14 March 2013
Posted in Our Planet, Our Universe

As citizens living in a constantly expanding universe, it is very important to understand not only how it works, but also, how it originated. Today, scientists around the world are examining particles that are evidence of the main matter from which everything we know around us emerged and obtained a certain mass.

Last summer, scientists announced the finding of a particle that could very well be a Higgs boson particle (or God Particle). This particle was found in the world’s largest high-energy particle accelerator called Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located near Switzerland.

Further studies indicate that this particle is, in fact, a Higgs boson particle. The Higgs boson is an elementary particle of nature discovered by the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN) which explains the presence of mass and symmetry in the fundamental particles of the universe.

Scientists will continue to study the particle to finitely determine that the Higgs Field exists, which will allow science to explain how universe really works.

20 December 2012
Posted in Our Planet, Our Universe

We’ve heard quite a bit of talk about the Mayan calendar and the supposed end of the world, but what does Dec. 21, 2012 really mean?

Much like we have ways to group time, such as seven days marks a week and 52 weeks make a year, the Mayans grouped time similarly albeit with a different number-base system. Today, the world uses a base-10 system, computers use a base-2 system (binary) and the Mayans used a base-20 system.

Just one of many Mayan calendars, the long count calendar comes to an end Dec. 21 and will “click over” to read “13.0.0.0.0.” This will mark the end of the 13^th baktun (properly b’ak’tun) and the beginning of the 14^th baktun. Each baktun is 144,000 days or 394.25 years in the long count calendar.

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03 December 2012
Posted in Our Planet, Our Universe

With millions of galaxies and planets throughout the universe, do you believe in the possibility of life elsewhere?

NASA researchers recently discovered large amounts of water ice and possible organic compounds on Mercury, suggesting the raw materials necessary for life may be more common than scientists believed.

NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft announced on Nov. 29, 2012 that Mercury contains more than 100 billion tons of water ice near its poles. In the dark, shadowy areas of the planet, temperatures plummet to minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit (188 degrees Celsius), where much of its ice is found. But Messenger suggests even more water ice can be found in slightly warmer areas.

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14 November 2012
Posted in Our Planet, Our Universe

The bright lights of northern Australia quickly switched off as the moon blocked out the sun in a total solar eclipse Wednesday morning.

This marked the first total eclipse seen in Australia in a decade! More than 50,000 spectators on land and sea flooded beaches, boats and hot-air balloons to witness this phenomenal event.

The total eclipse began at 6:35 a.m Wednesday morning, but because of the time zone difference it was Tuesday afternoon in the United States.  The shadows of the moon swept over the Arnhem Land region in Australia's Northern Territory and made its way southeast. It then reached over the Gulf of Carpentaria and into the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The eclipse in Australia lasted an entirety of three hours, but total darkness only took over for about two minutes.

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