Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Flying Objects With Your Thoughts

Humans 2.0 won't necessarily have to undergo invasive procedures, receive implants and be subject to gene manipulation. A researcher at the Univ. of Minnesota has been working on software that interprets brain signals and permits a trained person to move a flying quadcopter with only his/her thoughts. Totally non-invasive.


This is beyond cool. It will open all kinds of possibilities to independence for people with disabilities. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), biomedical engineer Bin He and his team at the University of Minnesota have created a brain-computer software program interface with the goal of helping people with disabilities, such as paralysis, do everyday tasks. 

For the experiments, the team uses both an actual flying quadcopter and a virtual one. Go science!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The Science of Sound

Sounds affect us in positive and negative ways. Depending on your upbringing or personal preferences the sound of a Harley Davidson motorcycle either makes you crazy annoyed or crazy happy. No idea why this is, but rarely are humans or most living creatures completely unaffected by sound. 

The vibration and frequency of sound has a lot to do with our responses. For me, low frequency sounds are much more appealing than high pitched frequencies. A french horn sounds a lot more pleasing than an ambulance siren. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get out of the way as quickly for an emergency french horn. It just doesn't say, "red alert" like a shrill siren does.

Anyway, the above video describes the science of sound in a simple and much better way than I have. Go science!