New rule: if Donald Trump is getting back his old job, then it might not be worth staying at your current job. That’s the premise that Bill Maher floated on his “Club Random” podcast speaking with Jane Fonda in an episode released Sunday. While interviewing the actor and activist, Maher expressed exhaustion at the prospect […]

With “Lake George,” Jeffrey Reiner makes his first indie feature as writer-director since the 1990s, following a prolific quarter-century helming small-screen projects. The filmmaker has cited formative viewings of classic film noirs on television as an inspiration, but this twisty tale feels more like the melancholy genre fictions of the late Ross Macdonald — low-key, […]

With an eye on indigenous communities and the women that dutifully anchor them, Bolivian multi-hyphenate Álvaro Olmos Torrico brings his introspective second feature, “The Condor Daughter” (“La hija cóndor”), to Montevideo for Ventana Sur’s Copia Final showcase, touting the fiction prodction at this year’s market, which runs Dec. 2-6. Via Bolivia’s Empatia Cine (“The Visitor”), […]

Voldemort actor Ralph Fiennes is giving his blessing to Cillian Murphy to take over the role of the infamous “Harry Potter” villain should the “Oppenheimer” Oscar winner want to in HBO’s upcoming television series. Rumors have circulated online in recent weeks claiming Murphy is being considered for Voldemort. Fiennes was asked to respond during an […]

Fox has debuted the trailer for “Doc,” a new medical drama starring Molly Parker (“Deadwood,” “House of Cards”). The show is based on the hit Italian series “Doc — Nelle tue mani,” which is inspired by a true story. Parker plays Dr. Amy Larsen, the chief of internal and family medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis, […]

There's a common popular science demonstration involving "soap boats," in which liquid soap poured onto the surface of water creates a propulsive flow driven by gradients in surface tension. But it doesn't last very long since the soapy surfactants rapidly saturate the water surface, eliminating that surface tension. Using ethanol to create similar "cocktail boats" can significantly extend the effect because the alcohol evaporates rather than saturating the water.

That simple classroom demonstration could also be used to propel tiny robotic devices across liquid surfaces to carry out various environmental or industrial tasks, according to a preprint posted to the physics arXiv. The authors also exploited the so-called "Cheerios effect" as a means of self-assembly to create clusters of tiny ethanol-powered robots.

As previously reported, those who love their Cheerios for breakfast are well acquainted with how those last few tasty little "O"s tend to clump together in the bowl: either drifting to the center or to the outer edges. The "Cheerios effect is found throughout nature, such as in grains of pollen (or, alternatively, mosquito eggs or beetles) floating on top of a pond; small coins floating in a bowl of water; or fire ants clumping together to form life-saving rafts during floods. A 2005 paper in the American Journal of Physics outlined the underlying physics, identifying the culprit as a combination of buoyancy, surface tension, and the so-called "meniscus effect."

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The new trailer for Disney’s live-action remake of “Snow White” has officially released, showcasing more of Rachel Zegler’s vocals, the seven dwarfs and Gal Gadot’s villainous turn as the evil queen. The film is directed by Marc Webb (“500 Days of Summer,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”) and is the latest Disney remake. Following the 1937 animated […]

Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter are just a few of the artists who made a strong impact on Apple Music listeners in 2024 as the streaming service has revealed its year-end charts. Lamar, who recently surprise-released his latest album “GNX,” tops the global music tally with “Not Like Us,” the smash hit that […]

Silvina Schnicer’s debut solo feature, “The Cottage,” screens in competition this week at Morocco’s Marrakech Film Festival. The film follows an upper-middle-class family in Argentina as they visit their vacation home in a rural neighborhood, only to find that squatters have been using the building and left it in an unpleasant state. The family patriarch, […]

ANP Films Indonesia’s martial arts drama “The Tiger” makes its market debut at the inaugural JAFF Market, running alongside the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (JAFF) from Dec. 3-5. The project, which showcases the traditional silat martial art style known as pamacan, aims to bring Indonesian cultural heritage to global audiences. Director Ardiansah Sulistiana’s film centers […]

“Saturday Night Live” alums Chris Rock and Martin Short will both return to their old Studio 8H stomping grounds later this month for the final two “SNL” episodes of 2024. For Rock, who will host on Dec. 14, this reps his fourth time in that role. And for Short, who hosts on Dec. 21, this […]

Judy Greer revealed in a recent episode of the “Dinner’s on Me” podcast that she passed on an audition for the role of Claire Dunphy on “Modern Family.” Greer told “Dinner’s on Me” host Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who portrayed Claire’s brother Mitchell Pritchett on the hit ABC sitcom, that was she was asked to audition […]

From Jacob Elordi’s new bearded look to Sean Penn’s red carpet debut with girlfriend Valeria Nicov, this year’s Marrakech Film Festival has been making headlines in mainstream media like it never did before. Yet, the event has existed for 21 years. For over two decades, the festival has indeed played a pivotal role in fostering […]

Welcome to Horror Explorer, a curated column showcasing the month’s best movies, series, books and everything else spooky worth checking out. I’m William Earl, the editor of Variety.com and the publication’s resident horror enthusiast. Please drop me a line at wearl@variety.com if there’s something I should check out for next month’s missive.

Jude Law thriller “The Order,” which opens next week in the U.S., has not been an easy sell amid the current Trumpian zeitgeist. The Justin Kurzel-directed film, in which Law plays an FBI agent fighting white supremacist terrorists in 1980s Idaho, is emblematic of how U.S. buyers are gun shy in general right now. And particularly so, when it comes to politically […]

Adam Somner, a respected assistant director and producer for filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alejandro Inarritu and Ridley Scott, died Wednesday of thyroid cancer in Studio City. He was 57. Most recently, Somner served as producer and assistant director on Anderson’s upcoming Warner Bros. film starring Leonardo Di Caprio. He was […]

“The Chosen” will once again get a theatrical launch for its upcoming Season 5 before making its streaming debut. As previously expected, 5&2 Studios — the newly-formed production company now behind the global hit — will release Season 5, dubbed “The Chosen: Last Supper” in theaters in the weeks leading up to Easter (which is on April […]

Timothée Chalamet has revealed he lost out on roles in action franchises like “Maze Runner” and “Divergent” after being told “You don’t have the right body.” The film star, who now plays the lead role in blockbuster sci-fi series “Dune,” said he even tried to put on weight in order to change his physical appearance […]

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir’s best-selling crime series “Elma” is set for a TV adaptation after Icelandic production company Glassriver optioned the rights. The series follows police detective Elma, who returns to work at the local police station in her small hometown of Akranes, Iceland, after a disastrous romance goes wrong. “When a woman’s body is found […]