# art: nature as a bizarre artist, the self-sculpted Sphinx.

<< There is evidence that the Great Sphinx was a natural landform before its surface features were chiseled by the ancient Egyptians. Is this controversial theory plausible? >>

AA << carried out experiments on the fluid mechanical erosion of clay. Based on accounts of the nonuniform composition of the Sphinx, we tested the effect of hard inclusions within hillocks of softer clay. The flow of a water tunnel mimics the prevailing winds of Giza, and three-dimensional optical scanning records the history and evolution of the shape as it erodes. >>

<< These results show what ancient peoples may have encountered in the deserts of Egypt and why they envisioned a fantastic creature. >>️

️

Samuel Boury, Scott Weady, Leif Ristroph. Sculpting the Sphinx. Phys. Rev. Fluids 8, 110503. Nov 16, 2023.

https://journals.aps.org/prfluids/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.8.110503

https://gfm.aps.org/meetings/dfd-2022/6323dcaf199e4c2c0873fad7

Also: brain, perception, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: art, sculpt, Sphinx, erosion, fluid mechanical erosion, brain, mind, perceptions.

# life: POTUS race 2024, Native voters could make a difference

<< There are predicted to be at least 5 million Native and Alaska Native-identifying voters in the U.S. in both rural and urban communities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — although estimates are expected to be an undercount. >>️

<< Native Americans are incredibly influential and have the ability to really swing those elections on the margins, >> Jacqueline De Leon.

<< Hanging in the balance is control of House, Senate and the Oval Office in 2024. In a country in which turnout can make or break campaigns, organizers said courting Native voters can dictate a candidate's success. (..) Organizers argue Native voters are increasingly a coalition to watch, even if parties have not fully recognized them yet. (..) Here are some of the states where Native voters could have a significant impact on 2024 races for Congress, the Senate and for president. >>️️

Ximena Bustillo. Sometimes overlooked by campaigns, Native voters could decide major elections in 2024. NPR. Nov 21, 2023. 

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/20/1213525361/native-voters-influence-2024-elections-arizona-montana-wisconsin 

Also: potus, in FonT https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=potus

Also: transition, in FonT https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=transition

Also: edge, in FonT https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=edge

Also: margine, in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry) https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=margine

Keywords: potus, potus race, Native, Native voters, life, transition, edge, margin

# gene: bacteria and archaea CRISPR everywhere in nature

<< Single-celled bacteria and archaea use CRISPR systems to defend themselves against viruses known as bacteriophages. (..) Until now, researchers had identified six types of CRISPR system, designated I–VI. >>

AA << developed an algorithm called FLSHclust, which analyses genetic sequences in public databases. (..) By looking at the predicted function of the clusters, the researchers found around 130,000 genes associated in some way with CRISPR, 188 of which had never been seen before, >>️️

<< It’s a treasure trove for biochemists, >> Lennart Randau.

Sara Reardon. ‘Treasure trove’ of new CRISPR systems holds promise for genome editing. Nature. doi: 10.1038/ d41586-023-03697-w. Nov 23, 2023. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03697-w

Han Altae-Tran, Soumya Kannan, Feng Zhang, et al. Uncovering the functional diversity of rare CRISPR-Cas systems with deep terascale clustering. 

Science, Vol 382, Issue 6673. doi: 10.1126/ science.adi1910. Nov 23, 2023. 

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi1910

Also: 'CRISPR' in https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=crispr  

Keywords: genome, gene, crispr, crispr system, ai, artificial intelligence

# gst: when a turbulence can be confined

<< Turbulence is hard to control. Its ephemeral nature prevents us from treating it as an ordinary state of matter. Here (AA) create a stationary and isolated blob of turbulence using only elemental building blocks: vortex rings.  The turbulence is confined in a spherical region, surrounded by a quiescent environment, initiated and sustained by vortex rings. Crucially, vortex rings can be endowed with conserved quantities such as energy and helicity, which can be transferred to the turbulent state. Using 2D particle image velocimetry and 3D particle tracking velocimetry, (AA) demonstrate how confinement of turbulence occurs when vortex rings repeatedly collide, in contrast to coherent vortex reconnections. The pathlines depict the difference between these states of flow. >>️

Takumi Matsuzawa, Noah P. Mitchell, Stéphane Perrard, William T. M. Irvine. Turbulence through sustained vortex ring collisions. Phys. Rev. Fluids 8, 110507. Nov 16, 2023.

https://journals.aps.org/prfluids/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.8.110507

75TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE APS DIVISION OF FLUID DYNAMICS (NOVEMBER 20, 2022 — NOV 22, 2022). V0008: Turbulence through sustained vortex ring collisions. 

https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2022.GFM.V0008

Also: turbulence, vortex, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, turbulence, vortex, vortex ring collisions

# gst: kirigami exposed to external flows.

<< Kirigami patterned materials have found several applications in recent years due to their ability to assume complicated shapes and exhibit emergent physical properties when exposed to external forces. >>️

