Fluids play a crucial role in industrial processes like cooling, heating, and mixing. Traditionally, most industries would utilize Newtonian fluids—which have a constant viscosity—for such processes. However, many are now adopting viscoelastic fluids, which can behave as both liquids and elastic materials.

These fluids can suppress turbulence in simple flows like straight pipes or channels, leading to reduced wall friction. This “drag reduction effect” has attracted significant interest due to its potential to enhance energy efficiency.

To advance the industrial applications of such fluids, it is critical to understand how these fluids interact with turbulence.

A team of international researchers has developed a groundbreaking class of mechanical metamaterials capable of storing and releasing elastic energy at unprecedented levels. By cleverly twisting rods into a helical shape and integrating them into a new metamaterial structure, they’ve overcome tra

A trio of US researchers claim to have successfully tested predictions that it’s possible to harvest clean energy from the natural rhythms and processes of our planet, generating electricity as Earth rotates through its own magnetic field.

Though the voltage they produced was tiny, the possibility could give rise to a new way to generate electricity from our planet’s dynamics, alongside tidal, solar, wind, and geothermal power production.

In 2016, Princeton astrophysicist Christopher Chyba and JPL planetary scientist Kevin Hand challenged their own proof that such a feat ought to be impossible. The researchers have now uncovered empirical evidence that their proof-breaking idea may actually work, as long as the shape and properties of the conducting material in their method are set to very specific requirements.