difficult problem

"That most difficult problem is that each nuclear power plant is in a different location and will need its own safety protocol and infrastructure," Yamagiwa said.

If scientists could find a way to create specific mutations to break the protein interaction, it could be a lead on a future vaccine — but it is a difficult problem to solve, Shah said.

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."