Blog

Have you ever wanted to measure something truly ridiculous? With a lamp and a piece of paper, you can answer a silly sounding question: How bright is the Sun?

You will need Felt sheet Good scissors Cutting the felt Cut a rectangle of felt about 6 cm wide and 20 cm long. Fold the felt in half so the short sides match up. Make two cuts, equally spaced, coming in from the folded side. Stop cutting about 2 cm before you reach the short edges of the […]

Fred’s teacher has a weird way of marking tests. He gives five marks for a right answer, but subtracts one for a wrong one. Fred answered 20 questions on a test and got 70 marks. How many questions did Fred get right?

Blenders mix milk and chocolate topping. Cereal makers add sultanas and puffs to bran flakes. We all mix things every day, but we know surprisingly little about the mathematics of mixing. One of this year’s Fields Medallists is working to bridge this gap. Many people can shuffle cards, but Artur Avila can shuffle a line.

You will need Two decks of cards. Younger mathematicians with small hands might have difficulty with a full sized deck of cards. Using smaller cards might be easier. If you’re still having difficulty, try asking an adult for help with shuffling. Overhand shuffle (for right-handed people) If you are left-handed, click here to see the […]

Written by Sarah Kellett Little penguins spend their days finding food at sea. With the help of location-tracking devices, researchers have found out that the smallest species of penguin tends to travel the sea in groups, and may dive at the same time while hunting fish.

Written by Sarah Kellett The largest outbreak of Ebola ever recorded is happening in West Africa. Since February this year, more than 1000 people have been killed by the Ebola virus. Last week, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

The Australian National University recently renovated their fusion reactor. This magnetic marvel harnesses immense pressures and temperatures to replicate the reactions that power our Sun. And there’s a lot of maths that helps to keep the reactions going! A fusion donut Fusion reactors use hydrogen as fuel. Under intense heat and pressure, the electrons leave […]

You’ve seen mazes on paper, you may even have explored big mazes on foot. But this maze has a geometric twist – it’s on the surface of a donut. This is a torus maze!

Written by Sarah Kellett Can we power our homes with the process that powers stars? Nuclear fusion offers to do just that, and scientists are looking for ways to harness this energy with experiments that run hotter than the Sun.