Human beings have evolved on planet Earth over a long period of time. This means that all the organs that we have developed are best suited to working on the surface of the Earth. So what happens when we leave the Earth and end up in outer space? Astronauts who have spent considerable time in space tend to have a number of physical problems readjusting to the gravity once they return to Earth.

Once it was discovered that the lack of gravity can seriously affect the health of a human being researchers started paying more attention to just what went on in the human body when it was in outer space. One such study was concentrated on the effect of the lack of gravity on the human brain. This organ which is barely five kilograms is key to optimal human performance.

On the International Space Station a study of brain activity was made when asked to predict the falling of a ball and where we would move to catch it. It was interesting to know that the brain despite knowing about the lack of gravity, would naturally guide the person in a position where gravity would work to throw the ball. Also the lack of gravity begins to affect the electrical activity of the brain and one scientific study even found that it would begin producing patterns resembling epileptic seizures.

There have been giant strides made in the field of Artificial Intelligence or AI as it is commonly abbreviated in the last couple of decades. Computers are able to independently handle tasks which would have been unheard of just half a century ago. Yet, no matter how well these computers function, they are often restricted in the amount of intelligence that they can display.

Computers do not learn organically like humans do. They can scan data to find patterns, and then use these patterns to predict what data may occur next. This can work well in regular patterns which generally tend to follow the same set of data time and again repeatedly. However it is not much help when the data keeps changing as does the pattern.

Human beings are not only very good at identifying patterns and predicting behaviours, they are also able to grasp complex concepts with relatively more ease than the software of the computer would ever be able to. The truth is that the scientists working on understanding how the brain functions have a huge science project which they will take years more to complete. Till that happens, and it will be a while, computers with AI are never going to be as good at learning as a human being.

Knowledge only ever grows with increasingly better technology in our hands. A century ago taking a photograph on Earth was a huge production. Fifty years ago any amateur could handle an automatic camera and in the last decade even children are able to take digital images with great ease.

This improvement in technology also carried forward into the space exploration front. With the different photographs that Mars based rovers such as Curiosity have been sending back to Earth, we have a fairly good idea of what the Martian terrain looks like.

One question that may pop up is how come when we can get such brilliant images from Mars do we not have any interesting video clips? The radio wavelength that is currently used to transmit data is not enough to handle the larger data amounts that a video would require.

Currently scientists are experimenting with infra red communication which will allow higher rates of data exchange. Perhaps the new Mars landers will be outfitted with this technology enabling them to send back high definition videos. Then we will surely be able to see what the surface of the planet actually looks like in contract to the ever changing atmosphere on Mars.

Long programs known as algorithms are written to help robots move about on their own. These algorithms can be of two types – centralised and decentralised. In the centralised system the decisions for movement of all robots are made by one single computer. While in the decentralised version each robot makes decisions for itself. As you can understand from this primary difference, designing a decentralised algorithm which helps robots move is fairly difficult.

Also one major advantage the decentralised system has is that even if one of the computers shuts down, the others can still make decisions. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the researchers have been working on a decentralised system for teams of robots that factors in not only stationary obstacles, but also moving obstacles. The system that they have come up with takes far less bandwidth for the communication as well as ensures that they never collide.

Even though each robot is essentially guessing what the other robot is going to do, the decentralised system is what the future of robotics needs. Designing the system had the researchers combining many challenging goals. It is still far from perfected, but it is a good start to an interesting science project which will be fairly long lasting.

When humans communicate its with more than just the words we speak. There is the tone, the pitch and then of course al those body movements made subtly that comprise of body language. This is one of the reasons that speaking with robots, who may answer the questions accurately, doesn’t always seem natural. Now researchers are giving robots a class in body language which will make it easier for us to understand them.

A recent science study published in Frontiers in Psychology speaks of making robots move their hands like humans do. Apparently it helps humans understand the robots better when they do these iconic hand actions. Iconic gestures have a distinct meaning, like opening a door or a book, and using gestures together with speech is known as “multi-modal communication.”

In essence of you have a common hand signal that both humans and robots know means a specific thing, it makes communicating with the robotic avatars that much easier. The project was conducted by having an actor read a specific script using normal hand movements and then a computer generated avatar did the same using the iconic gestures programmed. The people who saw both felt that the gestures contributed to a better understanding of what the speaker said.

A collaborative research team at the University of Bristol is finding new uses for humanoid robots and computer avatars. The theory is that they may be helpful in rehabilitating patients who suffer from extreme forms of social disorders and phobias.

