https://phys.org/physics-news/soft-matter en-us The latest news on soft matter, soft condensed matter, liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials The theory of special relativity is rife with counterintuitive and surprising effects, the most famous of which are length contraction and time dilation. If an object travels at a relative speed, which is a non-negligible fraction of the speed of light, with respect to an observer, the length of the object in the travel direction will appear shorter to the observer than it actually is in the object's rest frame. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-fluids-thicken-theory-einstein-real.html General Physics Soft Matter Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:42:30 EST news650205743 A trio of physicists, two with Coventry University, in the U.K., and the third with Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, in France, has demonstrated how Earth's magnetic field may be influencing internal flow, using what they describe as a Little Earth Experiment. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-reveals-earth-magnetic-field-planet.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 06 Nov 2024 14:55:26 EST news650127320 The unique properties of baseball's famed "magic" mud have never been scientifically quantified—until now. In a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering) and School of Arts & Sciences (SAS) reveal what makes the magic mud so special. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-secrets-baseball-magic-mud-quantifies.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 04 Nov 2024 15:00:02 EST news649949272 A team of scientists have invented a technique to determine the dynamics of microscopic interacting particles by using image recognition to count the number of particles in an imaginary box. By changing the size of the observation box, such counting enables the study of the dynamics of the collective system, even for a dense group of particles suspended in a fluid. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-image-recognition-technique-particles-diffusion.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 29 Oct 2024 11:20:01 EDT news649415299 While many smoking rooms in U.S. airports have closed in recent years, they are still common in other airports around the world. These lounges can be ventilated, but how much does it actually help the dispersion of smoke? https://phys.org/news/2024-10-optimal-positions-airport-lounges.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 29 Oct 2024 11:00:01 EDT news649413260 In a new study in Physical Review Letters, scientists have demonstrated a method to control artificial microswimmers using electric fields and fluid flow. These microscopic droplets could pave the way for targeted drug delivery and microrobotics. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-scientists-precise-artificial-microswimmers-electric.html Soft Matter Tue, 29 Oct 2024 08:00:01 EDT news649353436 Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune and the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune have shown that the macroscopic deformation of amorphous solids is controlled by structural defects within the material. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-key-role-defects-amorphous-solid.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Fri, 18 Oct 2024 10:20:05 EDT news648465594 When driving though a bank of fog, car headlights are only of limited help as the light is scattered by the water particles suspended in the air. The situation is similar when you try to observe the inside of a drop of milk in water or the internal structure of an opal gem with the help of white light. In all these cases, multiple light scattering effects prevent examination of the interior. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-cloudy-liquids-method-expansion-turbid.html Soft Matter Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:16:04 EDT news648393362 An international research team led by Brandeis University has achieved a major breakthrough in the field of active matter physics, as detailed in a study published this week in Physical Review X. This pioneering research offers the first experimental validation of a key theoretical prediction about 3D active nematic liquid crystals by trapping them within cell-sized spherical droplets. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-scientists-unprecedented.html Soft Matter Fri, 04 Oct 2024 11:15:58 EDT news647259355 Scientists have discovered that ocean waves may become far more extreme and complex than previously imagined. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-ocean-limits.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:45:29 EDT news645882319 Vincent van Gogh's painting "The Starry Night" depicts a swirling blue sky with yellow moon and stars. The sky is an explosion of colors and shapes, each star encapsulated in ripples of yellow, gleaming with light like reflections on water. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-beneath-brushstrokes-van-gogh-sky.html Soft Matter Tue, 17 Sep 2024 11:00:02 EDT news645780301 As Rohit Velankar, now a senior at Fox Chapel Area High School, poured juice into a glass, he could feel that the rhythmic "glug, glug, glug" was flexing the walls of the carton. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-science-fair-glugging-effect.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 10 Sep 2024 17:17:02 EDT news645207421 Researchers at ETH Zurich have managed to make sound waves travel only in one direction. In the future, this method could also be used in technical applications with electromagnetic waves. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-implications-electromagnetic-technology.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:01:59 EDT news644839314 An altogether new convective instability has been predicted and experimentally discovered, 140 years after Lord Rayleigh. Convective instabilities are of fundamental importance for both our everyday life as well as for ecology and climate in atmospheric and oceanic science. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-discovery-convective-instability-complex-fluids.html Soft Matter Fri, 06 Sep 2024 08:57:17 EDT news644831831 A 3D quantum spin liquid has been discovered in the vicinity of a member of the langbeinite family. The material's specific crystalline structure and the resulting magnetic interactions induce an unusual behavior that can be traced back to an island of liquidity. An international team has made this discovery with experiments at the ISIS neutron source and theoretical modeling on a nickel-langbeinite sample. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-langbeinites-talents-3d-quantum-liquids.html Soft Matter Quantum Physics Fri, 23 Aug 2024 12:01:04 EDT news643633262 Many fundamental processes of life, and their synthetic counterparts in nanotechnology, are based on the autonomous assembly of individual particles into complex patterns. LMU physicist Professor Erwin Frey, Chair of Statistical and Biological Physics at LMU Munich and member of the ORIGINS Excellence Cluster, investigates the fundamental principles of this self-organization. