MyScience.ie

Anybots, a Silicon Valley based firm have developed a new telepresence robot, the QB. The robot is designed so that people can work remotely outside of their office and still interact with their colleagues. The QB is controlled via your PC (or eventually your Mac), and it features WiFi b/g connectivity, 5 megapixel camera, speaker, microphone, and a max speed of 3.5 MPH. The video below shows how the robot can work and interact in an average office.

In this video, the Science So What? team shows how it’s possible to make ice cream without using a freezer, but using liquid nitrogen. The guys explain how most of the air we breathe is nitrogen (78%), 20% is oxygen and the rest is a mixture of gases. When nitrogen is very, very cold, at a temperature of -196C, it becomes a liquid and is particularly useful for freezing food because it has no smell, colour or taste.

Microsoft recently unveiled “Milo”, a “virtual human” designed by veteran UK games designer Peter Molyneux for use with Microsfot’s new hands-free motion controller for the Xbox 360, Kinect at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Global conference in Oxford.

Milo reacts to a person’s emotions, body movements, and voice; the conference saw a Microsoft employee conducting demos that showed Milo exploring a garden, learning to skim stones, and confiding in the employee after being told off by his “parents”.

Peter Molyneux was also on hand to explain the ins and outs of the futuristic technology, remarking that he wanted to create a character “that seemed alive, that would look me in the eyes, and feel real”. More information on Milo can be found by cliking here.

Apple’s iPhone has become one of the most sought-after gadgets of recent years, with downloadable applications for the phone ranging from checking the weather forecast, to planning dinner parties, and from useful phrasebooks while on holiday to creating custom exercise and training work-outs.

One of the newer apps to appear, which comes courtesy of American company EMD Chemicals, is the “Periodic Table of the Elements” app. The application promises users to access a wealth of information in a “sleek, elegant, and user-friendly” user-face on their iPhone. Simple facts such as the electron configuration, relative mass, atomic density of the elements are all available, along with the history of the periodic table; interesting facts on who discovered what elements and how each element got its name are all included.

The online version of the Periodic Table app has already proved successful, with both users and e-learning experts praising its innovation and ease of use.

The app is free to download on iTunes

Or, for more information, see here

For any science teachers out there looking for ways to broaden the scope and variety of their classes for the new school year, the answer could be “Science in School”, a European journal dedicated to the promotion of inspiring science teaching.

The journal covers not only the traditional scientific pillars of physics, chemistry, and biology, but also maths, engineering, and earth sciences, highlighting the best in teaching and cutting-edge research.

Each edition includes teaching materials, announcements of recent discoveries, interviews with young scientists and inspiring teachers, details of educational projects, book reviews, and European events for teachers and schools.

Best of all, “Science in School” is available free of charge. An English-language print version is distributed across Europe, and online articles are published on the website.

Science teachers are welcome, and encouraged, to contribute to the journal, by:
- Submitting articles for publication
- Joining the referee panel and helping to decide which content to publish
- Reviewing books and other resources for teachers

To subscribe, learn more about the journal, or read some of the published articles, see the “Science in School” website.

“Science in School” is published and funded by Eiro forum, a partnership between Europe’s seven inter-governmental research organisations – the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), the Joint European Torus (JET), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the European Space Agency, the European Southern Observatory, the European Synchotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), and the Institut Laue-Langevin (www.eiroforum.org).

With the World Cup coming into the decisive stages, there is lots of debate about who the most influential players are. With everyone offering a different opinion, is there any one definitive way to settle the debate?

A team of researchers at Northwestern University believe they have come up with a solution. They claim the real objective of football is not so much scoring goals, as it is moving the ball away from your own goal, and towards the opposition’s goal – thereby maximising your team’s chances of scoring.

To this end, players that successfully maintain possession for their team maximise their team’s chances of success. To chart this, the researchers examined two important statistics: the amount of passes successfully completed to a teammate, and the amount of shots that result in goals. When these two metrics are taken together, they can show how the relative importance of each individual player’s contribution to the team’s scoring opportunities.

So who do they think the best player at the World Cup is? Click here to read more and find out.

While this year’s edition of the World Cup is taking place in South Africa, a slightly different version is being played out at the Suntect Convention Centre in Singapore. The 2010 RoboCup aims to recreate football matches using small, independent robots. The ultimate aim of the tournament is to build towards the construction of human-sized, autonomous robots that can, hopefully by the year 2050, take on a team of the world’s best players – and win.

