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The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

Research into space tourism would benefit the masses, despite the immense cost.

Few will participate in space tourism, but many will benefit

by Derek Yen, Aquila Columnist April 23, 2016

Commercial space travel is a thrilling prospect for many. Humans have admired the heavens as long as Polaris has burned in the sky – but only a handful of astronauts have ever left the earth. Several...

Acetone peroxide is actually created as a mixture of monomer, dimer, trimer, and tetramer forms. TATP, the trimer form of acetone peroxide, can form an explosive less detectable than and almost as dangerous as TNT, a powerful explosive used in artillery, construction and fracking.

Brussels attacks highlight necessity for quotas on chemicals

by Derek Yen, Reporter and Aquila Columnist March 27, 2016

  In the deadly attacks in Brussels this week, the terrorists reportedly used the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP). Anyone with basic chemistry knowledge and access to ingredients available...

Philosophy has long been a pillar of education and culture. But recently politicians have increasingly called for STEM to be prioritized over the humanities. Although frequently treated as opposite fields, STEM and the humanities overlap in surprising ways, making it essential to sustain a balance between the two.

The politicized prioritization of STEM over the humanities is detrimental

by Derek Yen, Reporter and Aquila Columnist March 12, 2016

Presidential candidate Marco Rubio boldly declared in November that “we need more welders and less philosophers. If we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and be able...

Pro-Con: Analyzing the Apple password bypass debate

Pro-Con: Analyzing the Apple password bypass debate

by Alex Wang and Derek Yen February 28, 2016

After the San Bernardino shooting in December of last year, the government retrieved one of the shooters’ phones, an Apple iPhone 5C, and demanded that Apple create an encryption key to unlock the phone....

Spread by mosquitoes, the  Zika virus can cause severe fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis. With the virus outbreak reaching epidemic levels in February, understanding Oxitec, a gene-based pesticide which has the potential to eradicate mosquitoes completely, is more important than ever.

Eradicating mosquitoes could come back to bite us

by Derek Yen, Aquila Columnist February 18, 2016

The Zika virus made headlines last week for its oft-occurring but unproven link with microcephaly in infants. Transmitted by mosquitoes, Zika threatens tropical and subtropical countries as well as those...

Not worth its salt: discussing the viability of desalination as a solution to California’s drought

Not worth its salt: discussing the viability of desalination as a solution to California’s drought

by Derek Yen, Aquila Columnist January 15, 2016

  As the rainy season returns to California, the drought that was once at the forefront of media coverage and statewide discussion no longer concerns the public as greatly. Unfortunately,...

The freemium model allows players to obtain advantages by using real money to buy forms of internal currency to get more moves in Candy Crush, fill the stamina bar in Madden Mobile and speed up build times in Clash of Clans, to name a few examples.

Freemium gaming diminishes the video game market

by Derek Yen, Reporter December 2, 2015

The advent of the internet has inexorably changed the nature of digital purchases – perhaps for the worse when considering the video game market. Increasingly publishers have adopted a business model...

Though social media platforms first arose as modes of communication between social groups, groups now use social media to spread news, advertise, and gather support for events. This versatility highlights social media's evolution into a key communication tool in the past few years.

Social media’s evolution into the most versatile communication tool

by Derek Yen, Reporter December 1, 2015

Social media has changed global networking by allowing users from across the world to communicate with each other quickly and reliably. While services such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are typically...

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