  Universal meshes have recently appeared in the literature as a compu-
tationally efficient and robust paradigm for the generation of conforming
simpli- cial meshes for domains with evolving boundaries. The main idea behind
a univer- sal mesh is to immerse the moving boundary in a background mesh (the
universal mesh), and to produce a mesh that conforms to the moving boundary at
any given time by adjusting a few of elements of the background mesh. In this
manuscript we present the application of universal meshes to the simulation of
brittle fracturing. To this extent, we provide a high level description of a
crack propagation algorithm and showcase its capabilities. Alongside universal
meshes for the simulation of brit- tle fracture, we provide other examples for
which universal meshes prove to be a powerful tool, namely fluid flow past
moving obstacles. Lastly, we conclude the manuscript with some remarks on the
current state of universal meshes and future directions.
