From my youth, I was a bookworm - I loved reading. My parents said that I tended to learn about the world through books. Up to my high school days, I thought everything I could ever learn was written somewhere in a book in the library. I was not the type for hands-on projects or doing experiments. In particular, I disliked the grunt work of measuring something over and over, just to get a ‘good’ result that agreed with already established laws and theories. Or worse, the experiment would infuriatingly yield the ‘wrong’ result, in which case I had to do the whole thing again. Perhaps what chang

Jeju Island is often called “the museum of volcanic creations” as it was created by immense volcanic activities. The Postech Times visited Jeju Island to cover its geological features.Formation of Udo Island and its CoastsOn the eastern sea of Jeju, there is Udo Island, which was formed 70,000 years ago by volcanic activity. Udo Island has a steep terrain on the southern side of the island and a gradual terrain on the northern side due to the volcanic eruption pattern. In the early stages of its formation, seawater and magma met and exploded violently, forming a relatively high and sloping hyd

Due to social distancing, many stores and restaurants in and around universities have seen losses. A survey of commercial stores around the campus of 15 universities in Seoul, done by Shinhan Card and published by the JoongAng Ilbo, showed that card usage decreased by 23.7% in 2020 compared to 2019. Usage by customers in their 20s decreased, while the usage by customers in their 30s and 40s increased slightly. In particular, restaurants suffered the heaviest losses around universities.The Postech Times interviewed the owner of Hong Woon, a Chinese takeaway restaurant near campus in Hyoja-dong,

On Nov. 23, the “Presentation on Science and Technology Universities and other Domestic Universities Student Exchange Programs” was held by the Department of Educational Affairs and Records. The presentation featured four topics: student exchanges among other science and technology universities, student exchanges to other domestic universities, student exchange programs during winter and summer, and online course credits during military service.The first topic was about student exchanges between other domestic science and technology universities: KAIST, DGIST, GIST, and UNIST. The second topic

In May, an employee at Naver committed suicide due to workplace abuse, reigniting concerns about workplace bullying and prompting the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) to launch an investigation of the company. In June, employees at Krafton, a game development company, petitioned the MOEL about workplace abuses such as being forced to work overtime and being threatened verbally.Workplace bullying is a serious and perpetual problem. Workplace Abuse 119 (Jikjang Gapjil 119), a South Korean NGO, conducted a survey about workplace bullying on 1,000 office workers aged 19~55 on 22~29 Dec. 202

In compliance with the “living with COVID-19” strategy by the government, partial face-to-face classes recommenced at POSTECH on Nov. 8, the 10th week of the semester.The “living with COVID-19” will ease social distancing restrictions and return life back to normal in progressive steps. The first phase of the “living with COVID-19” strategy started from Nov. 1 and will last for four weeks, and up to 10 people can gather in private meetings. The plan is to lift all restrictions by Feb. 20, 2022. Following the strategy, most universities, including POSTECH, will implement a mix of online and fac

The esophagus is an organ through which water and food flow quickly. Therefore, when disease develops in the esophagus, it is difficult to treat with drugs directly.The research team of Professor Hyung Joon Cha of the Department of Chemical Engineering (CE) and Choi Hyun-sun (CE M.S. /Ph.D. Candidate, advisor Prof. Hyung Joon Cha) and the research team led by Prof. Yun Kee Jo of the Department of Biomedical Convergence Science & Technology at Kyungpook National University jointly developed a magnetically guidable microparticle using a bioengineered mussel adhesive protein (MAP). The microparti

The POSTECH Graduate Students Rest and Recharge policy, enacted on Sept. 6, recommends at least 10 vacation days per year to all graduate students of POSTECH. The policy is the first among South Korean universities to systematically guarantee the right to rest for all graduate students. The vacation days can be freely used as long as disruption of course or experiment schedules is minimized.Some foreign universities already have vacation policies for graduate students. For example, Caltech guarantees 21 vacation days (including institute holidays). Yet currently, graduate students are not lega

The role of the reporter and reader are different, yet they mirror each other. Reporters like myself ask themselves the following three questions to write a good article, but readers may also ask themselves these questions to become better readers.The first question is: Who is the target audience, and why is this news important to them? For example, my search for a photo for this year’s G7 Summit article highlights the importance of the target audience. Many photos from Anglophone sources focused on the G7 leaders, without other invited leaders. By contrast, many Korean sources showed Moon Jae

What we have seen over the past few years is the domination of short-form content, mostly in the form of videos that vary in length between 15 seconds and 10 minutes. One of the main reasons it became popular is through the widespread use of smartphones. While content used to be available only at certain times through traditional media, it can now be consumed anywhere, and at any time. As part of “snack culture”, a broad range of short, light online content is being produced to fill up spare time, from webtoons (online comics) to mobile games. Furthermore, tired of the flood of information inu

