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Jan 9, 2025 | 
snexplores.org | Sarah Wells |Stephen Ornes |Christopher Crockett |Maria Temming
In 1977, NASA loaded two spacecraft, each the size of a Honda Civic, into a rocket and sent them off on a five-year mission to explore our solar system’s outer planets. Free educator resources are available for this article. Register to access: Client key* E-mail Address* Already Registered?
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Nov 10, 2024 | 
livescience.com | Sarah Wells
The Concorde passenger jet set a record when it flew between New York City and London in 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds. The supersonic plane could fly at more than twice the speed of sound. But just how fast was this aircraft, and what made it so speedy? The jet, which flew from 1976 to 2003, had a takeoff speed of 250 mph (402 km/h) and an average cruising speed of 1,350 mph (2,173 km/h).
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Aug 13, 2024 | 
livescience.com | Sarah Wells
The slow squeak of a door hinge at 1 a.m. or the screech of a subway train taking a sharp turn may send a shiver down your spine, but why do these noises happen? Why does metal squeak? It turns out, it's all about the periodic shift between metal pieces sticking and slipping against one another. Metal's stiffness and density also make that squeak extra loud, experts told Live Science.
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Jul 27, 2024 | 
livescience.com | Sarah Wells
Our space-exploration ambitions have boldly taken humans to the moon, rovers to Mars and spacecraft to the outer reaches of the solar system. But could humans or spacecraft ever reach Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our planet? Alpha Centauri is about 4.4 light-years (roughly 25 trillion miles, or 40 trillion kilometers) from Earth and is home to three separate stars.
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Jun 24, 2024 | 
livescience.com | Sarah Wells
It's happened to the best of us: We throw a new cotton shirt into the dryer without thinking, and voilà — we now have a shirt fit for a toddler. Cotton is susceptible to this kind of laundry blunder in a way that synthetic fibers, like polyester, are not. A large part of this vulnerability comes down to the individual fibers of the cotton clothes, Jillian Goldfarb, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Cornell University, told Live Science in an email.
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Jun 8, 2024 | 
livescience.com | Sarah Wells
Are we alone in the universe? It's one of life's biggest mysteries and one that is explored by science fiction and scientists alike. But if there is alien life on other planets, what might it look like? While little green men or towering predators are the stereotypical depictions of extraterrestrials in film, any aliens that might be out there are unlikely to resemble those characters, experts told Live Science.
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May 23, 2024 | 
physics.aps.org | Sarah Wells
May 23, 2024• Physics 17, 86Using atomic layer deposition, scientists have created a new light-absorbing thin film that could help telescopes see a starrier night. If you’ve tried to sleep in a hotel room, you’ll know that unexpected sources of light—from under a door or a glowing electronic sign—can negatively impact your rest. This problem of stray light also affects space telescopes that rely on dark conditions to see distant, faint sources.
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May 15, 2024 | 
snexplores.org | Sarah Wells
3-D: Short for three-dimensional. This term is an adjective for something that has features that can be described in three dimensions — height, width and length. bioengineer: Someone who applies engineering to solve problems in biology or in systems that will use living organisms. blood vessel: A tubular structure that carries blood through the tissues and organs.
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May 11, 2024 | 
livescience.com | Sarah Wells
In a hall of mirrors, you can see yourself stretched, squashed and multiplied thanks to the reflective physics of mirrors. One mirror reflects onto another, which reflects onto another, and so on. It may seem as if it could go on an infinite number of times. But can mirrors facing each other really create infinite reflections? In theory, yes — but the imperfections in mirrors make it effectively impossible, experts told Live Science.
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Apr 22, 2024 | 
snexplores.org | Aaron Tremper |Kathiann M. Kowalski |Sarah Wells
app: Short for application, or a computer program designed for a specific task. data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
