Elastic ribbons in bubble columns: When elasticity, capillarity, and gravity govern equilibrium configurations.

Taking advantage of the competition between elasticity and capillarity has proven to be an efficient way to design structures by folding, bending, or assembling elastic objects in contact with liquid interfaces. Elastocapillary effects often occur at scales where gravity does not play an important role, such as in microfabrication processes. However, the influence of gravity can become significant at the desktop scale, which is relevant for numerous situations including model experiments used to provide a fundamental physics understanding, working at easily accessible scales.

Solidification of Polyurethane Model Foams via Catalyst Drainage from a Secondary Foam.

Due to their unique mechanical and thermal properties, polyurethane foams are widely used in multiple fields of applications, including cushioning, thermal insulation or biomedical engineering. However, the way polyurethane foams are usually manufactured - via chemical foaming - produces samples where blowing and gelling occur at the same time, resulting in a morphology control achieved by trial and error processes. Here, a novel strategy is introduced to build model homogeneous polyurethane foams of controlled density with millimetric bubbles from liquid templates.

Analytical description of elastocapillary membranes held by needles.

Fluid objects bounded by elastocapillary membranes display intriguing physical properties due to the interplay of capillary and elastic stresses arising upon deformation. Increasingly exploited in foam or emulsion science, the mechanical properties of elastocapillary membranes are commonly characterised by the shape analysis of inflating/deflating bubbles or drops held by circular needles. These impose complex constraints on the membrane deformation, requiring the shape analysis to be done using elaborate numerical fitting procedures of the shape equations.

Perturbing the catenoid: Stability and mechanical properties of nonaxisymmetric minimal surfaces.

Minimal surface problems arise naturally in many soft matter systems whose free energies are dominated by surface or interface energies. Of particular interest are the shapes, stability, and mechanical stresses of minimal surfaces spanning specific geometric boundaries. The "catenoid" is the best-known example where an analytical solution is known which describes the form and stability of a minimal surface held between two parallel, concentric circular frames.

Dietary factors and onset of natural menopause: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Diet has been suggested to play a role in determining the age at natural menopause; however, the evidence is inconsistent.

Objective: We systematically reviewed and evaluated published research about associations between diet and onset of natural menopause (ONM).

Methods: We searched 6 databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane, PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar) through January 21,2021 to identify prospective studies assessing the association between diet and ONM.