Sci Ripples: 2015

death - 28.12.15

Worst ways to die

One of things that binds everything in the universe, living and non living is death. Whether you have a slight philosophical orientation, o...

Fleye your personal drone Image credit: www.gofleye.com

When we speak of drones, the first image that comes to our mind are wide winged unmanned aircrafts that are mostly on military duty or probably the quad copters, which are shooting videos of volcanoes for us. Either ways, you neither would these drones fly in your house nor would you risk them in attempts to do so. But Belgium based Fleye could be the personal drone that we have all been waiting for.

To begin with, Fleye looks nothing like a fiery drone. Rather, it follows a WALL-E approach to drones and looks more docile than a lamb. But do not let this soft exterior dismiss the strengths of this drone.

Under the basket like exterior, lies a powerful single propeller that provides flight to the device and a SONAR system at the bottom to help it gauge its distance from the ground. A 5 MP HD camera on the head allows the drone to take photos or videos at 1080p resolution and a 512MB RAM powered dual core on board computer lets the drone fly autonomously to its missions and back.

Users can control this drone using their smartphone and a simple app that lets them chose different shooting modes for the drone. Ask the drone to take a selfie for you or a panoramic shot of the place you are in, it can hover above and keep an eye for you or simply pair a Wi-Fi gaming controller to the device and take matters in your own hands.

Assembling a Fleye. credit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gofleye/fleye-your-personal-flying-robot

Fleye is currently raising funding on KickStarter so that they can make this drone a reality in the coming one year and start shipping them to users like you and me. Well, the production won't be as crude as in this GIF, but if you participate now, you can get a significant discount on the retail price when the product is ready to ship around September of 2016, If you would like to know more about the campaign simply visit the link here.

If you have doubts about this, do watch this video below and let's see if that changes your view.

Let us know what you think of this drone and what improvements/ personalizations would you like to see in it.

Fleye - 12.12.15

Fleye - your personal drone

When we speak of drones, the first image that comes to our mind are wide winged unmanned aircrafts that are mostly on military duty or pr...

Earth return capsule - 12.12.15

Earth Return capsule tested by NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently tested a Earth return capsule as part of its Flight Opportunities Program,...

Air travel - 26.11.15

The science behind airport travelling

Crowded airport Don't we hate the long hours of preparation needed for air travel? From the early reporting hours to the long dri...

Earth - 25.11.15

What would happen if the Earth were twice as big

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) As kids, we have spent our afternoons day dreaming about what it would be to ...

App Corner - 16.10.15

Skin Vision - An app that can help you detect skin cancer

Skin cancer of the check. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Skin Cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the world, caused la...

Animal Planet - 16.10.15

Animal Attacks in Slow Motion

Thanks to Animal Planet , National Geographic and Discovery, we have seen innumerable clippings of attacks by lions, tigers and even packs...

Asbestos - 14.10.15

Mesotheolima - All you need to know

Mesotheolima is a rare cancer of the inner lining of the organs such as lungs, abdominal cavity or even the heart. It is usually caused b...

animal spoof - 13.10.15

Animals with low self esteem

If you thought only we suffered of low self esteem issues, you are in for a surprise. Animalist.com has released some really cute videos of...

Renewable sources of energy is the talk of the town. Dont worry, I am not going to bore you with the same old, solar and wind powered units. Today we look at some really bizarre sources of energy, that, who knows, will be the solution to our energy woes.

1. Energy from Poo and urine

The next time you are sitting on your toilet comfortably (or not) think about this, your poop may hold the answers to all our energy problems, well at least it may help around the house. While working with human poop is just taking off, there are companies who are already working with dog and cow poop powering homes, streets as well as parks, the key here is Methane- the wonder gas. Lets just say calling it ‘waste’ may not be very appropriate in the future.

2. Electricity from Volcanoes

Now methane as we know is a wonder gas. it is produced in poop, as well as in volcanoes. Now along with methane volcanoes are known to produce other gasses as well. Lakes that are nearby usually bear the burden of helping the volcano relieve itself (quite literally). next sources, which is a lake that is surrounded by Volcanoes. Because of the activity beneath the lake and the Volcano is close proximity, there is an accumulation of gases that need escape. This generally happen at the bottom of the lake, where the gas gradually leaks into the water. While this may not be troublesome in areas that are cold, in warmer temperatures, the gas gets locked at the bed of the lake, which accumulates over time- like a soda can. And before you know it, POP!

This can be very deadly, infact in 1986 Limnic Eurruptions at Lake Nyos caused the death of 1700 people and 3500 life stock. While efforts at releasing the gas is what is keeping another Limnic eruption at bay, it is whats under Lake Kivu that’s interesting. Now Lake Kivu has a deadly combination of not only CO2, but methan as well. So an extraction plant was built to extract the methane and divert it to supply energy to the entire township on the banks of the lake.

Putting natural events (impending calamities to good use)

3. Stepping it up, to generate electricity

Since 2007 engineers and architects have applied piezoelectricity; i.e. electricity created by applying mechanical pressure; to harness energy. From Japan’s railway stations that harness gentle patter of passengers to power up ticket doors, to London’s pubs that have exploited this property on the dance floor to power up the lights and sound system.

