difficult problem

Goldenfeld commented: "This work not only closes one chapter on the laminar-turbulent transition in pipes, but shows how insights from different scientific disciplines can unexpectedly illuminate a difficult problem. Without a statistical mechanics perspective, understanding this quintessential fluid mechanics phenomenon would have been impossible."

Though the researchers were studying individual photons, they were doing so as a way to solve a larger, more difficult problem -- how to use beams of intense light to excite long-lasting perturbations in the plasma that could help maintain the high temperatures needed for fusion.

"Growth stunting due to undernutrition is a really difficult problem facing global child health, and the lessons we learn will likely apply to many other conditions as well."

This difficult problem has again been studied by many groups in many different ways, but now a similar unifying structure might be just around the corner.

The complex mouse model took several years to develop and characterize but has allowed the researchers to crack this difficult problem.