by Catherine Wang Penguins are known for being incredibly effective swimmers. They have evolved many traits favourable for ocean living, but scientists have discovered that these aquatic aficionados have another clever trick up their sleeves. Mostly living below the equator, penguins enjoy time both on land and underwater. They rely on the abundance of krill, […]
Decades Old Data on Uranus Still Important
by Felix Zhou Old Data, New Knowledge In January 1986, the Voyager 2 space probe arrived at Uranus and took the only close up measurements of the planet. Ever. It gave scientists a lot of very important data about the planet, such as its rotation rate, its rings (yes, Uranus has rings), its atmosphere, and magnetic environment. The mission […]
Mars: the Most Difficult Planet to Land on
by Chris Hwang To this day, setting foot on Mars remains to be one of mankind’s greatest ambitions. However, landing on the red planet is not easy. In fact, it’s the most difficult planet in our solar system to land on with a success rate of just 40%; lower than on the Moon, Venus, and […]
Becoming Martians Pt. 2
by Yang Lu Getting to Mars is only half the battle. Once the astronauts get there, they won’t have enough fuel to make a round trip back to Earth. This means that scientists must find ways for the astronauts to live on Mars for upwards of a year while they wait for more supplies. What […]
Becoming Martians
By: Yang Lu On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” as he stepped foot on the moon. From then on, mankind has looked beyond the moon to our neighbouring planet, Mars. The red planet shares many of the Earth’s characteristics. […]
Ed Lorenz, and Discovery of Butterfly Effect
It fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across Time. Eckels’ mind whirled. It couldn’t change things. Killing one butterfly couldn’t be that important! Could it? –Ray Bradbury, […]
Mission Impossible: Absolute Zero
By: Sophie Gabreldar Most people won’t be able to find absolute zero on an everyday thermometer. It’s actually minus 273.15 degrees on the Celsius scale, or 0 on the Kelvin scale (an absolute thermodynamic scale). Absolute zero is the coldest temperature possible, but why can’t scientists reach it? How Can There Be A Lowest Temperature? […]
America’s Gateway to Space: Cape Canaveral, Florida
By Chris Hwang Since the launch of the Bumper V-2 on July 24th, 1950, the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida has been the launch site for NASA‘s cardinal missions including Project Mercury, the Apollo missions, and the Space Shuttle program. But why there? The International Space Station (ISS), orbits around the Earth at […]
Molecular Lefties and Righties: A Handy Peek into Chirality
by Flora Guo Have you ever tried wearing a right-handed shoe on your left foot? Or vice versa? From personal experience, I know that this is definitely a frustrating experience. However, this everyday occurrence demonstrates an interesting property of the molecules around you. As a right-handed person, I often take everyday things for granted. Left-handed […]
The magic of the Aurora Borealis
By Jenny Tindall For centuries the source of the ethereal display of the aurora borealis, known to many as the northern lights, was up to speculation. In many places, it was proof that the gods were there watching over. In ancient China, it was a great battle taking place between good and evil. For the […]