Wondering about the latest innovations in science, technology, engineering and math? This is the place for you.
Check back often for the coolest videos and other interesting links!
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posted Feb 27, 2013, 12:41 PM by Heather Hall Ramsey
What do you think about this video? Is there a problem in your neighborhood you could find a solution for? |
posted Sep 15, 2012, 8:31 AM by Heather Hall Ramsey
Yes, the tablets
of today are cool, handy devices, but if Samsung makes good on the
promises from its latest video, showing a conceptual tablet with a
flexible AMOLED screen, then the tablets of the future will make the
current ones look ancient in comparison.
In the video, a see-through device made entirely of a flexible,
AMOLED touch screen is used to take photos, watch videos, read news,
play 3D games and translate speech from one language to another – and it
all looks amazing.
Of course, a device such as this one is years — decades, perhaps —
from mass production. One issue that immediately springs to mind is the
problem of equipping such a device with a battery and the needed
circuitry (all of which would also need to be flexible), and that’s just
the tip of the iceberg.
However, the flexible AMOLED screen technology has been in
development for years, and it’s about time we start seeing some
real-world results — perhaps next year, when Samsung and Nokia should
introduce the first flexible smartphones to the market. We’re sure they won’t look as spectacular as the device in this video, but one can dream, no? |
posted Aug 19, 2012, 7:38 AM by Heather Hall Ramsey
Hit a skatepark and you’ll find skaters thinking about all kinds of things, not the least of which is how the hell that kid nailed a 1080.
The one thing they probably aren’t thinking about, however, is physics.
Ironic, given the laws of physics dictate everything they do.
But physics is the only thing two University of California San Diego
professors had on their minds when they set out to apply scientific
method to skating and get students to understand the science of the
sport. It required creating a mechanism by which inputs could be
altered, outcomes studied and the entire process repeated.
A mechanism like, say, a robot... keep reading and see pictures on Wired.com.
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posted Jun 22, 2012, 12:19 PM by Heather Hall Ramsey
posted Apr 9, 2012, 3:40 PM by Heather Hall Ramsey
Art + Technology = Awesome! How have you integrated STEM with art? Send us a picture or video showing how you've combined art with STEM!
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posted Jan 14, 2012, 10:45 AM by Heather Hall Ramsey
Steve Hartman reports on
17-year-old Angela Zhang, who by her junior year in high school had
created a method to shrink cancerous tumors in mice. |
posted Dec 6, 2011, 11:33 AM by Heather Hall Ramsey
EXOpc has posted a video of its EXOdesk — an interactive desk
environment that lets you do all sorts of tasks on a virtual space on
your desk — in action and it looks amazing.
The actual device
is a tabletop computer, somewhat similar to Microsoft Surface, offering
40 inches of high definition space, where you can manipulate virtual
objects by touching them and dragging them around.
The video offers a taste of what you can do with EXOdesk: add a
virtual keyboard, an RSS feed stream and apps to your tabletop surface. A
piano simulation app is shown, and though we don’t see much of its
functionality, it looks stunning when expanded to the entire surface of
EXOdesk.
Although the release date is vaguely set for 2012, we already know
EXOdesk will cost $1,299. If that sounds like a lot, compare it to the
recently announced price of Microsoft Surface 2.0, which is $8,900, and it will suddenly seem like a bargain. |
posted Dec 5, 2011, 11:04 AM by Heather Hall Ramsey
Could you make Lego artwork? Give it a try and bring it in to share with your class! |
posted Nov 28, 2011, 12:12 PM by Heather Hall Ramsey
File this in the "things machines do better than humans" category.
A robotic machine, controlled by an Android smartphone, claims it can
solve a Rubik's cube faster than any human. Check out the video above
for a proof of concept. It's pretty amazing to see. More on how the contraption works from a post on YouTube:
The app uses the phone's camera to capture images of each
face of the Rubik's Cube which it processes to determine the scrambled
colours. The solution is found using an advanced two-phase algorithm,
originally developed for Speedcuber, enhanced to be multi-threaded to
make effective use of the smartphone's dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 1.2GHz
processor. The software finds an efficient solution to the puzzle which
is optimised specifically for the capabilities of the four-grip
mechanism. The app communicates via Bluetooth with software running on
the ARM microprocessors in the LEGO NXT Intelligent Bricks which
controls the motors driving the robot. During the physical solve, the
app uses OpenGL ES on the phone's ARM Mali-400 MP GPU to display a
graphical version of the cube being solved in real time.
For comparison, here's a video of a super-fast human, who solves the
puzzle in 5.66 seconds, compared to the "Cubestormer II's" 5.35 seconds: Have you ever been able to solve a Rubik's Cube? Which do you think is more impressive? Leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts. |
posted Nov 21, 2011, 9:30 AM by Heather Ramsey
Stove Man
is a web series about two guys who trip around Africa to eliminate
unsafe cooking and spread the use of the Rocket Stove. The duo, seen in
the above video, hope they can get people to adopt their low-cost stove
because it’s safer and more sanitary than cooking over an open fire.
Their mission, through The Paradigm Project, is to spread 5 million stoves and change the lives of 25 million people by 2020. |
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