The robots are controlled from a computer watching from a camera above the pitch, which is charged with positioning one of the five robots on the team on the ball at all times. This year’s tournament sees a new development in the technology – a new physics-based algorithm programmed into the robots gives them a sense of anticipation of where the action on the field is likely to unfold net.

For example, while dribbling the robots now have a sense of if and when they might lose control of the ball and can adjust, giving them an edge over previous robots that can only react after they lose control. This new algorithm, mimicking a human player’s real intuition, gives the robots one more valuable skill-set that could eventually lead to true artificial intelligence, and maybe even a future World-Cup winning team comprised of robots!

Read more about the story here

Also, here’s a Youtube video of the robots in action:

With the World Cup reaching the latter stages in South Africa, here’s a football-themed post.

One of the most famous goals of the past decade or so, was the so-called “impossible goal”, scored by the Brazilian left-back, Roberto Carlos, while playing for Real Madrid

In this video, the physics behind the Brazilian full-back’s stunning strike is examined in detail.

With school finished for the summer, and the weather picking up, it’s officially summer-camp season. The Irish Times has come up with a list of camps happening around the country that will not only keep kids occupied and out of the house, but also hopefully channel their natural curiosity and energy into the world of science.

Here’s a short run-down of what’s on offer:

1. Centre for Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology (CALMAST), Waterford Institute of Technology: a one-week science camp for kids between the ages of 10 and 14, in early July.

Here, focus will be placed on learning through fun, in a number of areas, including biology, engineering, computing –and even CSI-style forensics examinations.

Further information can be found here

2. Space Camp, Blackrock Observatory, Cork: this series of week-long camps will seek to spark children’s interest in all things space-related. Each day will have a different space theme, and there’s also the chance for each child to build their very own rocket at the end of the week!

The camp is aimed at 8 to 12 year olds, and no particular level of scientific knowledge is needed. For more, see here or call 021 4357 917.

3. Clarity (Irish centre for web sensor technologies), Dublin City University: this camp incorporates science into outdoor activities, creating sophisticated games that incorporate physical exercise, along with spatially aware audio processing and intelligent object tracking.

Information on the programmes for the week-long sports camps can be found on the website and by calling 01 7005 797.

5. Anyone 4 Science: for a range of science camps throughout Munster and Leinster that are aimed at children between the ages of 5 and 12, go to the website, or call 0404 40563

6. Science Mania, Leitrim/Roscommon/Sligo: again, aimed at the 5-12 year old age-range, these camps introduce kids to the world of biology and chemistry in a fun and engaging way. For more see here, or call 086 205 2403

7. Whizzkids multi-media summer camp: offering activities involving web design, movie-making, and sports activities to 8-17 year olds at university locations in Galway, Dublin, Cork, and Limerick. Contact Whizzkids here or call 061 339178.

Also, the original article this information appeared in is available on the Irish Times website.

This is an interesting story for any budding young astronauts out there. A team of researchers, led by the European Space Agency, have begun a marathon simulation of a spaceflight to the Red Planet, which will see them take part in a series of experiments isolating them from the outside world for 520 days.

The experiment will take place in a simulation module in Russia, at the Moscow Institute for Biomedical Problems, and will see the would-be astronauts, made up of volunteers from Russia, France, Belgium, Italy, and China, placed in isolation in the module for over a year.

One of the main aims of the project, which will consist of the simulation of the journey out to Mars, the “landing” on Mars, and the return journey, will be to determine how the minds and bodies of the researchers hold up during the experiment. The psychological impact, along with the physical effects of being in a cramped space for over a year, will be important things to consider when planning a trip to somewhere like Mars.

Each researcher will have a single bedroom, the size of which will be only three square metres, each with a bed, table, and chair. Other areas of the simulation module include a sports area, provisions store, and a room for medical emergencies.

To make things as real as possible, the experiment was designed right down to the very last detail. For one of the researchers, Frenchman Romain Charles, the level of detail was surprising. Commenting on the number of space-suits included on the “flight”, Charles joked: “when our clothes get dirty, we don’t wash them, we throw them out – out to outer space!”

For more, see the Mars 500 website