Being a scientist means that you will organize yourself in a particular manner. You will do things in a preset pattern. Most science fair projects have a series of steps to go through in an organized manner. So does that mean if you are not organized you are not in step with the nature of things? Based on new research it just might be!

Bioengineers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science what they term as self assembly in particles and molecules. They claim that everything from atomic crystals to spiral galaxies have a tendency to self assemble themselves in a preset pattern. This is exactly what they are studying on a micro particle level.

As per the researchers there is a tendency of micro particles of different materials to align themselves in a specific pattern if they are randomly thrown together. This self assembly behavior was definitely not what the scientists expected. It was found that self-assembly at the molecular level is particularly prevalent in biological processes.

The unique phenomenon whereby randomly dispersed micro particles self-assembled into a highly organized structure as they flowed through micro scale channels has fascinated the researchers. So guess what you may be predisposed on a molecular level to be well organized.  Still don’t think being so organized is your cup of tea? Try organizing this.

For as long as story tellers have existed there has been a magical invisibility device in stories that would make the person wearing it disappear. In ancient Greek mythology goddess Athena wore an invisibility cap during the Trojan War.  In another classic by J.R.R. Tolkein, Bilbo Baggins found a ring that could make him invisible. This he passed on to his nephew Frodo.

In more recent memory Harry Potter was presented with his father’s invisibility cloak. He put it to good use spying on enemies, getting into places unseen and avoiding spells of people out to harm him. The thing is that the so called invisibility device may no longer be a figment of an author’s imagination.

Thanks to science projects in nano technology there are now experiments with materials that can actually make you invisible. Of course what it really uses is special reflecting surfaces to shield the objects placed inside the cloaking device from light. The first working prototype however is nothing like Harry Potter’s cloak. It is rather like a small CD which hides whatever object is placed in the centre.

It may be early days yet for the invisibility device, but now that science is catching up with science fiction you can rest assured that some momentous day in the not so distant future you will be able to make yourself invisible. In the meanwhile why not try out this different science fair project.

Was there any scientific proof to the fact that men feel they will get lucky with a girl if they play romantic songs? Not till psychologists at the South Brittany University got it. The science project involved playing either romantic songs or some neutral music while a guy asked a girl for her phone number.

In the room where the romantic music was playing the guy was able to get the phone number 52 per cent of the time. While in the room where the neutral music played the guy got lucky only 28 per cent of the time. The researchers were led to the conclusion that playing a romantic song in the background would actually double the guys chance of getting romantic with a girl.

Of course this over simplifies matters somewhat. And naturally there would be other factors to consider for the guys. After all even with the music being romantic a huge 48 per cent of them did not have much luck did they? So while you can say that the music lessens the odds of getting romantic it is by no means the only element in play.

It would probably increase the chances of a romantic interlude if the couple already knew each other instead of being total strangers. Also there would be less resistance if both knew they were not part of an experiment. So don’t take it literally but try out this science project instead.

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.