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Lenticular clouds are otherworldly on the own, but this image from photographer Francisco Negroni elevates the surrealism to another level. Here, a double lenticular cloud sits over the summit of the Villarrica volcano in Chile, illuminated at nightfall by the gl fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=33427

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 29/09/2026

On Arctic hillsides, solifluction creates terrace-like waves patterns, like those pictured above. Although these look similar to roll waves or lava flows, a new study shows that they're not physical equivalents. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32204

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 29/09/2026

Turns out part of the fallout from last week's attack on FYFD was that scheduled posts failed to go out. Thanks to @katherine-adler.bsky.social for bringing my attention to the problem! Lots of new material up now: fyfluiddynamics.com

fyfluiddynamics.com

FYFD

Celebrating the physics of all that flows

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 28/09/2026

At first glance, the dune field of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in northeastern Brazil looks like a desert. But this area's rainfall tops 50 inches a year, exceeding Seattle's typical amount. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=33887

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 25/09/2026

The Good Place should be much higher than this. Hardly any show hits such a consistently high level every single episode.

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 25/09/2026

Spores rise like smoke from botanical boules in this image by photographer Emmy Young. To reproduce, many plants and fungi release spores to soar on the wind--or, in the case of the nearly-still air of the forest floor, drift subtly on a mushroom-made breeze. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=28983

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 24/09/2026

Saturn's moon Enceladus, like several bodies in our solar system, has a global ocean beneath an icy shell. Unlike most other bodies, though, Enceladus has four large fissures--2 kilometers across and 130 kilometers long--that release geysers into space. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=33316

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 24/09/2026

I think of myself as being a rather clear and stylistically consistent writer. Ten percent of the way into this copyedited manuscript and I have been thoroughly disabused of this notion. #writerlife

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 23/09/2026

During floods, dams often need to release excess water to prevent damage to their infrastructure. Spillways are one mechanism for this. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=30849

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 22/09/2026

Blow across a glass bottle at the right flow speed, and you'll excite Helmholtz resonance in the bottle's neck. Today's study takes that effect, shrinks it down, and turns it into a method for controlling microrobots. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=33840

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 22/09/2026

WordPress informs me that I've published 4,200 posts on FYFD. That's... a lot of #fluiddynamics. #writinglife

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 21/09/2026

Wildfires can generate their own thunderstorms through pyrocumulonimbus clouds. These clouds can have an outsized impact on the stratosphere, too, injecting smoke and particulates that can linger for years to come. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=33880

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 21/09/2026

Having massive issues with FYFD web hosting this morning. Consider this a notice that I'm aware of the issue and trying to work with my hosting service to solve it. Fingers crossed that we'll get it back soon!

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 18/09/2026

A seal looks across a rain-pocked ocean surface in this photograph by Luca Lorenz. Over the summer, I found myself in a similar state to this seal, swimming in a lake as rain began to fall. It turned into one of the most peaceful moments of recent memory. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=33368

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 17/09/2026

The tobacco hawkmoth, Manduca sexta, relies on its antennae to sense odors, but a new study shows they may have some ability to smell with their wings also. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32467

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 17/09/2026

Incidentally, if you haven't read "More Everything Forever," you NEED to. It's intensely relevant and is one of two books I constantly recommend when I get into AI-related conversations. You need to know the fringe beliefs these billionaire oligarchs hold, and this is the book that lays them out.

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 16/09/2026

The Nivlisen Ice Shelf is a floating tongue of glacial ice flowing off Antarctica. During summer months, dots and streaks of brilliant blue meltwater appear on its surface. More water lies beneath, in crevasses and other drainage channels below the ice surface. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=31702

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 15/09/2026

When New Horizons passed Pluto in 2015, the dwarf planet was wrapped in a thin, hazy atmosphere of nitrogen. What happens to that atmosphere as the planet travels to the farthest reaches of its orbit is unknown, but we may be starting to find out. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32472

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 14/09/2026

We typically think of a chunk of metal as being solid and unchanging. Maybe you get a little oxidation on the outside surface, but everything stays the same inside, right? As Steve Mould explains in today's video, in some applications, the situation isn't that si fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32062

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 11/09/2026

A lone shark cruises a sandy shoreline in the Maldives in this image from photographer Tim Burgess. Its path parallels the footsteps left by humans on the beach. Between the beach's sand and the ocean's deeper water, there's a narrow stripe of sand ripples. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32899

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 10/09/2026

When a fluid flows through a porous bed of grains--like sand, soil, or coffee grounds--the flow rate typically increases linearly with pressure. But that's not the case for espresso, which is typically brewed with 6-9 bars of pressure. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=30967

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 09/09/2026

There's something about watching big, awkwardly-shaped insects taking off that doesn't get old. In today's video from Ant Lab, we see giant stick insects spreading their wings and taking off. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32238

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 08/09/2026

Snails have a mucus for every occasion. The grove snail/lemon snail makes five different varieties: one for lubricating its motion, one for adhering to surfaces, one to seal it in its shell for winter, and two to protect against predators. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32477

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 07/09/2026

When a heavier fluid sits atop a lighter one, the interface between them can be unstable. This means that even a very slight disturbance will be enough to cause fingers of dense (dark) fluid to sink while fingers of the lighter (white) fluid rise. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=12166

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Reposted by Nicole Sharp

Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It's also time to commission the next round of artists for our jaunty ocean critter sticker series, so if you're an ocean artist that wants to make some stickers, get in touch. I can pay $360 for a set of six ocean critters.

