Cosmic Puzzles: From Boards to Beyond

Imagine an infinite chessboard with one piece on every square. Suppose somebody brings along a second empty chessboard and transfers some of the pieces from the first chessboard onto the second without distorting the distance between any two transferred pieces by more than a factor L. This means that if two pieces are transferred and their original distance on the first chessboard is d, then in their new positions on the second chessboard they have distance between d/L and Ld. Is it possible to transfer all remaining pieces in such a way that we keep a finite upper bound on the distortion of any two pieces?

Ever wondered how astronomers find planets orbiting stars other than our Sun? At this Pint of Science, we will reveal the clever techniques that we use to discover exoplanets, from tracking tiny "shadows" of objects passing in front of stars, to detecting the small "wobbles" that planets imprint on their host Suns. Join us to explore how these methods help us identify new worlds and even learn what they may look like. All in the effort of answering the big question: will we ever find another habitable Earth?

Earth’s satellite population has skyrocketed since 2021. We have two ways to get rid of dead satellites: Bring them down through the atmosphere, or put them into a "graveyard orbit". Both are a tremendous waste of years of complex engineering effort and critical materials. Satellites are now re-entering the atmosphere at a rate of more than three per day. Without a strategy for reusing or recycling satellites, will we eventually trigger a climate catastrophe? Will a cascade of colliding satellites cause a communications blackout? How big a problem is space junk, and what can we do about it?