Crystals – fragile and strong; equally mythical and of the earth; functional and decorative – are a solid material, often clear but sometimes colored, that are formed from chemicals that becomes solidified. Crystals can be identified by their lead content which adds a weight to the material while also making it softer than other …
Science fair judges have specific things in mind when they review projects. Sure, they like interesting pictures, colorful displays and seeing clever ideas, but they also look for other, more specific, technical features. Let’s take a peak at some grading sheets from a few science fairs. One school used a point system to rate …
Understanding the scientific method and how to follow it is critical to building a good reputation in the technical community. In regards to science fairs, as a student progresses in grade levels the judges are going to demand more and more focus on using the scientific method. Here is my seven step description of …
“Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Complexity rises spontaneously in nature through processes such as self-organization. Emergent phenomena are common as are emergent traits, not reducible to basic components, interactions, or properties. Complexity does not, therefore, imply the existence …
Lights in the sky have fascinated us for thousands of years. The lights in the far north and south of our planet are some of the more famous ones. What was in that Soup? Travel to Antarctica or the Arctic and you’ll start thinking you are having hallucinations. During the evenings, the sky will …
As the horizons of technology expand, the real world is shrinking into a Global Village; Nanotechnology is the new area of interest in technology. Nanotechnology is an umbrella term that covers many areas of research dealing with objects that are measured in nanometers or billionth of meter. It is a hybrid science combining engineering …
One of the most important telescopes in the history of astronomy, the Hubble telescope has allowed observers to peer farther into space than any previous telescope. By moving outside and above the atmosphere of the earth, the Hubble telescope has been able to observe visual data much more clearly than a terrestrial telescope, and …
General Features THE HUMAN CORTEX The most striking feature of the human brain is seen in the cortex. This is the folded, hemispherical structure which constitutes the bulk of the visible brain. It is not present in reptiles. The cortex is relatively recent. It is perhaps one hundred thousand years old and is the …
A microscope is a device which allows one to view something which is too small to be seen by the naked eye. Items which are often studied under a microscope can include a single hair, blood or skin cells. With the naked eye these are hard to see, and impossible to view in any …
The great observatories of the world are responsible for many of the prolific astronomical observations of the twentieth century. Telescopic photography, radio dish data collection, and infrared imaging are among the many different techniques observatories have been able to employ to learn about the heavens. The Palomar Observatory may be the most famous of …