Fluid
Fluid trampolines that represent chaos theory. A better way to pinpoint underground oil reserves. New stanzas in the "Engineer's Drinking Song." Fluids play a big role in research and recreation at MIT. This issue of Quick Take uncovers innovations in olive oil, an understanding of how traffic flows, ways developing countries can access potable water, demonstrations of fluidity of movement, and more. Read on for a small sip from the fire hose.
Drink
The drink of choice at MIT.
Bringing drinking-water treatment systems to the third world
Watch video of members of the MIT community teaching Nepalese people how to improve their quality of life as part of the MIT Nepal Water Project.
How to stay hydrated
Just how much water should you drink per day (pdf)? The folks at MIT Medical offer advice. And what about caffeinated beverages and juices? Find out how they affect hydration as well.
What Americans can teach Scots about drinking
A blog entry posted by Associate Director of MIT Admissions Matt McGann '00 highlights an article written by Grace Kane '11 about the differences in drinking culture between the U.S. and her native Scotland.
Improving drinking water around the world
Several students in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering blogged about their experiences oversees evaluating and improving drinking water for third-world countries. Katherine Vater '07, MNG '08 reported from Thailand and Cash Fitzpatrick MNG '08 from Ghana. Find other student blogs as well. And view video and photos of 2008-09 Legatum Center fellow John Peter Nshimyimana and his work bringing clean water to his native Rwanda through rainwater harvesting, improving wastewater treatment systems, and more.
This mixed drink may stump you
Try your hand at this puzzle from the 2003 Mystery Hunt. View the answer when you're ready.
The "Engineer's Drinking Song" evolves
In case you forgot any of the verses. And check out some of the new ones (pdf) penned as part of the Alumni Association's 2008 puzzle hunt.
Fluid Dynamics
Math professor discovers chaos on a 'fluid trampoline'
MIT mathematicians have demonstrated the simplest fluid example of chaos theory ever explored by using a water drop placed on a vibrating soap film. Watch video.
MIT solves 100-year-old engineering problem
MIT scientists reported new mathematical and experimental work for predicting where aerodynamic separation, a phenomenon that occurs with cars, airplanes, boats, submarines, and more, will occur. The insights on fluid flow could impact fuel efficiency.
OpenCourseWare
Advanced Fluid Mechanics
A mechanical engineering course covering the principal concepts and methods of fluid dynamics.Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics
An earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences course that introduces the physics governing the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere.
Fluid mechanics brought to life Lewin-style
Watch videos of Professor Walter Lewin describing buoyancy and hydrostatic pressure.
Puzzle of gravity fingering explained
MIT researchers have explained the preferential flow paths of gravity-driven water infiltration into homogenous, dry soil.
Video captures fluid mechanics, jellyfish
Artist Andres Lombana SM '08 captured motion patterns of three fluid mechanics experiments with Super-8 film then blended and juxtaposed the visual rhythms with footage of jellyfish.
What's Quick Take?
A bimonthly feature created by the MIT Alumni Association relating contemporary topics to personal life, work, and MIT culture. View the archive.
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Liquids
Blood
MIT engineers have built a wearable blood pressure sensor that offers 24/7 continuous pressure monitoring and could help predict heart attacks.
Olive oil
After retiring to Australia, Jorge de Moya '53 decided there was no reason good olive oil couldn't be produced Down Under. So he devised his own production techniques and now makes what some chefs and international judges deem a superior product.
Water
Through photographs, maps, and stories, Fresh Pond—The History of a Cambridge Landscape by Jill Sinclair looks at the background of what was once Cambridge's summer retreat for wealthy Bostonians, a center of the 19th-century ice industry, a training ground for trench warfare, and more.
Oil
MIT researchers from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have developed a mapping technology that could make oil extraction from underground reservoirs more efficient.
Milk
Milk and Melancholy by Kenneth Hayes looks at milk in art, from Harold Edgerton's drops to Jeff Wall's splash.
Wine
Unlike his earlier entrepreneurial endeavors, the wine-making business took John Tracy '65 by surprise. But he's learned how to make award-winning reds.
Send comments and questions to:
quicktake@mit.edu
Photo: ©istockphoto.com/Trout55.
Flow
Mathematicians explain 'phantom' traffic jams
A team of MIT mathematicians has developed a model that describes how traffic jams with no apparent cause can appear, which could help road designers minimize the odds of their formation.
Research rethinks human-machine interactive experience
The Fluid Interfaces group in the MIT Media Lab looks at how to seamlessly integrate digital information into daily lives. Explore the group's research projects.
Collaboration looks at small materials with big potential
The recently launched MIT-International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory brings together interdisciplinary researchers to explore how to integrate nanomaterials and devices into systems. One example: coaxing nanoparticles to self-assemble into complex nanostructured devices with precisely tailored chemical or biological responses.
Technology creates smart homes from consumer electronics
Roadie, developed at the MIT Media Lab, allows people to tell their electronics what they want to do. Like voice commands for phones, only this can link up your computer, TV, phone, and more.
Video: "The Future of the News" explores information exchange
Watch Ellen Hume, research director at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media, discuss the implications of the change in information flow from professional to citizen journalists.
OpenCourseWare: Compressible Flow
An aeronautics and astronautics course that looks at, among other topics, quasi-one-dimensional flow, disturbances, and unsteady flows in fluids and both linear and non-linear two-dimensional flows in gases.
Lab explores emerging science of microfluidics
The Hatsopolous Microfluids Laboratory focuses on understanding the dynamics of fluid with microstructure. Research includes flow-structure interactions, flow in microfluidic devices and lab-on-a-chip applications, and more.
Visualizing flow
A five-minute video uses assorted clips and artistic representations to introduce viewers to flow visualization techniques used at MIT.
Graceful Movements
Student dance troupe auditions for TV show
The MIT student dance group Ridonkulous uses a style all their own that calls on the dancers' backgrounds in ballet, jazz, tap, break dancing, hip-hop, street/jazz funk, and bhangra.
Honey bees' dance
They may not be the most fluid dancers on Earth, but without honey bees' shimmies and shakes we wouldn't have nearly enough of that sweetest of sweet fluids: honey. Watch a short video clip of some dancing bees and learn about the applications of such movements.
Video: Choreographer teaches, dances at MIT
Rebecca Rice, choreographer and artistic director of Rebecca Rice Dance, demonstrates grace and fluid movement in a short film hosted on TechTV.
MIT Dance Troupe does hip hop
Classically trained ballerinas are often praised for their fluidity, but hip hop dancers can look like liquid on stage too. Check out footage of the MIT Dance Troupe from fall 2008.
East Campus students build disco dance floor
A proper dance floor can really help dancers get into the flow. Learn about the one built by a group of East Campus students two years ago.
