The technology and techniques involved in hunting for new planets outside of our solar system has advanced in leaps and bounds in the past few years. Finding earth-like planets orbiting neighbouring stars had long been the dream of astronomers, but it was not until 1992 that the discovery of the first exoplanet or extrasolar planet [more...]
If you want to float a thing that weighs one kilogram in water, how much water do you need? First, of course, the thing must float in water: a piece of wood, a can of peanuts or glass of instant coffee, any closed container weighing one kilogram (2.2 lb) that is larger than one liter [more...]
The Gallery of Practical Science opened in 1832 in London. Its aim was to inspire an enthusiasm for science, with plenty of working models of science and technology in action. Inventor Jacob Perkins was the driving force in forming a “Society for the Illustration and Encouragement of Practical Science” which ran the National Gallery of [more...]
In the 1940s, 50s and 60s, Popular Science Magazine ran a column called I’d like to see them make?. The magazine invited readers to write in with suggestions on the gadgets, tools and innovations they would like to see invented to make their lives a little easier. It was a popular item, and published suggestions [more...]
It takes a lot to get a politican to change their mind. After all, Gordon Brown still considers his management of the British economy to have been prudent. And sometimes it seems that it’s even harder to elicit a change of mind from someone who is an entrenched expert in their field. Every year the [more...]
Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded each year by an organization called Improbable Research. They honor research which first makes you laugh, then makes you think. Serious research about oddball topics, in other words. They like to celebrate the unusual and imaginative, and get people interested in science and technology, by honoring real achievements that are [more...]
Stem cells have been called the master cells of the human body. Unlike other types of cells, stem cells have the capability, as they reproduce, of becoming other types of cells. So, for example, a muscle cell will always be a muscle cell. But some types of stem cells, though a series of divisions, might [more...]
None of us were around when the Earth was formed, but scientists are in agreement that the age of the earth is 4.54 billion years, give or take 1 percent. To determine the age of the earth, scientists use a process known as radiometric dating. It is based on the fact that uranium, a naturally [more...]
All of us who write here at Quezi learned in school that our solar system has nine planets. But if you have kids in school, you might have heard that they’re learning now that there are only eight planets in our solar system. The reason: Pluto is no longer counted as a planet. Pluto has [more...]