Canadian schoolgirl creates Hollow Flashlight powered by body heat

At the tender age of 15, Canadian high school student Ann Makosinski has designed and built a flashlight powered by body heat. Her Hollow Flashlight secured her a finalist slot in the 15-16 age group of the Google Science Fair ahead of thousands of entries from more than 100 countries. My science project in tenth grade was a volcano that only worked about half the time, so I think she has me beat.

The LED flashlight relies on the thermoelectric effect, with tiles that generate electricity from the differences in temperature to generate electricity. The tiles are fixed to the outside of a hollow tube so that when held, one side of the tile is heated by the warmth of the hand, while air flowing through the hollow tube helps keep the other side cool. The electricity generated by the temperature differential between either sides of the tile powers the LED light.

Makosinski built two different flashlights. The first was made using a tube of aluminum, which is a good heat sink material thanks to its high thermal conductivity, while the second was built using a PVC tube.

Both models work better when the difference between the ambient temperature and body temperature is greater, which is to say, when it's colder. So while the flashlights worked with an air temperature of 10° C (50° F), they emitted more light with the air temperature at 5° C (41° F). Still, she claims that both were able to maintain a steady beam of light for 20 minutes, even in the warmer temperature.

The final cost of each flashlight came to only just over CA$26 (US$25), but if mass-produced, the cost would obviously be substantially lower.

Makosinski and the 14 other Google Science Fair finalists will travel to Google's Mountain View, California campus in September where winners will be announced in each of the three age groups. One grand prize winner will also receive a $50,000 scholarship from Google and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Source: Google Science Fair via CBC.ca

Punjab girl in finals of Google Science Fair

Chandigarh girl Srishti Asthana

has been named among the top 15 finalists of the Google Science Fair, 2013. The 15-year-old girl, who in class XI is a student of science Stream from Millenium School in Mohali.

Srishti will showcase her project at the Google headquarters in the US, which could be potential green method for treating waste water laced with detergents.

The idea for the project ticked her during a school field trip to a textile industry in Ludhiana when she noticed the terrible state of industry’s waste disposal causing water pollution.

Speaking to an English daily, Srishti said, “As a part of a field trip, I went to Ludhiana last year and was taken aback to see how the dyes from the textile industries got drained out in the water bodies, thus polluting it. On querying from an owner on how they treated the water before draining out, he counter questioned me on whether do we treat the detergent water before draining that out. The question triggered an idea in me of doing the same.”

“I created a method where the solar light and nano particles of zinc oxide are used to treat detergent water. It is purely a green technique and environment-friendly,” she added.

Srishti, who wishes to persuade a career in “pure sciences”, will be flown to Google’s Mountain View headquarters in the US on September 23 to present her project for the final round, which will be judged by an international panel of esteemed scientists. The grand prize will get a ten-day trip to the Galapagos Islands, $50,000 in scholarships, and more.

The Google Science Fair is an online competition. It was first started in 2011 and is open to students in the age groups of 13-18 to widen science projects and share their findings.

Camera that captures your favourite smells

What if you could recapture the aroma of that freshly baked birthday cake, or the whiff of your lover's shampoo? It may be possible with this new camera!

Researchers have developed a camera that can capture the scent of your memories, recording smells instead of images.

The gadget called Madeleine is the invention of designer Amy Radcliffe at Central Saint Martins, who set out to bring a more meaningful sensory dimension to storing our favorite memories, the 'Guardian' reported.

"Sense of smell has a direct link to emotional memory. It is the sense we react to most instinctively, and the furthest away from being stored or replicated digitally," Radcliffe said.

In order to use the camera a person needs to place the funnel over the object or environment they wish to capture, and then a pump sucks the air across an odor trap made of Tenax - a porous polymer resin which adsorbs the volatile particles that make up the smell.

The working prototype can take anything from a few minutes to capture the scent of fresh strawberries, to around 24 hours to store the more subtle aroma of an atmosphere.

"It's like a huge electric nose. It processes the particles and produces a graph-like formula that makes up the smell. From this formula you can artificially recreate the precise odor," she said.

Users can take their exposed odor traps to the local lab in the same way they would take a 35mm film to be processed - the product being not photos, but delicate vials of the scent, along with a bronze disk of the specific formula, bringing a precious, ritualistic quality to the process.

