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Two formulations are at the heart of the study of turbulence: Kolmogorov’s universal framework for small-scale turbulence, which describes how energy propagates and dissipates through increasingly small eddies; and Taylor-Couette (TC) flows, which are very simple to create yet exhibit extremely complex behaviors, thereby setting the benchmark for the study of the fundamental characteristics of complex flows.

For the past many decades, a central contradiction between these potent formulations has plagued the field. Despite extensive experimental research and despite being found universal to almost all turbulent flows, Kolmogorov’s framework has apparently failed to apply to turbulent TC flows.

But now, after nine years developing a world-class TC setup at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), researchers have finally resolved this tension by conclusively demonstrating that, contrary to the prevailing understanding, Kolmogorov’s framework does apply universally to the small scales of turbulent TC flows – precisely as predicted.