By Natasha Poon With the rise of quantum computers (powerful computers that use qubits, the basic unit of information in a quantum computer, rather than bits, which are used in regular computers), regular forms of cryptography such as RSA will be easy to decrypt. Governments are planning to converti encrypted RSA files to Post-Quantum cryptography, […]
Boats and Buoyancy
Written By: Nitya Goel In the past couple of weeks, one of the biggest news stories was about a boat stuck in the Suez Canal. This colossal container ship blocking the canal was a whopping 1300 feet long and weighed 200,000 metric tons! When I read about this incident, I started thinking about a common […]
Artificial Gravity in Space
By: Davan Mulligan Artificial gravity may be the key to long-term space travel. A number of health issues arise while in zero-gravity environments, like loss of muscle mass, bone density, space blindness, and more. Artificial gravity seems like a solution that solves all of these problems at once. So, how can we achieve it? A […]
When is Moonrise?
By Diana Urbanczyk If you caught sight of a few moonrises before, you may have noticed that the moon doesn’t rise at the same time every night. Why is that? First, you may already know that the moon orbits Earth. Because of the nature of the orbit, the moon moves about 12 degrees to the […]
Teleportation: Fiction or Our Future?
By: Anthony Dinglasan During the 1960’s, Star Trek made history by simulating teleportation on the small screen. As a result, several TV shows and movies have copied the iconic ‘transporter’ into their own mediums. Fortunately, inspiration did not limit itself to fiction. For instance, in 1993, IBM scientist Charles H. Bennett proposed that teleportation is […]
Clouds: “what’s up” with them?
(Pun intended.) You’ve heard of “Why is the sky blue?”, but have you heard of “Why don’t clouds fall?” In a sequel of common questions asked about weather phenomena, this post will explore the science behind the fluffy white puffs we see in the sky. Clouds & Floating The thought process goes like this: If […]
Superconductors: Electrical Superheroes
In the fall of 2020, scientist broke records in the domain of physics. They created a material with the ability to superconduct electricity at the highest temperature yet: almost room temperature. What is a superconductor? A superconductor is a substance that conducts electricity with no resistance. This allows current to flow without any energy loss. […]
Uranium: Down to Earth
Written by: Felix Zhou When we think of uranium, we might envision scary nuclear radiation. Have No Fear Actually, there are a lot of good reasons why we shouldn’t be scared of uranium. But you might say, “But I’m scared of radiation!” Fair. But I’m going to tell you that you don’t have to be scared of […]
Space Debris
On July 16, 2015, astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) had to prepare to evacuate when Object No. 36912 was detected hurtling towards. Object No. 36912 was a piece of space junk, a piece of thermal shielding that had been torn off a Soviet weather satellite. About the size of a dinner plate, it […]
The Science of Ski Jumping
Ski jumping is a fascinating sport. Athletes hurl themselves off of ramps dozens of meters high and fly for over a hundred meters. Despite the seemingly impossible prospect of surviving the fall, athletes across the world attempt it anyways. Accordingly, the utmost precision is needed to survive this intense activity. Everything from the takeoff to […]