Why Are Clouds White?

Gianna, Age 6, asked:

Gianna's entry was entitled "A Day in the Sun"

Great question, Gianna! To answer it, we have to first talk about waves, like the kind you see in the ocean. Ocean waves look sort of like this: 

Curiosity Challenge: Questions & Answers

Many of you already know about our Curiosity Challenge for students ages 5-14.  For those who don't know, it's a call out to 5-to-14-year-olds to tell or show us what they are curious about.

We get all sorts of cool entries.  Like this one:

What color is lightning? - Noor Hassan, age 7

Or this one:

When people have different emotions, how does it affect their face? - Omar Mohamed, Age 9

This year we had a record number of entries - over 2000 from students all over Massachusetts.  We get questions that showcase incredible creativity, that prompt us to think about our own curious questions, that make us want to immediately look up answers, and some of the best that challenge our perceptions of the day-to-day.  We've wanted to post up some of these questions online and post alongside some answers as well.

A few months back, a lovely MIT student walked into the Cambridge Science Festival office and offered to do just that.  Anna and a group of undergraduates from French House at MIT, the University of Illinois, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory summer student program have come together and will post up answers here on the blog.  The answerers come from a wide variety of science backgrounds including (but not limited to!) astronomy, physics, computer science, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, chemistry, math, and biology. They will start posting questions and answers within the next few days, so stay tuned!