Raspberry Pi: A Credit Card Sized Single board Computer

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Raspberry Pi works when plugged into an HDTV or digital monitor
• Pi can display videos, browse the Internet and more
• Pi does not have internal storage

The hottest computer on the market isn't a $1,000-plus decked-out gaming machine. It's actually a bare bones circuit board the size of a credit card. And it costs just $25.

Meet the Raspberry Pi. What's it good for?

For starters, you hook the Pi to an HDTV or digital monitor using HDMI. It can display high-definition videos, browse the Internet, play games or work on spreadsheets.

Sound great! Is it for you, though? Well, it depends.

First, let's look at a bit of history.

The low-cost Raspberry Pi is the brainchild of Eben Upton. In 2006, he was teaching computer science at the University of Cambridge. He found that computers were too expensive and too hard for ordinary users to program.

So, he set out to make a low-cost programming computer. His charitable foundation is working to get Raspberry Pis to kids all over the world. He hopes this will create a new generation of programmers.

Upton expected to sell 10,000 units, tops. So far, it has sold more than a million units and counting. It isn't just schools who want it. Computer programmers and hobbyists around the world are going crazy for it.

So, how can it improve your life?

At a basic level, you can use a Raspberry Pi as a media computer. It's also a capable second PC or a computer for kids. It runs the Linux operating system, which is free and very secure.

There are two models. The Model A ($25) has 256MB of RAM and one USB port. Model B ($35) has 512MB of RAM and adds a second USB connection and an Ethernet port.

Both flavors have an HDMI connection, an audio jack and an RCA video jack. You can add a USB hub to connect a keyboard, mouse and USB Wi-Fi.

The Pi is powered by a 32-bit 700 MHz ARM processor that's roughly equivalent to the performance of a Pentium 2 chip. Upton says the multimedia performance is between a Playstation 2 and Playstation 3. That's enough for most basic computer uses.

To make the Pi operational, you need to supply a 5 volt micro USB power supply. An Android smartphone charger should do the trick. Just be sure to read the label. It needs to provide 700mA or better at 5V. Otherwise the Pi will behave erratically (or won't work at all).

The Pi has no internal storage; it boots from a standard SD card. You can buy a card pre-loaded with a compatible operating system. Or make one yourself by downloading a compatible operating system from the Raspberry Pi website. Of course, you can also hook up an external hard drive.

You should buy a case for the computer. It could get fried if it comes in contact with liquids or conductive metals. Or you can make your own, if you're so inclined. Some people have used LEGO!

Cases, power supplies and other accessories are available from a variety of third-party vendors. The two official U.S. Raspberry Pi sellers — Allied Electronics and Newark — also sell accessories and bundles.

You can use the Raspberry Pi for basic computer functions. Or you can take it to the next level with your own programs.

Python is the programming language of the Raspberry Pi. It's easy to learn but very powerful. You'll be coding in no time!

If you're considering buying, definitely check out the Raspberry Pi website for more information. Read through the instructions and see if it's something you can handle. Be sure to check out the forums for great ideas on ways that you can use it.

Google Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet access

The Internet is one of the most trans formative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. 

There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month’s income. 

Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we’re unveiling our latest moonshot from Google : balloon-powered Internet access

What's Yours Is Google's Mine?

Google may have found one more clever way to squeeze juicy data out of its users: Get them to catalog their possessions online. There are some potential advantages to the user, of course, including having a nice tidy inventory for insurance purposes and setting up sharing and bartering opportunities with friends. Those probably pale in comparison to the advantages for Google and its advertisers, however.

Google is internally testing a new service, Google Mine, that will be integrated with Google+, according to the Google Operating System unofficial blog. It will let users list their belongings, post photos to a Mine album, and share and track their belongings with friends.

Think of it as Craigslist on steroids with a homey touch.

"It'll be like an eBay for sharing," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, "but the groups are pretty tight -- and only people you'll want to know what you have will know it."

Google Mine will be available online and on Android, according to GOS.

Concerns already have been raised that Google Mine is just one more way for the company to indulge its insatiable appetitie for user information.

"They know where you live, they know what you're reading, they know where you are at the moment, and now they'll know what's in your underwear drawer," remarked Andrew Eisner, director of community and content at Retrevo.

