern seaboard was once blanketed with oyster beds, but overharvesting, pollution, and habitat destruction decimated the population. (Image credit: J. Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill; research credit: A. Smiley et al.; via Eos)