While it would not be conclusive to say so in case of human beings, it seems that fat male penguins are better singers than their thinner peers. In a study conducted by researchers in the University of Auckland in New Zealand it was found that female penguins preferred the songs of fatter male penguins.

The body fat seems to lend a distinct quality to the voice. When a female approaches a male in the mating season they emit a squawking sound. The fat provided support to the sound with the females going for the penguins who did not sound quavery. The female Adelie penguins headed for the well padded mates on a regular basis.

Perhaps one of the reasons why the female prefers fatter males is the fact that nesting and rearing are traditionally the male penguins job. So if the male has enough fat reserves he is less likely to give up on the egg in the freezing polar cold. Point in case you might think of the penguin father in Happy Feet who dropped the egg!

So does the same apply to humans? Is the fatter a human male make him a better singer? That might be tougher to answer. For at one end your have a tenor like Pavorotti and at the other end of the same spectrum Justin Timberlake.  As with all things humans are a bit more complicated to figure out. Try out this science project instead.

On the surface butterfly wings and holograms on products seem to have nothing in common, but this new science project has managed to link the two rather well.  A team of scientific researchers at Cambridge University have been using nano material to imitate the iridescent wing scales of a butterfly.

They plan to use the final product to create holograms that will be made using a complicated manufacturing process. These holograms are likely to help combat forgery. So there you go the unlikely connection between the butterflies in nature and the bank note that may contain the iridescent signature very soon.

The scope of science is never limited except by the human imagination. This is yet another study which proves that nature can be used to provide practical solutions in an urban environment far removed from it. So next time you see the colourful designs in the flutter of a butterfly’s wings think how it helped your government to fight forgeries.

Plus remember there are a multitude of uses that you can come up with from any thing that you find in nature. All it needs is a keen eye and a good imagination. Perhaps you would like to try your hand out at some of these science fair projects. All the best with your experiments.

One of the main drawbacks with electric cars has been the short duration that a battery can handle the load. The powerful batteries that have been developed have helped the cause of the electric car to a great extent, but it is the hybrid cars which can run on both the electrical power and regular fuel which have proved the most popular.

The main reason why electrical cars are not too popular with the buyers is the low speed that they offer. Most of them run with a top speed ranging between 30 to 40 miles per hour. Not exactly what you would call speed oriented. So there is now an ongoing effort to improve on this feature for electrical vehicles.

In fact now Volvo is out to develop the world’s faster hybrid truck. The project has been dubbed “Mean Green”. The diesel and electric hybrid truck is literally the fastest one around as there is no competition in its specific category. However Volvo is now out to improve its top speed and will be racing it for an official record.

In times to come we should have faster electrical cars and longer lasting batteries. The cost of the cars will also come down, to be more affordable to regular families. The breakthroughs that have taken place in the last decade show us the possible future of this industry. It is all down to the development of the clean tech that drives this science project.

In what it is being seen as a major leap for unmanned vehicles a group of researchers drove orange colored vans from Italy to China. Only they did not actually drive the vans at all. These vehicles were programmed to drive the route all by themselves. No drivers guided them and they covered the large distance on their own.

They had GPS systems which showed them the route and they literally drove themselves through countries and continents to arrive from Italy to China. There is also a special automated system which keeps track of the traffic situation on the road and guides the van accordingly.

So what exactly was the purpose of this huge exercise? The researchers said that it has been recorded time and again that the majority of road accidents take place due to human error. In fact the percentage is as high as 90%. These vehicles hope to reduce the number of accidents which occur on the roads by simply removing the human driver and replacing him or her with an automated system.

Sounds futuristic and impractical? It is not, as they have already developed the prototypes. These just need to be fine tuned and soon you may see driver-less vehicles being sold in the car markets. How’s that for an interesting science project?

This is one science project which all humans will watch with bated breath. In groundbreaking technology scientists in NASA have finally decided to send up a humanoid robot into outer space at the International Space Station. The robot in question is being called Robonaut 2 or R2.

The robot is expected to make a one way trip to the International Space Station on the Discovery Space Shuttle. The R2 is expected to assist the scientists and astronauts in the space station in simple chores to start with. There are lofty visions of the robot taking over all kinds of dangerous work from humans in the future.

This would include handling toxic spills, and repairs outside the space station. Of course other less dangerous but eagerly waited tasks such as cleaning the toilet are also being looked forward to by its co-inhabiting humans. It is currently only built with half a body. The torso and upper body exists for the humanoid robot but legs do not.

Made out of aluminum and nickel plated carbon fiber and standing about a meter tall R2 weighs 150 kg. The light weight robot is expected to lead to even more helpful robots in the future. The prototype is here and things can only improve. Learn more about the stars with this science project.

