It’s 10pm on a Tuesday and suddenly you remember you need an activity for the local group get together. When you look around you realise you have enough to make slime, but a different mom did that last week so you want to do something different. Pull out the construction paper, pencils, rulers, scissors, and …
Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change in shape, volume, and area in response to a change in temperature. It can really put a damper on how you expect things to work if you’re not expecting how the materials will react. We expect eggs to inflate and expand while being baked – that’s …
Every winter snow brings snow drifts. Silent, soft snow drifts that wait for the playful spring of a puppy or child to send flakes flying. They can be a few minutes of joy until the play is worn down from exhaustion or a disaster lurking on the roads. The reality is we overlook a simple, …
Magnets just work, right? If so, why doesn’t any piece of metal stick to the refrigerator? Now, what makes a magnet a magnet, not just a piece of metal? The answer lies in the spinning of electrons in each atom that makes up the metal. Any time electrons are in play, we also need to …
Being a torchbearer of knowledge, especially scientific knowledge, is a fun journey. You learn so many useful, life changing things. There are so many ways to take any situation and come up with solutions that make life better. And yet, there is the potential to be misunderstood when you share the knowledge. Or worse, the …
On August 26, 1986, the normally tranquil, blue water of Lake Nyos in the West Africa country of Cameroon unexpectedly turned deadly. Late that night, according to the few people who survived to tell the tale, a low, rumbling sound emitted from the lake. The residents of the three villages on the shores of the …
It is a mesmerizing natural phenomenon—murmuration. This is when a huge flock of starlings all fly in a synchronized manner, creating fascinating patterns in the sky. Just watch some of the YouTube videos of murmuration and you’ll be amazed. Just why do starlings do this and how do they know which direction to turn when …
Sharing knowledge seems like it would be a very easy thing. After all, people share knowledge without much training to varying degrees of success. Look at YouTubers that specialise in tutorials, educators, parents, colleagues and literally anyone around you. We all assist others through life by sharing what knowledge we can. If you’re serious about …
Let’s go back in time a moment and look at the beginning of science. I imagine it started with an obstinant child looking for an easier way to do chores so they could go play. Or even a businessman looking for a way to increase the ease of an aspect of his business. The earliest …
Pick up a marker, and you’re writing in colour. The word “chromatography” is descriptive as it translates to “colour writing” from the Greek roots. But a simple marker is not as simple as you think. The primary colours are, but what about that orange marker? The purple? The green? That’s where things start getting interesting. …