Answering a Reader’s Questions As posted last week, the Coriolis Effect steers the winds and ocean currents around the globe in huge spiral patterns, all because our Earth spins. A reader asked who discovered this pattern in nature and wanted to know what happens at the equator. Does the prevailing north counterclockwise and south clockwise… Continue reading The Coriolis Effect
Category: Discoveries
A New Hot Jupiter
Discovering Exoplanet TOI-2109b Looking out my west-facing bedroom window on a clear, dark night, I see hundreds of stars, each just a point of light. Many of those stars may be like our sun with a system of orbiting planets. We’ve long suspected that other suns have other planets. Back in 1979, Gordon Walker began… Continue reading A New Hot Jupiter
How She Did It
Anika Chebrolu’s Research Process Almost 7 million people around the world have died from the coronavirus since the beginning of this pandemic and just over 1 million in the United States as of this posting. You can see updates on the CNN link above. Anika Chebrolu, a Texas high school student, stands out among scientists… Continue reading How She Did It
A Matter of Taste?
How an explosion revealed a superpower “Well, it’s just a matter of taste,” you may say to a friend when disagreeing about the flavor of food. Now many scientific studies support this common experience: some people have a more acute sense of taste than others. We all live in different taste worlds. The wonderful and… Continue reading A Matter of Taste?
The Biggest Comet Ever!
The biggest comet ever discovered, the lecturing astronomer told us, is speeding toward the sun at 22,000 miles per hour. I sat up straighter, as I’d guess did most of us in this Zoom class. We were here to learn why Pluto is no longer a planet and this was news. But, he continued, we… Continue reading The Biggest Comet Ever!
Can Brain Games Make You Smarter?
Game Therapy? Imagine yourself immersed in a virtual reality game, traveling through a digital universe, slaying monsters, racing cars, climbing mountains. As you race through this universe, your pulse quickens, and your senses sharpen. Now imagine when you finish, a quick brain scan finds you boosted your brain’s capabilities. This game trains your brain just… Continue reading Can Brain Games Make You Smarter?
STEM & Creative Change 