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) is a biopic of the 1952 journey across South America by asthematic 23-year-old medical student, Ernesto Guevara (nickname “Fuser,” better known as Che Guevara), and his biochemist friend Alberto Granado. The film received over 30 nominations and awards, including the François Chalais Award at the Cannes Film Festival.SummaryThe two friends leave Buenos Aires, the bustling capital of Argentina, on their famous motorcycle La Poderosa, “The Mighty One”. Contrary to its name, the old comical motorcycle that leaks gas cannot even outrun the horse-riding gauchos (Argent

Since 2018, undergraduate students at POSTECH freely choose their major in their third semester of university. Until then, they are assigned to the Mueunjae Department, which means “there are no boundaries in academics.” This allows students to take time studying a wide range of subjects before deciding their major.The Mueunjae Department provides opportunities for Mueunjae students to explore among the school’s majors. They include the following: 1) the Exploring Majors course (MSUS101), 2) the Introduction to Major course for each major, 3) assignment of second academic advisor according to

The 47th G7 summit was held between June 11 and 13 at Cornwall of the U.K.. The G7 is an organization of seven of the world’s most advanced economies (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.) and the E.U. that usually meet annually. Though the G7 cannot pass laws, it can make promises and decisions that have effects worldwide. South Korea was invited along with India, Australia, and South Africa, showing our nation’s heightened global status.The main topics of discussion were COVID-19 vaccines, climate change, responses to China’s rise, and tax havens among many others. T

Currently, there are 86 custodians around POSTECH who work tirelessly so that we may live, study and work in a clean and pleasant environment. To thank them, The Postech Times interviewed Kim Soon-ae, a custodian at POSTECH for nine years.Please introduce your work.I come to school at 7:15 A.M. and start cleaning at 7:30 A.M. I clean the first and second floors of the LG Cooperative Electronics Engineering Building.Is garbage disposal and recycling at school satisfactory?Though waste disposal is much better than it used to be, it is still not being done properly. In particular, food waste is a

Since the start of the 2021 Spring Semester, classes have been held completely online to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, the educational needs of students were not being met through online learning. Since the COVID-19 crisis has been prolonged, the need for Face-to-Face classes, especially for courses that involve laboratory sessions, demonstrations, and physical activities was considered. Furthermore, freshmen were unable to come to campus to meet with professors and upperclassmen. Accordingly, the Academic Affairs team announced on April 2 a partial conversion to Face-to-Face classe

The research team of Professor Junsuk Rho (ME and CE) and Dr. Gwanho Yoon (currently Assistant Professor in Manufacturing Systems and Design Engineering at Seoul National University of Science and Technology) developed and freely distributed the software, “MAXIM”. MAXIM is an open-source electromagnetic wave simulation software optimized for designing metamaterials with intuitive graphical user interfaces. The research along with the software package was published online in Computer Physics Communications, a global journal in computational physics.Metamaterials are new materials made of artifi

Protests for democracy in Burma (more formally known as Myanmar) have erupted after the military staged a coup against democratically held elections. The Southeast Asian country is under turmoil as the military continues to kill hundreds of civilian protesters, jailing and injuring thousands more.The military (known as the Tatmadaw) dominates political and economic power in Myanmar. The country was under direct military rule from 1962 to 2011. Since then, the military implemented parliamentary elections and other political and economic reforms in 2011. However, the military still held a signif

Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, was found guilty of providing 8.6 billion KRW in company money to Park Geun-hye, former president of Korea, and her confidante Choi Seo-won (formerly known as Choi Soon-sil) in exchange for his smooth succession as the head of Samsung. In 2017, Lee was initially sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. However, after serving 353 days in prison, his sentence was reduced to two and a half years with four years of probation at an appeals court in February 2018. In August 2019, the Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Seoul High Court for re

On Oct. 13, 2020, an adopted 16-month old baby died of severe abdominal injuries, internal bleeding, and prolonged abuse. Though the abuse was reported three times, the police failed to help the baby each time. The cruel and brutal nature of the abuse, along with the fact that she could have been saved if the police had taken action, attracted public grief and outrage.Child abuse is a serious problem in Korea. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of child abuse reports has risen dramatically by 115% over the last five years from 19,214 in 2015 to 41,389 reports in 2019.

In many industries, including the automobile industry, catalysts are crucial for increasing product yield and protecting the environment. In particular, catalysts in car emission control systems are repeatedly exposed to temperature extremes. If the catalyst is unstable under such temperature changes, the catalyst is impractical for use in industrial processes. Therefore, industrial demands for catalysts that are both highly active and stable in temperature changes are high. Recently, a research team of Professor Han Jeong Woo of the Department of Chemical Engineering (CE), Kim Hyung Jun (CE P