In the face of technologies that sell us escapism at every turn, we need to build up tolerance for “inconvenience.” ...

Step inside the strange world of a superfluid, a liquid that can flow endlessly without friction, defying the common-sense ...

I'll be honest—friction is pretty complicated. Imagine that I have a block of wood sliding on a table. In some way, the atoms on the surface of the wood block are interacting with the surface atoms on ...

You’re on the street and you’re alone. Spanning the horizon, you see the sun cresting and one glorious corner after another. Some are slow, others are fast, with a few nice straights in between. Tire ...

The machine doesn’t care what it’s making—only that it’s making it fast. Frictionless systems optimize output. But meaning, memory, and margin live in the mess it leaves behind. The great smoothing is ...

Because of friction, sleds don't technically touch the snow and instead ride on a small layer of water created by the heat of the sled sliding down the hill. Sledding is one of many ways Wisconsinites ...

I spoke with Bob Sutton about his new book, The Friction Project. Sutton is an organizational psychologist and best-selling author who studies leadership, innovation, organizational change, and ...

Friction plays a key role in how ruptures unzip faults in the Earth’s crust and release waves that cause destructive shaking. Yet dynamic friction evolution is one of the biggest uncertainties in ...

A pleural friction rub is a raspy breathing sound caused by inflammation of the tissues around your lungs. The sound is usually “grating” or “creaky.” It’s also been compared to the sound of walking ...

Friction burns — aka rug burns — can happen when you fall on rough surfaces like asphalt and grass. You can care for minor burns at home by applying cool compresses and taking OTC pain medicine.

Learn about friction cost to make better informed decisions: its implications in investments and loans, and how it helps assess the true cost of financial transactions.