Original Articles

30-Foot Jib Crane for Knelson Concentrators
While at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), I designed a crane for a local mining equipment company along with two other students. This is the final report for that project.

Aerogels: Their History, Structure, and Applications
Aerogels are the lightest of all solid substances. They are so light, they stretch the definition of the word solid. What exactly are aerogels, and what are such exotic substances good for?

Big Bang: You're Dead!
The Big Bang theory has been with us for many years. Even when a theory endures for so long, it is important to remember that it is not a proven physical law. It only takes one piece of reliable contrary evidence to disprove even the most elegant theory. When a generation of cosmologists and astrophysicists have devoted their careers to a theory, however, they are understandably reluctant to let it go.

Chaos, Nature, and Fuzzy Fractals
How long is the coastline of North America? How red is a red apple? What will the weather be like tomorrow? How have scientists answers to these and other questions changed in recent years?

The Enemy Above
Sixty-five million years ago, a large asteroid struck the Earth in the area of the Yucatan peninsula, and contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. The Earth will be hit again. What can we do to prevent our own extinction?

Entropy and the Irreversibility of Time
Richard Feynman delivered a series of lectures on the character of phyisical law at Cornell University in 1964. From his explanations, and his general musings, we come to some profound realizations about the nature of the universe.

The Eyes of Diana
As the night sky becomes more and more obscured, Earth-based astronomy is increasingly in jeopardy. The Hubble telescope has provided some relief, but the ultimate observatory is a little farther away.

If a Tree Falls in the Forest...
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Here is the definitive answer to the age-old philosophical question.

Venus: Problem Child
Some time in the next century, we will begin terraforming Mars, transforming it from the cold desert it is now into a new Earth. But Mars will always be different, with its low gravity and extremely vertical terrain. Even as we breathe life into Earth's son, we will have to deal with Earth's more troublesome offspring.

Zeno's Paradox
Over two thousand years ago, a Greek philosopher named Zeno made a startling discovery that had profound implications for life, the universe, and everything. To prove his contentions, he needed two accomplices: Achilles, the mighty warrior, and a tortoise.

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