-
Space and Astronomy
- Mars: Just the Beginning? – Lesson
- Mars: Just the Beginning? – Quiz
- Six Billion ‘Earth-like’ Planets in the Milky Way Galaxy? – Lesson
- Six Billion ‘Earth-like’ Planets in the Milky Way Galaxy? – Quiz
- Did NASA Scientists Find Another Universe? – Lesson
- Did NASA Scientists Find Another Universe? – Quiz
- A New Planet Was Discovered – And Old Theories Must Change – Lesson
- A New Planet Was Discovered – And Old Theories Must Change – Quiz
- SpaceX Completes First Civilian Trip to Space – Lesson
- SpaceX Completes First Civilian Trip to Space – Quiz
- First Movie Filmed in Space Successful – Lesson
- First Movie Filmed in Space Successful – Quiz
- James Webb Telescope Heads to Deep Space – Lesson
- James Webb Telescope Heads to Deep Space – Quiz
- A Lot Is Happening on and Around the Moon – Lesson
- A Lot Is Happening on and Around the Moon – Quiz
- First-Ever Picture Taken of the Milky Way’s Black Hole – Lesson
- First-Ever Picture Taken of the Milky Way’s Black Hole – Quiz
- First James Webb Telescope Images Revealed – Lesson
- First James Webb Telescope Images Revealed – Quiz
- Buzz Aldrin Sells Jacket from the Moon Landing – Lesson
- Buzz Aldrin Sells Jacket from the Moon Landing – Quiz
- Humans at Home on the Moon – Could It Really Happen in This Decade? – Lesson
- Humans at Home on the Moon – Could It Really Happen in This Decade? – Quiz
- Winter on Mars – Lesson
- Winter on Mars – Quiz
- Pictures of Mars Show Hidden Figures – Lesson
- Pictures of Mars Show Hidden Figures – Quiz
- Jupiter and Venus Appear to ‘Kiss’ – Lesson
- Jupiter and Venus Appear to ‘Kiss’ – Quiz
- The James Webb Telescope Finds Six Ancient Galaxies – Lesson
- The James Webb Telescope Finds Six Ancient Galaxies – Quiz
- Would an EpiPen Work in Space? – Lesson
- Would an EpiPen Work in Space? – Quiz
- Satellite Spots Earth’s Second Moon? – Lesson
- Satellite Spots Earth’s Second Moon? – Quiz
-
The Environment
- Red Tide: No Fun in the Florida Sun – Lesson
- Red Tide: No Fun in the Florida Sun – Quiz
- Leaded Gas Eradicated from the World, Says United Nations – Lesson
- Leaded Gas Eradicated from the World, Says United Nations – Quiz
- COVID Plastic Waste: A Big Problem for Oceans – Lesson
- COVID Plastic Waste: A Big Problem for Oceans – Quiz
-
Archaeology and Paleontology
- Ancient Human Species Discovered – Lesson
- Ancient Human Species Discovered – Quiz
- Biblical City of Sodom Found in the Jordan Valley? – Lesson
- Biblical City of Sodom Found in the Jordan Valley? – Quiz
- Antarctic Explorer’s Ship Found After a Century – Lesson
- Antarctic Explorer’s Ship Found After a Century – Quiz
- Newly Found Diary Shows How Ancient Egyptians Built the Pyramids – Lesson
- Newly Found Diary Shows How Ancient Egyptians Built the Pyramids – Quiz
-
Technology
- 3 Reasons to Protect Your Online Privacy – Lesson – VIDEO
- The Rise of Deepfakes – Lesson
- The Rise of Deepfakes – Quiz
- A New Mayflower Voyage, Captained by AI Technology – Lesson
- A New Mayflower Voyage, Captained by AI Technology – Quiz
- The Latest Supercomputer Is Breaking Speed Barriers – Lesson
- The Latest Supercomputer Is Breaking Speed Barriers – Quiz
- LNGenZ Survey: What is the Greatest American Invention? – Lesson
- LNGenZ Survey: What is the Greatest American Invention? – Quiz
- School and ChatGPT – Is it Cheating? – Lesson
- School and ChatGPT – Is it Cheating? – Quiz
- Artificial Intelligence Gets an Upgrade? – Lesson
- Artificial Intelligence Gets an Upgrade? – Quiz
- Scientists Plan to Bring the Dodo Bird Back from Extinction – Lesson
- Scientists Plan to Bring the Dodo Bird Back from Extinction – Quiz
-
Mind and Body
- Teen Scientist’s Invention Mixes Music with Mental Health – Lesson
- Teen Scientist’s Invention Mixes Music with Mental Health – Quiz
- Man Receives First Pig Heart Transplant – Lesson
- Man Receives First Pig Heart Transplant – Quiz
- Sniffing Out the Truth About Smells – Lesson
- Sniffing Out the Truth About Smells – Quiz
- The Power of Playtime – Lesson
- The Power of Playtime – Quiz
- Is Language Getting More Emotional? – Lesson
- Is Language Getting More Emotional? – Quiz
- Scientists Say Household Chores Help Kids’ Brains – Lesson
- Scientists Say Household Chores Help Kids’ Brains – Quiz
-
Flora and Fauna
- Dogs Can Tell When Humans Make a Mistake, Says Study – Lesson
- Dogs Can Tell When Humans Make a Mistake, Says Study – Quiz
- Jonathan: The World’s Oldest Living Tortoise – Lesson
- Jonathan: The World’s Oldest Living Tortoise – Quiz
- The Monarch Butterfly Makes a Surprise Return – Lesson
- The Monarch Butterfly Makes a Surprise Return – Quiz
- Bat Falcon Spotted in the United States for the First Time – Lesson
- Bat Falcon Spotted in United States for the First Time – Quiz
- Charles Darwin’s Notebooks Mysteriously Returned after 20 Years – Lesson
- Charles Darwin’s Notebooks Mysteriously Returned after 20 Years – Quiz
- Six Endangered Red Wolf Pups Born in Wildlife Refuge – Lesson
- Six Endangered Red Wolf Pups Born in Wildlife Refuge – Quiz
- Scientists Record Never-Before-Heard Whale Call – Lesson
- Scientists Record Never-Before Heard Whale Call – Quiz
- Underwater Meadow Gets Credit as the World’s Largest Living Plant – Lesson
- Underwater Meadow Gets Credit as the World’s Largest Living Plant – Quiz
- Scientists Trying to Bring the Tasmanian Tiger Back from Extinction – Lesson
- Scientists Trying to Bring the Tasmanian Tiger Back from Extinction – Quiz
- Jurassic Era Insect Found at Arizona Walmart – Lesson
- Jurassic Era Insect Found at Arizona Walmart – Quiz
- The Comeback of the Nearly Extinct Earless Lizard – Lesson
- The Comeback of the Nearly Extinct Earless Lizard – Quiz
-
Mathematics
- Metric vs. Imperial: A Weighty Debate in Britain – Lesson
- Metric vs. Imperial: A Weighty Debate in Britain – Quiz
- The Abacus is Helping Kids Master Math Skills – Lesson
- The Abacus is Helping Kids Master Math Skills – Quiz
- Retired Engineer Discovers ‘Einstein’ Shape – Lesson
- Retired Engineer Discovers ‘Einstein’ Shape – Quiz
The Latest Supercomputer Is Breaking Speed Barriers – Lesson

