Cryptography – The science of making and breaking code
Some information one would rather not share with other people: bank account access, photos or diary entries. To keep your information safe, encoding methods are used. The field of research to create and solve these encodings is called cryptography. What makes a good encryption code and how does it work anyway? Find out this week in Pop-Up Science!
Activities for this week
- Interview with computer scientist Krzysztof Pietrzak
- Experiment “Biological secret code“
- Game “Can you break the code?“
- Worksheet “Writing like a secret agent“
Computer scientist Krzysztof Pietrzak
Today, you had the opportunity to ask Krzysztof Pietrzak all you ever wanted to know about cryptography. You have sent us many questions, and here are now all the answers from computer expert Krzysztof. Krzysztof is researcher at IST Austria, where he studies theoretical and practical aspects of cryptography.
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Biological secret code
We have told you of complicated codes and scripts to protect your messages. But is there no simpler way? Of course! How about making your messages invisible? When others don’t know that there is a secret message at all, they won’t even think of trying to read it. Here, we will show you how to make your magic ink.
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Can you break the code?
As far back as in ancient Rome, codes were used to keep important messages secret. Today, our junior researchers Eva and Elisabeth will show you three different codes with which you can encrypt your messages. And as you will see, when we challenge them for sweets, no code can stop them…
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Writing like a secret agent
Do you have a secret that you don’t want everyone to know? Then you probably know how difficult it is to keep that information to yourself. Today, we will show you how to create secret messages and why encryption is so important. Welcome to the Pop-Up Science cryptography week!
