By Simon ShapiroScience fiction author Arthur C Clarke famously said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Usually when you discover how a magic trick works, it stops being magic; it becomes much less impressive. But when you discover how GPS works, it becomes even more impressive. So how does it work?The Satellites The first step is to put a bunch of satellites into a geostationary orbit. Which means: the satellite orbits above the…

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Eastgate Centre in Harrare, Zimbabwe Eastgate Centre is a large shopping mall and office center. It stands in the heart of the business district in Harare, the most populous city in Zimbabwe, Africa.It's a very big building, occupying half a city block. The interior is elegant and modern, with small boutiques on the ground floor and a large interior space with cool fountains, hanging catwalks and steel pillars straight out of a science fiction movie.Interior atrium…

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Post by Helaine BeckerHappy book birthday! June 19th, 2018!Five years in the works! I'm so excited that Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13, is now available everywhere!You can see the trailer here.

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Over the past week, parts of Atlantic Canada have experienced one of the features ("It's not a bug, it's a feature!") of a Canadian spring -- June snow. In sympathy with the afflicted parts of the country, including those in the North where the winter's snow still lingers, we present this brief poem by Sci/Why contributor Margriet Ruurs - CEWhether to Like the Weather or NotCalm wind, clear sky, nice.Shifting wind, scattered-cloud skyStratus clouds drifting…

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by Jan ThornhillI’ve just returned from a fabulous mushrooming trip to Chile. Before I left, I joked that I was going to “Canada south” – my simple way of explaining that I would be visiting a temperate country when it would be cold and wet – the best time to collect fungi. Of course I didn’t mean it literally; I didn’t expect Chile to actually be Canada south. But in a lot of ways, particularly outside…

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With such a diverse - and productive - crew of writers here at Sci/Why, it's no surprise we have a lot to celebrate! Here's what our members have been up to:Joan Marie GalatDark Matters, Nature's Reaction to Light Pollution is one of three shortlisted titles for the Canadian Authors Association (Alberta Branch) Exporting Alberta AwardJoan's new book is Solve This! Wild and Wacky Challenges for the Genius Engineer in You (National Geographic Kids). It was the number…

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By Paula JohansonThere are many sites around the world monitoring seismic tremors from earthquakes and volcanic activity. Scientists are using seismometers to measure when and how much the ground is shaking. The answers are "often" and moderately" on the island where I live in British Columbia!But data from any one place is not really enough on its own. What makes this information much more useful is when seismic stations share their data in networks. When…

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Richard Feynman was born 100 years ago, on May 11, 1918. He was one of the best physicists of the 20th century. He was famous for winning a Nobel prize for quantum physics; for helping develop the atomic bomb as a member of the Manhattan project; for being a brilliant physics teacher, and for playing the bongo drums. Maybe a little less well-known is that he's regarded as being the 'godfather' of nanotechnology.He taught physics…

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By Claire EamerIf you're curious about Canadian kids' science books, but you don't know quite where to start, consider taking advantage of the expertise of others. A lot of that expertise goes into choosing shortlists and winners for a number of annual book awards that honour science and non-fiction writing for children. Here's where you'll find some of the best titles in Canadian science writing for children -- including some books by Sci/Why bloggers.L.E. Carmichaeil's…

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Post by Helaine BeckerWhen I was growing up, Barbie was the ultimate aspirational toy. She had a fantastic slinky black dress. An over the top wedding dress. And clothes for being a stewardess, a picnicker, and attending a sock hop.But there was no Barbie mathematician attire. Are you kidding? This was the era of "men don't make passes at girls who where glasses." And "men don't like women who are smarter than they are. So…

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