Pittsburgh Researchers Reversed Energy Flow
Scientists manipulated energy cascades in turbulent systems using angled obstacles and brine shrimp.
Updated on Oct. 2, 2026 in Energy
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University of Pittsburgh researchers discovered that angled obstacles can force energy in two-dimensional turbulent systems to flow against its natural direction. The team utilized brine shrimp as active matter to observe how these small organisms influence fluid mixing.
Why it matters
Understanding how to manipulate energy flow in turbulent fluids offers potential advancements in controlling complex chaotic systems. These insights could eventually inform developments in fields such as drug design and pollution control.
Researchers used 1-centimeter brine shrimp as active matter to introduce turbulence into two-dimensional fluid systems. By placing small, angled obstacles in the fluid, they successfully redirected the cascade of energy between large and small scales.
The players
Lei Fang
He is the lead researcher at the University of Pittsburgh who headed the study on fluid turbulence.
University of Pittsburgh
It is a public research university located in Pennsylvania where the experiments on energy flow were conducted.
Xinyu Si
She is a researcher who began her investigation into the movement of brine shrimp in 2021.
The details
Led by Lei Fang, the team introduced small obstacles into a two-dimensional fluid environment to disrupt natural flow patterns. By adjusting the specific angle of these obstacles, they demonstrated the ability to flip the direction of energy transfer, which normally flows from small to large scales in these specific systems.
Timeline
1922: Lewis Fry Richardson described energy transfer in verse.
1940s: Andrey Kolmogorov provided turbulence mathematical foundations.
1960s and 1970s: Transcience Corporation sold brine shrimp eggs.
Late 1960s: Kraichnan and Batchelor studied two-dimensional systems.
2021: Xinyu Si began investigating brine shrimp.
The Big Picture
This study updates the 1940s Kolmogorov turbulence mathematical foundations by identifying a method to manually reverse the established direction of energy cascades. The findings shift the theoretical understanding of how two-dimensional turbulent systems move energy between scales.
The ability to control energy flow in turbulent fluids could eventually lead to more efficient methods for containing spills in pollution control. Future breakthroughs may also refine how medicine is mixed or delivered at the microscopic level.
The takeaway
This discovery demonstrates that even complex, chaotic natural systems can be managed through precise physical interventions. Researchers are now looking toward whether these techniques can be scaled up from two-dimensional fluids to complex three-dimensional environments.
Further reading
Learn more about advancements in this field on the Energy page.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Quanta Magazine.
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