Paige Copenhaver

The EDGES Story: How Scientists Detected Effects of Light from the First Stars

In March 2018, a team of scientists led by Judd Bowman from Arizona State's School of Earth and Space Exploration and Alan Rogers from MIT's Haystack Observatory has done what many thought to be an impossible task. With a small radio antenna called EDGES (Experiment to Detect the Global Epoch of Recombination Signature) placed in

2017 Nobel Prize in Physics

On Tuesday, October 3rd the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne for their contributions to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). On February 11th, 2016, LIGO announced the first detection of gravitational waves, a monumental moment in science. Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916,

Saving the Earth’s Sunscreen: The Ozone Layer

In honor of September 16th, otherwise known as World Ozone Day, let's spend some time talking about ozone in Earth's atmosphere! You may be wondering why ozone is significant enough to have its own designated day of acknowledgement. To answer this question we need to dive into a little bit of history involving early measurements

Quantum Mechanics and You

This blog post is part III in a three-part series about quantum mechanics. In case you missed them, check out part I here and part II here. The more we learn about the world around us through the lenses of science, philosophy, and our own personal experiences, the more we question the world around us.

What is Quantum Mechanics?

What comes to mind when you think about the word “physics?” You probably see yourself sitting in your high school or college Intro Physics course trying to memorize what seemed to be pointless equations and relationships between variables. For example, the good ole' F=ma. Many of us know these basic physical principles referred to as

Combating Climate Change with Photosynthesis

Fossil fuels are ingrained in American history. If you have ever driven a car, flown in an airplane, or heated your home, you have used fossil fuels. These fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) account for 85% of fuel use in the United States, and our dependence on them has become an increasingly important issue.

Wait a Hot Minute!

What if I told you that the flow of time is an illusion due to our limited consciousness and that the only true distinction between the past and the future is the presence of heat? You might call me crazy. However, it turns out that while the flow of time is obviously an essential part

What's the Point of the International Space Station(ISS)?

On March 1st, astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth after 340 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS). But why was he even up there for so long in the first place? What is the ISS? According to NASA, the ISS is a “convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and

First Detection of Gravitational Waves

By Paige Copenhaver On February 11th, scientists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced the first ever detection of gravitational waves. Analogous to ripples caused by throwing a rock into a pond, gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by the acceleration of massive objects in space. The collision of

Death, Dinosaurs, and Dark Matter, Oh My!

Everyone knows about the extinction of the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago, the result of a mountain-sized space object colliding with Earth and wreaking havoc all over the planet. However, what most people don't know is that this extinction was not the most devastating in Earth's history. The dinosaur extinction is one of the

The Death of Silicon

As you read this, your computer or phone is processing tons of information at very high speeds, and this process is simpler than you may think. Consider this: the human brain makes simple comparisons that usually come in the form of “yes” and “no.” Similarly, computers “think” in these basic terms. Inside your computer, microscopic

Dark Matter and Dark Energy

By: Paige Copenhaver, Athens Science Café Most people have heard of dark matter and dark energy in the news or in the media. For example, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Enterprise encounters a dark matter cloud. In Futurama, dark matter is used to fuel starships. Though many people are familiar with the terms,

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