Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If you’ve seen any of the Avengers movies, they might have ...

The snapping of a finger was first depicted in ancient Greek art around 300 B.C. Today, that same snap initiates evil forces for the villain Thanos in Marvel’s latest Avengers movie. Both media ...

Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin. Doing science isn’t easy. It takes an enormous amount of time and energy to collect and analyze data. At least, that’s ...

It all happens in a snap. New high-speed video exposes the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it physics behind snapping your fingers. The footage reveals the extreme speed at which the gesture occurs, and shows ...

Have you ever thought about what happens when you snap your fingers? Raghav Acharya, Elio Challita, Mark Ilton and Saad Bhamla have looked deeply into the physics of the finger snap and published a ...

Researchers studied the physics of a finger snap and determined how friction plays a critical role. Using an intermediate amount of friction, not too high and not too low, a snap of the finger ...