The Aerodynamics of Foam
Here’s an interesting, and perhaps counter-intuitive result. Everyone knows that it’s the flow of air over an airplane’s wings that provides the lift that keeps the plane aloft. But what if you replace the moving air with foam? Some French physicists found that in that case the resulting force is exerted downwards rather than upwards. They call this “anti-inertial lift,” and say it could have implications in all kinds of fields: oil extraction, industrial cleaning processes; and it “might even shed light on how embryonic cells rearrange themselves in a growing foetus.”
The paper’s abstract, from Physical Review Letters, is here.
Keep Reading
Most Popular

A quick guide to the most important AI law you’ve never heard of
The European Union is planning new legislation aimed at curbing the worst harms associated with artificial intelligence.

It will soon be easy for self-driving cars to hide in plain sight. We shouldn’t let them.
If they ever hit our roads for real, other drivers need to know exactly what they are.

This is the first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy
The stunning image was made possible by linking eight existing radio observatories across the globe.

The gene-edited pig heart given to a dying patient was infected with a pig virus
The first transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart into a human may have ended prematurely because of a well-known—and avoidable—risk.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.