4. Piezoelectricity using a virus

If you thought dancing on a piezoelectric floor was cool, how about viruses that are piezoelectric. You read it right, scientist at the Berkeley Lab have created a virus specifically - recombinant M13 bacteriophage. Applying mechanical force, these virus produce electricity, just like a regular piezoelectric device would.

5. Body heat to source electricity

The idea of converting body heat into electricity has been a theory for years, but this genius got the prototype ready.

Products that are cool and eco friendly

Using a device conventionally is what all of us do, but it takes those select few to look at something and thinking out of the box. While solar panels may be something we have been using for over a decade, we are always aware of its shortcoming. But this guy has found a way around the problem.

alternate energy sources - 12.10.15

Awww!10 images of animals in the womb

Dolphin The beginning of life has always been a topic of curiosity. Although, science has helped us understand a few things about origi...

- 8.10.15

Experiencing a Black Hole from the inside

This is a general relativistic visualization of a supercomputed magneto hydrodynamic simulation of a disk and jet around a black ho...

Air pollution - 8.10.15

Bye bye Chimney

In a welcome move towards a greener planet, Scottish Power, the providers of electricity for Scotland in the UK, brought down the chimn...

carnivorous plants - 6.10.15

Poop Eating Plant

Yes you read it right plant have developed a taste for poop! If you thought Coprophagia (eating feces) was only restricted to house fl...

Eating disorder - 2.10.15

Science of Losing weight

Call it peer pressure or our our own desire to look healthy, we simply do not like putting on weight and for many, losing weight is a...

Education - 1.10.15

Rainbow coloured fire

We have all played with matches. There is something magical about them. They seem benign and harmless inside the box, but one strike ...

Biology Letters - 30.9.15

Mantis Shrimp use boxing to decide who reigns

We often see animals fight each other over mates or territory. These fights usually result in injuries to fighting individuals, unti...

Air pollution - 30.9.15

How is Volkswagen Cheating?

The US EPA or Environmental Protection Agency , recently called Volkswagen 's bluff that it was adhering to emission controls set for ...

Cat - 28.9.15

Purring cat, Healing Cat

You are on your way to an extremely important meeting and stressed to your core. You are well prepared, on time but still you feel weigh...

Backyard Scientist - 25.9.15

How fast can a ping pong ball spin?

Watching ping pong matches is a lot of fun. The precision, the pace, the spin and the concentration needed and all that happening on a ...

Feeling - 25.9.15

Can Plants 'feel'

Frog- Ooh Red, Me likie! Mimosa Plant- Argh! Stop climbing into my mouth! There was a time when plants feeling anything, even pain...

Antibacterial - 24.9.15

Your tooth paste is poisoning the world....... and you!

Putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) So your toothpaste has the best anti- bacterial properties there...

Genetic Diseases - 22.9.15

Huntington's Disease - Explained in a video

What is Huntington Disease? Why is is caused? What goes wrong? Can it be cured? All your questions answered in one simple video from Natu...

Boiled egg - 22.9.15

Can you unboil an egg?

For years, we were made to believe that a boiled egg cannot be unboiled. 'Something that is done cannot be undone and that'...

Air pollution - 18.9.15

Clean Space : Rewards your green efforts [App]

Don't you just hate it when people get rewarded for their polluting efforts such as buying airline tickets for short distances ...

Getting up for a walk or jog in the morning was my New Year's resolution. But I am still struggling to get myself out of bed, even in the month of September. For some weird reason our body refuses to work extra, even if it is for our own good. And strangely enough, it goes the extra mile when it has to inculcate bad habits, like staying up late to catch a football match or simply playing Warcraft till sunrise.

Probably, this is what the developers at Mira Rehab looked into when they were designing their app to get people to do physiotherapy. We all know why physiotherapy is needed and even the fact that doing it regularly means being on the fast lane to recovery. Yet, for reasons unknown to us, we shy away from the routines handed over to us or cut corners while doing them. For this we end paying, either by not being able to return to normalcy at all or taking much much longer than it should have. But, still physiotherapists around the world face the same issue that their patients are not motivated enough to complete their exercise routines.

Mira - The exergame app

Mira Rehab's app aims to increase this motivation in patients needing physiotherapy by encouraging them to play video games. Of course, these video games are of a different kind. They actually help you do your routines, without even realising them. Mira Rehab's app allows physicians to customize games for their patients in a way that it includes the routine assigned to them. So, even if two patients are playing the same game, the actions they need to do might be completely different, depending on the area of the body that needs the exercise. Mira Rehab's app also gives consideration to the vast difference in age groups that require physiotherapy. Therefore, the clinician can select different games for different patients depending on their age.

What Mira also manages to do is keep a track of patient's recovery, without the patient having to visit the clinician at regular intervals. Mira can collect this information more accurately since it s being collected when the patient is actually doing the exercises and data collected from patients can also be utilised for research since data gathering is constant and automated.

What does it need?

Using Mira is quite easy because its quick and easy to install. Unfortunately, it is the not a run of the mill app and therefore not available on Android or iOS. Instead, you need a computer with a Kinect XBox 360 Sensor, so that your movements can be tracked by the software.

Who can use Mira?

Mira is currently available only for physiotherapists who would like to use it at their clinics. For individual patients, Mira will be available from this autumn.