Jupiter's shrinking red spot( November 6 2008 -- Ever since the anc...)

November 6, 2008 -- Ever since the ancient thinker Archimedes shouted "Eureka" in the tub, inspired as he watched the water spill out, scientist though the ages have solved many of life's mysteries by considering how fluids flow. Today, the field of fluid dynamics addresses some of the most important questions in modern astronomy, engineering, alternative energy, and medicine. Later this month, the largest scientific meeting of the year devoted to the dynamics of fluids convenes in San Antonio, Texas.

The 61st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics takes place from November 23-25 at the San Antonio Convention Center and it brings together researchers from across the globe. Reporters are invited to attend the conference free of charge. Registration instructions and other information may be found at the end of this news release. Brief highlights of some of the more than 1,500 presentations at the meeting are listed below.

GENERAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MEETING
1) Jupiter's Great Red Spot is Shrinking
2) The Physics of Oil Spill Cleanups
3) Trapping Greenhouse Gasses (Without Leaks)
4) Are Flexible, Flapping Flying Machines in Our Future?
5) Walkers' Wakes Can Spread Germs in Airplanes
6) Pulsating Jets May Improve Jet Engine Performance and Efficiency
7) Modeling Embryonic Heart Development
8) Unlocking the Mystery of Martian Sand Ripples

The best map of wind speeds on Jupiter ever produced proves that the massive weather system known as the Great Red Spot has shrunken over the past dozen years. Understanding cloud patterns on distant planetary surfaces, such as those at Saturn or Jupiter, is potentially confusing because clouds deform over time. Using sophisticated software, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley have been able to take the deformation
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