Happy spring to all our readers! This month we’re featuring articles that investigate things as small as bacteria and as large as planets. Ever wondered how temperature affects the behaviour of magnets? Or how the strings of a violin make beautiful music? Keep reading this issue to find out!
by Isabella Morison
Many of us have wondered if we are the only life in the universe, or if other creatures lurk beyond. On Earth, life thrives, though many factors are needed for this. Where our planet is in relation to the sun is one of these factors. The Goldilocks Zone, or more scientifically “the Circumstellar Habitable Zone”, is the region or area around a star that can maintain liquid water, and is neither too hot or too cold. My research question is: What percentage of planets in the goldilocks zone would have enough gravity to sustain earth-like life?
by Emma Kao
Magnets work due to an electrical current caused by their electrons. The electrons of a magnet’s atom spin like a top, as they circle around the nucleus, or core of an atom. The movement that they make generates electric currents which causes each electron to act like a magnet. Continue reading more about this for the full explanation!
by Ria Patel
Everyday, billions of people around the world send trillions of messages, memes and tweets online. This information is kept secure by encryption: the process of encoding information so that only the intended recipient can decode it. Upon learning about the exponential power of quantum computers, I was concerned about the threat that they pose to encryption algorithms which are currently believed to be unbreakable.
by Jongmin (Brian) Lim
The pitch of the note, or ultimately the frequency, depends on four characteristics: the length of the vibrating string, mass of the vibrating string, tension, and harmonics of the string. The vibrating string is the part of the string that vibrates, meaning the part in between the two fundamental nodes (nut and bridge) at each end
by Lang Zou
This project’s goal is to determine the relationship between the basic reproduction number (R0) and vaccine effectiveness against transmission (E), and how they might affect the critical vaccination level (Vc) in different global pandemics. Furthermore, a central inquiry is “what are the common features that global pandemics have when it comes to vaccinations and how can one decline the infection rate?”
by Jonghoon (Kevin) Lim
Given the recent focus on microbial diseases, investigations into the effect that probiotic inoculation has on delaying microbial growth are warranted and may inform anti-microbial practices. To do this, mold growth on fresh vegetables will be compared to mold growth on fermented vegetables, which are enriched for probiotic bacteria. Given that fermented vegetables contain probiotics, it is expected that fresh vegetables will better support growth of mold than fermented vegetables.
