So begins a journey which I hope will be fruitful to more than just one person. It is a rainy day here on Long Island as I sit down to start to familiarize myself with the world of biomicrofluidics. This setting seems fitting as I wish to transition from the everyday experience of fluids to the tiny world of miniature plumbing housed within volumes the size of a few stacked postage stamps.

I must confess at the outset to being trained as a theoretical atomic physicist. This brings with it a certain strangeness in perspective. While discussions about atoms and electrons seem completely normal, making the usual volumes of fluids in microfluidic devices seem gigantic, from a hands-on slant a raindrop seems minuscule. So be it. As Walt Whitman wrote:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself

A contradiction can often lead to increased knowledge -- preceded usually by a similar increase in frustration. I expect much frustration in the learning that I am about to begin. This could be used to my advantage as a guide to where reality diverges from my 'common sense' understanding. Physics seems to periodically go through such phases (e.g., quantum mechanics) with the individual student/researcher attempting to mimic these during the learning process. It is my turn now to go through the curiosities involved in the physics of small scale fluid flow and manipulation.