Welcome back to SCISOC’s fortnightly newsletter, PRISM! We hope you’ve had a good start to Term 2 so far and good luck to everyone for their midterms. In this fortnight's newsletter, we present our case competition with Cochlear and Problem Solving Mock Assessment Center event! In our Science News, we dive into the discovery of a free-floating black hole. Last but not least, in our Fun Corner, we offer a slew of scary stories for your reading pleasure! |
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UNSW Science Society Presents: Interactive Problem Solving Looking for an opportunity to upskill yourself and challenge your mind? Then come to SCISOC’s Interactive Problem Solving! Tackle realistic problems by exploring a variety of case studies, and improve your critical thinking, teamwork and communication skills. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to gain practice in presenting and receive valuable individual feedback from experienced industry professionals! Since many of Australia’s leading STEM companies present problems like these during their interview process, being able to hone your skills will be essential in landing your ideal job later on in the future! 5:00 - 6:30PM | Wednesday Week 4 (22nd June) | Blockhouse G14 |
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UNSW Science Society x Global Consulting Group Presents: Case Competition Crash Course UNSW SCISOC and GCG are holding a Case Competition Workshop on Thursday 23rd June! We’re breaking down the key aspects of problem definition and analysis, solution building and slide deck design into digestible chunks of information to help students newer to case competitions to master their presentational skills! The first section of the event is held by Global Consulting Group UNSW, focusing on how to approach case competitions and all the essential skills and frameworks required to succeed. Following this, representatives from Cochlear will be discussing the 2022 case brief from a professional lens, concluding with a Q&A session with Cochlear professionals! You don’t want to miss out on this great opportunity to hone in on your ability to tackle real life problems and win prizes! REGISTRATIONS (You do not have to register to attend this event!): https://forms.gle/z7WwJrGXrvpzidLq9 6:00 - 8:00PM | Thursday 23rd of June | ONLINE |
UNSW Science Society TikTok |
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With the Productions portfolio working hard to become Professional TikTokers, we proudly present to you SCISOC’s official TikTok page! Come and take a look, relive the best moments of every event and look forward to all that SCISOC has to offer!! Remember to follow us on the SCISOC Facebook page to keep up to date with our upcoming events. |
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Astronomers may have detected a 'dark' free-floating black hole Black holes are naturally invisible unless they’re part of a stellar binary, where two stars are gravitationally bound to each other and thus orbit around each other, or unless they’re surrounded by an accretion disk which is a rotating disk of matter around the black hole. Astronomers have been trying to locate invisible black holes through gravitational microlensing events, where the black hole brightens and distorts light from stars near the galactic centre, which is the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. |
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| If it is as astronomers believe, where the death of large stars leaves behind black holes, then it is estimated that there would be hundreds of millions of black holes scattered throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, however isolated black holes are invisible and thus hard to notice. |
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Astronomers in a team led by the University of California, Berkeley, have finally discovered what seems to be a free-floating black hole by analyzing the light patterns of a more distant star as it was distorted by the object’s strong gravitational field. This effect is also known as gravitational microlensing where light rays from a star bend due to the presence of a strong gravitational field. |
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A team led by Casey Lam, a graduate student, and Jessica Lu, a UC Berkeley associate professor of astronomy, estimate that the mass of the invisible object is between 1.6 and 4.4 solar masses. Due to beliefs that the remnants of a dead star must be at least 2.2 solar masses for it to collapse into a black hole, researchers caution that it could be a neutron star instead. Neutron stars are also dense, highly compact objects but their internal neutron pressure balances their gravitational force, thus preventing a further collapse into a black hole. |
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Regardless, this is the first dark stellar remnant, a stellar ‘ghost’, discovered wandering around the galaxy unpaired with another star. "This is the first free-floating black hole or neutron star discovered with gravitational microlensing," Lu said. "With microlensing, we're able to probe these lonely, compact objects and weigh them. I think we have opened a new window onto these dark objects, which can't be seen any other way." With this new knowledge and method of finding invisible objects in our galaxy, astronomers are a step closer to understanding the evolution of stars, especially how they die, as well as our galaxy. This may reveal whether any unseen black holes are primordial black holes, believed to be produced in large quantities during the Big Bang. |
