Fun Science

Myopia and Sunlight Myopia has become an epidemic gripping almost all people. And while we healers offer some kind of exercise or palming, let's look into the real mechanisms of its occurrence, they are scientifically excellent: the sun and dopamine. So, the retina has its dopamine neurons and the higher the level of dopamine, the lower the risk of myopia. In experiments, 40 minutes of out-of-school activity led to a 25% reduction in myopia within three years. If you're interested in specific studies, here's the link.

​​Device to Control iPad With One’s Gaze The Swedish company Tobii Dynavox has created TD Pilot — a case for iPad, which allows you to use all the functions of the gadget, controlling it with your eyes only. A person can communicate, work, use applications, and do all this relatively quickly. The back of the device also equipped with a screen for displaying messages, allowing you to communicate not only online but also with other people in the room. The TD Pilot has reinforced speakers and cameras, a wheelchair mount, and in addition comes a text-to-speech app. ✔️ It opens up great prospects for people with disabilities.

The Sixth Finger You've probably already seen the "Sixth Finger" that you can 3D-print and hang on your hand? There' s an interesting study on this: Scientists trained a group of people to use this device (while allowing them to take it home from the lab) and came to these conclusions: - After a while, the brain perceives the extra finger as a full-fledged part of the body - Participants learned to do many tasks with one hand that required two hands - This is a promising research area as such "augmentations" will give surgeons or other workers the ability of doing more work with one hand!

Self-Balancing Cube and Centrifugal Force Centrifugal force is the force with which a moving material point acts on a body (bond), constraining the freedom of movement of the point and forcing it to move in a curvilinear fashion.

Device to Monitor Lung Health The device is called Sylvee and is designed to monitor lung health for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and after a severe form of coronavirus. Mechanism: The device is attached to the lower chest and periodically measures lung volume, breathing and pulse rate, lung sounds, and body temperature, and then sends these data to the appropriate app. All of this happens continuously for two weeks. 🧬 A large-scale scientific study is now being conducted on 500 volunteers with lung pathology. The results to be available by the end of 2022.

People: "All these robots are harmless, the battery runs down in five minutes, why be afraid of them?" Scientists: "The bipedal robot ran five kilometers for the first time – it took 53 minutes and one battery charge to do it" 🤖😳 The Cassie robot was created by students at Oregon State University with one million dollars in grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2017. The bipedal robot is controlled by a neural network using deep machine learning with reinforcement.

DNA in the Air Scientists have come up with a way of detecting the tiniest traces of DNA in the air. The discovery, for example, enables studying wild animals, which normally live in hard-to-reach places, deserts, rainforests, caves, etc. Otherwise, it could transform forensic investigations at crime scenes, or on-site processes (rubble, etc.). This is no longer just a theory⚡ The DNA collection technique was tested in a zoo by installing sensitive filters attached to vacuum pumps at 20 points throughout the facility. The equipment appeared so sensitive that it picked up DNA from pets living in the zoo's neighborhood and animals that were food for predators. Though the technique is in the early stages of study, it shows impressive results. No less epic results with human DNA. Exciting prospects are coming up in forensics...

Archimedes' law is one of the laws of statics of liquids (hydrostatics) and gases (aerostatics): the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces

Such a beauty appears if you water the screw with ferromagnetic liquid (it is strongly polarizing in the presence of a magnetic field liquid, which contains ferromagnetic nanoparticles).

Robot-drone hybrid can walk, fly, and skateboard Most robots are limited to one type of movement as they can either fly, swim, walk, or ride on the ground. Still these bots may have a better chance of overcoming obstacles if they combine several modes of movement. Standing about 0.8 m tall, LEO moves on three-jointed legs and balances thanks to four propellers on its shoulders, which not only help to correct the position of the body, but also allow it to take off to overcome various obstacles.

Gravity Clock ⏰ The mechanism of such a clock runs by slowly rolling the clock down a special base. It is this movement that provides the energy for the movement of the hour and minute hands.

Venter's Move — “Game of God" In 2010, Venter's team obtained a synthetic copy of the M. mycoides genome. Scientists transferred it to a cell from which their own DNA had been removed beforehand; the resulting mycoplasma divided and functioned properly. It was this work that the staff of the American magazine Newsweek dubbed "The Game of God." However, if it was a game, in 2016 Venter "outplayed" the Creator by reducing the original mycoplasma genome by about half and getting perfectly viable cells again. Craig Venter: "Thanks to genetic engineering, and now the field of synthetic biology, we can manipulate DNA to an unprecedented extent, just as we can edit software in a computer."

Brain Capabilities in the Future A promising and somewhat frightening method of improving brain abilities is the brain-computer interface. 🧠💡Such a system allows the brain to receive information directly from the computer. For humans, interfaces also have considerable potential, still they can also cause harm. Plus, it raises a number of ethical questions. Science fiction? A recurring problem with brain-computer interfaces is the possible emergence of "superhuman" abilities in humans. So this idea is often greeted negatively both among laymen and in scientific circles. Some fear that cyborgs will catch up with them, others afraid of interface to control the mind. And a third group sees it as a tremendous benefit to humanity, elevating human beings and society. All of these perceptions are only hypothetical. In fact, real experience with the interface is still too little. As a result, our views are based primarily on emotion: "wise disgust" or blind faith that technology can fix and improve everything.

☝🏻This robotic serpent was designed specifically for finding victims of disasters under rubble.

The Rupert's drop and a hammer ⚡️ The Rupert's drop or Batavian tears are frozen droplets of tempered glass with extremely high internal mechanical stress. The main part of the droplet (head) is capable of withstanding a huge strain, but if its "tail" will be even slightly damaged, it will scatter to smithereens in a matter of seconds.

​​Acetylene Balloon Explosion 🌀Acetylene is a colorless, flammable poisonous gas with a foul odor consisting of carbon and hydrogen. Such an experiment is better not to be repeated for sure, as it would leave behind a poisonous gas. Therefore, this experience should only be carried out in the open air.

Humanoid Robots Specialized robots handle assembling cars, carrying goods, and other programs much better than humans, though they fail anything else but their narrow range of tasks. If we want the most versatile robot possible, it has to be comfortable in human environments and infrastructure, which means to be human-like — after all, a robot-cleaner cannot get a cup off a shelf, and a robot-welder will not tell you how to get to the library.

Bicycle and Electric Car Hybrid Car-eBike — the name given to the creation of the company CityQ. Such a vehicle weighs only 70 kg (with a payload of 300 kg), is able to accelerate on electric power up to 25 km/h and conquer a distance of 100 km. Moreover, it can take on board two people plus a small cargo. Economical, environmentally friendly, beneficial for health, convenient👌

Why is It Better to Do Things You Love? ☝🏻It is known that when we try and do something willingly, the prefrontal cortex works much better. The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain responsible for motivation. Motivation increases when we engage in something we enjoy. The structure responsible for regulating emotions is deep in the brain and is called the limbic system. From it, the signals come to the prefrontal cortex, "I like doing this! I enjoy this!" Yet when the signals from the limbic system are "I don't like it!", the prefrontal cortex pretty much stops working. So motivation falls and productivity goes down.

Just an illusion👆🏻 Penrose triangle can only exist in a drawing in perspective. Still as a solid object it does not.