A research group consisting of members from the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Kindai University, Tokyo Gakugei University (Koganei, Tokyo), Institute of Materials Structure Science (IMSS) at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) (Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture), and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) (Sayo, Hyogo Prefecture) have achieved a world first by successfully observing a Marangoni convection (flow) at the molecular level. Surface tension is the tendency of molecules on the surface of a liquid to compact as closely as possible. The Maragoni convection is the natural phenomenon of surface flow driven by gradients in surface tension at fluid interfaces.

• For details, see here.