Studying the undersea organisms has always been a logistical nightmare for any science project. However with these new underwater robots that can literally swim with the fish and follow them over long distances under water, oceanographers are suitably excited. The robots are set to be used by a group of Australian scientists who are looking to reach new depths in the ocean.

In a similar study in the state of California there are robots being designed that will open up a new dimension in the study of creatures that live underwater. In Monterrey Bay in California this robot has already spent one week underwater examining organisms and sending back useful data to its human handlers on the shore.

The robot sends back information about the physical and chemical composition of the water around the creature that it is following besides a host of other details which the scientists would be hard pressed to find. The robot is being designed to stay underwater for months on end to effectively spy on and report back about the underwater creatures that it follows.

Perhaps now the ocean will reveal even more bizarre secrets than one had thought possible. We will find out more when these robots are deployed in larger numbers than they are at present. Thinking of doing more liquid based science experiments look for them here.

In a science fiction movie you would not be surprised to see a robot operating on a human in a hospital scene. However if you enter a present day operating theater and see the same thing, you would be a bit surprised. Not any more, as the first all robotic operation was recently recently conducted at Canada’s McGill University Health Centre.

The Surgery was conducted by the Da Vinci surgical robot with help from the McSleepy anaesthesia robot. They were controlled remotely by a surgeon and an anesthetist. The surgery was performed on Gilles Lefort a 68 year old man who is a patient of prostate cancer. His treating surgeon was Dr. Armen Apikian.

What is more the surgeon is ready with a study which proves that a robotic surgery is more effective in stemming the progress of cancer than a regular human surgery. Talk about machines doing a better job! Although these robots are remotely controlled by humans so we may not be quite redundant as yet.

There are a number of robots that can do jobs that are monotonous and boring to human beings with a consistency and efficiency that any human being would appreciate. The future is in robotics and if you want to learn more about this interesting field of science you can be assured you will not be disappointed. Look for more science fair projects here.

A science fair project is incomplete without its display board. It is often the presentation of the project which will catch the eye of the judges rather than the project itself. That is why it is important to pay attention to how you set up the display board. After all that is what the judges at the science fair will see before you present the project to them.

And as everyone knows first impressions are last impressions. So you need to make sure that your display board makes the best impression possible. And to do that you will have to structure it out well. First off you need to decide what your board will say and what you will cover in the presentation. Do not merely repeat what is already written on the display board.

Then you need to decorate the display board. Merely pasting printed pages on the board is not enough. There has to be some personal effort involved in the decoration. Get those creative cells thinking about how you may make the display board look nice and attractive. Think of colors and materials that you can use. You can get more details on how to enhance your display here. So read it through.

A chemical reaction takes place when a new product is created out of two different products. In science projects there is always an action to be done to get a reaction. This may be most vividly brought out by chemistry based science experiments as the reaction is often fast and furious allowing you to see changes in an instant.

Here are a few chemical reactions which you can conduct safely at home. Add some digestive salts to a glass and pour some water into it. You will see the hissing and foaming as the salts react with the water to produce a new fluid which will help you digest your meal. You have to drink it fast of it will lose the effervescence which help the digestive process.

Or you can use an iron nail and some vinegar to produce hydrogen bubbles. Pour in about 2 inches worth of vinegar in a test tube or a plastic cup. Now use a sandpaper on an iron nail and rub it well. Place the nail in the glass in the vinegar and observe. You will see bubbles coming up in the vinegar these are actually hydrogen bubbles.

Try out this edible science experiment. Oh Yes it is possible to use science with food. In fact almost all recipes involve chemical reactions in which two or more ingredients react together to form a different end product which you eat. Chemical reactions are a daily part of your life. All you need to do is look for them.

There is nothing a I find as much fun as mixing up things together to see what new thing can be made out of the mixture. Sand with water, or oil with vinegar, its fun to see mixtures being made. Here are a couple of mixtures that you will enjoy making and they illustrate scientific principles as well.

You will need a clear bottle in which to pour the liquids. A regular plastic cold drink bottle will work out just fine. Now take one cup or about 200 ml of honey and pour it into the bottle. Next add one cup of oil to the bottle. Last of all you can add one cup of water. Now wait for a while and you will see that the three fluids settle down in different layers in the bottle.

This happens because each of the levels is at a different density than its neighboring layers. The layer which is most dense will sink to the bottom, while the lightest layer will float on top. Look at the bottle and see which layer has gone down to the bottom and which one is floating on top? For more exciting science fun check out Awesome Science Projects.