The non renewable energy resources of fossil fuels are running out for our planet. There is a huge surge in nations turning towards renewable energy sources to meet their energy needs of the future. The more proactive nations are already using greener alternatives to coal to generate their energy needs, one such nation is Germany.

The last year was a land mark year for the nation as for the first time renewable resources took on 40% of the nation’s energy needs. Making coal produced electricity, the usual number one energy source, slip into second position. Europe’s biggest economy hopes to have nearly 65% of their electricity being generated by renewable energy sources by 2030.

Germany has plans to shut down it’s nuclear power plants by 2022 and is also on board with a plan to phase out coal based electricity production in a phased manner as the renewable energy sources are multiplied. The primary focus in Germany is on output of electricity from solar power, wind, biomass and hydroelectric generation.

This truly is a nation that’s pioneering the way everyone needs to act. The science project that this country has successfully implemented is one that other nations of the world need to follow, and soon.

At the Consumer Electronics Show this month at Las Vegas one robot that is definitely making waves is the Bread Bot. It mixes, forms, proofs, bakes and cools bread all on its own, as per the creators. The bread is supposed to be freshly baked, without preservatives so healthy and eco friendly to boot. This automatic bread making machine can bake up to 235 loaves of bread in a single day!

The people responsible for the bread baker robot are the Wilkinson Baking Company, a family-owned business. Bread is a staple of American life. But in most supermarkets today, it has lost its emotional connection with the shopper said Randall Wilkinson, the CEO of the company. In the age of home delivery, The Bread Bot attracts consumers back to the store because it delivers fresh, delicious bread that is produced with theater and engagement, he added.

Visitors to the Consumer Electronics Show are being invited to taste the healthy and flavorful bread after viewing the fully transparent process of the actual baking. Needless to say it’s one of the more popular displays at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Here’s to more delicious and edible science projects in the new innovations.

Musical sense has always been the domain of human beings and not robots. Sure they can do a lot of things that are useful to us, but they are not supposed to be artists. Or are they? The researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a 3D-printed robotic hand that can actually be classified as an artist.

The science project developed this robotic hand that can play simple musical phrases on the piano by just moving its wrist. Considering how many complex motions the human hand must make to play the piano, it is easy to understand just how difficult the robot was to conceptualize and create. Needless to say it’s a work in progress and will still be worked upon by the research team.

It was made by 3D-printing soft and rigid materials together to replicate of all the bones and ligaments in a human hand. No it does not have the muscles or tendons of a regular human hand and is very limited in the scope of what it can do. The mechanical design tried to give the robotic hand the widest range of motion possible and when you hear it playing the piano, you may be tempted to believe that it is actually a virtuoso.

For years the minute someone was diagnosed with a heart condition, they were asked to cut down on salt in their diets. The premise was that a high salt diet would lead to excessive sodium levels in the body. This would lead to more of a strain on the heart. One would assume that such a rigorous medical practice followed world wide would have been based on some sort of research and supporting data.

Apparently not! Most major medical organizations that follow this practice do not have any base of strong evidence to support it. The nine studies that have been conducted are based on just 479 people. None of the studies individually has a base of even a hundred patients. Also there was no data on the reduction of salt resulting in a difference in mortality levels.

The old studies have be collated by Clyde Yancy who is a professor of Cardiology at the Northwesten School of Medicine. His findings are that only 0.3% of the studies conducted have looked at the restriction of sodium and it’s effect on the health of the heart. His science project even mentions that maybe increasing the amount of potassium in the body may be preferred to reducing the salt intake of a person.

The number of lifestyle diseases that are plaguing the world’s population today are a direct consequence of the diet that people eat. In the past few decades we have moved away from the healthy practice of eating food that is locally grown and rich in vitamins and minerals. Instead we stuff our bodies with high sodium content and high fat based instant foods that are extremely detrimental to the health simply because they are convenient.

Thankfully even in this situation, there is hope for the human race. There is a movement that’s growing to eat healthier. People are becoming more aware of what they eat and are constantly looking for healthier options. This is where paying attention to the food labels on the products that you are consuming can become a huge deal.

Here is an idea of a great science project. Make a list of ten grocery staples that are bought regularly in your home. Now remember all the different brands that you may buy for each product. Take a trip to the supermarket and check out the labels of each brand to see which is the healthiest option. Consider the calories, total fat, sodium and  potassium contents of the foods. Tabulate your findings and know which are the healthiest brands to buy next time you go shopping for groceries.

