A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Georgia Tech has uncovered that flamingos are not mere passive filter feeders; instead, they are active predators that employ flow-guided traps to catch nimble invertebrates.
Flamingos feed by dragging their flattened beaks forward along the shallow lake bottom. To enhance feeding efficiency, they stomp their feet to stir up the bottom, create swirling vortices with their heads, and repeatedly slap their beaks to catch food like brine shrimp. Image credit: aztli ortega.
“Flamingos are predators actively seeking out moving animals underwater. The challenge they face is how to concentrate these prey items to attract and capture them.”
“Consider how spiders spin webs to catch insects. Flamingos utilize vortices to trap creatures such as brine shrimp.”
Utilizing high-speed cameras and particle image velocity measurements, the researchers documented and analyzed feeding behaviors, employing flow visualization techniques involving fine food particles and oxygen bubbles.
They discovered that the birds use their floppy, swaying feet to disturb the bottom sediment and propel themselves forward in a swirling motion. Additionally, the flamingos convulse their heads upward like plungers while creating mini-tornados to draw food from the water’s surface.
As the birds keep their heads inverted in a watery vortex, their angled beaks create small vortices that direct sediment and food into their mouths, enhancing their feeding efficiency.
The unique structure of the flamingo’s beak, with its flattened shape and angled front, enables a technique known as skimming. This involves the bird extending its long, S-shaped neck to push its head forward while rapidly beating its beak, generating a sheet-like vortex (von Karman vortex) that captures prey.
“These complex active feeding behaviors challenge the long-held belief that flamingos are merely passive filter feeders,” noted Dr. Ortega Zimenez.
“While they may appear to be filtering only passive particles, these birds are actively preying on moving organisms.”
The authors also applied computational fluid dynamics to simulate the 3D flow around the beak and feet of the flamingos.
They confirmed that the vortices indeed concentrate particles, similar to experiments that used a 3D printhead with aggressively swimming shrimp and passively floating brine shrimp eggs.
“We observed that when we placed 3D printed models in the water to replicate skimming, they generated symmetrical vortices along the sides of the beak, cycling particles in the water effectively,” Dr. Ortega Zimenez shared.
The team’s findings will be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Victor M. Ortega Zimenez et al. 2025. Flamingos use their L-shaped beak and morphing legs to induce vortex traps for prey capture. pnas 122 (21): E2503495122; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2503495122
Physicists have long known that electrons can form vortices from quantum materials. What's new is evidence that these small particles create tornado-like structures in momentum space.
In quantum materials called Tantalum harsenide (TAAS), electrons form vortices in momentum space. Image credits: Think-Design / Jochen Thamm.
Momentum space is a fundamental physics concept that explains electron motion in terms of energy and orientation rather than precise physical location.
The counterpart, the position space, is an area where familiar phenomena such as water vortices and hurricanes occur.
Until now, even quantum vortices of materials have been observed only in positional space.
Eight years ago, Dr. Roderrich Mossner of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems and the Excellence ct.qmat of the Würzburg Denden cluster theorized that quantum tornadoes could also form in momentum spaces.
At the time, he described this phenomenon as a smoke ring. Because, like a ring of smoke, it is made up of vortices.
But up until now, no one knew how to measure them.
To detect quantum tornadoes in momentum space, Dr. Moessner and colleagues have enhanced a well-known technique called ARPES (angle-resolved light emission spectroscopy).
“ARPES is a fundamental tool in experimental solid-state physics,” explained Dr. Maximilian ünzelmann, researcher at the University of Werzburg, the experimental Physik VII and the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence Cluster.
“It involves shining light on a material sample, extracting electrons, and measuring energy and outlet angles.”
“This allows us to see the electronic structure of the material directly in the momentum space.”
“By skillfully adapting this method, we were able to measure orbital angular momentum.”
Team's work It will be displayed in the journal Physics Review x.
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T. figgemeier et al. 2025. Imaging of orbital vortex lines in three-dimensional momentum space. Phys. Rev. X 15, 011032; doi:10.1103/physrevx.15.011032
The exceptionally powerful tornadoes this year include one spawned by Hurricane Milton in October, described as particularly destructive. Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor, emphasized the collective impact of these tornadoes, making it a significant year for severe weather.
The outbreak of tornadoes contributed to several costly weather disasters in the U.S. this year. By November 1st, NOAA had recorded 24 weather disasters, each causing at least $1 billion in damage, with tornado outbreaks ranking among the costliest events.
The increased tornado activity in 2024 has raised concerns about the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, prompting experts to explore possible links to climate change.
The classification of tornadoes according to the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale reveals the varying levels of wind speeds and resulting damage. The deadliest tornadoes of 2024, such as the EF-4 tornado in Iowa, caused extensive destruction and financial losses.
While the death toll from tornadoes in 2024 is significant, it is lower compared to previous deadliest years. The occurrence of tornadoes during hurricanes, like those associated with Hurricane Milton, also surprised experts for their strength and frequency, raising questions about climate change implications.
Research indicates a potential increase in tornado activity due to continued fossil fuel emissions, but the direct impact of climate change on tornadoes remains uncertain. Scientists are still investigating the complex relationship between climate change and tornado occurrence.
As the year approaches its end, the possibility of more tornadoes remains, underscoring the unpredictability of severe weather events.
Severe storms and tornadoes are forecasted in parts of the South and Gulf Coast, indicating that the threat of tornadoes persists despite the approaching end of the year.