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The grand scale of the universe is truly impressive as the population of black holes in our galaxy was concluded to be roughly 200 million, showing us just how little we can see of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Who knows what other hidden marvels there could be in our universe? |
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For this week’s segment of fun corner, we decided to scour the internet in search of the scariest stories that will definitely get you sprinting to your room as you turn off the hallway light. Whether you’re a horror fanatic or not, sit down, grab a friend, make sure the lights are off and read closely because as we start, you’ll notice you’ll inch closer and closer to the screen till you reach the end of the story. |
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But our favourite thing was the ghost The first story delves into the chilling childhood of the narrator and their friendly ghost. “When my sister Betsy and I were kids, our family lived for a while in a charming old farmhouse. We loved exploring its dusty corners and climbing the apple tree in the backyard. But our favorite thing was the ghost. We called her Mother, because she seemed so kind and nurturing. Some mornings Betsy and I would wake up, and on each of our nightstands, we’d find a cup that hadn’t been there the night before. Mother had left them there, worried that we’d get thirsty during the night. She just wanted to take care of us. Among the homes’ original furnishings was an antique wooden chair which we kept against the back wall of the living room. Whenever we were preoccupied, watching TV or playing a game, Mother would inch that chair forward, across the room, toward us. Sometimes she’d manage to move it all the way to the centre of the room. We always felt sad putting it back against the wall. Mother just wanted to be near us. Years later, long after we’d moved out, I found an old newspaper article about the farmhouse’s original occupant, a widow. She’d murdered her two children by giving them each a cup of poisoned milk before bed. Then she hung herself. The article included a photo of the farmhouse’s living room, with a woman’s body hanging from a beam. Beneath her, knocked over, was that old wooden chair, placed exactly in the center of the room.” |
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The New Old House Still shook from the first story? Well keep reading! This next story will get your skin crawling. “ We bought an old house, my boyfriend and I. He's in charge of the "new" construction – converting the kitchen into the master bedroom for instance, while I'm on wallpaper removal duty. The previous owner papered EVERY wall and CEILING! Removing it is brutal, but oddly satisfying. The best feeling is getting a long peel, similar to your skin when you're peeling from a sunburn. I don't know about you but I kinda make a game of peeling, on the hunt for the longest piece before it rips.Under a corner section of paper in every room is a person’s name and a date. Curiosity got the best of me one night when I Googled one of the names and discovered the person was actually a missing person, the missing date matching the date under the wallpaper! The next day, I made a list of all the names and dates. Sure enough each name was for a missing person with dates to match. We notified the police who naturally sent out the crime scene team. I overheard one tech say "yup, it's human." Human? What's human? "Ma'am, where is the material you removed from the walls already? This isn't wallpaper you were removing” |
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You shouldn’t have killed me Yikes! That previous one had you staring at your wallpaper? Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s perfectly fine… Onto the next one! “ I rarely sleep alone. Not that I have a choice in the matter. The night always starts and for that matter always ends the same. Knock back a few sleeping pills, take off my socks and let myself get drowsy. Couldn't tell you why I even take them still, the pills that is. I'm a creature of habit you could say. Then again so is she. I guess you could also say we're inseparable, not that I planned it that way, that's just how it is now. Every night I wait and every night her face appears. No matter how badly I clog myself with prescription pills I can feel her arrival. Sometimes she's just a face, sometimes just a jaggedly rearranged torso. I couldn't tell you what's worse; her wide eyed contorted look of hatred or that delirious look of malignant joy spattered across its twisted face. It paces too. Or it glides like it's on a conveyor belt back and forth. Her eyes never leaving mine. Eyes wild with rage. The nights when the body of the thing lays itself beside me, to find us face to face with her lips agape, as if she was mimicking my horrified reaction is beyond description. My whole body becomes liquefied with fear and I bolt upright to escape but never make it past my bedroom door. My legs fail me and I'm suddenly a heap by my dresser drawer. That's when she kneels, purses her fat purple lips and utters the only words I've ever heard her say since that night. "You shouldn't have killed me." “ |
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UNSW Science Society is proud to announce our continued partnership with GradReady through 2022. GradReady provides GAMSAT Preparation courses for anyone looking to pursue Medicine after they graduate.
This process starts earlier than you think, so if you’re studying medical science or just have that passion, check out what they have to offer! |
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