You could read a book, but now scientists at MIT are experimenting with wearable books that will allow you to feel the emotions that the characters in the book feel.  The project which they call “Sensory Fiction” involves wearing a vest that is hooked up to the prototype book. The sensors use the events in the story to produce physical sensations for the reader wearing this vest.

For instance as the plot develops and the main character is feeling scared the pressure bags in the vest will fill up with air and constrict the chest of the reader. This will make the reader feel like how the character is supposed to be feeling. The project is naturally in a very experimental stage with only one working model.

So its going to be a while before you can pick up a book and a vest from your local book store that will allow you to experience all the sensory experiences that the characters in the story go through. It is going to be difficult to set all human emotions experienced in a vest, and the scientists will probably have to limit themselves to a few motions. Whatever it may translate into, it was an interesting science project.

NASA had reason to celebrate this month as the Orbital Cygnus reached the International Space Station safe and sound with all the cargo loaded into it. The Cygnus supply spacecraft carried many new science experiments from across the country and the world to the orbiting space laboratory.

What made this delivery to the ISS special was that it was  the first successful contracted cargo delivery by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., for NASA. The space station crew  used a robotic arm to capture and attach the Cygnus supply spacecraft to the ISS at its Harmony Node. The 2,780 pounds (1,261 kilograms) of supplies aboard the spacecraft seem to have survived the ride well,

The cargo is made up of vital science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware.Cygnus was launched on the company’s Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.  It took roughly three days to reach the ISS.

The different science projects that it carried will have some time in space to materialize. These include experiments sent in by 23 students. Cygnus will remain attached to Harmony until a planned unberthing in the month of February  will send the spacecraft toward a destructive re-entry in Earth’s atmosphere.

Potable light refers to a source of lighting that can be moved from one place to another. Carrying a flashlight is the simplest example of a potable light. However there is a major drawback to the flashlight : it won’t work once the battery runs out. This makes it unsuitable to take out in the field for long periods of time.

Here are some other kinds of potable lights which tend to fare better. The Boston-based architecture firm KVA MATx launched a Potable Light project in which they provide a kit that allows you to design your own light. The kit includes a textile reflector, a photovoltaic material, a battery case with a USB port and an LED light. The flexible photovoltaic cells can be woven into a fabric. Now you can use the fabric in any way you like to harvest the solar power. Once the battery is charged it will provide 20 hours of light.

In case sunlight is not quite so easy to access, you can use gravity to power your potable light. The GravityLight as it is called, uses solar as backup rather than a primary energy source. How it works is that  a ballast bag  is filled with rocks, sand or soil, and hung from the lamp to create energy, lighting the GravityLight for 30 minutes. You can recharge it using a built-in solar panel.

The GravityLight is currently in testing but will be available later in 2014 for $5 a light! That will be a tough science project to beat!

Power is the difference between dreams and reality. You may want to do a lot of things, but due to the lack of power you are unable to do them. In some cases it is quite literally electric power, or the lack of it, that stands in the path of progress in an area. To beat this deficiency a number of innovative technologies have been developed over the years. Here we take a look at a few such science projects that have helped humanity.

If plants can create energy why can’t we? Daniel Nocera, a biochemist, invented the “artificial leaf” to help generate power supply using water and sunlight. It is essentially a silicon wafer that splits the hydrogen and oxygen when placed in water. The hydrogen is collected in a fuel cell and put to good use. Initially there was a problem with the “leaf” using dirty water, but now that too has been overcome.

Solar energy when harvested correctly can light up a home for many hours. However the solar panels get charged correctly only when the rays of the sun fall on them directly. As the sun’s rays keep shifting angles all through the day a lot of potential solar energy goes waste. The solution to this was brought in by 21 years old, Princeton undergrad Eden Full who invented the SunSaluter.

This device rotates solar panels toward the sun throughout the day that too without a motor. It works on a water clock-esque design. By merely using this device in connection with solar panels the energy output increased by 40%. Now that truly is innovation at its best in the simple design of this science project.

The redesigning of an existing concept can take as much innovation as designing the original idea. We all use mobile phones and are well aware of the necessity of keeping them charged to be of use. Now imagine a situation where you need to keep in touch with people but are unable to because the battery runs out.

Sun King

The Sun King products from innovative company Green Planet allow you to keep your mobile charged even if you are in the middle of a disaster zone with no electrical connection available. The solar power based mobile charger is useful not just to juice up your mobile battery but also as a night light. The solar cells of the product work problem free for close to five years. All you have to do is ensure that the gadget soaks up sunlight during the day to work all night.

Panasonic Solar LED Lantern

Similar to the Sun King solar products, the Panasonic Solar LED lantern also is able to provide both light and mobile charging facilities using solar power. The solar panel requires 6 hours to charge and can provide 360 degrees of light. It can charge USB enabled mobile phones and shields itself against water and dust.

