Photo credit: CSIRO

Photo credit: NASA

  Since our earliest ancestors gazed up from dimming campfires to marvel at the night sky, the stars have been a source of awe and wonder for humankind. After thousands of years of tracking, mapping, and cataloging those mysterious points of light, twentieth century conflict brought with it an unexpected means of reaching them.  Read More

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photo credit: CSIRO

    The Mysterious State of Matter That Powers Our Digital Displays   The three states of matter to which every foundational chemistry class introduces us — solid, liquid, and gas — turn out not to be quite so clearly delineated as they might seem. Liquid crystals represent a sort of mixed state, not quiteRead More

 Photo credit: CSIRO

Photo credit: CSIRO

The Molecular Structure That Causes Enthralling Light Effects in Soap Bubbles   Soap bubbles, peacock feathers, and CDs all have one notable feature in common: all three are iridescent, they appear to change color when viewed from different angles. In the case of soap bubbles, this quality stems from the structure of a bubble’s surface.Read More