Google was noncommittal, saying it had nothing specific to share but acknowledging that it's always experimenting with new features.

What Mine May Offer

Google Mine apparently will let users catalog what they have, list it to share with friends in their Google+ circles, post photographs of their possessions in a Mine album, track conversations, send requests to borrow friends' possessions, share their possessions, find people to give their stuff to, track their belongings, and follow, browse and search what their friends are sharing.

Users will be able to change the status of the objects listed to, for example, "lent," "given away," "got back," or "lost it."

Google Mine will let users post videos about their belongings, write reviews of items, add items to a wishlist, and ask other people to send them stuff by creating a post to their Google+ stream that's visible only to both parties.

"I'm not sure people will want to share their jewelry, though there are people who want to share guns," Enderle told TechNewsWorld. "You'll probably see them sharing products in sports and gardening, and sharing tools."

It's likely that the service will work best between friends who live relatively close by, he continued.

New Blood For Google+, Perhaps?

Google Mine could be yet another in a long list of attempts by Google to inject some life into its flailing Google+ service, which had about half as many active users as Facebook, according to eMarketer.

"They're looking for an angle to differentiate Google+," Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research, told TechNewsWorld.

"I think it could be a good opportunity [to boost Google+] if it catches on," Retrevo's Eisner commented, "but I'm a little skeptical about its catching on because Google+ is still struggling."

All Your Data Are Belong to Us

Google's business model, like that of Facebook and other Internet companies, is to gather as much data about users as possible to let advertisers target them tightly, and it's possible that Google Mine will help refine the considerable amount of data Google has on its users even further.

Whether Google Mine will give rise to privacy issues is yet unclear. Google has had its struggles with privacy, especially after it combined all data on its users from all its services, and it is currently being targeted by privacy advocates in Europe.

"I don't see how privacy advocates can complain if people are willing to do something," Tirias Research's McGregor said.

"Anyone who uses this service should understand that the information can and will be used by Google. I just don't see the value to the consumer other than to brag about what they have," he added.

"This could be a gold mine for Google," Retrevo's Eisner told TechNewsWorld, because it will let the company provide more fine-grained data to advertisers. "But not so much for users." 

Best Facts Ever

• Google, with a brand value of $86 billion, is the world's most powerful brand.            

• Cat's fur easily becomes charged with electricity and sparks can be seen if their fur is rubbed in the dark.

• No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.  

• Mermaids exists and have the greatest power of sensing danger so that makes a chance of finding them rare.

• No word in the English language rhymes with MONTH.

• There are no clocks in las vegas gambling casinos.

• When you crack your knuckles the pop you hear is a bubble of gas bursting.

• Mosquitos are more attracted to the color blue than any other color.

• If you ate too many carrots, you would turn orange.

• The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

• The brain is much more active at night than during the day.

• A mouse can fit through a hole the size of a ballpoint pen.

• Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

• Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

• According to the Newton dictionary the longest word in the world is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanocon...

• Because of Einstein’s inability to speak at the age of 9,his mum once thought he was retarded.

• An elephant will still remain at its standing position even when it has died. 

• Urine from male cape water buffaloes is so flammable that some tribes use it for lantern fuel.

•  Facebook, has a whopping tally of 1,851,000 status updates every 20 minutes!

• natural Pearls melt in vinegar

•  search askew on google your page will be tilted

• In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders.

•  There are 200,000,000 insects for every one human.

•  Ice Cream is chinese food!

•  If you put two straws in your mouth, one inside a drink and one outside it, you won't be able to drink through either straw.

•  Ostriches are often not taken seriously. They can run faster than horses, and the males can roar like lions.

•  On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

•  You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath

Z

•  Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.

•  The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs covering a meter a second.

•  The USA uses 29% of the world's petrol and 33% of the world's electricity.

•  After spending hours working at a computer display, look at a blank piece of white paper. It will probably appear pink.

•  Robert Wadlow is regarded as the tallest man ever known. He was 8’11 at the time of his death at the age of 21.

•  Insects do not make noises with their voices. The noise of bees, mosquitoes and other buzzing insects is caused by rapidly moving their wings.

