International Asteroid Day

International Asteroid Day is observed every year on June 30th. Also known as National Meteor Watch Day, on a cloudless night, STEMists turn their eyes to the sky in hopes of spotting the glow of a falling star. What is an Asteroid? Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the sun. Asteroids orbit the sun like planets, but they are …

Groovy Earthquake Proof Skyscrapers

  “An earthquake is such fun when it is over.” – George Orwell A long time ago, our ancestors believed earthquakes to be the act of the Gods. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, was the first to realise that earthquakes were more than an act of the Gods. To this day, STEMists continue to tame the devastating effects earthquakes have on …

Nikola Tesla: Imagining the Future

Nikola Tesla imagined the future and is being rediscovered in pop culture and celebrated as a man before his time.  He thought of devices and technologies we use today such as mobile phones, wireless internet and renewable energy. “It will soon be possible to transmit wireless messages around the world so simply that any individual can carry and operate his …

Female Aerospace Pioneers

 “Flying is the best possible thing for women.” — Baroness Raymonde de la Roche Although men were the first aviators, women quickly took to the air as well.  Most early flight schools did not accept female students, but determined women learned from friends or paid for private lessons. Since the early 19th century, women have been making strides in the …

The Evolution of the Telescope

“My parents gave me a small telescope, then I built my own, and one thing led to another. So that’s how I ended up going from being a hobby astronomer to a professional astronomer.” – Dimitar Sasselov, Bulgarian astronomer based in the United States. He is a Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University and director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative. In …