Recent Articles

Did you know that only one out of 10,000 clovers has four leaves? This might make your St. Patrick’s Day hunt a bit harder than you think. Let us help you find your “lucky” four-leafed clover … with science!

First, you need to find the perfect place. You can find approximately 200 clovers in a plot of clover-growing grass or field that spreads about one-square foot. This means that a space of about 12-square feet should contain a four-leaf clover.

By Jackie Valentine

Just a few weeks ago, the Fleet hosted our second Paper Airplane Day in the theater lobby. Participants mixed aerodynamics with origami techniques to construct a properly balanced plane. The planes had to be the right size and shape to generate enough lift to fly. No cuts or tape were allowed. Drawing on the templates of the current paper airplane distance world record holder, we explored sophisticated “nose locking” folds that helped keep the nose end components of the plane together during flight.

The Fleet has members throughout the United States. But Dr. Stephen Skaper and his wife, Dr. Laura Facci, are our only international members. While living in San Diego, Stephen joined the Fleet the year we opened, and over the past 45 years, he and Laura have supported us while they lived here, then in England and now in Italy, where they are semi-retired.

By Dr. Lisa Will, Resident Astronomer at the Fleet Science Center.