Sixth Sense

Imagine being able to take a picture without using a camera or browsing the internet on a piece of paper! All of this and more are possible with the prototype of the Sixth Sense technology invented by Pranav Mistry. This ingenious technology was invented to bring together the digital and the physical world. At first, Mr.Mistry wanted to use physical objects to manipulate the digital world but soon realized that what people wanted more was to interact with the physical world using the technology that we have. So Mr.Mistry's idea was to make the digital interaction with the physical world much simpler as well as more useful. So he started out by creating a projector that was hooked up to a camera and he placed his whole contraption inside a bike helmet. He then created colored markers to put on four of his fingers and programmed it to track the movements of the colored markers.With this creation he was able to project a screen on any surface and modify the wall around him with the colored markers. For example he could draw on any surface and zoom in on pictures with a pinching motion. On top of this, he added the internet to Sixth Sense and made it so that he could project a screen on any flat surface and go and browse the internet.This would be much easier that opening a computer and pressing buttons as well as more intuitive. On top of this, he made the camera recognize several motions. With this he could just make the motion of taking a picture and it would take a picture for him. The greatest purpose of this device is that almost any digital function can be done in the physical world enhancing our interaction with the world as well as modifying the physical world. Instead of having a phone, you could just project the keypad onto your fingers and call someone with just your hand. On top of this the interface for Sixth sense can help people better interact with many objects. For example, this device could scan a book and recognize the book and give you ratings reviews and an audio book to listen to while reading. It could also orient itself with newspapers and show you weather updates on a map in the newspaper and a speech talked about in the paper. In this way it will be easy to interact with objects without having to take out an electronic device or go to a TV. However, the one thing that people saw for improvement was that the world still revolved around paper and that all their work has to be tranferred to paper. As a solution, Mr.Mistry took two microphones and made a little clip out of them. He then put the clip onto a piece of paper and when he touched the paper, the sensitive microphones recorded exactly where the vibration was and along with the camera's input he was able to draw and manipulate on the piece of paper. With this new technology there are immense new possibilities that are only limited by the imagination of the user.

In my opinion, This invention is a monumental step forward in technology and will better the world and make human interaction with the world much more fluent.

Click HERE to go to the website (It is a video)

New 3d Sound System

Imagine being able to watch a movie but hearing all the sound affects and music as you would in real life: the sounds coming at you from all different directions. Mr. Choueiri from Princeton University has found a way to make this idea a reality. With the new software that Mr.Choueiri has invented it will soon be possible to experience a movie as is you were actually there in person. This is a great break-through in technology.

However, there were many challenges that the team in Princeton University had to face to make this sound system possible. Unlike surround sound this new software had to project the sounds in such a way that the sounds painted an image of the scene thus making the sounds 3d. After concluding that there would be two earphones for the devise to simulate the function of the real ears, the main problem that the team faced was determining how to separate the sounds that both the right ear and left ear hear. Through normal headphones this sound would get mashed together and would be heard by both ears what was only meant for one ear. Thus this would take away form the 3d effect. Since the sound coming from the right and the left of the person meshes together and is heard in both ears, it is impossible to tell where the sound originally came from. Thus it would not seem 3d. To remedy this, the team placed a filter called a cross-talk cancellation which allowed the sound coming from the right to reach the right headphone only and he left to the left headphone. The only problem with this filter was that it colored the sound and altered it so that it would not be accepted as tonally correct(ex: a piano not sounding like a piano). This was the main thing that the team had to do to make the the 3d sound system accurate and effective. Once this was modified the 3d sound system was born.

Click Here to go to the website.

Using Food to Fight Cancer

Cancer: the terrible disease that is taking the lives of millions of people world-wide. Although the reason for and the cure for cancer have not been found, scientists have put together a list of the top ten foods that have been proven to reduce the risk of getting cancer. These foods are not guaranteed to stop or kill cancer but they will definitely help to fight/prevent cancer to a small degree.

#10: Berries: these tasty fruits are good cancer fighters. Most berries have poly phenol antioxidants that help to stop tumor growth which will invariably fight the cancer growth.

#9: Although many people might disagree, it has been scientifically proven that dark chocolate (70% or higher) can help to cure cancer. Chocolate, like berries have poly phenol antioxidants but they also have a chemical called catechin in it. This chemical helps fight not only cancer, but stroke and heart attacks as well, thus hitting three birds in one stone. To reiterate, dark chocolate is a very healthy food and will help fight cancer as well as other diseases (Mrs. Broder will be happy).

