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Nature 438, 922-923 (15 December 2005) | doi:10.1038/438922a; Published online 14 December 2005

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Fluid dynamics: Drat such custard!

Troy Shinbrot1

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The mixing of festive sweetmeats and the stirring of cream into coffee are toothsome examples of the irreversibility of physical processes. In certain systems, however, the concept gets its just desserts.

Running a film sequence in reverse is a joke used to great effect in early moving pictures: the Keystone Cops round a corner backwards on two wheels and fall back into their wagon; collapsed buildings reassemble; and water climbs up a mountainside. The humour, and surprise, of these actions arises because we readily detect that time is travelling in the wrong direction.

  1. Troy Shinbrot is in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
    Email: shinbrot@soemail.rutgers.edu

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