<< Consisting of an array of cuts in a thin material, fabrication of these patterns can be quite simple. Here (AA) show that when they are placed in fluid flow, kirigami cut sheets with various patterns produce a verity of flow patterns in the wake. Through several sets of experiments, (AA) show that the kirigami sheets placed in flow can undergo static or dynamic flow-induced instabilities as a result of which they can buckle or undergo limit cycle oscillations, or they can remain stable while undergoing very large elongations. >>️

<< The ability to create controlled small-scale vortex shedding, induce desired flow-induced instabilities on structures, and form specifically-angled jets will enable several future applications in flow mixing (e.g., by producing small vortices in uniform flow at low Reynolds numbers), flow control (e.g., by controlling the direction and the number of jets that are produced downstream), and underwater soft robotics (e.g., by imposing desired flow-induced oscillations on structures). >>

️

Adrian G. Carleton, Yahya Modarres-Sadeghi. Kirigami Sheets in Fluid Flow.  arXiv: 2311.09381v1 [physics.flu-dyn]. Nov 15, 2023. 

https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09381

Also: kirigami, origami, vortex, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, kirigami, origami, fluid flows, vortex

# gst: collective patterns generated by capillary surfers.

<< Millimeter-sized “surfers” can self-propel across a vibrating liquid surface, interacting with other surfers to create collective patterns. >>

<< Self-propelled objects can move in mesmerizing patterns. The collective movements of groups of such objects typically occur in one of two flow regimes: the inertial regime—think swirling schools of fish in water—or the viscous regime—think swarming colonies of bacteria in mucus. Some self-propelled objects can travel in both flow regimes, a possibility that is less explored. >>️

AA << have studied the motion of a new system of self-propelled objects that move in this intermediate regime, finding that the objects organize into several distinct and tunable motion patterns. >>️️

<< Pairs of self-propelled surfers observed by the team move in one of seven different patterns (the video shows five). These include the “orbit,” where a pair of surfers rotate around a central point; the “tailgate,” where one surfer closely follows another, head to tail in a linear path; and the “jackknife,” where a pair of perpendicular surfers rotate stern to stern around their collision point. >>

<< When only one surfer was present, these mismatched amplitudes propelled the surfer in the direction of its bow. When there were two surfers close to each other, interactions among the waves caused the surfers to either repel each other so that they moved in opposite directions or to come together so that they collectively traced one of seven distinct patterns. >>️

️

Maggie Hudson. Synchronized Surfing of Self-Propelled Particles. Physics 16, s156. Nov 7, 2023. 

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v16/s156

Ian Ho, Giuseppe Pucci, Anand U. Oza, Daniel M. Harris. Capillary surfers: Wave-driven particles at a vibrating fluid interface. Phys. Rev. Fluids 8, L112001. Nov 7, 2023.

https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.8.L112001

Anand U. Oza, Giuseppe Pucci, Ian Ho, Daniel M. Harris. Theoretical modeling of capillary surfer interactions on a vibrating fluid bath. Phys. Rev. Fluids 8, 114001. Nov 7, 2023.

https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.8.114001

Also: waves, particle, swarm, in: https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html

Keywords: gst, waves, wave-wave, capillary waves, particles, self-propelled particles, fluid-particle interactions, wave-particle interactions

# behav: the self-care hypothesis of the puteketeke bird (great crested grebe, Podiceps cristatus)

<< The Puteketeke bird has been elected as New Zealand's Bird of the Century after John Oliver promoted the bird not just on his show, but around the world. >>

<< It also exhibits some unusual antics, like eating feathers to help it vomit up parasites,  >> AILSA CHANG

️

<< They have a mating dance where they both grab a clump of wet grass and chest bump each other... >> JOHN OLIVER

Kat Lonsdorf, Christopher Intagliata. The Puteketeke bird has been elected as New Zealand's Bird of the Century. npr.org Nov 15, 2023. 

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/15/1213287236/the-puteketeke-bird-has-been-elected-as-new-zealands-bird-of-the-century

L’uccello del secolo della Nuova Zelanda l’ha deciso John Oliver. ilpost.it. Nov 15, 2023. 

https://www.ilpost.it/2023/11/15/john-oliver-uccello-secolo-nuova-zelanda/

the bird: https://youtu.be/98ceB5SPRXI

John Oliver, an interview: https://youtu.be/uVE1hBzHn3s

many thanks to Tammi ( https://www.inkgmr.net/tammi ) for this news. 

Also: Self-perception of health and survival. A 10-year follow-up among Italians aged over sixty. INRCA, Technical Report, Genova, 7 March 1995: 1-19. Minerva Med 1997 Jan-Feb 88:1-2 15-23. [abst] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9093288/

Also: 'behav', 'perception', in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html

Keywords: behaviour, self-care, perceptions