The physics of star-forming clouds and the urban e...( October 24 2008 -- From the collapse ...)

October 24, 2008 -- From the collapse of star-forming clouds to the flow of the molten Earth's core, from the combustion of gasoline in your car engine to the coursing blood in your veins, from the aerodynamics of flight to the concentration of microscopic animals in the ocean, many of nature's most fascinating phenomena are forms of fluid flow.

The 61st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics, which takes place from November 23-25 at the San Antonio Convention Center in Texas, is the largest scientific meeting of the year devoted to the dynamics of such fluids. It brings together researchers from across the globe to present work with applications in astronomy, engineering, alternative energy, and medicine.

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 the invited talks and some of the more than 1,522 additional presentations at the meeting are listed below.

CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE
1) Highlights of Invited Talk
2) Brief Highlights of Scientific Program
3) Registration for Journalists and Other Meeting Information

1) HIGHLIGHTS OF INVITED TALK

FLUID MECHANICS OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTS
The rapid urbanization of the Earth has led to highly populated cities that act as concentrated centers of human stressors on the natural environment. The degradation of environmental quality due to such stressors, in turn, greatly impacts human behavior. In San Antonio, Harindra J. Fernando (Arizona State University) will discuss efforts to understand and model fluid motions in urban areas, to identify environmental impacts of urbanization, and to predict how these impacts affect quality of life and sustainability of urban areas.
http://meetings.aps.org/Meet
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