Having a little self control can actually save you from a world of cyber grief is what the scientists at the Michigan State University seem to have found. People with low self control tend to be more impulsive while shopping online. A fact that can easily put them at risk for malware attacks.

The issue of cyber crime has become more pronounced as the majority of the world’s population moves on to the technological advantages offered by a smart phone. Not everyone is savvy about keeping their phones updated with antivirus software even as they protect their laptops and computers vigilantly.

It is this loophole that cyber criminals tend to exploit. By sending good deals via email from websites that a person may not touch during regular computer browsing, they are able to gather enough information from the smart phone to launch a cyber attack. This short sighted negligence can cost the individual dearly.

The scientific research helped solidify the finding that  there is a correlation between low self control and victimisation. The study was based on the behavior of over six thousand survey participants. A worrying fact is that hackers already are aware of this and are taking full advantage of the fact.

Nutrition is all about eating healthy so that you can get all the vitamins and minerals that the body needs to function optimally. Getting the required daily allowance of these nutrients can become very important. Eating a balanced meal every time is essential to maintaining good health throughout your life.

At times however, we can go overboard with supplements. Just because we are unable to eat the proper foods, we feel that it’s okay to take multivitamin tablets and capsules to make up the nutritional needs of the body. Having excess vitamins and minerals should not make a difference as they get flushed out of the body without absorption is what we tell ourselves. This is not really true.

A scientific study published in the Journal of Endocrinology has found that sustained intake of high levels of Vitamin A can be dangerous. The study conducted by the University of Goethenburg in Sweden, followed people who had 4 to 13 times the recommended daily allowance of the vitamin. It also focused on mice that were given a concentrated high dose of Vitamin A daily.

The findings were that having too much Vitamin A in form of supplements could lead to an increased risk of bone damage. A decrease in bone thickness was also observed in the mice in the study, which led them to fracture easily and cause health issues.

Plants are dependent in nature on the animals that spread their seeds far and wide. The survival of the species demands that the plant make it’s fruit as appealing to the animal that will allow the seeds to be dispersed  over a large area. A fact that has been observed and studied by  evolutionary ecologist Kim Valenta from Duke University.

Red berries, and orange figs are found commonly in the rain forest canopy over Kibale National Park in Uganda. While in the rain forests of Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park you are likely to find yellow berries, green figs and fragrant ripe fruit. Each plant makes it a point to have fruit that stand out clearly in the environment so that the animals such as monkeys, apes, birds and lemurs are able to access them quickly and easily.

A scientific analysis of the fruit and foliage colors with a spectrometer revealed to the researchers that each fruit was optimized against their natural backdrops. They also met the demands of the visual systems of their primary seed dispensers. That is to say that the fruits were always in colors of the visual spectrum of the animals that would eat them. It’s quite like the plant tagging on a giant “Eat Me” sign to ensure that the seeds are scattered.

Miners kept canaries in cages with them in the coal mines to detect poisonous gases. In many cases these little yellow birds have been known to save human lives by providing an early warning system for the miners. Now the humble oyster may do the same for researchers studying the ocean.

Oysters are most popularly known as food that promotes amore. However, the scientists in the know have realized that they are also very good at providing an early warning system for an increase in hydrocarbons in the waters. Electrodes attached to the oysters are able to show that even the slightest difference in the levels of hydrocarbons is registered promptly.

This can be useful information when dealing with possible catastrophes such as oil spills caused by tiny infrastructure cracks in the surface of the ocean. They also are able to monitor the levels of natural gas present in the water. These details can make a huge difference when traversing the ocean for commercial purposes.

How exactly the oyster’s unique ability to track these minute changes in the levels of hydrocarbons will help in the future, is the focus of a scientific study currently being conducted by the University of Bordeaux and the CNRS scientific institute in France.

Artificial Intelligence is about to make life easier for a number of people who are differently-abled. Simple gadgets enhanced with AI will be able to help these people scan, read text out loud, show the path on a map and a whole lot more. The World Health Organisation is collaborating with technology giants like Microsoft and Google to come up with different ways to help include the differently-abled in the society.

There will soon be an explosion of products and gadgets in the market that make it easier for these people to gain access to the internet, as well as make things easier for them on a day to day basis. The WHO knows that the need for such products is only going to grow with the growing population of the world. They offer grants in millions to companies who are working on specific solutions to these issues.

Phones that speak out directions, gloves that sense objects for the blind, and cameras that scan and impart instructions are just the tip of the iceberg. The sheer number of science projects in this field of research is mind boggling. The idea is to give a sense of normalcy to the people who need it the most.