A visual way of thinking about General Relativity

 General relativity (GR) is Einstein's masterpiece. It also is the modern theory of gravity, including what causes gravity - the curvature/warping of the spacetime fabric of the universe. Here is an interesting video with a visual way of thinking about what this means, as it is quite abstract for our 3-D brains to imagine a 4-D universe! Thanks to Luca for finding and sharing this. 

Shortest time period ever measured - check this out!

 How much time does it take light to pass a hydrogen atom??? Keep in mind that the ground state orbital for hydrogen is 0.53 Angstroms, and the speed of light is the fastest there is, 300,000,000 m/s. Do the math, and obviously it does not take much time for this to happen. It has been measured, and is 247 zeptoseconds! This might be the only time in your life you even see the prefix 'zepto,' which is 10^-21!! Wow!! 

Check out the article that explains how scientists did this. 

A new state of matter - Time Crystals

 Thanks to Jack B. for finding this article on Time Crystals, a strange form of matter found in a quantum computer of all places! 

This is a material that is switching back and forth between two different quantum energy states when created in a very cold environment. There is no loss or gain of energy externally, and effectively there is no increase in entropy of the system. It is described to be like a pendulum that never stops swinging; there is no change or randomness in its switching behavior as long as it is in this strange state. 

First all-civilian space crew goes up with SpaceX

 An all-civilian crew, with NO professional astronaut, is up in orbit on a SpaceX vehicle! Pretty cool! 

First group of Top 50 Finalists for the Global Student Prize!

 If you would like to learn about what kind of impact on national and global levels students in high school and college can have, check out the first cohort of Global Student Prize Top 50 finalists! One of these students will be named a winner and receive $100,000 to put towards their missions and organizations. 

If you would ever like to become involved in something that addresses a passion of yours, or even start an organization to address issues of concerns, IT IS POSSIBLE and even as a teen YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND AN IMPACT FOR THE BETTER!!!!

Also announced is the 2021 group of Top 50 Global Teacher Prize Finalists, one of whom will win a $1 million award in November.