The impossible predicament of the death newts (crookedtimber.org)

> Regardless, Mitra and colleagues wrote that their observation “challenges our basic understanding of physics,” with practical effects extending far beyond a neat lab trick.

The description of the orb and how it works, reminds me of the Sticky Octopus toys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruLT3LTmfxc&t=130s definitively not new physics.

rsfern · 2d ago

The article in Soft Matter is open access: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM01490A

They have some interesting analysis of the elastic deformation that happens during the rolling process (as opposed to the ball just falling or sliding). Turns out it’s pretty sensitive to the elastic constant of both the ball and the wall

metalman · 2d ago

this is very interesting and may point to a new way to look at fluid dynamics, which is a poorly understood field that effects a great deal of human endevour

iliti22 · 2d ago

I am beginning to understand why federal funds were cut to universities. "Spitball by middle school kid rolls down whiteboard rather than instantly falling off! OMG we need a million dollars to study this."

AlotOfReading · 2d ago

Looks like they got around $75,000 total, split up over two grants, shared by the co-authors and the lab. That's a shockingly small budget and produced a neat study. Seems like Canada's getting their money's worth.

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Vertically rolling ball 'challenges our basic understanding of physics'

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