Life in a Vortex
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Frodo Baggins and Gandalf take a moment to relax and contemplate Frodo’s birthday. They take turns blowing smoke rings in this scene from Jackson’s movie adaptation of Tolkein’s The Fellowship of the Ring. Do we need magic to make a smoke ring? Bilbo doesn’t, and neither do we. We just need to mix two fluid,…
The Smallest Ringbearers
Reading Time: 6 minutes
In the last decade, we have discovered three small bodies in our solar system that have rings: Chariklo, 2060 Charon, and Haumea. Chariklo and 2060 Charon are smaller than the state of Maine. Haumea, pictured above, is about the size of Alaska. Before rings were discovered about these bodies, we thought rings could only form…
The Elephant Versus the Razor
Reading Time: 6 minutes
What is dark matter? How does it influence our Universe? Gather eight people in the room, you will likely get eight different answers. Everyone will answer based on their own, individual perspective—every answer will be unique! How can we separate our perspective from the truth? Science is the process by which we seek the truth.…