Today the mailman brought these two beautiful booklets, from 1907 and 1921. Both are by Otto Lehmann, the first scientist to study liquid crystals. Until a friendly person on Mastodon pointed it out to me, I did not realize that in the early 20th century liquid crystals played a role in the discussion between mechanists and vitalists, being organized but not rigid. Lehmann often wrote about characteristics they shared with organisms.

#OttoLehmann #LiquidCrystals #SystemsThatMatter

Twisting in the Flow

What happens to liquid crystals in a flow? In this video, researchers look at liquid crystals flowing through the narrow gap of a microfluidic device. Initially, all the crystals are oriented the same way, as if they are logs rolling down a river. But as the flow rate increases, narrow lines appear in the flow, followed by disordered regions, and, eventually, a new configuration: vertical bands streaking the left-to-right flow. The colors, in this case, indicate the orientation of the liquid crystals. As the researchers show, the crystals collectively twist to form the spontaneous bands. (Video and image credit: D. Jia and I. Bischofberger)

#2024gofm #flowVisualization #fluidDynamics #instability #liquidCrystals #physics #science

Ah what a bummer: I own this Amstrad Notpad NC100 for a very long time, over 20 years. Always took good care of it. But I guess you can't avoid some decay of electronics, can you? There is now a small spot on the display, hard to capture on cam. It seems to be a spot where it bulged up. Not sure what that is - maybe just a polarisation filter on top of the display like with Gameboy LC displays? Does anyone know? Has any NC100 (or 150 or 200) owner had this problem before? Is it worth the hassle of trying to fix it? As I'm inclined to let it be and just hope it won't get much worse at least in the near future.

#retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #amstrad #amstradnc100 #amstradnc200 #liquidcrystals #lcd

Quantum light is essential for future tech like unhackable internet and quantum imaging. Researchers in Slovenia developed a new method using liquid crystals to create quantum light, a significant advancement after decades of stagnation in the field.

#QuantumLight #LiquidCrystals #UnhackableInternet

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2435010-liquid-crystals-could-improve-quantum-communication-devices/

#science #scientist

Filamentous Phage Shields https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2024/03/filamentous-phage-shields.html @STCmicrobeblog

Phage liquid crystalline droplets form occlusive sheaths that encapsulate and protect infectious rod-shaped #bacteria (2020) https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1917726117

"in #biofilms and due to the presence of #ExtracellularMatrix #polymers, Pf4 #phage particles form highly ordered yet dynamic #LiquidCrystals (tactoids) that surround the cells. Quite interestingly, these #tactoids confer on the cells an increased tolerance to #antibiotics."

Watch the teaser and tell us you don't want to watch the full lecture😊 Isn't it one of the most beautiful simulations you have ever seen?

Don't think twice; find the link to the free course on #ActiveMatter at https://enabla.com/set/143 and ask your questions online so the lecturer and other students can help you understand the topic better😎

All Enabla lectures are #free and #OpenAccess. If you like what we're doing, please support us by liking, reposting, following, commenting, and asking questions on Enabla – every action counts!🙏

#Physics #Biology #Lectures #Turbulance #LiquidCrystals #ReynoldsnNumber