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NASA Has Been Shooting Lasers at the Moon to Challenge Einstein
Since the 1960s, the United States government has been shooting lasers at the moon. No, this is not a covert government conspiracy or a relic of the Cold War. It is NASA’s attempt to prove Einstein’s...
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Making Cheese Taste Gouda
What does this… USDA microbiologists observing bacteria in petri dishes …have to do with this? Cheeses at a market in Frankfurt, Germany The answer lies in these tiny organisms: Lactobacillus...
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The Reason Sugar Tastes So Darn Good
Sugar is everywhere. Kids crave it, pastry chefs live by it, and dieters avoid it like the plague.It comes naturally in our fruits, it’s added to our drinks, and it’s found in some form in virtually...
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Are We Prepared for a Large Asteroid Impact?
The astroid (light green orbit) passed very close to Earth (blue orbit). Click to enlarge. On December 16, 2017 at about 5:00 PM CST, the asteroid 3200 Phaethon passed within 64 million miles of Earth....
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Maximizing the Sparkle of a Diamond
Flashes of fiery light. Infinite sparkles. The hardest rock on the scale. A traditional symbol of both love and status. Diamonds have fascinated people through the ages. Their flashy optic...
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Better Together: Symbiotic Relationships in the Sea
This story begins with a giant worm that lives in one of the most inhospitable places in the planet. A giant, gutless, eyeless worm. In a historic exploratory voyage in 1977, Dr. Robert Ballard and his...
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Where Would We Be Without Blood?
Where would we be without blood? That red stuff that carries vital oxygen from our lungs to our muscles, and helps move our body’s chemical waste to where it can be recycled or disposed of? Blood is...
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Knitting: For Senior Citizens or Scientists?
My first memory of knitting wasn’t of my grandmother making a scarf by a roaring fire, though it did involve a stern matron overlooking my work as her needles clacked together, knitting a blanket as we...
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It’s 2018. How is Cancer Still a Thing?
Cancer is such a scary word. It comes in many different types, and chances are, it has touched your life in some way, whether through you or a loved one. The lifetime odds that you’ll end up with...
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The Mystery of the DeYoung Diamond
A mystery red gemstone is in front of you on a table. Is it a ruby? Is it a garnet? Is it a red diamond? The DeYoung Red Diamond, held in the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection in Washington...
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What’s In Your Ears Besides Wax?
Our inner ear is the powerhouse of our hearing and vestibular (balance) senses. Hearing is part our everyday life: we play the music we love, chat with friends and family, and are aware of changes in...
View ArticlePi, Pie, and a Pi-K on Pi Day!
Gather round Chicago! There’s still time to sign up for our 6th Annual Pi K Fun Run, this Wednesday, March 14th—3.14. Join us as we team up with Fleet Feet Sports in Old Town, Lincoln Square and Oak...
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Chicago Gets a Head Start on the Vernal Equinox!
Don’t be fooled – the calendar says the Spring equinox is on the March 20th, but in Chicago, we come closest to 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of sunlight on the 17th. I thought this oddity would...
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The Science of Lucid Dreaming
When I was about 12, I had a dream that children I didn’t know were chasing me and my friends around the YMCA’s playground. Normally, this dream would have been commonplace, except for a strange...
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ISC Pi Day Run 2018: Another Great One for the Books!
Illinois Science Council’s 6th annual Pi Day run was an all-around success! Over 300 science-loving and science-curious Chicagoans, young and old, participated in the 3.14 mile run/walk at one of...
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Blood Types and Donuts: How Blood Typing Works and Why it Matters
What’s your type? Blood type, I mean. You may already know that you’re an “O negative” or a chirpy “B positive.” Or one of many other combinations of A, B, O, positive and negative. But what do...
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Mimicking Biology with Polymers in the Lab
This week, Dr. Caroline Szczepanski sat down with the #ISCblog editors to share her exciting research on creating new materials that mimic the superadhesive or super-water resistant properties of...
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How to Read Like a Scientist
It may come as some surprise, but scientists don’t spend all day mixing chemicals, measuring reactions, and hunching over open flames. To ask the right questions and design cutting-edge experiments to...
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Science as Art: Open Call for SciArt!
This year, the Chicago Science Festival, hosted by the Illinois Science Council, will feature an event called Science as Art. We invite you to submit artistic and scientific images from your work for...
View ArticleThe Citizen Scientist
Ah, the scientist. Wearer of the lab coat, gatherer of the data, publisher of findings both predictable and extraordinary. It can be said that the scientist is the person who asks why and where, and...
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