The Nobel Prize is one of the biggest prizes in the world.
Dr. Strickland will share the prize with Dr. Gérard Mourou of France and Dr. Arthur Ashkin of the United States.
All three scientists won for their work creating tiny (miniature) tools using lasers.
The prize is $1.28 million. It will be divided among the three scientists. Half the money will go to Dr. Ashkin. Dr. Strickland and Dr. Mourou will share the other half.
Science
Teen’s Project Helping To Clean The Ocean
A teenager’s dream of cleaning up the world’s oceans may soon come true.
Boyan Slat is a high school student who lives in Holland, in Europe. Seven years ago, he was swimming in the ocean. He saw more trash in the water, than fish. So for a school project, he made a plan to clean up the ocean.
In 2013, Slat formed a group called The Ocean Cleanup. It raised money to put Slat’s water clean-up plan in action.
On September 8, Slat’s plan began.
In the ocean between California and Hawaii is a lot of floating garbage. It is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Slat’s group will clean it up using a floating tube. The tube will go around the garbage and trap it.
Stunning New Colour-Enhanced Pictures of Jupiter
NASA recently released new pictures of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. The photos were taken by the Juno spacecraft. Many of the black-and-white images, sent back to Earth by Juno, have been colourized by people to better show the clouds swirling around the planet. The Juno spacecraft was launched in 2011. Its mission was “to examine Jupiter’s chemistry, atmosphere, interior structure and magnetosophere,” according to a NASA website. Juno arrived at Jupiter in 2016, looking for “clues to its origin and evolution.” Since that time, it has been orbiting (flying around) Jupiter, taking pictures and sending them digitally back to Earth.
Scientist Stephen Hawking Dead At Age 76
When we think of scientific geniuses, we may think of Albert Einstein, Marie Curie or Ada Lovelace. Stephen Hawking was right up there with the most brilliant minds of any generation. He passed away last week, at the age of 76.
It would take a book — or a movie (there are both) — to even scratch the surface of his accomplishments, his tremendous sense of humour, his influence on millions of people and the vast depths of his knowledge.
He helped the world better understand black holes and string theory. Black holes are extremely dense regions in space. We can’t see them. In fact, we can understand what they are only by how they affect things around them. Hawking furthered our understanding of them and many other areas of physics. His groundbreaking work changed science forever.
The Truth About Tech
Some of the people who created many popular apps are telling kids to put their phones away–at least, a bit more often.
The Center for Humane Technology is made up of people who used to work for big tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Now they want kids to stop using those apps and websites so much.
In early February the Center, along with Common Sense Media, launched an awareness campaign called the Truth About Tech. Its goal is to teach students, parents and teachers about the dangers of spending too much time on smart phones and tablets.
Looking Forward To The January Thaw
The January thaw is coming. The term describes unusually warm weather for the time of year–and many people in Canada and the United States should experience it around the end of this month.
Many cities in Canada and the U.S. have been hit with blizzards and extremely cold temperatures, as well as high winds and lots of snow.
Many cities in Canada had snow and temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) or colder. With the “wind chill factor,” -20 degrees Celsius feels like -35 degrees Celsius.
Cave On The Moon Could Be Base For Astronauts
Scientists from JAXA, the Japanese space agency, say they have discovered an enormous underground cave on the moon.
The discovery is exciting because the cave could provide a safe place for astronauts to live and work on future missions to the moon.
In 2009, a lunar probe launched by JAXA sent back images of the cave’s entrance. The probe used radar to determine the underground structures below the entrance and sent the information back to JAXA to be analyzed.
In October, JAXA announced that there appears to be a cavern about 50 kilometres (31 miles) long and 100 metres (328 feet) wide leading from the opening.
Scientists say the cave could make an ideal base for astronauts. It would protect the astronauts and their equipment from the extreme heat and cold on the moon’s surface. It would also help keep them safe from micrometeorites (tiny particles of space dust) that land on the moon, and from the harmful rays of the sun.
Cassini: Mission Accomplished
The Cassini space probe’s 20-year mission to Saturn is over. On September 15, at 4:55 a.m. Eastern Time on Earth, the spacecraft entered the atmosphere around Saturn. Moments later, it was destroyed. Cassini was launched in 1997. It had been […]
Large Storms Affecting Caribbean, US
Everyone is talking about Harvey, Irma, Jose and Katia.
They are the names of very large storms, affecting the area around the Caribbean*, Mexico and the southern United States.
Hurricanes are given names, like “Irma” to make it easier to refer to them.
People in these areas are used to dealing with storms. But these storms are much larger than normal. They have very high winds—up to 120 kilometres an hour—with lots of rain that can flood people’s houses and force them to leave the area. (In this case, leaving your home is known as “evacuating.”) In Florida, more than 6.4 million people have been told to evacuate before Irma gets there, according to a report from CBC News.
Cassini Spacecraft Begins Last Stage Of 20-Year Mission
In October 1997, a spacecraft called the Cassini orbiter was launched on a mission to explore Saturn and its moons.
Now, after nearly 20 years in space, Cassini’s mission is coming to an end. Cassini is running out of fuel. Scientists expect it to burn up in Saturn’s atmosphere in September.
But before that happens, the spacecraft will make a series of dives between Saturn and its rings, sending photographs and other information back to Earth.
