Friday Eye Candy: Time-Lapse Shows How Rivers Meander

Joseph Stromberg takes inspiration from one of the entries in Time Magazine's Timeleapse project—the satellite images of Ucayali River, which from 1984 to 2012 meandered widely around its corner of Peru.

Stromberg uses the time-lapse as the impetus to explain the physical forces that cause rivers meander. Also there's a point to be made, familiar to cities built along rivers around the world: "We think of rivers as stable features of the landscape: something we can build towns and cities next to, and expect to stay in the same spot permanently. But in reality, they're constantly moving — and as much as we try it's impossible to keep them entirely under control."