Almost everything in the universe, in one way or another, “goes with flow”: The wind that whips through the trees and the blood that runs in our veins; the glowing gases that stream from the sun and the solid rock that slides imperceptibly beneath our feet; traffic and history; fire and ice. Flow is the province of art as much as science: writers want their words to flow; painters strive for fluid lines, and dancers turn their bodies into fluid forms.

For poetry in motion, it’s hard to beat the birth and death of stars. University of Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank, a blues harmonica wanna-be, will show how he uses supercomputers to simulate the gossamer light year scale plasma flows these stars sculpt at the extremes of their evolution? perhaps with musical accompaniment. Getting physical, Mariane Karou, creator of the Dance Alive System, will give a lecture demonstration showing how students embody what she describes as this “science and art of living.” This  “fluid and dynamic movement system,” she says, “trains one how to move through their body, through relationship and through life with ease and power.” And for something wet and wild, well, fish gotta swim! Fish are real pros at playing with fluid flows, but biologists are just beginning to understand their tricks. UCLA biologist Malcolm Gordon will describe some recent findings that illuminate how nature’ s autonomous underwater vehicles get around.