It is easier to interact with someone who looks, talks and generally behaves like us, when trying to get rid of fears. A mirror game developed by the researchers allows two players to copy each other’s motions while playing with balls on a string. The avatar usually looks like the patient and is programmed to initially copy movements of the person.

Gradually the alter ego of the computer avatar may be programmed to help the patient make healthy changes. The feedback from the person is embedded in the avatar and programming is quite complex. However the researchers are very excited about the work they have managed to accomplish.

The next level of the science project is to set up multiple human and computer interactions in a social set up. Allowing the group of people and their avatars to interact and perform common tasks together. This will also help the patients overcome their social phobias in a controlled environment. Naturally this phase is going to be even more challenging than the first.

What does the size of a rain drop matter? Why would scientists require to measure them? Well apparently the size of the raindrops is one of the factors that determines how big a storm will grow. It can also help speculate about how long a storm will last as well as how much rain can be expected to fall.

At the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA meteorologists have been taking three dimensional pictures of raindrops and snowflakes. That in itself may not seem so great, but when you consider that the pictures are actually being taken globally, from outer space, then there is a definite difference.

Joe Munchak, research meteorologist hopes that this study will help them make more accurate weather models in the future. Researchers call the number of raindrops and snowflakes of different sizes at various locations within a cloud the “particle size distribution.” He is hopeful that by co-relating the date with what they already know, the predictions of flash floods will become more accurate as well.

This particular science project may not have been possible if NASA had not partnered with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The successful gathering of data will only be surpassed by the predictions the meteorologists make.

Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA has spent a considerable amount of time and money trying to perfect an aircraft that would be able to achieve a vertical lift off. An unmanned vertical take-off and landing  or VTOL aircraft is sure to have a number of advantages for the military. That is exactly what they hope as they give the contract to construct the X-Plane to Aurora Flight Sciences.

As per the given description, “DARPA’s Vertical Takeoff and Landing Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane) program seeks to provide innovative cross-pollination between fixed-wing and rotary-wing technologies and by developing and integrating novel subsystems to enable radical improvements in vertical and cruising flight capabilities.”

The plane is to have a four thousand horse power engine which will generate three megawatts of electricity to power the twenty four ductless fans of the aircraft. It will have the capacity to carry about four thousand five hundred kilograms of weight and travel at a top speed of four hundred and sixty miles per hour.

What’s more fascinating is that the X-plane will have the ability to shift from hover to flight mode on demand. Needless to say that the working prototype is going to be a really amazing step in the ongoing science project to get the perfect VTOL aircraft.

Astronomers at the McGill University have been recording repeating short bursts of radio waves from an enigmatic source in outer space. The originating point of these radio wave bursts is still shrouded in mystery. Fast radio wave bursts usually come from a powerful object such as an exploding star or a star collapsing into a black hole and the one associated with these recordings seems to be well beyond the edge of the Milky Way galaxy.

Fast Radio Bursts or FRBs are being studied by the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Ricowhich is also the world’s largest radio telescope. The 305 m  telescope and its suspended support platform of radio receivers is a unique device which has been providing a lot of unusual data for astronomers to process. Arecibo is the first telescope to see repeat bursts from the same source.

Currently there is great ongoing debate as to the source of these FRBs. Some believe that it is from supernova star, others feel that it is more likely to be a rotating neutron star. Others believe that there may be more than one source for the FRBs that are located close to each other. Needless to say that till further evidence comes to light the mystery of this science project will remain to be solved.

Growing crops on Mars is going to play an important part of being able to colonize the red planet. Scientists at the Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands have been working on growing different crops on Mars and Moon soil simulations. After they gained knowledge from their first experiment they were able to grow ten different types of crops in the second science experiment.

Tomatoes, peas, rye, garden rocket, radish and garden cress were harvested successfully at the culmination of this experiment. The eventual goal of these experiments is to provide the basis for growing crops on Mars and on the moon, in order to feed the first settlers who will eventually be part of the first colonization efforts. Needless to say that the success reflected here will have a direct bearing on just what these people will be able to grow as fresh supplies.

Dr Wieger Wamelink said that the total above ground biomass produced on the Mars soil simulant was not significantly different from the potting compost they used as a control. They used trays instead of pots in the second lot and also added cut grass as an organic manure. The science project showed that the Mars soil simulant has great potential when properly prepared and watered