Gadget Girl

19/02/2026

Watch Octonauts on ABC (and iView) in Australia. It should be available on Netflix and YouTube in other countries. Fantastic show! Our four year old grandchildren have learned so much about marine creatures watching this show.
ABC iView - “The Octonauts follows a team of adventure heroes who dive into action whenever there is trouble under the sea. In a fleet of aquatic vehicles they rescue amazing sea creatures, explore incredible new underwater worlds and often save the day before returning safely to their home base, the Octopod.”

An intrepid band of explorers roam the oceans in search of adventure and fun. Led by a valiant polar bear and a daredevil kitten, these talented critters are always ready to embark on an exciting new mission.

12/01/2026

Wherever you are in the world, think about donating blood today. It’s so easy to do.
Here’s a screenshot of a funny ad here in Australia.

09/12/2025

Great idea, cutting down on the waste!

Want to shrink your festive footprint? These practical, expert-backed tips can help make silly season more sustainable

08/12/2025

Register for free with EventBrite! Follow the links below. Australians/Kiwis use the USA link for the showing at 02:00H GMT. 😉

08/12/2025

Inspiring!

MIT almost missed her. And she became one of the most brilliant young physicists of her generation.

At 14, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski built a working airplane in her garage by herself. She taught herself to fly it. She documented every step. She was one of only 23 young women among 300 Physics Team semifinalists. A first-generation Cuban-American from Chicago Public Schools. Twice as good just to be seen.

MIT waitlisted her anyway. It felt like a door closing on everything she had worked for.

Then two MIT professors watched her airplane video. Their reaction was simple. This girl is extraordinary. They fought for her. Admissions reconsidered. Sabrina got in.

And then she proved exactly why that decision mattered.

She became the first woman to win MIT’s Orloff Scholarship. She graduated in three years with a perfect 5.0 GPA. Her research paper was accepted within 24 hours. NASA wanted her. Blue Origin wanted her. She turned them down because she wanted to understand the universe, not build wealth for billionaires.

She carried that determination to Harvard for her PhD, studying the deepest questions in physics. Black holes. Quantum gravity. Celestial holography. Work so advanced that Stephen Hawking cited her research in one of his final papers.

But her journey was never only about talent. It was about pushing through a world where women, Latinas, first-generation students, and kids from public schools rarely see themselves represented. She felt the pressure. She refused distractions. She focused on the work. She told the media she did not deserve the hype because she had so much more to learn.

After her doctorate, she moved on to Princeton, then the Perimeter Institute, where she now leads an initiative tackling one of physics’ biggest unanswered questions. She is not just contributing to the field. She is redefining who belongs in it.

MIT waitlisted her because they could not imagine what potential looked like outside their usual mold. She showed them what they almost missed. She built an airplane before she could drive. She earned perfect GPAs at the world’s hardest institutions. She was cited by Hawking. She turned down billionaires. She now works to understand the structure of the universe while opening doors for the next generation.

Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski proved something important. Brilliance does not wait for permission. And sometimes the people institutions overlook become the ones who change everything.

Fun Fact
Sabrina’s personal website, PhysicsGirl, includes almost nothing about her life outside science. She has always believed the work should speak for itself.

What do you think her story says about who gets recognized and who gets underestimated?



Sources
Chicago Tribune
Harvard Gazette
Scientific American

08/12/2025

Have you done an Act of Kindness yet today? Make an impact small or large in your sphere today. 🥰

08/12/2025

A different way to look at constellations in the Night Sky from our First Nations People’s perspective.

All 88 internationally recognised constellations have European origins. But First Nations astronomy tells older, beautiful stories that contain invaluable lessons and knowledge.

Full story: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-02/the-art-of-space-indigenous-constellations/106046350?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

Choose your news on the ABC NEWS app and stay in the know: https://ab.co/abcnewsapp

23/11/2025

This is amazing! I look forward to hearing/seeing how these funghi are put to use.

In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, scientists discovered something extraordinary — a fungus that eats plastic.

🧪 Pestalotiopsis microspora is not your typical fungus. It can survive entirely on polyurethane, one of the most common (and most persistent) types of plastic — and it does so even in oxygen-free environments, like buried landfills.

This remarkable ability makes it a natural recycler, capable of doing what human-made systems still struggle with: breaking down plastic waste efficiently and sustainably.

🌿 Imagine a world where discarded plastic bottles don’t last centuries — but are decomposed in weeks, thanks to a microscopic ally hidden in the forest floor.

Researchers now hope to harness this species for bioremediation — cleaning up polluted soils, plastic-infested coastlines, and even our oceans.

♻️ Nature already holds the solutions. We just have to learn from it.

17/11/2025

This sounds very promising!

Is it possible to build a massive, silent device that filters plastic from our oceans? Surprisingly, the answer is yes—and it’s already happening. Dutch engineers have pioneered one of the world’s most ambitious ocean-cleaning technologies, often nicknamed the “ocean vacuum.” Unlike its name suggests, it doesn’t suck up debris but passively gathers it, harnessing the power of natural ocean currents.

The Ocean Cleanup, founded by Boyan Slat, has led this mission with its most advanced design yet: System 03. Stretching over 2 kilometers wide, it glides across the surface in a giant U-shape, guiding plastic waste into a collection zone while allowing marine life to swim safely underneath.

This innovation has already proven itself. Earlier prototypes removed tens of thousands of kilograms of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and System 03’s scale promises even greater efficiency. The long-term goal? Deploy a fleet of these systems to remove up to 90% of floating plastic from the ocean.

It’s a bold, visionary step toward healing our seas. By blending engineering with sustainability, projects like this remind us that tackling global challenges is possible with determination, creativity, and science-driven solutions.