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 04/09/2026

Thirteen years ago, I made a prediction that work on how to avoid urinal splashback would win an Ig Nobel Prize. Today, I am, at last, vindicated. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=33327

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Reposted by Nicole Sharp

Ben Wurgaft @benwurgaft.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I am about to view the 2026 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, and you can too, at 1pm EST: improbable.com/the-36th-fir... I often help out behind the scenes at the "Igs." This year for [gestures at reasons why you might not want to hold an international conference in the U.S.] it's in Zurich.

improbable.com

The 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony

The 2026 Ig Nobel Prizes will be awarded at the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on Thursday evening, September 3, 2026. The ceremony itself begins at 7:00 pm (Centr…

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 03/09/2026

When New Horizons flew by Pluto, the dwarf planet's bright heart-shaped glacier at Sputnik Planitia garnered much attention. Now scientists think they've found evidence that liquid has flowed recently there. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32460

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 02/09/2026

Hurricane Katrina's storm surge flooded roughly 80% of New Orleans when multiple levees breached. In this video, Grady of Practical Engineering breaks down the engineering failures that made Katrina's flooding so bad. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32081

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 01/09/2026

New images from our most powerful solar telescope have finally revealed a phenomenon that's long been predicted: Kelvin-Helmholtz waves on the Sun's photosphere. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32451

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 31/08/2026

We're most familiar with the bright, forking lightning bolts that stretch from thunderstorms toward the ground, but there are even more types of lightning. Pictured here is a gigantic jet, a relatively recently-identified atmospheric phenomenon. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32012

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 29/08/2026

This timelapse from photographer Mike Olbinski shows a supercell thunderstorm that developed over Colorado and headed to Nebraska. The churning convection of the early storm makes for a dramatic backdrop to stormcloud's growing rotation. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=30985

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 28/08/2026

Sperm whales like to nap under the water and away from the waves. They seem to do this in a vertical, head-up orientation. But how do they keep from bobbing up? fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32403

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 26/08/2026

Urban environments are full of impermeable surfaces. To keep the run-off from turning into a flood, developers often use retention and detention ponds to collect and slowly release stormwater. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=30747

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 25/08/2026

For frost to spread on a surface, individual water droplets freeze and then spread the freezing front to a nearby droplet. Frequently that happens through an ice bridge that connects one droplet to the next. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32219

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 24/08/2026

Amen to this whole 🧵 If you're not writing with the goal of your readers understanding you, what are you even doing?

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 24/08/2026

Within the Helix Nebula, a planetary nebula about 650 light-years away, knots of dust and gas stream away from the central star. Though they appear small here, each contains a mass similar to the Earth's, spread out over an area larger than Pluto's orbit. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32387

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 21/08/2026

Our planet is constantly carved by the flow of wind, water, and ice. These images, all shortlisted by the International Aerial Photographer of the Year competition, highlight those forces. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=31864

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 21/08/2026

This sounds so delightfully fun that I'm tempted to sacrifice the tonic water in my fridge to set one up right away.

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 20/08/2026

Realistically modeling rainfall remains an extremely difficult problem. To be practical, results have to be on the scale of kilometers; no one is looking to find out whether rain will fall from one specific cloud over their head. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32214

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 20/08/2026

Many of us have a mental image of strings vibrating like a swinging jump rope, but that's not quite what you actually see. Instead, plucked strings often look strangely triangular, as Henry explains in this Minute Physics video. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32350

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 18/08/2026

Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a strong global magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to strip its atmosphere, but the exact mechanisms of that process have been unclear. But a new study shows that a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the key. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32392

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 17/08/2026

Footage of a massive iceberg flipping in Greenland has gone viral. Icebergs shift like this because they melt unevenly, with submerged areas melting faster. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32353

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 14/08/2026

It's no secret that I'm a fan of fountain pens. They're just one way I like to have little celebrations of fluid physics in my everyday life. That said, I don't typically use anything with a monster flex nib like what you see here. This is extra. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32241

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 13/08/2026

Nature is full of helical fibers, including in plants and bird feathers. In this study, researchers explore how these soft springs react to droplets. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32226

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 12/08/2026

We've seen a few different kinds of levitation here over the years, including via acoustic waves, aerodynamics, and Leidenfrost effect. Here, Steve Mould describes something a bit different: a levitation squeeze film driven by ultrasonic transducers. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=31064

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 11/08/2026

Like fighter pilots of old, male dragonflies engage in aerial combat where each tries to outmaneuver the other to keep a sight on their rival's tail. A recent study observed this combat in the field and uncovered some surprising similarities to dogfighting. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32017

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