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Welcome to Double Helix magazine’s Q&A section – Microscope. We take a close look at small questions full of big ideas. Q: What is the weight of a rainbow?

Atoms – we know that they’re small. But what do they actually look like? Recent experiments suggest that some atoms have a surprising shape. To understand what an atom might look like, we need to know what they’re made of.

Welcome to Double Helix magazine’s Q&A section – Microscope. We take a close look at small questions full of big ideas. Q: I want to know which is hotter, fire or lava? Or are they both the same?

Keen to blow some seriously big bubbles? Try making this bubble mix!

What’s your name? No, not your personal name – your species name. You and every other person on the planet are from the same species: Homo sapiens, or modern humans. Today, we are the only human species, but this wasn’t always the case.

It’s a question that millions of people ask every day: ‘What’s the time?’ Knowing the time is an essential part of everyday life and important to scientific research as well.

Australia’s most powerful supercomputer – Raijin – has been officially launched. Imagine arming the population of Earth with calculators and setting them to work for 20 years. Raijin is so fast it could complete the same number of calculations in one hour!

Security systems are everywhere. Your home probably has locks on the doors. These protect you and your home, preventing people from entering and stealing items or causing damage. Biosecurity works in a similar way, except it involves protecting an area from the damage caused by pests and diseases.

The idea there are living organisms, as yet undiscovered by humans, living on other planets, has fascinated people for years. The search for alien life is not just a science fiction topic – it’s part of a scientific field called astrobiology.