Mastodawn

What do boat wakes and biological tissues have in common? A new study shows that ultrasoft solids support wake patterns similar to fluids, opening new possibilities for probing soft materials through surface waves.

🔗 https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ship-soft-tissues-exploring-fluid.html

#SoftMatter #WavePhysics #Biophysics #FluidMechanics #MaterialsScience

From ship wakes to soft tissues: Exploring fluid and solid surface-wave physics

A new study by scientists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) shows that when a pressure disturbance moves across an ultrasoft elastic material, such as a gel or a biological tissue, it generates a V-shaped wake that's strikingly similar to the waves that travel behind a boat.

Phys.org

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Fabrizio Musacchio May 10

Reading the dissertation was fascinating because it reveals a side of #Helmholtz that is rarely discussed today. Long before his work on #EnergyConservation, #electrodynamics, and #WavePhysics, he was already deeply engaged with #anatomical and #biological questions.

It also shows that some core ideas about the comparative structure of nervous systems were already being articulated in the early 19th century.

#Neuroscience #Physics #ScienceHistory