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-physicists-filaments-foams.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 21 Aug 2024 09:51:02 EDT news643452661 Cilia are sensory structures extending from the surface of some cells. These hair-like structures are known to contribute to the sensorimotor capabilities of various living organisms, including humans. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-robotic-platform-complex-ciliary-behavior.html Soft Matter Tue, 13 Aug 2024 08:10:01 EDT news642683025 Microplastics are a global problem: they end up in rivers and oceans, they accumulate in living organisms and disrupt entire ecosystems. How tiny particles behave in a current is difficult to describe scientifically, especially in the case of thin fibers, which make up more than half of microplastic contamination in marine life-forms. In turbulent currents, it is almost impossible to predict their movement. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-high-cameras-reveal-behavior-microplastics.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 12 Aug 2024 10:25:03 EDT news642677101 For roughly 70 years, Play-Doh has been entertaining children with its moldable, squishy form. This familiar substance belongs to a broader category known as soft matter, which includes some foods (such as mayonnaise), 3D printer gels, battery electrolytes and latex paint. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-ability-track-nanoscale-soft-pivotal.html Soft Matter Fri, 09 Aug 2024 05:17:27 EDT news642399442 In a study published in Device has reported a new self-powered electrostatic tweezer that offers superior accumulation and tunability of triboelectric charges, enabling unprecedented flexibility and adaptability for manipulating objects in various working scenarios. The research team was led by Dr. Du Xuemin from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences https://phys.org/news/2024-07-powered-electrostatic-tweezer-microfluidics.html Soft Matter Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:43:31 EDT news641220201 A team of scientists has developed a novel hybrid scheme for both steady and unsteady single-phase compressible flow simulations. Their scheme has potential applications in real-world scenarios, offering a promising avenue for future research. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-team-hybrid-scheme-compressible.html Soft Matter Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:22:39 EDT news641218955 When an object hits a body of water vertically, it is accompanied by a strong hydrodynamic force fueled by the flow of water around it, which propels it forward. The magnitude of this force is known to vary depending on the mass of the object hitting the water. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-exploring-spherical.html Soft Matter Fri, 26 Jul 2024 09:40:01 EDT news641203717 According to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team led by Professor Xu Ning from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has found that active matter and shear flows share similar thinning behaviors in self-propulsion and shear forces. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-thinning-behaviors.html Soft Matter Wed, 24 Jul 2024 15:39:54 EDT news641054392 A search for "air fryer recipe" on most social media platforms likely returns a flood of food videos touting quick and easy meal ideas. The market touts these devices as a convenient, clean, quick way to heat and crispen food, that offers a typically healthier option to using conventional deep fryers. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-differently-tight-spaces-insights-convection.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 24 Jul 2024 10:25:04 EDT news641035501 The trunk of an elephant is among the versatile appendages in the animal kingdom. Now a research team has shown that most of its dexterity can be reproduced with a model using just three "muscles." And they built a physical model to do just that. The findings are published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-elephant-trunk-dexterity-mimicked-minimal.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 24 Jul 2024 10:00:01 EDT news641033875 Oil drops from underwater oil spills can break into tinier droplets at the surface that remain suspended in the water, according to research from the University of Illinois Chicago. That means cleanups after disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill may be removing less oil from the environment than was thought. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-underwater-oil-pollution-cleanups.html Soft Matter Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:19:03 EDT news640527542 A new theory has finally deciphered the physical mechanisms of fracture in soft materials. This discovery could soon lead to new, defect-free materials that are more resistant and durable as well as environmentally friendly. The article "Elastic instability behind brittle fracture" was recently published by Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-theory-reveals-fracture-mechanism-soft.html Soft Matter Wed, 03 Jul 2024 16:49:02 EDT news639244141 A trio of physicists at Sorbonne Université, in France, has observed a thermoelectric effect between two liquid materials for the first time. In their study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Marlone Vernet, Stephan Fauve and Christophe Gissinger put two types of liquid metals together at room temperature and subjected them to a heat gradient. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-thermoelectric-effect-liquid-materials.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Tue, 11 Jun 2024 09:05:37 EDT news637315404 In 1883, Osborne Reynolds injected ink into water in a short, clear pipe to observe its movement. His experiments showed that as the input water velocity increased, the flow went from laminar (smooth and predictable) to turbulent (unsteady and unpredictable) through the development of localized patches of turbulence, known today as "puffs." https://phys.org/news/2024-06-unexpected-brewing-coffee-turbulence.html Soft Matter Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:53:03 EDT news636634381 When plants draw water from their roots to nourish their stems and leaves, they produce an electric potential that could be harnessed as a renewable energy source. However, like all living things, plants are subject to a circadian rhythm—the biological clock that runs through day and night cycles and influences biological processes. In plants, this daily cycle includes capturing light energy for photosynthesis and absorbing water and nutrients from the soil during the day and slowing its growth processes at night. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-hydraulics-streaming-electric-potential-sync.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 28 May 2024 11:00:02 EDT news636024491