•  Each King on playing card a King in real history:Spades: King David Clubs: Alexander the Great Hearts: Charlemagne Diamonds: Julius Caesar

•  A snail can actually glide over the sharp edge of a knife or razor without harming itself.

•  The city with more Rolls Royce per capita : Hong Kong

•  Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS) [the 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras] built the Raudat Tahera in Mumbai (India) over the qabr mubarak of his father. The mausoleum is the only one of its kind to have the entire Quran inscribed on its walls.

Bermuda Triangle

Well, as far i may conclude , everyone is aware about What Bermuda Triangle, and why I ranked it 1st. This legendary triangle is termed to a triangular ocean area near carribean which has been famous to sink ships , as if they are made of Paper. Planes crossing this triangle also face same problem. 

Over the years, there have been a huge number of disappearances that happened in mysterious circumstances, supposedly falling beyond the possibilities of human error, equipment failure or natural disasters. Many paranormal theories talk of a suspension of the laws of physics.

Well, scientists have tried to explain it by many theories like " Methane Gas Theory". But as it happens in most mysteries Any theory cant fully satisfy paranormalists and people. 

But many Experts term it as nothing and they say that as this is a very busy route so, number of accidents may be large( By Large , how much Large they mean looks uncertain).

The Pyramids

Well, Pyramids hide another set of mystery with them. Pyramids have many special characteristics which cant be brought in practice until you use extensive Technology. Pyramids are amazing and mysterious in many ways,, i will discuss few of them. 

Well first of all, some history about these marvelous things. The Pyramids were built around 5000 years ago,, "when there was no wheel",, the most amazing part is that how ancient Egyptians were able to transport such huge rocks, specially to top of Pyramid. Either they used some kind of unique instrument which was far better ( of course in terms of Technology) than we use today( NOTE : No wheel was invented, thus that leaves out any gear,etc) or did they got extra-terrestrial help?? Well, this question has never been answered. 

Now, Most amazing part is about shape of Pyramid, a czech radio engineer conducted an experiment over a sample Pyramid( Ratio 1 : 1000), in which he stored a razor and even after 40 shaves by that razor, razor's sharpness didnt decrease instead he felt that it's sharpness kept increasing..

Another one is about the height of the pyramid of Cheops, if you multiply it by a thousand million—98,000,000 miles corresponds approximately to the distance between the Earth and the sun.

Crop Circles

These are world's amazing art on huge area of Crops..I guess each of us is aware of this term.. Crop circles a unique kind of artistic creation by so called UFOs or Humans which includes amazing and complex art in crop fields, mostly characterized by Circles over night.Many scientists have proposed that it's been made by Weather changes like of Cyclones or storms, etc

Scientists assumed that Complex structures were made by Hoaxers. Well I have a question for all UFO- logists  who claim that UFOs create these, well i guess they assume that ALIENS have no work to do (or Aliens are big Trolls,, :) ), why would aliens waste their Precious time creating some stupid and complex art in agricultural field, if aliens want to show their sense of art then they rather be proving themselves in some Art competition(may be Intergalatic competition... xD )

But still crop circles are mystery , yet most of them have been solved..(These look better for Wallpaper.)

Area 51 and UFOs

Already there's been so much fuss about UFOs and Area 51. UFOs are one of the most searched Keyword on Google. Well, Basically UFO's in 70% times are nothing but either some plane or something.. Only 30% of time it looks legit. Now, I am writing this post in context to previous article, of mine about Aliens,, so if you havent read them yet... the click on link :                    

5 Reasons proving Existence of Aliens

Now, in that article in Varginha, incident , we see that Brazil Government captures so called UFOs and then no one knows where they go,, And then Government says that we dont know anything..(That's best cover-up story by each Government). Well, Just by a single statement they rejected whole town's evidence...

Well, so is in USA.. Area 51 is basically a such believed UFO abduction center where most "probably" experiments are carried out on Aliens. Now there's shoot at site law, if you try to go near it. It's Located about 150 miles away from Los angels where Engineers and scientists reverse engineer Highly advanced technology of UFOs, no one can access details about Area 51, as it is hidden in files by the name of National security. But there's not only UFO theory.. there are many theories like :

>> UFO's Spacecraft's are reverse -engineered

>> Theories like One world government or Majestic 12 program..

>> Development of time travel and Teleportation,etc