#8: Out of many spices, ginger and turmeric are special for they can also help fight cancer. Having powerful anti-inflammatory chemicals, ginger can help to slow down abnormal cancer growths. Turmeric however has an ingredient called curcumin which can effectively kill

cancer cells. Both of these spices included in your food could reduce the risk of getting cancer and will help fight against abnormal growths in your body.

#7: Beans and lentils combined with ginger or turmeric would be a powerful cancer fighting force. Beans and lentils both have many phytochemicals that slow/prevent damage to DNA, which is the basis of cancer.

#6: Asian green tea has also been proven as a cancer fighter. Green tea contains a natural chemical called EGCG that slows cancer growth.

#5: Another cancer fighter is vitamin D which can be found in eggs, mushrooms, and types of fish. After having studied human beings, scientists have come to the conclusion that Vitamin D is necessary to fight cancer and that we have to consistently replenish our stocks.

#4: The chemical folate also has the capability to slow down cancer and studies have proven that people with high levels of folate were not easily affected by the cancer cells. Folate is usually found in green vegetables, beans, peas and lentils.

#3: Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, and collards are also containing chemicals that can fight cancer. Containing sulforaphane and selenium that oppose cancer.

#2: Dark green vegetables such as spinach and chard are also cancer fighters that have high levels of folate and many other chemicals that help to slow down cancer.

#1: Although this is not agreed by many people, wine is the best bet to help fight cancer as long as it is not overly consumed. It contains the chemical resveratrol which is a powerful cancer killer.

I think that a healthy combination of these foods will be a good way to reduce the risk of cancer. From now on, whenever I eat one of these foods I will know that I am a step closer to safeguarding myself from this dangerous disease.

Click HERE to go to the website.

Light: Slowed Down

When one hears the word Light, they would think of the sun, the stars and the staggering 186,282 miles that light travels in exactly one second. In fact a light ray is the fastest physical object in the universe: or is it? From as early as 1900's, people have thought about light and how to slow it down. In fact, in 1999,physicists in Harvard university figured out how to slow down light to a mere 38 miles per hour.

Dr. Lene Hau, a physicist at Harvard, conducted the controlled experiment to slow down light. She put some atoms of sodium into a vacuum chamber where they rocketed around at a 1000 miles per hour. She then directed a thick jumble of lasers into the chamber. When the sodium atoms bounced off the lasers, they slowed down thus cooling the atoms. She cooled down the sodium in this way until it reached near absolute zero which is nearly -459.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Before the physicists, they conducted another experiment that proved that when atoms are densely packed, near absolute zero and held in a high vacuum, the atoms act and become as one atom. Since the atoms were so densely packed and very cold the scientists reasoned that this compound might be enough to slow down even light. After the scientists got the correct conditions, they aimed a laser beam into the vacuum chamber and were fascinated as they were able to slow light down to the speed of a car; this is almost 20,000,000 times slower than the speed of light.

When I heard about this, I knew that this might potentially change our lives. If light could be slowed down to 38 miles per hour, anything moving faster than 38 miles per hour would theoretically be moving faster than the speed of light thus time traveling. Also, with this advancement, we could greatly lessen noise and maintain and conserve energy. This would also help transmitting information easily since sound waves will slow down electrical pulses. If this discovery will come into the real world it will maintain and conserve our energy by millions. The only roadblock is the cost to create this device and the dangers that it could create in normal houses. However, I can see that this advancement will greatly impact the way we look at light and the possibilities of time travel and moving at the speed of light.

Click Here to go to the website.

Parasitism

This picture represents parasitism.

A parasitic relationship is when one organism(the parasite) benefits and the other organism(the host) is harmed. The parasite in this picture is an organism such as a bug, tick or caterpillar that has eaten the leaf, and by doing so harming it. The parasite is benefiting because it is getting food from the plant .However, the plant is being harmed because it now has holes in its leaf and will not be able to catch as much sunlight to help the plant survive.

Biotic/ Abiotic Pictures

This picture includes 2 different types of limiting factors and both biotic and abiotic factors.

One limiting factor in this picture is the tree,

and the other is the sunlight shining through the tree and reflecting off of the road. The tree is a limiting factor because it limits the amount of sunlight and water that plants living underneath them receive. Sunlight is a limiting factor because sunlight is needed be every existing object in the universe. Therefore, the absence or presence of sunlight controls the patterns of life.

Lit. Poems

"War vs Peace"

War

Repugnant, rancor

Bombing, shooting, running

Blood, death, balm, joy

Calming, relaxing, soothing

Happiness, silence

Peace

"Liesel"

Scared, obedient and giving

Who loves Max's feathery hair

Who feels scared about the war

Who needs the words that saved her life

Who shares her words and her life

Who fears an explosion in the night

Who'd like to see Max again

Who dreams of a free world

Who ends up being a survivor