Hurricane Milton’s tornado outbreak in Florida was the leading cause of death and damage from the storm.
On Wednesday, South Florida experienced one of the strongest tornadoes on record. Overall this year, the United States has seen an unusually high number of violent tornadoes associated with hurricanes.
Early research shows that in a warmer world, tropical cyclones can produce more tornadoes.
Hurricane Milton wreaked havoc earlier than expected before making landfall this week, as supercell thunderstorms featuring rotating updrafts and the potential to spawn tornadoes raced across the state.
In St. Lucie County, a tornado destroyed a retirement community and killed five people, accounting for nearly one-third of the 17 deaths reported so far in the aftermath of the hurricane.
As Florida begins the long process of recovering and recovering from Hurricane Milton, tornado outbreaks are causing deaths and damage in a state accustomed to tropical storms but less accustomed to powerful twisters. has emerged as the main cause.
One of the strongest tornadoes in South Florida history occurred on a day that will likely go down in Florida history as one of the worst tornado outbreaks ever observed in Florida during a cyclone.
Swirling winds reached 160 miles per hour in Palm Beach Gardens, tearing apart concrete walls and tearing off large sections of roofs from new homes. Breaking news from the National Weather Service.
“This is the first EF-3 on record for the South Florida area south of Lake Okeechobee,” said Donal Harrigan, NWS meteorologist in Miami. EF-3 refers to tornadoes with estimated wind speeds of 136 to 160 miles per hour (EF stands for Enhanced Fujita Scale; Started operation at the National Weather Service in 2007).
Harrigan added that several other observed twisters may be rated EF-3 after damage assessment.
“You can probably count on one hand how many EF-3s have been in this state historically, potentially multiple times a day,” he said.
Overall this year, the United States has seen an unusually high number of powerful tornadoes associated with hurricanes.
Tornadoes are common when hurricanes make landfall, but most are on the weaker end of the spectrum. Less than 1% of tornadoes associated with tropical systems that make landfall are rated EF-3 or higher. By contrast, four out of five hurricanes that made landfall in the United States this year produced tornadoes with EF-3 strength.
From 1995 to 2023, only five tornadoes caused by tropical cyclones received such high ratings.
A home is destroyed in Lakewood Park, Florida, on Thursday, a day after a tornado struck the area.Giorgio Vieira/AFP – Getty Images
Early research suggests that tropical cyclones could produce more tornadoes in a warmer world. In a study published in June, researchers modeled hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, Rita, and Harvey in a warmer future climate. Their results show that the number of potential tornado storms caused by a tropical cyclone is 56% to 299% increase by mid-century Assuming the pace of fossil fuel pollution remains steady.
It is not yet known whether climate change played a role in the twisters associated with this year’s storms. But Bill Gallus, an author of the June study and a professor of meteorology at Iowa State University, said “it was really unusual that conditions in South Florida were this volatile” during Milton.
A situation is considered unstable if, due to differences in density and temperature, a mass of air rises or falls rapidly, which means that thunderstorms can form.
“When I looked at the instability graph, I was shocked. It was about as high as you’d see in Kansas chasing storms,” Gallus said. “Hurricanes have produced more tornadoes, but Florida alone has never produced so many tornadoes.”
He added that this type of instability is “expected to become more common” in a warming world.
One reason Milton produced so many tornadoes is that hurricane thunderstorms traveled far from the center.
“With the first tornado, it looked like a certain band of showers and storms from Milton were actually erupting well in front of the hurricane,” Gallus said.
The outer storm belt eventually became isolated and ended without interference from other systems. Those were thunderstorms that produced tornadoes. This is a reminder that hurricanes can become a threat long before landfall and even far from the storm’s center, experts said.
Another important factor for Milton’s tornadoes is heat. The hurricane approached the Florida coast in the afternoon and encountered particularly warm conditions, as the thunderstorms were quite far away at the edge of the hurricane, in addition to wind shear (changes in wind direction and speed with altitude). This allowed it to grow stronger than a typical hurricane setup.
“There was plenty of time to warm up the atmosphere,” Gallus said. “Most hurricanes get very little heat from the sun. Tornadoes form under heavy rain and cover.”
In hurricanes like Milton, where winds blow counterclockwise, tornadoes tend to form on the leading edge of the storm and to its right, sometimes called the dirty side. This region is also the windiest.
How it unfolded during Milton, Gallus said, noting that the twister “started in the exact place you see most tornadoes form.”
But in Milton’s case, he noted, the tornadoes were particularly concentrated.
Because Milton crossed the Florida peninsula for a short distance, “the tornado area was small, and I think it was one of the most concentrated tornadoes ever produced by a hurricane,” Gallus said.
More research is needed into exactly how climate change will affect tornadoes produced by hurricanes. However, the impact of global warming on extreme rainfall is more certain and clear.
A report released Friday by the World Weather Attribution Project, a consortium of scientists considered an authority on analyzing extreme weather events and determining the impact of climate change on specific events, says: It turned out. Rainfall amounts for single-day events like Milton are currently about 20% to 30% higher due to climate change.. The analysis found that Milton’s wind speeds were likely 10% stronger due to climate change.
The researchers also found that Hurricane Helen was wetter and windier because of climate change. Separate preliminary reports say climate change is likely to increase Helen’s rainfall by up to 50% over three days in some of the worst-hit areas.
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