Author: Steven Lang
Carinus Art Centre held their annual exhibition recently. Learners from PJ Olivier, Graeme College, Victoria High, Ntsika High, Victoria Primary and Fikizolo Primary took part. A fantastic variety of art on show ranged from drawings, paintings, sculpture and textiles to ceramics and printmaking. At the opening, Joubert Retief, principal of PJ Olivier, gave a thought-provoking speech, reminding everyone that art transforms and that the love for art is magic. Photo: Steven Lang
“Is it cold when you go to the toilet on the Space Shuttle?” asked a little voice at the back of the Victoria Girls High School hall. The questioner was doing following up NASA astronaut, Don Thomas’ explanation on how in the absence of gravity, large fans in the toilet bowl have to suck waste downwards. Otherwise . . . Thomas said that in all the years that had been giving talks in schools and public events, he had never been asked that question – but no, the fans did not make it particularly cold. It was however, necessary to…
What would it take for you to sit atop about two million litres of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and then have it ignited to blast you off into space? Only a crazy person, right? Well, one such crazy person has not only done it – and survived – but he did it four times. NASA astronaut and mission specialist, Dr Don Thomas completed three flights on the Columbia and one on the Discovery as part of the “All-Ohio Space Shuttle Mission”. Thomas is coming to Grahamstown (Makhanda) to tell us about his missions aboard the Space Shuttle and…
NASA astronaut, Dr Don Thomas, will give a public talk at Victoria Girls High School on September 26. In his career he completed a total 692 orbits of the earth so we can expect that he will have a lot to say. If you would like a chance to win two tickets to his talk just answer this question: Near which town is the biggest optical telescope in South Africa? The first four correct answers will each win two tickets to the Don Thomas’ talk. Tickets can be purchased through Quicket, for R60 to R80. For more information on the Living Maths…
Victoria Girls’ High School won four out of the five gold awards at the regional finals of the 2018 Eskom Expo for Young Scientists held at Rhodes University on Saturday. A grade 10 pupil from Ntsika Secondary School won the remaining gold. Kate Jackson-Moss received gold for her project investigating round worm resistance to commercially available deworming chemicals, and like the other gold award winners she will receive a Rhodes University bursary. Ntsika’s Aphiwe Koliti won gold for his aquifer tank, while Nicola Kroese and Abongile Nokenke collaborated on their project measuring the effects of CO2 on seed germination. The…
South Africans will be treated to a rare total eclipse of the moon on Friday night, and fortunately, skies over Makana are expected to be cloud-free during most of the eclipse. The full moon will rise just after sunset in the evening and then at 7:13 pm, it will start moving into the partial (penumbral) shadow of the Earth. At first you may notice the moon dimming in the lower part of its disc as less sunlight is reflected off the eastern part of our closest celestial neighbour. At 8.24pm the moon will appear to change shape as it starts…
The 64 MeerKAT radio antennae situated in the Northern Cape have produced an astounding image of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy due in no small part to the expertise and servers made available by Rhodes University. The image, released to coincide with the official launch of the MeerKAT precursor array, vividly shows how incredibly active the centre of our galaxy is. Dominated by a supermassive black hole, the region is a maelstrom of supernova remnants, radio filaments and new star formation previously hidden behind large clouds of dust and gas. Earth is about 25 000 light-years from the…
This cow got stuck in the front fence of the Lang house as it was munching on an aloe in the garden. They called the SPCA and Mxoli Dingana came out and rescued the cow. She was very distressed because her calf was by her side and looking frustrated. Photos: Ilza Lang
Keara Martino (left) from St Mary’s School in Johannesburg and Camilla James of Kingswood in Grahamstown were placed first and third respectively in this year’s English Olympiad award ceremony held at the Settlers’ Monument on Tuesday. Kingswoood did particularly well this year with three pupils in the Top 100 – Rachel Strachan (17th place) and James Lankester (77th place). Emma Koch of Victoria Girls High school in 50th place made up the four Grahamstown pupils on the presitigious list. Second place winner, Joshua Jankelow from Crawford College in Sandton, was not able to attend the ceremony. There were 6,410 entries altogether but only…