Follow the blog to find out about more innovative science projects that have been recently worked on.

Being the closest celestial body puts the moon in a unique position to help take on the excesses of the population of Earth. A possible colonization of the moon has already been discussed with many nations working out the possibility of setting up a permanent station on the moon. It could be expanded to entail a full colony complete with families and schools some time in the future.

A solution to the problem of feeding the teeming population of the planet, could be to grow more crops out of this world. In fact the moon would be a likely candidate for this operation. The oxygen rich soil on the moon could be irrigated and used under contraptions like the green houses that are currently used on the planet.

Another ambitious project dubbed the Lunar Ring is hoping to generate electricity in the area around the moon and then beam it back to earth for use. The company planning this exercise is ambitious enough to imagine that the Lunar Ring would be able to handle the energy crisis currently facing the planet.

The moon has always featured in science experiments  and science fantasy as being the solution of Earth’s problems, but just how true that is will have to be seen as time goes by.

For man to explore outer space it is important for the astronauts to stay healthy. Unfortunately living in outer space is not the most hospitable of experiences and often leads to a number of niggling health related issues. An ongoing science project at the Kansas State University hopes to make it easier for astronauts to monitor their health using bio-sensors.

They are incorporating bio sensors that can help to monitor the state of an astronaut into the spacesuits that they wear. This will bring together the kinesiology department and the apparel, textiles and interior design department in a bid to make the most of bio sensors implanted in the spacesuits.

The science project involves five parts. The first deals with designing bio sensors that can monitor astronauts’ vital data. The second involves making a wireless network that will allow these bi0 sensors to interact with the space station. The third part is working on energy harvesting methods to help provide energy for the bio sensors to function in the spacesuit.

The fourth part deals with actual construction of hardware prototypes for these bio sensors and the energy harvesting electronics. The fifth and last part will involve working on spin off technologies to create new radio technologies and devices which can be adapted and used around the home.

Roman of lead extracted from the Sierra of Cartagena about two thousand years ago ended up sinking near the coast of Sardinia. These were recently recovered and used to build the ‘Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events’ (CUORE) in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy.

CUORE is a detector of neutrinos that are almost weightless subatomic particles. It is a part of ongoing efforts to identify dark matter particles. The lead ingots recovered from another old ship which sank off the French coast in the 18th century has also been bought by the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) team in Minnesota.

The lead that is extracted today is contaminated with the isotope Pb-210, which prevents it from being used as shielding for particle detectors, as per a researcher at the University of Cambridge. This leads scientists to use old lead ingots in the research. Unfortunately archaeologists say that it is a destruction of heritage.

Should our cultural heritage be sacrificed to gain greater knowledge of the universe and the origin of humankind? What they are looking for now is recovery  of lead ingots for knowledge in both fields, and not merely for commercial reasons. Perhaps this science project is best left to those who are not so bothered about the destruction of ancient artifacts.

Last month there was considerable excitement as Comet ISON approached the sun. It was one of the clearest comet sightings in recent times and was even visible by the naked eyes as it approached the sun and began to disintegrate. As it flew by earth a number of scientists and researchers have used this opportunity to understand the behavior of comets better.

While most comets are unpredictable, Comet ISON stayed true to predictions and did not veer off at a tangent from its calculated orbit. Most observers thought that the trip into the inner solar system would spell the end of this particular comet. However the scientific community is hoping that a small nucleus of the Comet ISON has survived its encounter with the sun.

Photographs of the white smear that moved away from the sun after the disintegration taken by the European Space Agency and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory have added to this hope. Those who have studied the photographs are confident that the nucleus may have the ability to rebuild the comet as it cools and escapes into the outer solar system again.

Will it succeed? Only time will tell. Analyzing the data that was generated by this close observation of the comet will give rise to ample science projects all over the scientific community.

Being in space is no walk in the park. It has always been considered that astronauts suffer for their exposure to hostile conditions present in outer space and are prone to a number of diseases when they return back to planet earth. Now in a study conducted on mice one more ill effect has been confirmed.

Within two weeks of being in orbit mice researchers at the Houston Methodist, NASA Johnson Space Center, found that mice saw profound changes in eye structure and gene expression. As per pathologist Patricia Chévez-Barrios they found many changes in the expression of genes that help cells cope with oxidative stress in the retina, possibly caused by radiation exposure.

While the researcher said that these changes were partially reversible upon return to Earth, it is undeniable that human eyes would be affected as well. This was also confirmed by a NASA-sponsored Ophthalmology study of seven astronauts showed that all seven had experienced eye problems after spending at least six months in space.

It seems that the Earth’s atmosphere is a much better filter and protector against radiation than the metal hulls and shells of space craft. Ironic, but true and proved now by scientific evidence based on these interesting science projects.