(Laura A. Oda/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images)
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination.” – Albert Einstein.
People may not realize that when they ask Siri for the weather forecast or to play their favorite song, artificial intelligence uses a supercomputer to gather the data. Today, there are over 500 supercomputers around the world, but some of them are more powerful than others. The newest one has been built in Tennessee, and it recently broke a record for speed.
So, what’s the difference between a supercomputer and the normal computers that most Americans regularly use? Actually, a supercomputer involves a lot of computers working together. These machines are connected in a special way so they can perform calculations faster than normal computers, and the calculations are more complex. Supercomputers are very large, often taking up a whole room. They are used for complex tasks like advanced math problems, simulations, predicting the weather, and other scientific research.
Frontier – The Fastest Supercomputer to Date
The latest and fastest supercomputer has made its debut and is the first to officially reach the exascale, meaning it can perform a quintillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) calculations per second. This monster machine is called Frontier.
Justin Whitt, a computational scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, describes the magnitude of the computer. He said, “Tens of thousands of processors are stored in cabinets about as big as refrigerators. They take up an area about the size of a basketball court. In total, Frontier weighs about as much as two Boeing 747 jets.”

(Photo by Marijan Murat/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The size is not the only shocking thing about it. The machine can solve some of the most intricate problems that aid in creating new drugs, treating diseases, designing more dependable materials for batteries and structures, and learning more about quantum physics. The possibilities seem endless, and it is an exhilarating time for computer scientists.
Though there are claims that the Chinese have already broken the exascale speed barrier, there are no official reports to back it up. Frontier took about three years to build, and it will be ready for use later this year.
A Walk Through History
The first supercomputer was designed and built by an electrical engineer, Seymour Cray, in the 1960s. Cray’s invention, the CDC 6600, could do about 3 million calculations per second. Over the next three decades, he developed more computers, each one a little faster than the one before it. Cray, however, was not the only person interested in the field.

1981 photo of Seymour Cray and his company’s first computer, the Cray1. (Photo by MARLIN LEVISON/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Multiprocessor systems, created by a student named W. Daniel Hillis, were a breakthrough in the world of computers. The Connection Machine, or CM-1, was Hillis’ creation. It held 65,536 single-bit processors. Since there were more processors, the computer could perform faster than other machines at the time.
Japanese systems took over the world of supercomputing in the 1990s until the American companies Intel and IBM joined the fun. IBM broke the mold in 2007 with the Roadrunner, the first supercomputer to do one quadrillion operations per second.
A look through history shows that, as technology advances, the time between breakthroughs gets shorter. Frontier is the fastest computer in the world today – but how long before another takes the title?