Kyle Anthony Baldwin

Author: Kyle Anthony Baldwin

I am an experimental physicist, focused on fluidic behaviour and soft matter physics. I began my research career at NTU, focusing on the behaviour of evaporating polymer solutions with relevance to the ink-jet printing industry. In particular, solutions that form structures which deviate from the common "coffee-ring" deposit, and instead can grow pillars up to 3x their initial droplet height. Since then, as a post-doctoral researcher, I have stayed within the realm of soft matter physics, exploring: the shapes of levitating, spinning droplets relevant to the geophysical phenomenon of tektite formation; the inhibition of a magnetically induced Rayleigh-Taylor instability by rotational Coriolis forces; vibration induced self-propulsion of a two-sphere dimer; and active emulsions, where droplets swim as the system evolves from an out-of-equilibrium state into a nanoemulsion. The latter has further branched my experience into liquid crystals, which can be used to modify the swimming behaviour via additional symmetry-breaking. Beyond research, I am passionate about disseminating science, through lecturing, blog-writing, and outreach events. I have also forayed into the world of art, by creating beautiful microscopy images of dried droplets (Instagram: @droplarts). My blogging, research highlights, and "art" work can all be found on my website Adropofscience.com. There are bountiful unanswered questions in fluid dynamics and soft matter physics, and pondering these mysteries keep my experimentalist neurons firing and my enthusiasm high. Fluid dynamics also provides a tabletop window into some of the more abstract but connected areas of physics - it is a constant source of amazement to me that, with some pumps, liquids, dyes and magnets, one can probe the physics of tectonic drift, atomic fission, and even supernovae.

December 15, 2020December 16, 2020

Soft Matters in Viral Pandemics

Quintessential soft matter problems, such as the behavior of droplets in ink-jet printing, involve complex interactions between forces and materials. In today’s article, Prof. Wilson Poon points out that coronaviruses are also quintessential soft matter objects, and highlights a range of areas where soft matter science may help better understand, and combat viral pandemics.

October 10, 2018October 9, 2018

Spider silk: Sticky when wet

If you were Spider-Man, how would you catch your criminals? You could tangle them up in different types of threads, but to really keep them from escaping you probably want your web to be sticky (not to mention the utility of sticky silk for swinging between buildings) …

June 6, 2018June 5, 2018

Are squid the key to invisibility?

While many today would associate a “cloak of invisibility” with Harry Potter, the idea of a magical item that renders the wearer invisible is not a new one. In Ancient Greek, Hades was gifted a cap of invisibility in order to overthrow the Titans, whereas in Japanese folklore, Momotar? loots a straw-cloak of invisibility from an ogre, a story which is strangely similar to the English fairytale Jack the Giant-Slayer. Looking to the future in Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry imagined a terrible foe known as the Klingons, a war-driven race that could appear at any moment from behind their cloaking devices – indeed, any modern military would bite your arm off to get hold of this kind of device. Clearly, invisibility is a concept that has captured minds across many cultures, genres, and eras, so it should be no wonder that scientists are working on making it a reality.