Meandering water channels always follow a gently winding path. Why this happens has been explained with the help of a model developed by physicists Taniemola Liverpool and Sam Edwards, University of Cambridge, US. The two main components of the model include 'pinching of a part of the flow to form an ox-bow lake which allows the river to resume its normal path in the channel and the terrain through which the river flows. Oil reserves can also be located by studying the meanders (New Scientis4 Vol 148, No 2007).