Storm petrels are crazy little oceanic birds that often “hop” on the water’s surface. Nobody knows why. It’s a difficult thing to study–the birds are doing this behavior in the middle of the ocean. Do they perform this behavior to save energy via weight support? Do they use their feet as an “anchor” in high wind? We wanted to know […]
Category: Fluid Mechanics
New country, new science, new year!
2022 was a year of transition. I received a post-doc fellowship at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands to study cuttlefish biomechanics and develop new soft robots. We moved in July and are still working to settle in here in NL. The research has been altogether new and fascinating. I’ve been mentoring undergraduate students while they work on theses […]
How to swap the bearings in a Leybold Turbovac 150 turbo pump
The bearings went out on our reactor turbo pump. It started making a loud whine. A rebuilt Leybold 150 costs like $4000, so swapping them out myself seemed like the only real option. Here’s how it went: Step 1: Remove the heatsink and housing. Use a metric allen wrench to remove the housing. It’s got a rubber o-ring holding it […]